over the past decade, husband and wife team, adam mccauley and cynthia wigginton have collaborated on a number of children’s book projects with adam handling the drawing and cynthia working on the design (titles include my friend chicken and the monsterologist). and when they’re not drawing and designing together, they play and write music for their band, bermuda triangle service. today we have a sneak peek into their san francisco home that they half-jokingly describe as modern jungle eclectic. basically it means they love having comfortable home where friends and family can come over and not be worried about putting their feet up. color is such a part of their lives in their daily work, that a neutral palette works great for their home, and makes for a flexible background for their ever-expanding art collection. it also works well to mix up heirloom and ikea pieces. and of course it wouldn’t be a modern jungle with out lots of plants, and pets are welcome too. {thanks so much adam and cynthia!} -anne

Living room [2 shots above] Split-rail loveseats from Modernica (as featured on Mad Men! Or perhaps they are using the Elizabeth Knoll originals? Mid-century modern coffee table from The Touch on Valencia Street. MCM desk and shelving passed down by Cynthia’s parents. Pillows: from the Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite, Chiasso, BB&B, Walgreens. Chalkboard silhouette art by Nathaniel Parsons. Pink silhouette painting and big sculpture slightly off frame by Adam McCauley. Persian rug passed down by Cynthia’s Nana Glass head for remotes from a thrift store in Oregon (it was meant to be used as a hat model). 1950’s globe found in a thrift in Oregon. Stuffed tortoise is a loaner from our neighbor to use as reference for a drawing for the Oakland Zoo’s ‘Walk In The Wild’ campaign. Bowl is from Creativity Explored.
Ikea Frosta stools/side tables, floor lamp, Expedit. Expedit artwork (from left to right): collaborative piece (Eric White, Jordin Isip, Isabel Samaras, Marcos Sorensen, Adam McCauley) Calef Brown (Post-It art), Gary Taxali (bunny man), Heath vases. Stripey vintage chair passed down by Cynthia’s Nana (looks sort of like Carrie Bradshaw’s in the SITC movie, right?). Pre-war Gretsch guitar (instruments tend to be strewn about on a regular basis).

We decided to earthquake retrofit our home last year. What an undertaking! Consequently, we also had to re-work the ground floor façade and paint. BM ‘Dried Parsley’ was the winning color. It is more yellow in the summer and more gray in the winter. For Halloween décor, Adam created this paper cut based on a design he created for Martha Stewart Living magazine. It appears in MSL’s 2009 Halloween Special Issue.

CLICK HERE for the rest of Adam and Cynthia’s sneak peek after the jump!

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earlier this fall i was lucky enough to meet talented uk-based illustrator trina dalziel over a fresh croissant and chocolat chaud at a local parisian cafe. it was so fun talking design with her and seeing some of her new work. as soon as she sent over her sneak peek, i thought to myself, i could totally picture her living here. it’s an early victorian home in the north of london, with wide steps up, four floors, and floor to ceiling windows on the upper ground floor. as with many cities, the home was originally meant for one family, but this home was clumsily (as trina describes it) carved into seven flats. trina and her boyfriend were on the top floor, which would have originally served as the maids quarters. in denial that she would call this flat home for 9 years, trina ignored the flaws and cracks by training her eye to focus on “pops” of color. i also love how so many pieces in her home hold such wonderful memories and stories, as you’ll read below. click here to check out more images, and don’t miss more of trina’s work here, here, and her latest work here! {thanks, trina!} -anne

{photos by uk interiors photographer jon day}

[above: The screen print is by a Scottish artist Evelyn Pottie. The summer I left college I did a screen printing course in a church hall in the Highlands of Scotland that she taught. Also the location of this print is near where I’m from in Scotland so it’s lovely to have for those two connections. The 1940s cabinet I bought in 1996 with some of the money from the first book I illustrated. It was from a shop called Gibson Castle in Upper Street in Islington – the shop has closed down now but they sell online. The lamp base I found in a junk shop in Hastings, on the Sussex coast and after a good clean I took it in a carrier bag to John Lewis (big London department store) where with in a minute the man serving me had found me a shade!]

The telephone I got for a photo shoot I was styling for Jon last year.  I paid a deposit to the shop and was to return it after the shoot – but couldn’t quite make myself so ended up buying it. It is exactly like the one we had in our hall when I was small. I can remember standing holding on to my Mum’s skirt whilst she would call the grocer to give her order over the phone. It can be very calming – the slow dialling – waiting for the dial to roll back after each number – however it has no touch tone and makes calling lots of numbers impossible so we had to get a modern one as a back up! The cushion was a Skandium splurge – unfortunately my ingrained Calvinist heritage has so far stopped me from fully appreciating it in a guilt free way!

The big bowl with the yellow rim came from my great aunt’s whose house was a time capsule – so much so, she was still using cocoa powder in the 1980s she’d bought with ration coupons after the war!

CLICK HERE for the rest of Trina’s sneak peek after the jump!

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question: i have a ton of awesome 13″ x 20″ prints i’ve collected over the years that i’ve been trying to find low-cost framing for- at one point I thought clip frames would provide the perfect solution, but oh woe is me, it turns out that 13″ x 20″ is not a standard size. there are so many gig posters and other prints this size that i feel like i must be missing something. can you help me get my gorgeous prints out of the closet and up on my walls? -jennifer wolfe

answer: hi jennifer! print framing can be a costly and somewhat frustrating process when you have non-standard print sizes. but fear not! there are always other (frame and non-frame) options. here are a few we’ve come up with that make the best of a non-standard size print issue:

• local frame/art shops: if your prints are standard sizes, pre-made frames will cost an arm and a leg and be hard to find. my go-to resource for non-standard framing is a local shop where the frame-building is done in-house. they’re always cheaper than shops that source frames elsewhere. so make a few calls and ask around to see if someone in town makes their frames in-house ( often times art schools or art supply stores offer these services). if they do, they can cut out the middle man and drastically reduce your framing cost
• foam core + frame ledges: if you’re open to thinking outside of the frame-world, a great option is to mount your prints with spray adhesive on foam core, wood or cardboard and then lining them up on a frame ledge. they’re easily moved but still have the support of a firm board behind them to hold their shape and prevent bending (top right image above, via west elm)
• line + clips: because pieces like gig posters and prints often get rotated around people’s homes we often suggest using a fishing/metal wire with hanging clips (bottom left image above, via sfgirlbybay). it’s not a frame of course, but it’s a fun and flexible way to display your favorite prints for low price.
• bulldog clips + nails: this look is a favorite of mine (top left image above, via skona hem). it’s flexible and depending on the clips you use, can have a slightly industrial feel. try collecting metal clips from flea markets or antique shops for a unique look
• clipboards: along the same line as the clips above, you can buy oversized/art clipboards that are up to 19 inches wide that will allow you to clip your prints to a board and stand, hang or lean them on the wall like that (bottom right image above, via mondocherry)

CLICK HERE for studio choo’s floral centerpiece ideas for d*s reader linda after the jump!

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after a long working weekend i’m waking up to a grey and cold morning here in brooklyn. i opened the windows for a quick second to let turk meow at a bird on our fire escape and felt a cold gust of wind that made it quite clear winter is here. even though christmas is months away, i’ve been besieged by holiday gift guide emails and submissions so much so that i’ve already got ornaments on the brain. so i thought i’d share the ornament that’s been sticking in my head for days now. anthropologie’s bejeweled reedling ornament reminds me of both a fancy version of our operation hot glitter project and of a sparkly brooch i’d like to wear in my hair, ala carrie bradshaw. i’m thinking i might take the plunge and make this a centerpiece on our tree this year (despite ac’s moratorium on birds in the house).

speaking of holidays- we will begin our annual d*s gift guide series the week AFTER thanksgiving. we’ll be covering the same areas as last year and will try to sneak some new ones in there as well. and of course, ac will be doing his guy’s gift guide for practical dude presents.

i also wanted to take a second to welcome artist jill bliss to the d*s guest blog! jill will be joining us with her portland favorites all week. click here to check out her first post- welcome, jill!

*stay tuned for a new free d*s desktop wallpaper today at 1pm!

today i’m out and about shuttling gorgeous flower arrangements between saipua and photographer sabra krock’s studio in manhattan. since my brain is officially fried i figured i’d wrap up the week with a little preview of what’s to come in the d*s book- sarah is doing some gorgeous florals that will tie into another section of the book and this is one of my favorites so far. more previews to come when we finish the manuscript, but i wanted to wrap up the week with sarah and sabra’s beautiful work. until monday, have a fantastic weekend!

ps: stay tuned for a new free d*s desktop wallpaper on monday from camilla engman!

• biz ladies 09: networking for designers
• new city guide: newport, rhode island
• living in: rosemary’s baby
• past & present: audubon history + modern paperweight diy project
• new sneak peeks: chelsea and tec petaja, twig & fig, rosy levy, dave allen
• new diy projects: susan’s paper tiger wallpaper, kate’s walnut charms, evita’s spooky silhouette candle holders
• new before & afters: kiran’s footstool + isla’s chairs, kelly’s dresser + karen’s chair, jan’s french home + atelier
• we like it wild: halloween “terror-ium” floral project
• small measures with ashley: happy hallow-green (eco-friendly halloween ideas)
• new recipe: in the kitchen with sara and emma’s vegetarian torte
• cookbook reviews: italian + extra chocolate cake recipe!
• dear d*s: disguising a fireplace + vintage bike sources
• new d*s guest blogger: melbourne design favorites from lucy at the design files
• misc.: cicada studios teatowel calendar, cast iron fishing weights at RH, 2 new 2010 calendars, glass vases from happy sthlm, nicolai czumaj-bront’s salvaged wood stools, entre lineas paper book lamps, 2010 calendar from amy soczka, kara ginther’s leather bike seats

This week’s books go along with the great recipe from Emma and Sara for an Eggplant Torta over on the In the Kitchen With column. As soon as I saw the images of the recipe, I thought “Italian”. There are a lot of Italian books out there. Some “authentic”, some “inspired by” which in the end aren’t any more “Italian” than what my grandmother from Alabama used to make for us. So I have chosen an assortment of books this week that fall into the “Italian etc.” category. If you’re wondering, personally, I think the best Italian cookbooks on the market are produced by Slow Food Editori (the publishing arm of Slow Food Italy). They cover most of the Italian regions (one per region, with a few exceptions) and there are a few monothematic ones: Fish, Vegetables, Desserts, Soups, and Recipes from the Osterie featured throughout the regional books. Accompanying the recipes are brief descriptions, in many cases, of the origin and transformations of ingredients, socio-cultural notes, regional variations, or the history of the recipe. In short, the books present a snapshot of food and its development in Italy (unfortunately there are no photos). If you happen through Italy, stop in any Feltrinelli bookstore and pick up one or two or more. Even if you don’t speak Italian, you can fumble through them just fine! People who love food always find a way to explore new and great dishes.

In celebration of the autumn season, we have included a bonus recipe today for Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (torta di gianduia) at the end of this post, an Italian dessert probably from the Piedmont region where amazing hazelnuts are grown, and gianduia was ‘invented’. If you have a favorite Italian recipe book, please share yours below! -Kristina

CLICK HERE for the cake recipe and kristina’s cookbook reviews after the jump!

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