Design on a Macadamia Nut- Sized Budget: Free Art!

The NY Public Library has always been a rabbit hole for me.... whether browsing the shelves of books to read the spines or wandering aimlessly in awe through the reading rooms of the Fifth Avenue branch to stare at the magnificent architecture. 

And now, hundreds of miles away in the islands of Hawai'i, I still feel at home, getting lost on their images database (NYPL digital collection). It is an online treasure chest of images, manuscripts, cartography and illustrations that turns my decorating impulse into overdrive.  

They have nearly 200 thousand images available for use in the public domain- fish, birds, mammals, plants, ferns, mushrooms, maps--  absolutely everything! All copyright free and able to use for anything-- business or pleasure.  

 To bring a little of that NY spirit to the Big Island but still keeping in theme, I went on a glorious, time-sapping twisty-turny hunt for Audobon-theme artwork for my master bedroom. After a few days of deliberating between octopus (too scary- leave it for the bathroom) or botanical nut trees (too on point) I found my theme. Birds of Paradise and Peacocks! 

I emailed the the links to the images I preferred to the local printer (that's the free part!) and had them download the images at 300 pixels (the images are also available larger and up to 750 or 1250 pixels depending on the picture you choose).  I had them  printed out onto a gloss thick photo paper (that costs about 15 cents a sheet). 

I bought double matted  frames and hung them on either side of the bed and when I walk into the room I let out  a happy sigh knowing a little part of New York sneaked into the Hawai'ian home and nobody knows but me! 

Sober as a Judge

America was captivated this week with yet another gripping court drama that could have been written for a bad episode of Law & Order. Our democratic system is messy, it's mean, it's anything but boring-- with political mudslinging, character assassinations, defendant deceptions and colorful alibis. yet all this treachery and vilification and backstabbing happens in a very plain, boring place. 

The interior design of a courtroom is as sober as a judge as they used to say (that metaphor doesn't quite work as well since one of our supreme judicial leaders ranted about his love of beer). Wood paneled jury boxes and witness stands and long tables for the defense and prosecution teams face the raised Judge's box. There is no color, no fun, no lightness or cheer when one's fate is on the line. 

So we can all agree that the design of the court, at least, is sober for sure, with its plain wood tables and puritanical benches. Every courtroom is more or less the same layout and design on or off tv, so what is the psychology behind the stark look and strict seating arrangements of the teams?

We in the USA are (all too) familiar with seeing the defendant seated at a long bar-desk alongside their legal team. Our courts have found that this is the best way to avoid giving the impression of guilt and our Supreme Court reinforced that decision in 2005, stating that any form of visible constraint violates the presumption of innocence.

However, in Europe, the UK and Australia, defendants are seated in a glass or open dock. The concept was originally conceived in the Dark Age to protect judges and witnesses from intimidation. 

And in Egypt and some Middle East countries, the defendant is placed in a literal cage.

Common sense would tell you that placing a defendant in a cage may sway a jury and a recent Australian study has found the same. Visual bars or glass walls that enclose the accused are more than a trick of the eye, but they are, in fact, an interior designed presumption of guilt. 

By putting the courtroom architecture on trial, the study found juries were more than twice as likely to convict a person sitting in a glass dock compared to the US-style bar table. 

When seated at the bar table, 36% of the 407 jurors found the defendant guilty, whilst 47% and 60% found the same person guilty when seated inside an open or glass dock respectively.   

So however we perceive the state of  our court system-- sullied and disgraced, drunk with misogyny and bipartisanship or still a little bit respectful--   it is, in one way, balanced in its visual design and interior makeup.  It may not be a handsome room, and the juries and judges may not be impartial to the facts, but at least it's designed to be fair. Let us rest this case. 

Design on a Macadamia Nut-Sized Budget: 70's Bamboo Lamp

My Aunt Fay gifted me an appreciation for all things vintage. Her bespoke midcentury modern mahogany sideboards, stacked stone fireplace, and velvet sofa had me dreaming of one day furnishing my own home just like she had. The piece that mesmerized me most was her 1970s multicolored hanging swag light. 

Now living in Hawai'i, and trying to decorate my lanai and home on the earnings that a small macadamia nut farm will allow, I spend many days scouring the local antique and vintage shops. Browsing through one of my favorite stores, I looked up one day to find a piece that paid Aunt Fay's swag light homage whilst keeping with the earthy, islandy Hawai'ian tradition.  

A 1970's vintage swag pendant made of bamboo!

I gasped with excitement and pointed to the ceiling where it hung in anticipation of my husband's agreeing exhilaration of the find.  

But he just shrugged and said "I don't think the brass would look good on the lanai". 

I let it go. I thought. But I found myself stopping by the next day, just enquiring about the price. $125. That would make the lamp the most expensive purchase so far. 

It never left my mind and I would check up on the lamp each time I drove by to make sure it was still there. I began speaking with the owner, Peter, about how I loved the lamp but my husband didn't. He told me I was welcome to visit it anytime I liked (unless of course, someone bought it).  

A few weeks after discovering the lamp, my in-laws from England came to visit. Not one to let this go, I made a deal with my husband. We would take them to the antique store to see the lamp and and tell them one of us loves it and the other doesn't. If they too appreciate the vintage beauty of it, we will buy the lamp and hang it on the lanai.  

We walked in. I pointed up. His brother and sister-in-law's jaw dropped when they saw the holes made of the bamboo pattern and brass chain swag. 
I told Peter the owner  about our little bet and he seemed almost as happy as I was that is lamp was going to a good home! I asked if he could do anything better with the price to make the loss of the bet easier for my husband. 

He said I could have the lamp for $75!  My brother-in-law and husband hung it up that evening and it remains hanging stoically in the front of the lanai.