Pallet for Home

Sometimes, you come across a kitchen that makes you want to cook all day. As I was doing some research for a client about inspiring kitchens for a remodeling project, I saved these kitchens in my favorite folder. I'm falling for the grey one, with its rescued wooden window shutters repurposed in kitchen cabinet doors, its concrete island and Tolix stools - but let's be real, I'd take any of these gorgeous kitchens. How 'bout you? Which one of these kitchens steals your heart?

Caddis fly larvae build protective cases using materials found in their environment. French artist Hubert Duprat supplied them with gold leaf and precious stones including opal and turquoise. This is what they created. They are beautifully gross or disgustingly beautiful depending on how you see it. Interesting to see the patterns and combinations created by nature.

The images above illustrate the results of an unusual artistic collaboration between the French artist Hubert Duprat and a group of caddis fly larvae. A small winged insect belonging to the order Trichoptera and closely related to the butterfly, caddis flies live near streams and ponds and produce aquatic larvae that protect their developing bodies by manufacturing shea­ths, or cases, spun from silk and incorporating substances—grains of sand, particles of mineral or plant material, bits of fish bone or crustacean shell—readily available in their benthic ecosystem. The larvae are remarkably adaptable: if other suitable materials are introduced into their environment, they will often incorporate those as well. 

Duprat, who was born in 1957, began working with caddis fly larvae in the early 1980s. An avid naturalist since childhood, he was aware of the caddis fly in its role as a favored bait for trout fishermen, but his idea for the project depicted here began, he has said, after observing prospectors panning for gold in the Ariège river in southwestern France. After collecting the larvae from their normal environments, he relocates them to his studio where he gently removes their own natural cases and then places them in aquaria that he fills with alternative materials from which they can begin to recreate their protective sheaths. He began with only gold spangles but has since also added the kinds of semi-precious and precious stones (including turquoise, opals, lapis lazuli and coral, as well as pearls, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds) seen here. The insects do not always incorporate all the available materials into their case designs, and certain larvae, Duprat notes, seem to have better facility with some materials than with others. Additionally, cases built by one insect and then discarded when it evolves into its fly state are sometimes recovered by other larvae, who may repurpose it by adding to or altering its size and form.  

Via Cabinet Magazine 

Here is another brilliant remodeling project. Without any particular style or appeal, this 1960s house located near Carpentras, France, has been transformed by Amélie, a decorator with a natural eye and vision for the hip and the original, into a modern, colorful and casual villa. I particularly love the touches of neon orange throughout the house. What a beautiful space!

Hello, new week. Although technically, the new week started yesterday for many of you,  it officially starts today for me since yesterday was a holiday in the US. Why is it always harder to get motivated on short work weeks? I never could figure that out. Wishing you a happy Tuesday my dear. Let's get to work! Xo, Si-