Pioneering Industrial Designers Celebrated on New Forever Stamps

I just grabbed 2 sheets of these today. Love them, especially since they're forever stamps.

The U.S. Postal Service dedicated a new sheet of stamps honoring 12 of the nation’s most important and influential industrial designers. The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum was the setting for the dedication.

The 12 designers who are honored on individual stamps include Peter Müller-Munk, Frederick Hurten Rhead, Raymond Loewy, Donald Deskey, Walter Dorwin Teague, Henry Dreyfuss, Norman Bel Geddes, Dave Chapman, Greta von Nessen, Eliot Noyes, Russel Wright and Gilbert Rohde.

“Encompassing everything from furniture and electric kitchen appliances to corporate office buildings and passenger trains, the work of these designers defined the look of modern America, and in doing, revolutionized the way we live and work,” said Dean Granholm, Postal Service vice president of Delivery and Post Office Operations, at today’s ceremony.

Joining Granholm to dedicate the stamps were Bill Moggridge, director, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum; Ralph Caplan, design writer; Jessica Helfand and Sylvia Harris, Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee; Derry Noyes, art director; Margaret Bauer, art designer; and Stephen M. Kearney, executive director, Stamp Services.

Click here for more info.

Office progress

I've had tons of readers demanding what happened with my office... Well it's "done" but it never really felt finished. I'm always in there working and making a mess, so I didn't really have any amazing photo's to show you all. Here are some pictures I took last month at night. I've since changed some things around. I'll keep posting pictures, no matter how horrible I think they look. I love seeing other bloggers behind the scene pictures, I need to just suck it up and post, post post! lol

Office progress

Friday morning 4/29

It took all day last Friday and Monday to get it done, but they're finally up! I'm gonna need a ladder to get at those items I'll store up top, this thing is soo tall.

The week has flown by and I've been working so hard to get rid of all the stuff I have no use for anymore. I took 5 trips to the dump to recycle loads of cardboard boxes that I had been hoarding, I threw away left over wood we removed from the walls and I have 3 boxes that are going to goodwill today. It feels so good to get rid of it all! Well it's hard for me to let go but once it's gone you never miss it.


My husband Al installed some LED lights that will illuminate the counter space, it's amazing how much brighter it looks in there now.


I'm still going though stuff I have no idea what to do with. I'll keep you all updated!

It's happening!

I'm hiding in the bedroom right now while my husband is out there supervising.

I took a few pictures of the cabinet units so you can see the scale of how big these things really are. The first picture is the 8ft cabinet that will hold large boxes and tubes, next is the cubby storage for my 24" rolls of printing paper. My mind is a frenzy just thinking about putting all my stuff away that is currently scattered thoughout my house. It's been a dream of mine to have a designed office for a long time, so happy it's finally coming true. This office project has been ongoing since January! Back then it was snowy and spring wasn't in sight, so I took a crowbar at them! Maybe it was cabin fever, not sure, happy I did it.

I finally found a picture of the old closet doors back from 2008. There was lots of wasted space up top and my things would never fit in there. Two years later they looked like this...

Is it done yet?

Nope, I've been patiently waiting for weeks, but no cabinets yet. My house is in a horrible state of disarray, I do all my work: cutting, packaging, and everything else on my dinning room table. It's a big sloppy mess.

The cabinet guys say they will be here tomorrow installing, but they said that last week and the week before that. So I'm starting to loose my mind. Please send some good vibes my way for the install tomorrow so I can spend my weekend organizing my new office.

Office progression

This horrible thing above was my old storage closet for my business supplies, etc. It originally had 3 large sliding doors that I eventually took off. It was all stained dark brown so I started painting it, but then I felt like it was a waste of my time painting this ugly thing. It was like this for so long! Then back in January I went a bit crazy and starting destroying it! That thing was built like a rock, but my husband and I killed it! GRRR!



Then we moved on to the walls. So many people might be mad at me for tearing down the pecky cyprus paneling, but it made me so unhappy. We live in the woods and we get a mouse every so often and I would sometimes hear one crawling in there. Yuck! The paneling was riddled with masonry nails. If you don't know what those are imagine pulling out 100 mini swords in stone. That took us a month to finally complete.



Then the plastering... I'm all for doing it yourself, but the plaster I bought at Lowes was so thick. I had such a hard time. After 2 months of working in this room I just lost that energy, so I surrendered and called a professional. In a week it was done!



MMM smooth. In this picture we are putting up the vintage dome light that used to be in the dinning room. The walls arn't painted just yet. The plaster on the walls is very similar to the paint color I chose. I actually really liked the plaster color and found paint that was a close match.



Painted walls, new window frame, and new blinds. I can't believe how good it's all looking! It's about one more week until the cabinetry will be delivered and installed. Yipeee!

MMm yummy paint brush

Spending the day priming and painting the window frame my wonderful husband built. It was kind of a pain to make because he had to use masonry nails to hammer the wood to the concrete, but after lots of wood putty and sanding, it looks amazing. This kid has some talent!

Ah it's finally all coming together. I talked with the contractor that's building my cabinets and they say it will be one more week. I can't wait!!!!!

Office paint

Finished painting the walls and celling today, hooray! I also got my old hanging lamp up that used to be in my dinning room. It was originally pulled out of an old kitchen and sold on CL years ago. The lamp needs to be wired into the wall switch and even though it's not working yet, seeing it there makes me blissfully happy.

Next project window molding.

Painting

The plaster job in my office finished over the weekend so I've been painting the walls. I went with a light gray color because this room gets a bit dark, but the color is just dark enough to show contrast against the white celling, molding and my future white cabinets, which by the way should be ready in a few weeks.

Off to paint...

More office views

I found someone to plaster my walls and it should be done by the end of the week, hooray! The plaster guy said he'll even leave the scaffolding at my home for a bit so I can paint the walls. I'll also need it to install a hanging light in the middle of the room.

Can you see my new wire stool? I picked it up on CL for $70, the stool will eventually go with an island I plan on having made for the middle of the room.

Stuff for my office

I'm looking to add some simple art to my office, so made these black and white images. I want something that will pop out at you when entering. Once My office is close to being finished, I'll figure out which one I think looks better.

Also I bought this vintage wall lamp Sunday night, which I love. I can't wait until it gets here! Next I'm on the hunt for wall pockets for my files. I saw some that I liked at CB2, but the dimensions look off, like a file would fall in there and disapear. The Spectrum Wall Mount looks decent enough. Sadly there isn't much out there to pick from..

11' of cabinets, oh my!

I found a few places that would build my cabinets, but in the end I went with a local company with the best price and better materials. Finally, a place for ALL my supplies: boxes, tubes, matting... Everything! Hopefully soon I'll be able to stop avoiding my office.

My husband used Google SketchUp to make a mock-up. I want to make sure the builder knows exactly what I want. Updates to follow...

Office

My office has been in a horrible state. I started plastering and then I just stopped. I didn't have the energy to keep going, but I did come up with how I want the room to look. Lots of white! White walls (or maybe light gray), white cabinets and colorful accessories: Watch Me Wall Clock by Normann Copenhagen, Blomus Wire Rack, and vintage spice racks.

Also I saw this kitchen below and I really love the green backsplash. Oh the possibilities...

via

Plastering

So 95% of the paneling has come down, and I have started plastering the walls. My only dilemma is that my studio is located in my home where the celling is at it's highest, about 13ft-14ft. This will be fun... This is me standing where the wall is at it's highest.


Also I had another great idea, I'm thinking of selling my green oval table and having my husband make me a workspace island. I love my table, but I think another work area with storage is a better option.

New year, new office!

This was a 3-door closet in my studio that could never hold all my supplies. I removed the doors, started painting it white... and never finished. I felt like I was wasting my time painting this ugly thing...

So for about a year now, my closet has been a mess, with all kinds of art and office supplies falling out of it. This year I'm doing something about it! The closet unit, the paneling - it's all coming down! I'm a little sad about ripping out the old original pecky cypress paneling and original built-ins, but I HATE THEM! They've made my office unusable.



So after everything comes off and we plaster the walls, we're putting in a small tall closet and tons of cabinets. The table that currently serves as my desk is also where I prepare my prints, make vinyl decals and package things for shipping. It's not nearly big enough for all that, so I'll also be adding in some desk/counter space. Here is a sketch of what is going to happen:

Tidy Desk

Found on Flickr
Found on Flickr
Found on Flickr
Found on Flickr