Friday Favorites 12/6/2013

December 6, 2013

Karin Lidbeck Brent, Contributing Editor

Have you ever dreamed of designing your own wallpaper, or having the flexibility to choose a pattern you like and change the color and scale to fit your specific needs? I recently discovered Customized Walls, a New Hampshire-based company that has thousands of patterns to choose from and allows you to customize the designs to your own needs.

The selection of designs was really fun and inspiring, but I was skeptical about the application until I used the product on a photoshoot a few weeks ago. I ordered a design for a wall covering for a Country Living photo shoot. I liked the fact that I was able to change the scale of the pattern to the size I wanted. When it arrived it went up as easy as pie with a peel and stick adhesive backing. It transformed the space easily and quickly. A stylist’s dream!

For designers and artists creating your own design is easy. Whether it’s a textile design or creating a piece of art using photos, a graphic image, or words, they offer the tools for uploading your own designs and they can print them in many dimensions.

Imagine any image you want or can think up printed on fabric (although it looks like paper) that can be transferred on and off the wall easily in minutes.

Kyle Hoepner, Editor-in-Chief

For years I’ve wished we could feature photographer Gregory Crewdson in our Artistry department in New England Home. But, while much of his elaborately staged and lighted work is created in the less traditionally scenic nooks and crannies of the Berkshires—in particular the town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts—he himself was born in Brooklyn and works out of New York City. So, unfortunately, he doesn’t quite count as a New England photographer and is thus out-of-bounds for the magazine.

But we’re less constrained here on the blog, and I’m glad to take a moment to promote the new collection of Crewdson’s work now out from Rizzoli. Gregory Crewdson is available online or at a bookstore near you. If you’re in the mood for an odd, rather creepy journey into the not-entirely-rational margins of small-town America, you should certainly check the book out: the imagery, if unsettling, is entirely gorgeous.