The Friday Edit #8: a mini missive, featuring his 'n' hers sheds, Pharrell's crib and clever clashes

Are you, like me, an Apartment Therapy addict? If so, you will no doubt love this voyeuristic nose around the freshly done-up New York flat of the blog's founder, Maxwell Ryan. Just like AP itself, Ryan's place mixes high design with the every day and a bit of clever DIY. NYMag.com

The rug company, Danskina, launches a new collection at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan next month. And I'm sharing this image from the invite purely because I was struck by the spectacular combination of colours: three shades we're taught should never been seen out with each other. The rug is by Dutch designer, Hella Jongeurius, Danskina's new Design Director, who democratically has sold pieces at both Vitra and, as Dezeen reported several years back, at Ikea.

This is Pharrell Williams' 1983-built, five-bedroom Miami penthouse. It's for sale – yours for just $10,999,000. See more at Bristoltowerpenthouse.com

Another blog I can't stop reading is Junkaholique – do you know it? Artemis and her husband Nao live in the Isle of Wight, drive a Morris Traveller, and make beautiful stuff (not least the gorgeous jewellery they sell under the name, Rust). They appear to be effortlessly stylish, endlessly resourceful and when I read their blog I fantasise about a simpler, rustic, more crafty and effortlessly stylish life. Especially when I saw they now have his 'n' hers sheds. Check em out: Junkaholique.com

Normal kitchens

Anyone else mildly obsessed with Apartment Therapy's 'The Kitchn' strand – I get a daily recipe email that always seems to be easy and quick, but delicious and inventive and makes me look impressive. So I really love it when they do kitchen tours, because the focus is usually driven by love of food rather than love of impractical expensive gadgets and sleekly fitted this and thats. 

Check it out – or at least, if you also love this featured kitchen below, which is all about how loads of us live in rented homes, and that swanky matchy-matchy new cooking spaces are overrated.

Those pans on the wall remind me that my favourite part of the Damien Hirst show at the Tate last year was his row of brightly painted saucepans nailed to a white gallery wall. You can't beat pans on a wall.

I also really like the window bunting, below. Pretty but not twee – and works a miracle on an otherwise ugly, curtain-less expanse.

Looking at this gloriously imperfect space makes me love my own equivalent a little more. I am lucky that I own my place and have had the kitchen reconfigured. But it was on a real budget and the bits that didn't get finished or didn't quite work have never been fixed.

So the shelves don't match the shelves I'd meant them to match (which was my own fault because I was too impatient to wait a couple of days); the lighting is a bit wonky (there's a broken lamp that needs to lean on a flask on top of the fridge to cast a glow, and the supposedly dimmable spotlights buzz so much that you can't really use them); the idea I had for lovely hint of the 1950s worktops, by using original lemon flecked Formica was a DIY job too far for my builder who, bless him, did his best to glue the stuff onto the Wickes cheapy I'd bought but ended up giving it wiggly edges.

And I am always thinking I should tidy up my open storage and co-ordinate my cups... but why?

It's all a bit Rachel Khoo, but without being annoying (envious? Pah. Oh, well, yes, maybe a bit... but I bet I'm not alone, right?).

I have these Ikea pots, but mine hang – as sold to do – from one of their hanging rails on S-hooks. The design doesn't quite work though, so they tilt and everything is always falling out. I am inspired by Leela's simple adaptation. Must experiment with some different wall fixings.

God these American cookers are good, aren't they?
 

My craving for neat windowsills is nicely dampened looking at this little display. Everything has its place, but sometimes that place is on display when, say, it's a jam jar full of pens you need to use for shopping lists and kitchen crosswords all the time. Yes, you could hide them, but perhaps that would be contrived.

Go to The Kitchn to see more images and the full interview with the owner of this space.

Two hot homes

Two inspiring homes caught my attention this week. In case you missed these, check out the clean Scandi calm of Ben Newson and Marie Pedersen's converted shoe factory in east London (first images, below), over at Apartment Therapy  and the brilliantly barmy Tokyo home of fashion designer, Keita Maruyama, featured this week on The Selby (bottom images).

For full house tours of both homes, go to Apartment Therapy and The Selby respectively.

In Tom Newson and Marie Pendersen's shoe factory I love how the flash of teal in those beautiful chairs and the various different wooden surfaces really warm up the white-painted space. And the super simple kitchen just goes to show how you don't need to blow budgets to get a beautiful cooking and dining space. Accessorized right, Ikea does the job brilliantly.

Keita Maruyama's place in Tokyo is excellently eccentric. But although it is crammed with collected oddities, the order with with they are arranged stops them creating a feeling of chaos or clutter-claustrophobia.

For more inspiration on how to make your collections look cool, read the hugely creative Sarah 'Supermarket Sarah' Bagner's tips here.

DIY tidy ideas

So the August break was great. So great that I totally forgot to post up these pictures last night... as promised in today's column in the Independent on Sunday, which is all about quick and cheap diy ideas for organising your space...

...ideas intended to prevent the kind of procrastination I know I'm prone to about such things ('oh no, I need to buy special shelves from that special shop before I tidy up that chaotic corner' or 'no point dealing with that dump-everything top drawer as I have nowhere else to put the contents'... You know). Anyway, apologies for the slight delay in providing the images to illustrate. But they're here now. To read the accompanying text, check out today's New Review. I shall post up a fuller version of that, too, later in the week.

Coat hanger bookshelf
You can see more fantastic ideas from the super stylish Norwegian blog Brigg in this previous post about it.

Printing block toothbrush holder
This is taken from Rebecca Protor's excellent soon-to-be-out book, Recycled Home (Laurence King). Find blocks like this from £4.95 each at Not on the High Street.

PVC pipe shoe storage
Since I wrote the column, which talks about making shoe storage from PVC pipes, and fixing them to a wall, I've found an even easier way to do this – using cardboard tubing and a roof-rack strap. No nails, it's barely even DIY. Brilliant. Read full details over at Apartment Therapy.

But if you do like the PVC look (I think it's an excellent effect, very clean and modern-looking), check out this how-to at the Cookie Loves Milk blog. And if you don't find the pipes in the colour you need, here are some clever instructions on how to recolour PVC.

Tin can wall organiser
Find out how to make one your own Uten.silo-style wall-hung organiser, over at Meg Spaeth's blog, Elsie Marley.

The original design classic, Dorothee Becker's Uten.silo, which you could buy at the lovely Lollipop Shoppe.

Bulldog clip cable tidy
No explanation (or DIY) required...