25 Years Ago Today

We haven't changed much, have we??!!

Neat Online Poster Makers!

This is a poster I made for Kyle's college apartment living room (click on image for larger view). The image is of Detroit's Michigan Central Train Depot. It's 72 pages and took a few hours to assemble. Here are links to the poster-makers (Adobe Acrobat Reader required):

blockposters.com - Files must be under 1MB in size in order to convert

The Rasterbator - More flexibility with overall size with the downloadable, standalone version

Here are pictures of his apartment.

The 2008 IKEA Catalog is Here!

Happy Friday!

I've been checking the IKEA website for the last two days since IKEA always put their new catalogs online on 8/1 (yes, I have this on my calendar every year!). Click on the image to view the catalog.

If you're on the mailing list, you'll automatically receive a catalog in the mail sometime in August. If you're not, sign up for one. Catalogs are not available in the store until sometime after Labor Day. Last year, catalogs were delivered to all Detroit News/Detroit Free Press subscribers in their Sunday paper sometime in August. That was a nice surprise.

Decoding Retailers Pricetags

Someone sent me the following information and I did a little more investigating after finding it very informative. There is no way I could commit this to memory so I may be clipping it and keeping it in my purse.

If the last numbers end in...

Target:
9: full price
8: clearance
4: final markdown. Any 4 in a price other than the first digit is the lowest markdown price and a signal to the reshopping staff to return the item to the clearance rack/shelf. The cashiers are also authorized to take 10% off opened/damaged/missing merchandise, but only if asked to do so. 75% and 90% clearance is only for seasonal items, like Christmas, school supplies/dorm furnishings after Labor Day etc.

Gap, many retailers: 7: final markdown. The Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic all do markdowns on Wednesday AMs. You have 14 days to do price adjustments (a lot of retailers do this); just bring the receipt back within the allotted time and get the lowest current price.

Sears:
99: regular
98: no coupons or sales
88: closeout
97: clearance/discontinued
93: refurb/open-box

OfficeDepot: Prices not ending in 0,9 or 5 are final markdowns. You can tell how many markdowns are to come by reading the last two digits. .00 designates the first markdown, .01 for the second going all the way to .04 before it is placed on buyback and is not allowed for sale. This holds true to just about everything in the store.

Radio Shack: The seven at the end of Radio Shack prices doesn't indicate a final markdown, just that the item is clearanded. Prices ending in seven still drop but only after several months of collecting dust on the shelves.

Circuit City:

.98 is a downloaded price match (i.e., they see Best Buy has a lower price), which may be local to a singular store (more likely a local to a district)
.97 is an open box item
.96 is a limited stock item, either oop (out of production) or so new that supplies are not regular yet.
.95 is a clearance oop product

Abercrombie & Fitch: Anytime an item is $xx.50, it is full price, and anytime it is $xx. ANYTHING ELSE, it is on sale. 99.99%, the item on sale will end in $xx.90, but sometimes $xx.89.

Best Buy: All prices end in .99 or .49 no matter what their status is (excluding CDs/DVDs/software and the occasional odd sale item with an even dollar amount). Best Buy doesn't use price coding, but you can figure out the status of the product by taking a close look at the price tag on the shelf. The designations would appear just below the UPC and SKU numbers (where the light streak is in this photo: http://flickr.com/photos/misswallflower/246892890/ ). If there's a "C" there, the item is on clearance, and if they're out of it, they should let you buy the floor model. It there's a "+", it means they've price-matched a competitor, but it's an unadvertised change to the price (you may be getting a great deal on products like this). Finally, if there's a "M", that means that the product is planogramed for more than one location, so if its out-of-stock there, you may still find it somewhere else in the store.

Sam's Club: Any price ending in a 1, especially .81 is at its clearance price and will almost certainly not be restocked.

Continuing from Yesterday...

Here is the IKEA swing I mentioned in yesterday's post. How neat is this?



Too bad this never made it to the North American market. I don't think they sell it anymore.

What Happened to Design at My Favorite Retailers?

I'm not sure if there's a lull in the mass merchandisers' design departments, but I've noticed a return to mediocrity at places that usually had at least a few items that were more cutting-edge or at least trendy. Each summer I could count on cool stuff from Target, Old Navy and even IKEA. This year, nada.

Target made these really cool torches about 6 or so years ago. They're about 8" tall. I wish I would have bought more.



Last year, Target offered Isaac Mizrahi beach stuff and I bought a really cool graphic beach towel but nothing this year. Target used to have really nice, unusual (but not trendy, unfortunately) lawn furniture like what we bought in 1996:



And what my mom has (the floral set):



Nothing fancy, just different and colorful. They didn't have those chairs with God-awful round, heavy swivel bases. Now they have migrated to Smith and Hawken. While I don't dislike S&H products, they may as well be made by Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware or the hot-bed of mediocrity, Pottery Barn. Nothing creative, trendy, whimsical or cutting-edge there!

At least five years ago, Old Navy came up with a cool "Old Navy Girl" line. Great graphics and many products with the ONG logo: A diary, bookmarks, stationery, stickers, beach towel and beach ball, etc. They also used to have a full line of shoes and sandals. I haven't seen shoes at Old Navy in at least two years. I could at least always count on them having the cutest impulse buys at the checkout but even that is sorely lacking. No wonder they (and sister company, The Gap) have taken a nose-dive.

Lastly, IKEA has really let me down since they've finally opened up a store in metro Detroit. I thought we'd get a grand selection of seasonal products. No cool summer products and those that they have seem to be overpriced! A few years back I saw a German IKEA summer catalog online that had some really awesome products. One was a metal-framed porch swing with a white nylon canopy that was very neat. I'll look for that photo and add it later. They also had a white nylon, four cornered (vs five) summer umbrella. It reminded me of the umbrellas they sell at DWR for over $1K. IKEA was the first place I saw canvas covered, four metal poster gazebos. Now they're everywhere.

RETAILERS: PLEASE BRING BACK GOOD DESIGN!

Owls in Our Backyard? Now There's Proof!

Since we've been working late in the yard, Greg noticed some larger-then-normal birds flying about. Turns out they are owls. We were so shocked. Our neighbors said they counted five last year and are happy to see them return.

Even they are prone to "red-eye"!

IKEA's New Collection

It dawned on me as I was preparing to email friends and family about IKEA's new Stockholm Collection that I really haven't really written much about my favorite retailer, IKEA.

It's been almost one year since IKEA Canton opened. I've probably been to our local IKEA less than a dozen times, which is extremely surprising since I've been a Detroit-store advocate for more than 12 years. Realistically though, it's probably a good thing or we'd be adding our statistics to the Michigan list of foreclosures!

Here is one of the pieces I found to be attractive:



However, like past special collections, the prices are steeper than usual.

The Hurrier I Go...

In discussing our landscape plans with a friend, I began to think "big picture" in terms of Kyle's graduation party. It's not that I haven't done that yet, but trying to think about things on a realistic scale.

I wanted to plan everything out. You know, a timetable. Never got around to it but had vaguely planned what we were doing, especially on the weekend. This weekend is our biggest project. Thank God we have a three-day holiday weekend before the party!

We are doing an entire backyard landscape. What is so unusual is that we are not planting anything (nor are we ripping anything out yet either). We have a few trees, shrubs and bushes back there but nothing to crow about, except our lilac tree. What we are doing is rototilling the perimeter, mixing in dirt and then topping with cedar mulch. Here's the (eventual) grand plan:



If the above image isn't appearing, here's the link to the plan.

Ian's Bedroom

One of my favorite pictures taken in our house:



The light was just perfect!

Typographic Calendars

My fascination with type goes back quite a way. It probably started with logo identification. I was also fascinated with handwriting and, specifically, fountain pens. I remember using one as far back as the fourth grade on a regular basis.

This year, I created my own typographic calendar and forwarded to friends and colleagues. If you'd like your own copy, email me (see link at sidebar).

Here are two of my favorites:

Molly's Softball Game

Molly's team won another game on Tuesday. It's going to be interesting to hear what she thinks about returning to play baseball next week when the rec team starts practicing.

Grad Party Treats

I just looked into printing custom M&M's for Kyle's party. Here's what I'd order:

Prom Highlights

The weather was great. Kyle looked great with his new 'do and Kelly looked elegant in her beautiful light blue dress. We had plans to go down to the Roosertail to spend about a half-hour taking pictures, but had a great time at the Cardelli's house catching up with everyone. The kids got a huge (bus) limo and ten couples were whisked away.

Each attendee gets a CD of pictures taken at the prom. It wasn't professionally done, but it's something. Kyle and Kelly are only in one picture of hundreds.

Prom Time

Tonight is Kyle's prom at the Roostertail. Our school superintendent invited me down to check it out. Kyle's not too happy about that, but it gives me an opportunity to 1) see all the kids I've known since Kindergarten all dressed up and 2) more importantly, to take photographs. We'll be there for a half-hour, tops.

Here's a picture that goes all the way back to my 1980 high school graduation party. Yes, that's Greg and me. Hey, who didn't have a dorky haircut and/or glasses in the 80s?

Adaptive Reuse

I have always been interested in architectural Adaptive Reuse, even before I knew what it was called. The most common examples are conversions of a single-room school or a church to a house. Of course there are many others. I would love to convert an up-north building into second home. The main disadvantage would be that it wouldn't be waterfront property.

This house, located in Royal Oak at the corner of Knowles and Sixth Streets, is one of my favorites.

Where in the World?

Being a huge fan of travel, I was very intrigued by these two online maps. How weird is it that the only state I haven't been to on the east coast is Rhode Island? Follow the links beneath both maps to create your own.




Create your own visited states map or visited countries map

Preparing for the (Immediate) Future

We are in the throes of getting our house and yard in order for Kyle's graduation party. We've procrastinated way too long to deal with the backyard and now we will pay the price. I don't want to rent a tent; they're too obtrusive, costly and basically a disposable expense.

I have some great ideas, namely to install removable sails in the backyard using IKEA fabric.

I have no idea how to fabricate them (measure, layout, etc.) but I would be willing to try. It doesn't appear to be that difficult, probably just cost-prohibitive. At least it would be removeable and reusable.

For the time being, we need to concentrate on the inside (painting trim and the garage). I keep telling myself, it will get done!

My, How Time Flies

I see that quite a bit of time has passed since my first posts. So much time, in fact, that my friend--Cathy Zielske--has restarted her blog again. Yippee! I've always been a much better listener than talker and that carries over to writing vs reading as well.

Nonetheless, I will make an attempt to continue to update this space.

For now, we await the arrival of Kyle who has been in Colorado for a week now. Here's what he's been doing.

Missing My Favorite Blogger

I guess it's going to take me a while...perhaps...to warm up to this blog business. One of my favorite bloggers, Cathy Zielske, recently took her "Bits & Pieces" blog down. I'm going through withdrawl. It's a blog I've been reading daily for over a year. Unfortunately, she doesn't even keep the archives active. Well, at least I still have her books to refer to for inspiration.

Interestingness

Explore, originally uploaded by kbreenbo.

I don't know where people find the time but there are so many interesting tools created for flickr users and this is one of them. The program will search your photos to see if any of them have been included in flickrs Explore section for interestingness. Alas, two were...

What You'll Find in this Blog

Musings and photography about my love of...

• photography
• travel
• cars
• graphic design
• architecture