Wear Sunscreen!

It has been an incredibly busy month in April for me and I have not had the chance to post as much as I would like to on laissezfaire. Anyway,been missing everyone on this blog and thought I will do a quick one and share this amazing video. I saw this a few years back and forgot all about it. My favourite piece of advice from this song has got to be:

"Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives; some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40; maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.

Dance...even if you have no where to do it but in your own living room."

The rest of the lyrics to this song can be found here. Enjoy! Dance!

x Su Ling

Birds on the Wires

Jarbas Agnelli turns a picture of birds on the electric wires into a song

DIY TV stand

I absolutely love how the artist easel is used to house the flatscreen TV in this room. (via Apartment Therapy via House Beautiful)

Currently inspired by

My favourite quote from "Under the Tuscan Sun"

It has been a hectic week and my husband and I unwinded by watching "Under the Tuscan Sun" on DVD for the second time together after dinner. We really love this movie and it inspired us to take our honeymoon in Tuscany when we first saw it 5 years ago. Here is my favourite quote from the film:

"Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew some day, the train would come."

Martini from "Under the Tuscan Sun"

How I long to own a villa in Tuscany!

Evolved individuals

Evolved individuals know that people who are not intuitive can be dangerous to work with, since they are guided solely by the current appearance of things that are in reality, changing. Evolved individuals seek out others who have intuition and vision - a form of intelligence that comes from cultivating the instincts, observing the direction of change, apprehending the evolution of ideas.”
— Lao Tzu

via Swissmiss

The real crisis? We stopped being wise

Something inspirational I heard recently and would like to share with everyone. I totally agree with Barry Schwartz that while some rules are important, we could do with less in many instances as they often fail us and ensures mediocrity.

"A wise person is MADE not BORN. Wisdom depends on experience....you need permission to be allowed to improvise, to try new things, occasionally to fail and to learn from your failures..."

" Rules...spare you from thinking....Moral skill is chipped away by an over reliance on rules that deprives us of the opportunity to improvise and learn..."

James Merrell

I love these ephemeral images taken by James Merrell. And I am officially and totally into shacks after seeing these images below. Who needs a holiday if you have a room like this?

Enchanted Garden

A beautiful mural found on a door out in the middle of nowhere in Brussels. This image reminds me of some secret doorway to an enchanted garden from the pages of a fairytale. Found here.

An exception

I usually don't post anything "political" on Laissezfaire although I had to make this an exception as this video above is just too funny to pass. I couldn't stop laughing at "McCain's dance expressions". But I know Obama can dance. I have seen his dance moves on Ellen. Quite impressive!

Anyway, funnies aside, I think the recently concluded presidential elections in the US was pretty inspirational and deserves a special mention on laissezfaire. I was particularly inspired by Obama's rousing acceptance speech and touched by McCain's gracious concession speech.

Congrats from Sunny Singapore to all Americans for being a part of this historic presidential elections! I wish our own elections were as inspirational and exciting as yours!

The Simple Things in Life

...that bring the most joy. ( from Fredflare via sweet-low)

Chocolate Scrabble

Woohoo! I think I have finally recovered and in the mood for this! Designed by Mary and Matt, via notcot. Thanks to all for your well wishes...xoxo

Decor8's Mood Board Contest

I am sure many of you are following decor8's moodboard contest. A total of 118 entries were received all over the world and they are now down to 23 finalist. After going through all the entries, my favourite has got to be this!

I just love the magical, whimsical and child-like mood conveyed by this incredible moodboard. Plus I want to get almost every single thing that Elaine has made/sourced for this board, especially the ballet pumps!

I WANT those ballet pumps! They are apparently from Chateau De Sable.

And these mini plushie rabbits and covered buttons with found fabrics are just too adorable! For more delicious eye candy, do check out here!

The results of the contest will be announced on Friday, June 27 at 3:00 p.m. EST on decor8. Meawhile, do vote for your favourites here!

Showroom in a box

To promote the opening of a new store in Brooklyn, Ikea placed a portable showroom designed to look like a big typical Ikea box in the middle of the city. How cool is that? via Karrie Jacobs

Wonderland

When you are feeling a little dry and uninspired, what better person on earth to turn to than your kids! Yeondoo Jung, an artist who lives and works in Korea, created these photographs back in 2005 inspired by childrens drawings.

How free and magical! The photograph above will definitely make a good styling shot for a lifestyle magazine or window display. I will definitely try and keep all my kids drawings from now on. (via)

They didn't study

A friend sent me a link to this website. Think some of us can identify with the pain and humour in it. Think this would make an excellent silkscreened pillow case?

Google Office (Zurich)

With an office space like this, how can you not be but creative? (via Swissmiss)

Book-lined staircase

Have you seen anything like this before? This amazing book-lined staircase is part of Veronika and Sebastian's rental apartment.London-based Levitate Architects came up with this ingenious solution to a book storage problem. The books are even sorted by colour! With a stairs like this, it will probably take me forever to reach the top! I would love to see a bookstore or library designed along this concept of storage-cum display. (Via Apartment Therapy)

Idealist

Have you heard about Idealist? It is a platform for designers and creators to publish their creativity and get feedback from the community. Such a wonderful way to capture and test the random ideas that come our way each day! Some of the innovative ideas can even act as a springboard for other inspirational ideas. Really hope to see some of these manufactured, marketed and sold! (via The Home Rejuvenation)Fancy this? Cool but impractical? Give your 2 cents worth here.

Placebo pills. Getting better each day?

Woo...I just looove this! Funky coloured disposables fashioned after antique silver cutlery.

INSPIRATION poster

For those in search of this magic word. Available at Design for Mankind's Etsy shop.