Blog Posts by Jennifer Karmon

Today, Spanish "fast fashion" line Zara, known for its inexpensive but of-the-moment clothing, finally made the Zara Home and Zara Home Kids lines available in the United States. Shipping is free through October.

At the moment, the site's stock is heavy on pale snow colors as well as silver and gold -- lovely for the upcoming holiday season. Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite, along with some prices. Are you surprised that the prices aren't a little lower? I am, but maybe I just don't know Zara well enough.

Above: The Gilboa frame at front is $25.90. The Leod jars are $49.90 and $59.90.

Above: Eddy dessert plate and dinner plate, $14.90 and $16.90; Pearl flatware, $2.90 and $3.90.

Above: Nearly monochromatic gray doesn't have to be boring if you play with sheer, fuzzy, shaggy and silky textures. See all of Zara Home's bedding.

Above: Vincent tablecloth, draped here to sumptuous effect, $189.

Above: Colorful Lawrence dinnerware, $14.90 to $16.90; Marta flatware $9.90;

Read More »from Zara Home online goes live in the U.S.

We love this smart, gorgeous infographic from Painters of Louisville and NowSourcing. Did you know that yellow makes babies cry?

Read even more on the subject in "20 ways to use color psychology in your home" (with plenty of photos, of course).

Who needs a bed? Take a power nap with the Ostrich Pillow, designed by Kawamura-Ganjavian. Perfect for a Friday, we think. We're getting drowsy just imagining it.

This is a Kickstarter project that has already exceeded its goal. A $75 pledge gets you a pillow (shipping extra).

We first saw this Kickstarter project on Apartment Therapy, but it's been making the Web rounds.

Click the photo to go to a slideshow. (Photo credit: Theme Park Connection)Why trick out a haunted house for Halloween when you can just buy yourself a copy of Disney's Haunted Mansion?

This 10,000-plus-square-foot, four-story replica of the Disney Haunted Mansion is in Duluth, Georgia, in the Sweet Bottom Plantation gated community. Designed and built in 1996 by Disney contractor Mark Hurt, the Haunted Mansion is listed on eBay for the Buy It Now price of $873,000. Click the photo above to see a slide show of the mansion.

Hurt measured the real-life Disney Haunted Mansion at Disneyland to come up with a faithful copy; he employed the foundry that produced the original ironwork for his own detailing; he topped the roof with four fake smokestacks just like the Disney version; he built a matching playhouse ... and perhaps best of all, he installed a "haunted" bathroom with flickering lights and a ghostly mirror, which neighbors clamored to visit every Halloween:

Hurt lived with his wife and son in the seven-bedroom, six-bathroom home for years, but now he's

Read More »from Move into Haunted Mansion copied from Disney

I generally avoid writing about items that aren't in production yet. It's not a hard and fast rule; it's more a matter of wanting to spare readers the disappointment I've felt when I see a piece online and then realize that it's just -- let's put quotation marks around "just," because I do know ideas aren't meaningless -- but "just" an idea for now.

Then again, sometimes a design is impressive enough that I feel compelled to write about it anyway because it's simply. That. Cool.

You can guess how I'd categorize Mauricio Affonso's FAN Table.

The table you see here is made up of 400-plus slats that move in an accordion-like fashion to change dimensions and even shape altogether. "The surface can freely expand, contract and revolve in an effortless fan-like movement of the hand," his website says.

Affonso tells Yahoo! Homes that the table isn't for sale yet because he's exploring ways to have it manufactured, but "I do hope to have it in the market in the near future."Here's a short

Read More »from The exquisite FAN Table by Mauricio Affonso

(Photo credit: April Blankenship, aka Precious Roy on Flickr)

"Look. Pay attention," April Blankenship writes in her Flickr profile, under the moniker Precious Roy.

It's easy to forget about small details like shadows and the play of the light -- which makes them all the more affecting when a homeowner gives them thought. A homeowner like Blankenship almost has to: She and her husband live in a truly tiny house of less than 200 square feet that they built in Kamiah, Idaho. She calls this photo "prisms in bathroom," and the colors are cast by a glass crystal hanging outside the window -- a beautiful way to bring in a decorative element without taking up any space at all. (Homeowner Karin Karlsson used shadows similarly in the entry and sleeping alcove of her lovely 375-square-foot apartment in Sweden.)

You can read about Blankenship's tiny house on her blog, A Great Leap in the Dark, and follow her tiny-house inspiration board on Pinterest. (By the way, I'm hoping to write about her tiny house soon. Any questions you'd like me to ask her?)

We'd

Read More »from Reflections on simplicity: Flickr home inspiration

Working off of Forbes' list of the hippest neighborhoods in America, your faithful bloggers at Yahoo! Homes have already taken a look at a few listings in the nation's hippest neighborhood, Los Angeles' Silver Lake. Now let's take a look at listings in the No. 2 neighborhood, San Francisco's Mission District.

If you don't want to look at all the photos we've provided for each property, you can scroll to the bottom and skip to the next property we've spotlighted in the neighborhood. (Conversely, you can click on each address to go to the property listing and, usually, even more photos.)

3011 20th St. #3, San Francisco Mission District, CA
$899,000, condo
2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
1,176 square feet
Built in 2006; open floor plan; bay windows; "sunniest part of city"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1471 S. Van Ness Ave. #3, San Francisco Mission District, CA
$1,175,000, condo/townhouse
4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
2,953 square feet
Built in 2001; cathedral ceilings in great room and master bedroom; one

Read More »from Hip listings in San Francisco’s Mission District

Forbes recently released its list of the hippest neighborhood in America, and coming in at the top was Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. We culled some of the more interesting real estate listings in the neighborhood to give you an idea of how Silver Lake hipsters live (the ones of means, anyway).

We've got several photos of each property on a page; scroll down to the bottom of a page to get to the next property. To learn more about each property -- usually including quite a few more pictures -- click on the address.

2980 Waverly Drive
$729,000, single family home
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
1,942 square feet
Storybook Tudor style; 86 years old, with many original details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2280 Panorama Terrace
$1,068,000, single family home
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
1,600 square feet
Circa 1927 Spanish Revival

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3611 Ellsworth St.
$799,000, single family home
3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
1,790 square feet
Nine-foot ceilings, French oak floors, open layout

Read More »from Hip listings in L.A.’s Silver Lake, the nation’s hippest neighborhood