Author: Orblogdo

Hommemaker.com creator, writer, interior decorator, and artist who resides in Los Angeles.

Tree Houses For Your Spouses

Dear Treehouses, I’ve always wanted to live in one of you. I had no idea how many other people had treehouse fetishes until I started researching the topic. There are some crazyamazing treehouses out there. Here are some of the more exciting ones: This is classic treehouse. It’s rustic and woodsy. Like my soul. This treehouse is all “Forget everything you thought you knew about treehouses, I’m an urban girl!” This one looks like an alien. So does your mom. I love the floor-length window. I’d live in there. This one is so cute and classic, like a little tiny…

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Orlando’s Obsession: Casper Balslev

Dear Photographer and Music Video Cinematographer Casper Balslev, I am obsessed with your cool photographs of Los Angeles and your totally amazing music videos that I could just eat with a spoon. I discovered you when I watched the music video for “This Boys In Love” by the Presets. Upon further investigation I found out you not only shot videos for Marina and the Diamonds and a bunch of other fun bands (videos at the end of this post), you also take beautiful photographs. Please enjoy: And for the music videos, beginning with the one that started it all: [vimeo…

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You Must Buy These Things Or You Will Be Socially Ostracized!

Dear Diary, The sun is shining in beautiful Los Angeles and the summer is upon us. Or at least I think it is. I actually have no idea when the official start of summer is and I don’t feel like googling it. I know the unofficial start is next weekend. Memorial Day Weekend. To get ready for summer, I’ve been slowly stocking up on summer must-haves. And so should you. If you are a girl, just buy these things for your boyfriend. That way no other girls will hit on him because he will look like a mischievous homosexual. Like…

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There’s Something Going On In The Bedroom

Dear My Bedroom, I hate you. I’m over you. And I need a change. But for some reason all the bedroom inspiration I’m finding is so feminine. Which is weird because guys like to sleep too. Below are some images of bedrooms I like. Please enjoy them. I love this one. Look how tiny that mirror is? I can’t tell if it’s stupid or amazing. This grey bedding is fun. I think you can get away with dark colors in a sexy, masculine bedroom… Gimme. All of it. The flag, the cute rug, the jacket. Emily designed this one for…

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Whut Glamour: New York

Dear New York, It was a whirlwind trip visiting you for the first two weeks of May. But I must say I saw a ton of pretty things (and I managed to take a picture of a few of them). Here is a pictorial recap of my trip. We stayed in an adorable part of Brooklyn (Carroll Gardens) in our friend Ian’s apartment. If I ever move back to New York I think I’ll live in Brooklyn. I’ve never lived there before but it’s way more mellow than Manhattan. Our first night there we took a little walk in Dumbo….

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Valley Of The Ken Dolls

Dear Diary, I spent the past two weeks in New York, where the weather was cloudy and rainy and wet the entire time. I had a great time decorating The Lake House with Emily, but I missed my boyfriend and home so I was ecstatic to come back to Los Angeles. I got back Saturday afternoon and immediately began having more fun than I’ve ever had in my whole life. Saturday evening we went to Cinespia. This is the film series they have every summer at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It’s one of my three favorite things about summer in…

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Being A Dork About New York

Dear New York, We’ve had a complicated relationship. I’ve loved you, I’ve hated you. I’ve run to you, I’ve fled from you. And then I’ve repeated these steps over and over until I couldn’t tell if I ever loved you at all. The first time I went to New York I was 4. We went to visit family who lived back there (sidenote: I always refer to the East Coast as “back there” or “back east” because it’s older than California). What I remember most vividly about that first trip is going to the Metropolitan Museum for what seemed like…

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Oh My God Look At These Stupid Drawings

Dear Artists, This weekend I decided to take Saturday off to make a drawing. All my friends fled to the beach to luxuriate in the golden California weather while I sat inside doing laundry and thinking of what to draw. Which was fine by me because that’s actually my favorite thing in the world to do. I had a little bit of artist’s block, so I decided to go through some of my old sketchbooks to get ideas. And when I looked through those sketchbooks I came to a shocking conclusion. I am an actual crazy person. Below is the…

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What Your Car Said About You Behind Your Back

Dear Diary, The other day I was sitting at home with my boyfriend (I have one. Weird right? …He’ll dump me when he finds out about my massive codependency issues). The thing about him is that he LOVES cars. He actually needs to buy a new one and has been researching what to buy. I keep scoffing at every car he shows me which got me to wondering what car I would buy if money were no object. The branding of automobiles has so much to do with aspiration and performance. We’re making a statement about who we are by what…

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That One Time Coachella Almost Killed Me

Dear Everyone Who Went to Coachella Weekend 1, Why didn’t you warn me??? Of course you told me that it was going to be loads of fun, the most exciting experience of my life. What you didn’t tell me was that it would, like, actually kill me. It was a ton of fun and I’m happy I went. But honestly, it was the most exhausting experience of my life. It’s been two days and I still feel like an actual corpse. The weekend started off in a serene, peaceful manner. We went to the ticket tent to grab our shuttle…

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Things In Palm Springs

Dear Gays, Remember that one weekend you all decided to go to Palm Springs at the same time? Yes, I do too. It was last weekend. Apparently there is some sort of antiquated gay party out there (“White Party”?) where everyone dresses in white gogo pants and dances on bleachers whilst being sprayed with toxic foam. Or at least I think that’s what happens. Anyway, I went out to the desert because I wanted a nice break from my crazy life (which has been cuckoo puffs lately, hence the  sparse posting on here). Some of my friends rented a house that…

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Whut Glamour – Carlo Van de Roer

Dear Carlo Van de Roer, Firstly, I love your name. I’m hoping your last name is pronounced RAWR, like a lion roaring. Second, I was browsing 20×200, one of my favorite affordable art sites, when I came across some of your glamorous prints. They basically have everything I need: water, the color aqua, people in bikinis, and dots. There’s really nothing else in the world I care about. Some of your prints are available on 20×200 for as little as $60, which is a total barg if you ask me. Check out Carlo’s 20×200 Store and buy something. I’m going…

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Hey House, I Want You!

Dear Diary, I was browsing Sonoma County real estate the other day, as I often do, when I came across my dream home. It’s crazy, it’s asymmetrical, it’s made of redwood, it’s in the middle of the forest. It’s everything I want. It’s located in Healdsburg, California, which is an adorable town in wine country. And the price is right ($292,000 vs. neighboring properties for 6 million). It’s on 3.2 acres, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and is on a road that my sister-in-law refers to as “the most beautiful road in Sonoma County.” Oh, and it’s a total piece…

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Color Warriors (of Radness)!

Dear Warriors Of Radness, Sometimes when the cloudy winter weather has me down, I Google images of your clothing and feel better about the world. Everyone knows I love bright colors a little too much. In fact, every time I get dressed, I am accused of being either gay or a woman (one or both of those accusations are true). Not only is Warriors of Radness clothing bright and exciting, it also provides inspiration for some wonderfully playful photographs. Below is a selection of some of my favorite images featuring Warriors of Radness clothing and a collection of uber-glamorous surf…

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I Saw Some Stuff. And So Can You!

Dear San Francisco/New York Snobs, I know you love to discredit LA as a cultureless wasteland of ugly, but I happen to disagree. Sometimes I like to take pictures of the pretty stuff I see every day. Below are a few of those finds. Hollywood. My Apartment, Morning After a Party. Hollywood. The New Library. West Hollywood. Runyon Canyon. Hollywood Hills. Vacant Lot Near My Apartment. Hollywood. (Note the tent in the image below) Hollywood Boulevard. Hollywood. Echo Park. Laurel Canyon Boulevard in a Rainstorm. Hollywood. Laurel Canyon Boulevard at Mullholland. Hollywood Hills. The Sky Above My Apartment Building. Hollywood….

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Sun Day

Dear Diary, I went grocery shopping yesterday and when I got home I was, like, “HARK! Look at how crazy pretty the light is in my apartment!” And then I was like “I should take some pictures of stuff so I can remember how nice and warm everything looks.” It’s been chilly in Los Angeles (I think the temperature dipped below 68 degrees, BRRRR!). Thus, I was happy to get back to my warm, cozy apartment. Here is what my apartment looked like on Sunny Sunday Sun Day: That vintage Interview Magazine is one of my favorite things in the…

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Dollhouse Update / The Backside

Dear Dollhouse, This week saw some progress with your backside. A traditional dollhouse is open only in the front, so I’m closing off the backside of my dollhouse with a huge wall of glass disguised to look like the rotting wall of a barn. Right now all the wood on the roof and side of the house is blond, but it’s going to go aged grey once I stain it the right color. The wall is meant to look like it’s falling, so I made it angled. The angle makes it look a little unstable, but the whole house is…

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Much Ado About Sunglasses

Dear Celebrities, Whenever I find myself wondering what to do, I always look to celebrities for advice. For example, I’ve been looking for new sunglasses lately and I can’t figure out what to buy. So I looked up pictures of fashionable celebrities and now I have a few ideas for sunglasses to purchase. I have a complicated relationship with sunglasses. When I was in high school, I only wore fancy expensive sunglasses. But then I kept breaking/losing them so I decided to ban myself from buying any that cost more than $10. This has had an unexpected side effect that…

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What I’m Going to Eat On Vacation (Sydney, Australia)

By Contributing Food Editor Jared Levan Dear Daily Grind, It is with great pleasure that I inform you of my brief (but not too brief) leave of absence. At the request of my good friend, Whitney, I have consented–with little to no coercion–to a two-week vacation to the glorious land down-under. And while I will declare to customs my trip is a holiday, I can’t help but think of this trip as work-related…to some degree. I will eat, after all, and I will undoubtedly (yet willingly) describe what I eat–how it looks and how it tastes–in unfettered detail. So what…

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Orlando’s Obsession / New Canaan Moderns

Dear My Former Professor Ellis Hanson, One of my favorite classes I took in college was English 276: Desire. That class was awesome, basically just an excuse for you to put on bondage gear and give outrageous lectures about sex. I took this course my senior year so much of my time was spent sitting in the back of the lecture hall talking to my friend Matt about our impending moves to New York City and about how after tiring of city life we’d move to New Canaan, Connecticut to retire and live with our rich husbands and blond children….

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Whut Glamour / Griffith Observatory

Dear Griffith J Griffith, I’d like to thank you for Griffith Park and The Griffith Observatory. Sometimes when I’m having a crazy week I take a drive up to the observatory and walk around just to calm down and stare at the giant city I live in. I have been to the observatory a million times, but I’ve never seen a planetarium show so I decided to visit last week to check one out. The star shows are pretty cheesy, but they’re totally old-school and informative and will leave you freaking out about how tiny we are in comparison to…

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Rugs Not Drugs!

Dear Friends, I think I have a rug problem. It’s like whenever I’m not on rugs all I can think about is getting more rugs. And then when I’m not on rugs I all I think about is rugs. And then my friends show me their rugs and how they’re using them, I just want to go out and steal/sell bikes so I’ll have more money to spend on rugs. I’m a total rug addict. It started out slow, I put a rug in my living room. But that rug was just the gateway rug, and now I can’t stop….

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The New Vegetarian (Who’s Not a Vegetarian)

By Contributing Food Editor Jared Levan Dear Meatless Monday Lovers, Like you, I occasionally dabble in vegetarianism. Not out of respect for the animal–though I respect those who live and eat by that philosophy–but because, sometimes, I just want to. And because I truly feel that vegetarian cuisine doesn’t have to be as boring as everyone thinks it is, my hat goes off to you, Mr. Yotam Ottolenghi (pictured above). While he’s not a practicing vegetarian, he does manage to create delicious recipes that could make you want to quit meat. Originally from Israel, Ottolenghi now graces the UK with…

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What I Do When I’m Left Alone (I’m Scared)

Dear Diary, Do you know what normal people do when they are left alone? They watch movies, make soup, and pet their dogs. I, on the other hand, rearrange my entire apartment on a daily basis. In fact, just yesterday I woke up and realized the that my bedroom needed a little bit of attention. So naturally I spent the next three hours rearranging the top of my dresser (which is ugly, by the way, needs to be lacquered in a hip color but I can’t decided what). Below are the results of my playtime. Here is what the top…

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