Welcome to our newly revamped weekly Home & Garden Index, in which we let the folks interviewed by New York Times reporters about design, decorating, and architecture speak for themselves. Through this highly exacted and carefully controlled sociological study, we hope to determine how, exactly, the other half lives. Onward to the countdown!
10: “It’s the strangest thing, I can’t remember people’s names but I can remember the names of plants.” [link]
9: “We’re a commune,” said Cathy Thomason, 61, Ms. Simmons’s cousin, who is also involved in the camellia project. [link]
8: “We’ve seen a jump in sales I think because green tea is in everything now, even shampoos and lotions.” [link]
7: “There are no industrial processes,” he said. “Everything is hand done.” [link]
6: The Flight recliner at Design Within Reach, he thought, was another “good one, mechanically very solid, and on par with the ones at M2L.” [link]
5: But “because in cement tiles the colors are mixed by hand, you get a subtle variation, which is so lovely. They look slightly vintage as they wear down.” [link]
4: But none of the more modernist options, he said, were “about being lazy — they’re too good-looking, and some even swivel.” [link]
3: “They’re the ultimate in relaxation, and should be used for either watching a sweet movie or an athletic event. They’re also the only chair that performs.” [link]
2: “I need to check my appearance before I go out,” said Ms. Georgieva, 43, explaining the full-length mirror, a $9 item that she turned into a conceptual artwork, gluing tiny toys to its frame and painting it all white. [link]
1: "A cobweb is an obscure mass of silk that has no form or format or style; it’s just strands. A spider web shows some form of architecture or style." [link]