GeekSugar

The SlouchPod Interactive Gaming Chair

GeekSugar — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:19:23 PDT

The makers of the SlouchPod claim that this interactive chair represents the next generation in Beanbags. I was never a huge fan of beanbag chairs, but this one may be an exception as it is completely wired for gaming and entertainment purposes. The SlouchPod features a digital control panel for mp3 players, games consoles, your TV or DVD, a computer or stereo. There are also built-in speakers with a subwoofer so you feel like you are in the center of all the action.
The only major boo-hoo about this chair is its hefty $600 price tag. But then again, Lazy Boy chairs are uber expensive, and they only massage you.

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Sugar Shout Out: Take Your Favorite Jeans Beyond Their Everyday Look

Meghan Rooney — Sun, 13 May 2012 23:55:00 PDT

Casa Capsule: Vintage Remix, an English Baroque Manor, and Marni Furniture

CasaSugar — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 10:00:59 PDT

Read an interview with LA designer Kishani Perera.
Marni has created a gorgeous line of chairs made by ex-Columbian prisoners.
You won't believe what these pendant lights are made from.
I want to be here now: Japanese wisteria tunnels.
Bavarian modern style dominates this German design hotel.
Getting hitched? You need to check out this dazzling ceremony decor.
Designer Jeff Andrews spills the secrets behind this lovely CA library.
Travel back in time when you tour the newly restored Easton Neston manor.
Read our interviews with Hunger Games set decorator Larry Dias.
Revisit the Titanic with these photos of the ship in real life, film, and television.

The Hunger Games Director Gary Ross Drops Out For Sequel

Shannon Vestal — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:28:00 PDT

The Hunger Games may be the megahit of the season, but the sequel, Catching Fire, won't be working with the exact same recipe for success. Gary Ross has decided not to direct the follow-up to The Hunger Games, saying, "As a writer and a director, I simply don't have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule." It was rumored that Ross might be out last week, but now that it's official, I'm wondering who will take on the helming duty. Who would you want to see in the director's chair for Catching Fire?

Jeff Andrews Shares the Inspirations and Sources Behind This Gorgeous Library

Elka Karl — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:00:52 PDT

Los Angeles-based Jeff Andrews has designed homes for Ryan Seacrest and America Ferrera, among other clients, and his timeless, elegant, and inspired designs are a hit with design fans, shelter magazines, and design insiders. One of his most recent projects is featured in the May issue of Traditional Home, which will hit newsstands on April 17.

Today, Jeff is sharing a preview of one of the rooms featured in the magazine with us - a lovely library. Jeff reveals the inspiration behind the design, and the process of creating the look with us. Keep reading to get inspired to make changes in your home library space!

Deciding upon the color palette

The wood paneling was an existing element and rather than fight it, I decided to just go with it. The area rug is the one and only piece that the clients brought with them from their previous residence, and luckily it found a great home in here. I chose colors that enhanced the rug and wood paneling stain color and the rest followed.

On the repetition of curvaceous lines in the space

When I started the project, this room seemed so linear and flat. I didn’t purposefully add "curves," but as the design process evolved, I was drawn to patterns that added movement and life to the space. It’s interesting how in design, sometimes things are selected individually and end up working in harmony to create an overall feel.

Using two tables in this space

The writing desk is used daily by the homeowners for correspondence and the other table is used as a library/game table, which I could see being used for her and her friends for a glass of chardonnay, or him and his buddies for a game of poker.

Creating animal intrigue for vegan clients

One of the only restrictions given to me by my client was no fur, leather, or animal products as they are vegan. But knowing their love for animals, as I shopped to accessorize their home, I was drawn to animal motifs. I didn’t set out to create a "zoo," but throughout the house you’ll see touches of real animal love!

The story behind that gorgeous desk chair

The first day I shopped with the client we went to a showroom sale and picked up several pieces, and this little gem happened to be one of them. It’s one of the few pieces in the room that is not vintage.

Where to commission a painting as lovely as the one in this library.

I sourced this painting from a local artist, Angela Dickerson-Lee, who also happens to have an amazing vintage store, Bonita Interiors, at the Pasadena Antique Center. She’s got a great eye.

On where to source the gorgeous pouf

It’s a Jeff Andrews-Design original.

Input from the homeowners

It needed to be comfortable, kid- and animal-friendly, timeless, and completely finished and move-in ready by the time it was complete. It also had to be on budget and done within six months. Check!

To tour the rest of the home, pick up the new issue of Traditional Home.

Part 2 of Our Interview With Hunger Games Set Decorator Larry Dias

Elka Karl — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:07:06 PDT

Earlier today, we shared the first half of our interview with The Hunger Games set decorator Larry Dias. Keep reading to learn more about what went into the process of creating the set!

CasaSugar: Where was the chandelier above the dining table sourced?

Larry Dias: The "chandelier" was actually comprised of 50 to 60 separate fixtures from Arteriors that we arranged off site and installed into the cantilevered overhang on stage. It was built into a wedge that floated over the dining table that came to a very shallow point. We had to put one of the set dressers inside the wedge to do the installation and wiring so we picked the smallest guy and in he went. A claustrophobic environment to say the least.

CS: The chairs at the dining table are so futuristic, and I love the pleating effect. Where were these sourced?

LD: Those chairs are made by the Phillips Collection [note: photo above is from Phillips Collection, not from the film]. Buyer Margaret Hungerford found them in High Point in North Carolina. We decided they were perfect for the set since we were looking for something that was a little "off center." They are made of strapping similar to seat belting and are woven around a wooden frame. The texture and silhouette of the chairs read wonderfully on film.

CS: Since Lenny Kravitz also has a design firm, did he have any feedback about the set? Did you collaborate together at all? (The high pile rugs in the penthouse reminded me a bit of his designs.)

LD: He gave some really positive feedback. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the sets. By the way, the high pile carpeting was area rugs that we fused together because we had to cover an area that was quite large.

CS: I loved Katniss's bedroom quarters. What went into your look for her room? How did you choose the color palette?

LD: Phil and I were trying to come up with a bed that anchored the room, and we were really playing with color. We couldn't find anything that wasn't too recognizable so he designed it on his computer and we built it. The paint is a high-gloss lacquer, and the upholstery was this amazing patterned velvet Margaret had found. The faux fur spread was an homage to Katniss's hunting prowess.

CS: I also loved the row of organic, macrame-look pendants behind Katniss's bed. Where did you source these? How did you come up with the idea for these lights as a focal point?

LD: Those fixtures are actually made of wire. They are a group of pendants from a company called Shine Labs in the Bay Area. I thought they had great silhouettes so I bought a number of them and played around with some configurations, and that's what we ended up with.

CS: What went into your inspiration for President Snow's Capitol home? What
time period particularly influenced you?

LD: This was a funny one. The script called for an opulent room in the Capitol, but being sort of landlocked in Charlotte limited the options available for Phil to choose from, and since it was at the very end of our shooting schedule it was impossible and not cost effective to do a big company move. A film crew has quite a lot of people working between all of the departments. So after futile attempts to find something appropriate, Phil asked me to join him to look at a space in the Philip Morris facility that we were using as our home base. The room was a former screening room/meeting room of sorts that looked out onto an amazing interior courtyard. We had the neglected plants pruned and added about 50 rose bushes to the garden. We built some interior walls that were clad in a faux travertine and did mica inlays that were very luminous. It tied into the brutalist architecture very well and to me had the feeling of the '30s Milanese Villa Necchi Campiglio, one of my favorite places ever.

Have you seen The Hunger Games yet? What was your favorite part of the set design? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Film photos courtesy of Lionsgate

Hunger Games Set Decorator Larry Dias Shares Stories and Decor Details From the Film

Elka Karl — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:17:42 PDT

Watching The Hunger Games at a press preview, both Angela and I were scrambling to jot down notes on the fantastic set design showcased in the film. Now, we have the answers to all of our set design questions. Set decorator for The Hunger Games Larry Dias was integral in making the film come to life, from the Appalachia-inspired homes seen in District 12 to the opulent palace of President Snow. Dias was nominated for an Oscar for his production design work on Inception, and he's worked on the set design for films including The Village, The Last Airbender, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Keep reading to find out more about the process of designing the look of The Hunger Games. CasaSugar: I read that much of the decor for District 12 was sourced from local antique shops in North Carolina. How were you inspired by these antiques, and how did the look for this district develop?
Larry Dias: When [production designer] Phil Messina discovered the North Carolina location that serves as District 12 in the film, it just made sense to utilize the local antiques sources. In the book, District 12 lies within what is formerly known as the Appalachians. It could not have been more perfect. We found a number of dealers that had an abundance of unfinished "as is" antiques with rotting wood, peeled finishes, broken drawers, and rusty hardware, and they were items from the region. It was a perfect fit.

CS: The train car seems to have an art deco feel. Was this an influence for the look? How did you decide on the color palette and wood choices? What items did you include that seemed particularly important for these scenes?
LD: Phil came up with the design of the train cars, and the palette was an early idea that we toyed with changing a number of times but we always went back to the blue. The velvet I used in the upholstery was from Dedar, and at first we were having some trouble having it fit within our time frame. It was milled in Belgium, if I remember correctly, and we tried numerous times to find a replacement close to our original choice and just could not find a suitable one, so we played the odds and got it at the last minute. I'm glad we did because it had such amazing depth and was a really regal-looking hue that ended up being the perfect complement/contrast to the muted blue dress that Judianna Makovsky had designed for Katniss.

Of course we compared our swatches, but I think it really told a story when she entered that train car. The wood tones were chosen by Phil. As my team and I were sourcing the furniture for the train it became apparent that we would need to do part antique and part reproduction mainly because of quantities and also because Katniss drives a knife into the dining table! A lot of deco furniture is veneered, and we found a lot of great pieces that had irreparable finish issues or pieces that were too diminutive in scale, so we ended up finding some good reproductions that we could get quantities of. Because it was really difficult to get the woods to work well together on pieces coming from all over the US, we had our lead scenic Rick Riggs and his amazing crew faux finish the furniture to tie it all together.

A funny thing is the barrel chairs that play prominently were pieces that my buyer Sara Gardner-Gail found online, and they were really inexpensive but had the perfect shape. I had the legs cut off and added a swivel platform base, had them painted and upholstered, and they looked like the finest antiques. One of the things about set decoration is that you have to be ready to improvise as well as accommodate change. Unlike the design of, say, a hotel lobby where everything has been drawn in will not change, a film set is quite the opposite. Once the actors, camera, and crew are in the set, furniture starts flying, literally.

First, just to accommodate the cast and crew, usually at least one half of the set will be cleared of furniture, then as the shots and camera angles are being set up, the director may decide he needs things to rearrange a bit to accommodate a scene. It can be a little improvisational so having a few extra chairs, lamps, or occasional pieces hanging around is a good thing.

Keep reading for more of our interview with Hunger Games set decorator Larry Dias!

CrossFit Athlete Mel Ockerby Shares Her Beach-Ready Workout

Leta Shy — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 01:31:48 PDT

Have you gotten on the CrossFit bandwagon? Many celebrities are fans of CrossFit, and it's becoming more and more popular as a way to get results fast without being bored. Mel Ockerby is one such fan. The former gymnast started CrossFit training just two and a half years ago and now spends her days challenging herself and others as a Puma trainer and member of the reigning champion team in the Reebok CrossFit Games (I took a 12-minute workout with her last month, courtesy of Puma, and let me tell you, she knows what she's doing). I recently spoke to her about how she got into CrossFit, and asked her to share a bikini-ready workout with us.

FitSugar: Why do you like CrossFit so much?
Mel Ockerby: It's fun! You work out with your friends. The workout changes every day. It's never boring. It never gets "easy." Yes, you get better at certain movements, but once you're good at a movement, you either want to add more weight or do more reps to make it challenging again. There's always a challenge, and it can be competitive.

FS: What does your weekly workout routine look like? Do you have a rest day? Do you have less-intense days?
MO: I work out five times a week, usually two workouts per day, each lasting an average of 12 minutes. Some "rest" days, I will do a very low-intensity jog.

FS: What do you say to someone who is scared to try CrossFit?
MO: Just walk in the door! The people are super nice, the coach will scale the workout to your fitness level, and the feeling after you finish a [workout] is unmatched by anything else!

FS: What diet tips do you recommend for someone trying to get in shape for Summer?
MO: Eat real food! Lean meats (fish, chicken, grass-fed beef, seafood, turkey), veggies, nuts and seeds, and avocados. Avoid processed foods. Don't overdo the fruit and nuts.

CrossFit is all about simple, scalable moves that you can make more difficult by adding weights or reps. Mel recommends you try the following workout to get in shape for Summer, going as hard as you can without breaking form. Continue adding reps (or weights) to each exercise when you're ready - it's more important to "get the mechanics down first, perfectly" before you make your workout harder, Mel warns. "[There should be] no intensity until movements are consistently great," she says.

Read on for the workout.

Punk'd Returns Tonight With Justin Bieber - Will You Watch?

Becky Kirsch — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:30:00 PDT

It's been five years since Punk'd went off the air, taking Ashton Kutcher and his celebrity pranks away with it. That is, until now. MTV is bringing the show back to life, this time with Justin Bieber in the hosting chair as he targets a slew of stars to embarrass them on national television. I had a soft spot for Punk'd back in the day, but it definitely got stale toward the end; Ashton seemed more obnoxious than endearing and the well of celebs seemed to run dry. I didn't care much about its revival until I started seeing promos for the new version, which will feature the likes of Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and other younger stars who weren't around the first time. The opportunity to watch Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth lose his cool is pretty enticing, so I'll be setting my DVR for the show's premiere tonight. What about you?

Sugar Shout Out: Essentials For Your Cookbook Library

PopSugar — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 23:55:08 PDT