Our Top Ten Favorite Design*Sponge Posts

In honor of Grace Bonney Week (June 10-June 14, naturally), which kicked off strong due to Grace’s announcement that not only was she batting for our team, she’s also coming to A-Camp in October, here’s a handy listling of the top ten Design*Sponge posts, in no particular order.

1. DIY Project: Simple Summer Hammock

Oh my goodness, did you know you can just make a hammock out of a beach towel? Because I didn’t. Design*Sponge has super clever tutorials, including this one about hammock making as well as pretty much any craft under the sun. And they’re all so beautiful and well designed that you read these tutorials and think, “Yeah, I could make that and I’m actually going to go buy the supplies right this second.” Genius.

2. After The Jump: Top 10 Lessons I’ve Learned From D*S

Grace Bonney hosts a little radio show from Design*Sponge called After the Jump and it’s legitimately really interesting. In this particular one, I really enjoyed hearing her speak about what she has learned from the long journey of Design*Sponge, but I particularly related to the mistakes she’s made along the way. Shouldn’t Riese be Grace’s next guest? Yeah, I think so, too.

3. Bike Madness: Bikes, Accessories, And Inspired Decor

Bike. Madness. Nothing gets my heart beating faster than a beautiful bicycle or beautiful things to put on my bicycle or beautiful things with bicycles on them. I am very easy to please. I own no less than three things featured in this article, perhaps in part due to this article. Real talk: if you are looking for any kind of product in the entire world, Design*Sponge has probably already featured something related to it.

4. Before & After: Best Of Floors

I have a confession: I love makeovers. I love makeovers on television, I love makeovers in magazines and I especially love home renovation makeovers. I could look at Before and Afters of nearly anything, and I really love this Best Of Floors article because honestly, who would think that looking at flooring could be exciting and inspiring? But it really works in this article and before you know it, you’re looking at the flooring in your house and realizing that yes, a good strip and stain really can go a long way.

5. Biz Ladies: How Nice Is Too Nice

Biz Ladies is one of my favorite columns and I don’t even own a business. I do, however, own a sincerely independent heart, and there are very good life lessons tucked away inside of these. Even if you’re a casual Etsy seller to a self-employed computer programmer, there is something in Biz Ladies that will aid you in your endeavors. I liked the “How Nice Is Too Nice” installment mostly because I don’t think you have to lose your backbone in order to grow your business and I think many people forget that.

6. Sneak Peek: Best of Cats

Sneak Peek is a column that shows you creative people’s homes. This is the best of cats version. Here are a bunch of cats in really, really, really gorgeous homes. There is nothing more to say on this that could possibly convince you even more to look at this.

7. In The Kitchen With: Katie Quinn Davies’ Guinness Cake

Design*Sponge has exceedingly gorgeous food photography throughout the entire site. I chose this one because I was once a young queer, in the terrifying position of having to make a dessert for Christmas Eve for my former fiancee’s entire extended family in a foreign country, and this cake saved the day. It is deeeeeelicious. Make this as soon as you can.

8. Sketchbook Sneak Peek: Lisa Congdon

Lisa Congdon is one of my favorite artists and illustrators, and having the opportunity to peek in her sketchbook is delightful. Talk about inspiration. If you don’t fall in love with Lisa Congdon after this post, I just don’t think we can be friends.

9. Living In: Perks of Being A Wallflower

Riese and I were just having a discussion about how much we love the Living In column. Design*Sponge takes your favorite movie and then shows you how to achieve a look. It’s like Style Thief but for movies and with things like vintage typewriters. There’s also roughly a million of them, including Harriet the Spy and Now and Then.

10. Made With Love: Found Terrariums

This is one of the easiest terrarium DIYs I’ve ever found. Also, I used to walk around the Gold Coast looking at the ground to find tiny bits of moss for found terrariums, and this is from someone who has killed every terrarium she has ever tried to make except this very one. They couldn’t be easier to make and I love the simple look of them.


Alright, what’d I forget? What are your favorites?

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Hansen

Hansen is the former DIY & Food Editor of Autostraddle.com and likes to spend most days making and cooking and writing. She teaches creative writing at Colorado State University and is pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in her free time.

Hansen has written 189 articles for us.

4 Comments

  1. I can’t even tell you how happy I am that these websites are friends now.

    AS<3D*S

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