This is so utterly brilliant. I think he could only make himself slightly more self-sufficient by growing a wee roof garden on top of it! While this is a functional item it was created by an artist living in New York.

I live in the London borough of Islington. For a residents parking permit for a car with less than a 1.1 litre engine, it will cost you £35 for the year. I know there are some that believe that parking should be free outside their house. I’m not one of them and I think that is a total bargain. Try comparing it to the cost of the square feet if you had to park it on your own property?

I don’t own a car. I own a bicycle. Now lets forget about what I want for a second, what do Islington Council want?.. Money! This is for them.

You can fit around 7 bicycles in the space that your average saloon car takes up.

To be able to leave my bicycle on the street safely rather than keep it in my flat I would honestly pay at least £100 per year. So would my girlfriend and at least the 2000 or so people I ask this question who actually don’t want their stuff nicked.

Ok, now lets do the math(s) Islington Council.

7 x 100 = £700

Correct Islington Council, thats an additional £625 per year to put in your crumb filled pockets!

All thats left is to design a bicycle locker that looks nicer than your average car and its a win all round. But… who gives a hoot about that eh?

Thomas Wold's Piecemeal Table

Thomas Wold has created a fantastic Piecemeal Table. Follow the link, his blog post has an image walkthrough on the making of it. It looks good in the modern hotel it was created for. However, in another less modern context it might not look quite so slick.

If you’re mulling over creating something similar, like we are, it could be an idea to give the table something like a bright red shiny laquer. The extreme finish will keep it looking modern in any lounge or garden.

Take a look Thomas’ Piecemeal Table.

Take a look at this bus shelter created by Christopher Fennell. A great use for what would have otherwise been scrap metal. It would be a sad end for our own London RouteMasters but I wouldn’t mind seeing a bendy bus seeing an end like this.

Another use would have been to use the skin of the old bus on the new one, I think it looks better even when in pieces?

An old bus finds a new use

Beautiful and lightweight

Fashioning a clock out of an old bike wheel is a great idea. This was created by Stuff Made from Stuff.

I’d love to have a crack at something like this one day, I think I might start.. here.

A pretty thrifty garden wall - and a great place for insects to live

It is always sad when a tree or branch has to be removed from a garden – and it is always sad when one has to pay hard-earned cash for a new fence or wall. So why not convert two sadnesses into one happiness? It can be done by slicing the branches and trunks of the felled tree to make a… well actually I am not sure whether it is a fence or a wall. Could it be a fwall? This example was seen at the Future Gardens Exhibition in London.

Successful construction depends on having each log exactly the same length and with vertical faces. A chain saw is the most convenient way of doing the cuts but chainsaws are dangerous and the job can also be done with a traditional saw horse and bushman saw. The builder’s job is then to place the logs carefully and thoughtfully, as when building a drystone wall, so that the two faces of the wall are vertical. Placing a sheet of chipboard or plywood as a laying guide helps the construction process.