As part of our staycation, today we headed into New York. One of the perks of living sandwiched in between New York and Philadelphia is that we are fortunate enough to have so many wonderful things to do within driving distance (plus about 6 Ikeas, no exaggeration). All we knew for sure today was that we were going to a Yankee game at 1. We were delighted when we walked outside this morning and saw how gorgeous the weather was.

We had a great view from the 2nd row of the bleachers, but my goodness it was hot in direct sunlight. We were roasting and decided to leave after 6 innings. My friend Shannon was with us (hi Shan!) and we decided to hit up a museum. We wound up at the Museum of Modern Art (commonly known as MoMA) and managed to get in for free since the company Mike works for receives free admission for up to 3 people. Woohoo we saved ourselves $60!

I thought I had made all of the museum rounds for college classes, but as we walked in I realized that I don’t remember ever being at MoMA. Maybe with a high school art class but I don’t remember it. We were pretty exhausted so we didn’t stay too long, but we did manage to browse most of the place. I wasn’t sure if you could take pictures at first, but then I saw nearly everyone had a giant camera around their neck. I figured I’d take the opportunity to snap some highlights on my fancy…iPhone.

First, the very literally house related. This is a cross section of a house from Niagara Falls, NY that was going to be torn down. Those are 3 different pieces, so no, the stairs are not going into a doorway 🙂

I loved seeing the architectural details up close and personal. Like that thick baseboard, they don’t make them like that anymore!

Then there was an entire area dedicated to furniture/interior design. There was this very West Elm-like industrial light fixture that was made out of a cluster of single bulbs (maybe the West Elm designers have been hanging out at MoMA?)

And this cabinet, which looked like it was straight out of Ikea but instead the drawers got taller and wider as you moved down and over.

When I first saw this next display, it reminded me of the Brady Bunch house. But then I realized that the 70s are totally in style right now and most of this furniture could be in any West Elm/Ikea today.

This bubbly thing was called the cloud bookcase. I wish they would have stuck some books in there, but I guess museums are not meant for staging. A mini version could make for a cool wine rack though 🙂

This next stack of drawers just reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, so I had to include it…

Then there were the art pieces that set off a little light bulb in my head in terms of inspiration. All of these things I think I can use as a starting point to create some of my own art.

First is this panaramic ocean view made out of single prints arranged in a line.

I had to do something like this for a Fundamentals of Design course I took as an elective in college. All it takes is to stand in one spot but focus your camera on different areas as you move along. I did mine with Times Square back in the day.

Next was this departure/arrival board.

When I saw this, I got the idea of using this as a personal travel log. I’ve always been interesting in displaying our travels and I think it would be fun to list all of the places we’ve been on a board like this! I was thinking departure and arrival can be dates instead of times. Of course, it wouldn’t be functional, but maybe just a painting or print.

And finally, I love a good mosaic. This one takes the cake.

No that is not a photograph, it’ is actually small pieces of magazine pages!

I had to make something like this out of magazine pages in high school, but mine was awful. I tore the pieces rather than making them a consistent shape (like these circles) and was overly ambitious with my image. It ended up looking like a 4 year old made it. I would love to attempt something like this again, but I think I’d learn from my high school mistakes and use some simple circles and would definitely not make a face! This artist is clearly way more talented than I could ever be.

That’s the quick summary of our MoMA trip. We cut it short because we had to sit down for a good hour before our legs decided to function again. Regardless, it was a nice unexpected stop on our staycation!

Tags: furniture, MoMA, NYC