2007_01_09_hairpin.jpgThis one is for the DIYer in you.

You know, the part of you that looks at a discarded sake barrel on the street outside your favorite Japanese restaurant and reimagines it as a funky side table. All it needs, afterall, is a good scrub-down and some nice legs.

Furniture designer Ian Maclean had such a positive response to the retro hairpin legs he fabricates for his own line that he now makes them available for his customers' DIY projects. This means you can make your own stylish case study furniture, even if you can't weld. Sunset Scavenger, beware!

Made of cold-rolled or stainless steel round bar with "TIG-welded joints" (which just means that they're super strong), Maclean's hairpin legs mimic the clever design of v-shaped M-C-M appendages, as seen in the quintessentially-Californian case study bed and the bedside table.

Hairpin legs come in many sizes and run from $19 to $30/apiece. Custom fabrication is also available to accomodate beds or different sizes and styles.