It’s fascinating to see the way cultural context influences design. For example, we’ve seen a romantic Spanish outdoor lighting system; an individualistic, work-focused British detached office; and the frontier rusticity of an American-made wood handrail. So what does this say about Italy, a kitchen bursting with color, curves and flair?
The Argento Vivo kitchen system integrates prep surface, storage, cooking, and entertainment in one colorful package.
If I lived in Portland, Oregon I’d want to work at Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co., a company known for its cool light fixtures and shades with styles and designs dating from the turn of the century through the late ’40s. Founded in 2002, and now expanded into other home furnishings and handmade items, Schoolhouse Electric remains dedicated to heritage, quality, and made-in-America craftsmanship.
Schoolhouse Electric's simply styled City pendants celebrate bare bulb hanging fixtures; the chandelier makes it fun.
Ever since I had the good fortune of riding out a significantly sized earthquake in a Mexican beach town while reclined and suspended like a human Richter scale, I have a soft spot in my heart for hammocks. That particular hammock was just strung between two tropical trees; this modern take on the classic hanging outdoor lounger makes a distinctly bolder design statement.
The Wave Hammock is sturdily balanced and counter-weighted to withstand the weather.
There’s something brazenly nostalgic about these gazebos, like stepping into a painting in a gilded frame. I can understand why people might be tempted to recreate such a fantasy landscape in their own backyards.
It takes a generously sized yard to house an Old World Gazebo of this stature.
Perhaps we’ve just found a new addition to the chronicle of contradictory terms that comprise our growing list of oxymorons. For your consideration, I give you the horizontal shower.
Inviting to recline, The Horizontal Shower by Dornbracht rewrites the rules of traditional bathing.
With lots of new smart technology, celebrity collaborations, and plenty of glitz, I found myself creeping around the crowds focused on the newest goodies at last week’s Kitchen and Bath Show – and looking to dig deeper. Don’t get me wrong: innovative products can be an inspired feature in your home remodel (although you may duke it out with your plumber when it comes to installing new components they might not have worked with before).
One of my favorites: This retractable towel ring from Moen.
I’m sure it’s true that there’s nothing new under the sun, but it must have been cloudy the day someone dreamed up this quirky number. Behold the Rocking Bed.
The Mood Rocking Bed twists the traditional four-poster bed into a whole new concept.
The U.S. doesn’t have the castle ruins of the Old World, but we do have our old barns, some of them abandoned, waiting with a farmer’s stubbornness for either time or weather to finally knock them down. But many of these structures still have something to offer, such as the lumber they’re made of, which is often one of the more stable, dry, resource-efficient building materials you could find.
Sliding doors made of lumber reclaimed from old barns.
If you wore a wool cap on a mid-day walk through the Sahara, you’d sabotage your body’s ability to properly ventilate. The same thing happens to your house when it’s 95 degrees outside, and your attic can get as hot as 160 degrees because there’s no mechanism for venting the steamy air.
This extreme heat generally makes for a less comfortable living environment, and strains air-conditioning systems in costly, inefficient fashion. An attic fan is a good solution, but the electricity they require can cost a couple hundred dollars per year. Solar attic fans, on the other hand, run on free energy supplied by the sun.
Solar attic fans can help effectively cool your house using free energy from the sun.
After preparing a chicken dish, I wash my hands at the kitchen sink. Now my hands are clean, but what about the handle that I used to turn on the water – is it contaminated with chicken stuff? If I don’t wash the handle, will the next person who touches it get potentially dangerous bacteria on his/her hands? You could drive yourself crazy with this stuff, or perhaps end the debate with a Delta Touch2O faucet.
A tap of the finger starts the water flowing on the elegant Delta Touch2O Faucet.
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