The Sleeper: Your Connoisseur of Sleep

Those of you who find sleeping in a few extra hours on Saturday morning to be among life's greatest luxuries will appreciate The Sleeper, a meditative blog covering all things sleep. In recent posts, the Sleeper has pondered the perfect sleep and reported on the joys of an old fashioned feather bed. I had no idea how much there would be to learn and ponder about sleep and all its accoutrements, but I've been enjoying learning.

Home Depot has Modern Furniture and it's on Sale

Home Depot has been touting their home decor items on the radio for a few months now. I really never gave it a second thought, picturing mini blinds and cheap veneered side tables with attached lamps (sorry Home Depot), but I was so wrong. After seeing a 30% off deal for Home Depot furniture on the Bargainist, I clicked the link to find this set of mirrored parsons tables for $391 (left), and this Bardot cocktail table for $294 (right)! I am very, very impressed.

Domino Mag's Green List is Online

Domino Magazine and Treehugger.com have compiled a great list of 125 companies who are making a name for themselves as eco-pioneers. Links below:

furniture
fabric
walls
rugs
renovating
tile
clothing
transportation
traveling
beauty products
bedding and towels
cleaning products
foods

Green Living Goes Mainstream?

This month's Domino and Ready Made have both gone green, and I don't mean Emerald or Kelly green, I mean eco-friendly. Is this the year that green practices and products will finally go mainstream? I hope so and publications like Business Week seem to think so. I've heard so much buzz about the topic, I just had to post on it, even if it's slightly outside of my normal domain.

Green going mainstream certainly a pleasant proposition. Who wouldn't want non-toxic paint on their walls and grapes that have never been sprayed with pesticide? Who wouldn't feel like a slightly better citizen of this planet after choosing a flooring made from sustainable materials? Here's the catch: most of those things cost so much more than the regular, toxic, poison-drenched, unsustainable stuff.

The fact is that organic produce costs more to produce. There's a somewhat limited market for organic cotton yarn and milk paint (i.e. no economies of scale = higher cost per unit). Despite gas prices that have been at historical highs, a hybrid car's additional sticker price costs the average car owner more than the additional gas they would have used with a conventional car (click here if you want to see why). Furniture and building products that use recycled or reclaimed materials often cost a good deal more than conventionally produced products (reclaimed wood vs. new-cut wood flooring). The people who buy these products don't buy them because they are competitively priced or easy to find, they buy them because they care.

But how can we hope to get more people on board with saving the planet if doing so is well out of price-range for the average person? It's a catch 22. As long as the earth-friendly products are significantly more expensive than conventional, there will be low demand for earth-friendly products. As long as there is low demand for earth-friendly products, earth-friendly products will be more expensive to produce.

Green is becoming a hot topic this year because companies like DuPont and G.E. are pushing the U.S. government to implement green regulations. Sure, they're serving their own objectives to some extent, but the end result may be cleaner air and water. And this is one of those few times when a government should intervene in a free-market economy. With subsidies and tax breaks (some of which do exist now) we can encourage the development and production of eco-friendly technology and products that are affordable for everyone.

PHOTOS (clockwise from the top left):
Modutiles cork flooring, $180 for 12.
Ikea's Sparsam energy saving light bulbs, $9.99 for 2
Entwined Root Stool, $149 at Vivaterra.com

Peter Bauhuis: Ornate Minimalism

Ok, so this isn't interior design, but it is magnificent design. Phoebe at Silk Felt Soil has her post on jewelry by Peter Bauhuis labeled as "Ornate Minimalism." What a wonderful description of this very organic feeling piece. This sort of design illustrates how we can combine the current naturalist trend with a minimalist aesthetic.

Now I just need to figure out how to translate this feeling into a room.

Bold Room Dividers

A bold room divider design from Modern Convenience based on the designs of neighborhood fences.

Via Stylehive.

DIY Clutter Control

A Very cool use for old crates and a great way to get some of that clutter off of your closet floor and out of your nightstand. Now I wish I had some old wooden crates, a big garage full of tools, and some free time.

Love the lamp. This would actually make a cool headboard.

Via Apartment Therapy Chicago.

Color Trends: Green

I've seen a lot of saturated green in magazines and in stores this month. This is a color that I've avoided for years, feeling it was far too bright and far too brash, but I may be having a change of heart. It's amazing how different it looks paired with darker neutrals like black, gray, and brown. Another color to be on the look out for: green's close cousin, teal.

Decorating in green, black and white from the March House & Garden.

The work of designer Kelly Wearstler via Design*Sponge

Anthropologie's Ditte sofa.

Componibilli Cabinet

Via Design Milk, the Componibilli Cabinet would make a great bedside table as well as a great storage piece for the bathroom. The piece costs £60 at Graham and Green.

Jonathan Adler Sale

JonathanAdler.com kicks off its annual sale today. Items are up to 50% off.

A Little Valentine's Candy

The Deathcake Royal via Not Martha

Decorating with Red via Decor8

A glitzier, sexier light switch via Silk Felt Soil

Neon Furniture in New York Magazine

In their "Blogging New York Magazine" post, Apartment Therapy touches on the new trend towards extreme neon colors in clothing, furniture, and home accessories. I hate to keep beating the Mod drum, but all signs are pointing to "yes."

Amazing Mod-Print Sofas from Anthropologie

Here are two very bold, very Mod sofas from Anthropologie's new collection. I love the large-scale pattern and the mix of black, white and green on the ditte sofa. The fabric is a modern take on the naturalist trend by Marimekko.

The black and white milo chesterfield is also upholstered in a Marimekko print. The sofa style is a little Victorian, but the take is definitively modern.

Via Design Sponge.

Inside the Home of Artist Amy Ruppel

This photo of artist Amy Ruppel's from Design*Sponge tugged at my heart strings. Notice the amazing wood paneling on her walls. My grandfather, an ornamental iron smith, used a similar paneling in the retirement home he built from scratch near Austin, Texas. He achieved this look by taking sheets of wood and having them sand-blasted until the grain stood out in relief. He then rubbed the panels with a silvery paint. The look is both rustic and elegant. I have never seen this style outside his retirement cabin. What a beautiful way to bring the warmth of wood into the home.

Magazine Hoarders Rejoice

I love to leave my magazines out. I like to flip through them during commercials, while I'm cooking, before bed, but I don't want to leave them to clutter the table tops. Here is an unusually attractive solution ($595-$695) from In House Furniture via Design Milk.

Table-topped Beasties

I'm checking out new-to-me blogs today. It's been a while since I've had time to read much online (winter is the busy season at my office).

I just found a post about these amazing animal tables from Mobilier de Compagnie on the Home Rejuvenation Blog. I will definitely be checking back regularly. What a great find.

A Few More Cuckoos

Tobias Reishle's sleek take on the cuckoo, $375 at momastore.org.

Pascal Tarabay's Cuckoo Clock Chromium, $350 at Conranusa.com.

Trends: Cuckoo Clocks

I wouldn't have believed that cuckoo clocks could make a comeback, but over the last few months, they have begun popping up in decorator magazines. Whenever I picture a cuckoo clock, I picture it in a dark living room with wood paneling and chintz sofas, but interior designers are now pairing these over-the-top clocks with sparse modern interiors as centerpieces.

To the left is Fred Flare's oh-so-modern silver take on the cuckoo. $14 at FredFlare.com.

Below is the "Three Birds" clock from River City Clocks, as featured in the March issue of House and Garden. $410 at RiverCityCuckooClocks.com.

Either would make an amazing center piece in an otherwise minimal room.

Mid-Century Modern Wall Hanings

More signs of a shift towards mid-century design: CeLee at Dress Your Nest recently posted about Textile Arts, a company that helps you to create wall art from the works of fabric designers like Marimekko.

CeLee's blog also has a great sidebar feature called "Nest Essentials," which looks to be ab ongoing list of great items to have around your home in case of decorating emergency.

A Better Dish Rack

When we were first married, my husband and I lived for a year in an 800 sqft 1920s apartment with no dishwasher. In a sprawling city like Dallas, a life sans-dishwasher is relatively unusual and a home built in 1920 is considered quite old.

We had about 2 feet of counter top in that kitchen, half of which was perpetually occupied by a dish rack. I only wish we had seen this little gem back then. Not only is it space-efficient, it's actually attractive as well.

Via Product Dose.