Favorite Table & Chairs

We like the vintage feel of wonderful old yardsticks used to line this kitchen breakfast nook or kids room table and chairs. The Vintage Ruler Table from VivaTerra is a great way to help your interiors measure up . . . and look how cute their red "This Rules" Step Stool is.

Favorite Vendor Photos

Favorite Tub

Tired after work? Tired watching the stock market's wild rides? All the more reason to look into Kohler's Fountainhead VibrAcoustic Bath. It combines sound, vibration, chromotherapy, and music to help you slow your breathing and heart rate. Oh, and we're sure you can take a regular bath in it, too.

Favorite Wine Friends

No, we don't mean "whining." If you're looking for good deals on excellent, and rather hidden fine wine deals, look no futher than Napa Valley's Bounty Hunter. Their search for rare wines and provisions can be trusted to give you great wines at great buys. 

Favorite Gift Site

We enjoy all the editor and user finds, from housewares and eco-friendly gadgets to clothing and furniture, on the cool hunting website. Check it out for all your holiday shopping this year.

Favorite Lighting

Bright ideas aplenty from the MoMA Store. We're really admiring some of their lighting solutions including (from top to bottom), the Sun Jar solar-powered outdoor or nightlight in a mason jar,  Tord Boontje's romantic and lacy Midsummer Light, the Lily Table Lamp, the loopy and funny String 10 Light by designer Patrick Townsend, and Philippe Starck's sassy and glinty Miss K Lamp.

The beautiful Morgan Hotel in NYC is even lovelier thanks to the new Andree Putman redesign. Watch the Morgan video to see highlights of the new work, including so-posh window seating and the exciting new interactive traffic video lighting display on the lobby ceiling.

Favorite Chair

Favorite Event

Favorite Display Solution

Favorite Books

Favorite Accessories

Wisteria has a host of mercury glass accessories that will add seasonal flair and decorating shine to your interiors. From top, you can choose from acorns, beehive cloche, birds, orb, urns, hurricane, pumpkins, and more.

Favorite Gift Idea

With the holidays fast approaching, you can make a keepsake book of your house or garden for your family and friends. Make your own bookstore-quality books tonight with Blurb's free BookSmart software from Design2Share. Buy just one or many; prices start at $12.95. Just download the free Blurb BookSmart software application (for Mac or PC), then drag and drop photos, blogs, recipes, text, whatever you've got -- into layouts designed by commercial book designers. It's time to share your house and garden with others. Get Started Now!

Favorite New Building (Coming Attraction)

We're big fans of Frank Gehry, and his Beekman Tower development, 76 floors of residential living in downtown Manhattan, is clean, muscular, and practical. We also think his choice of iCrete is green and pure genius (it emits only half the carbon of regular concrete). We can already see a few floors starting to poke out of the ground near the close-to-Ground-Zero construction site.

Favorite Holiday Gift Idea

With less than 100 shopping days left for the winter holidays, why don't you make a keepsake book of your house or garden for your family and friends? Make your own bookstore-quality books tonight with Blurb's free BookSmart software from Design2Share. Buy just one or many; prices start at $12.95. Just download the free Blurb BookSmart software application (for Mac or PC), then drag and drop photos, blogs, recipes, text, whatever you've got -- into layouts designed by commercial book designers. It's time to share your house and garden with others. Get Started Now!

Favorite Book

We're not a bit prejudiced. You can't go wrong with our new Design2Share book, My House Projects: Great Designs for Everyday Life. Compiled by our creative director Irwin Weiner ASID, the book includes two of Irwin's projects where he brought outdoor elements into a New York penthouse and a Hampton's oceanfront home, as well as other articles, including (starting with the top photo): designer Oskar Torres' Asian-inspired bedroom makeover, a look at Barbara and Robert Tiffany's award-winning Spirit Song furniture line, Julia Broder's Luxe Properties house tour of a new-construction estate in the Northeast, great outdoor antiques (like this 1800s horse and rider weathervane) paired with fine art from Bond & Bowery dealers, and designer Jennifer Mitchell's spotlight on Valcucine and how their latest Milan exhibit underscores all-new trends in kitchen design. 

Favorite Lighting

The Scheisse Light from Norway's Northern Lighting was named for the expletive one says when you've just dropped and exploded a lightbulb. Clever name, cool light.

Favorite 2008 Kips Bay Show House Rooms

There was much debate over the best of the best rooms at the Kips Bay Show House this year, but we narrowed it down to (top to bottom): Sara Bengur Interiors cozy and eclectic breakfast room seating arrangement, Geoffrey Bradfield's eye-popping library with fashion-forward contemporary Asian art, and the glam metallic wall treatment made from tin can lids in White Webb's bedroom.

Favorite Bench

We're not sitting on the fence when we recommend Wisteria's factory chic French Industrial Locker Room Bench. Use it by your pool or in a bathroom, dressing area, home gym, or mudroom. 

Favorite Console

One of our moms used to glue seashells to everything, from picture frames and mirrors to headboards. We find that same daft, homemade, zany flair in Currey & Company's Seaside Console Table. We urge you to buck today's home trend to go Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel with your entire "look"; instead, mix it up with an assortment of interesting pieces like this console.

We have fallen deeply in love with these Tie Chairs, crafted by Alabama Chanin. These are recycled ladderback chairs dating from the 1920s to the 1970s and they've woven funky ties to the seats and added carved sayings on the backs. Each chair is unique, and we can't resist. It's nice to see products that shun mass-produced looks.

Favorite Event

Experience a fascinating self-guided driving tour through Central Bucks County. Explore six sites of fine architecture, environmental, interior, and landscape design. As a final treat, ticket-holders are invited to enjoy a catered networking reception courtesy of Cote Catering, Chaddsford Winery, and The Bucks County Riverboat and Trolley Companies. For more information call the Chamber at 215-348-3913,email info@centralbuckschamber.com, or visit the event site.

Favorite Article

The New York Times came out with a fantastic article that we highly recommend for all homeowners who would seriously like to consider art and antiques as more than a hobby. Read Passion and Prudence, The Secrets to Collecting. (Pictured above, Leslie Keno of Sotheby's, a NY Times photo by Tony Cenicola)

Favorite Charitable Way to Shop

Nest is a non-profit organization that makes loans to women artisans around the world to create unique products that they then sell to repay the loans and help the artisans earn a sustainable living. Shop for hundreds of articles like (top to bottom) a Tanzanian basket, a Mexican leaf bowl, or Henry Road pillows. You'll also find the works of U.S. designers who are donating 25% of their revenue to Nest's mission.

Favorite Tricked-Out Doors

The folks at Philip Watts Design have developed a great business putting together fittings, fixtures, and accessories for the home, specializing in modern stairs and in porthole kits for doors. Some of their portholes are shown above, helping turn ordinary doors into nautical or just plain funky peek-through experiences.

Favorite Girl's Bed

It's difficult to find that blend of sophistication and youth needed in a young girl's bed, but Lea's Jessica McClintock Youth Collection strikes some pretty solid notes to us. Pictured above is the Tester bed.

Favorite Book

We love Aronzi Aronzo's whacko designs from Japan, and The Bad Book is now translated into English. Be prepared for some great laughs in a stylish and unusual addition to any coffee table!

Favorite Candidates' Houses

There has been much made of where this year's presidential candidates live. The top photo shows the Obama family's home in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood while the bottom photo shows one of the McCain family homes (this one is in Arizona).

Favorite Coming Attraction

Favorite Books

Those would actually be the books that YOU create using our new Design2Share partnership with Blurb. Make your own bookstore-quality books tonight with Blurb's free BookSmart software. Buy just one or many; prices start at $12.95. Get Started Now!

Favorite Personalized Home Gift

Here's a clever gift for any homeowner from Eximious of London -- their Custom Enamel Box. Submit a photograph of any house, boat, or property and you can have it hand painted on the outer lid with a special inscription inside.

Favorite House of the Future

We're loving German architect Rolf Disch's Heliotrop House. The house is a great example of "sunflower" technology, rotating the house's solar-grabbing windows to the sun when the house needs heating in winter or rotating it away during the summer to keep the place cool. 

Favorite Mattress

There is hot debate about one mattress and its merits versus others. We're currently liking The Organic Mattress. Everything is pretty pure and organic in its careful manufacturing. Check them out, along with their special dust mite covers, too.

Favorite Spa Getaway

Send us to Winvian in Litchfield Hills, Connecticut! It's not that we didn't relax enough during the summer; this would be a preventative getaway to make sure we get rid of autumn stress. Check out their themed cottages, too.

Favorite Book Series

Designer Todd Oldham has a new book series out called Place Space, all about quirky people and places. There are also fab essays written by folks like Amy Sedaris and Cindy Sherman.

Favorite Books

Those would actually be the books that YOU create using our new Design2Share partnership with Blurb. Make your own bookstore-quality books tonight with Blurb's free BookSmart software. Buy just one or many; prices start at $12.95. Get Started Now!

Favorite Desks

cb2's graph desk (above) is clean, white, and a great buy for the home office.

The Scriba desk from YCami (above) is a versatile, modularized desk designed by Claudio Bellini. Bella, bella.

P'kolino's adorable and space-saving Klick Desk (above) will let your child color and draw merrily beside you in the home office as you battle to get that PowerPoint presentation completed for the big board meeting in the morning.

Favorite Video

Thanks to designer Oskar Torres for tipping us off to the Hamptons Cottages & Gardens 2008 Idea House Video Tour; great work from everyone involved (and good job, Oskar!).

Favorite House Tours

Bucks County, Pennsylvania is close to major eastern cities and home to many beautiful residences. This house tour will show you six diverse examples of the Bucks County lifestyle, and we wanted to congratulate our creative director Irwin Weiner on having his home included in this year's tour (that's his living room and guest bedroom in the event poster above). Contact Tony Luna at tony@centralbuckschamber.com for more details.

Favorite Eco Tip for Kitchens

Are you a clean freak? The folks at Method put out Squeaky Green: The Method Guide to Detoxing Your Home, and they note that disinfectants and antibacterials should not be used in kitchens. They may boast of killing bacteria, but viruses actually contribute to colds and illness, and it would take chlorine bleach 30 minutes to sit on a pre-cleaned surface in order to kill bacteria. Their recommendation? Clean kitchen surfaces often with natural products; that's all you need to minimize dirt and bacterial accumulation.

Favorite Art Happenings

Alexandra Avlonitis (Untitled, 2008 shown above) will open her new Mindful Journeys art show on August 30, running  through October 6 in beautiful Roxbury, CT.

Pamina Traylor (Tray Adrift shown above) debuts her reflections show on August 21; it runs through October 18 at San Francisco's sculpturesite gallery.

Favorite Do-It-Yourself Design Idea

We love Besselink & Jones for their great selection of lighting solutions. Now they can powder coat their metallic lamps in practically any custom color you can provide. We think this color-matching idea would be a great way for you to retrofit any metallic yard sale or flea market treasure to fit into today's Painted Look for lighting. If you want to powder coat your finds, click on the preceding link to get tips on how to prep your objects, then contact a nearby shop that will do this process for you, like New Hampshire's Powder Coating Alternatives.

Favorite Space-Saving Beds

Resource Furniture in New York has some great solutions for apartments, guest rooms, media rooms, and home offices to maximize multiple uses for precious living space. The Ito model (first two photos) converts from a sofa to a queen-sized bed while the Ulissee Desk (last three photos) converts into a single or double bed.

Garden Favorites

We're really liking the Fishtail Planter for its large size @ 38 inches in diameter and 25.6 inches tall; perfect for a large plant or trailing arrangement. We also have our eye on the George and Dragon Tank and Fountain because we can't get enough of the sound of splashing water. Both are from Burke Decor.

Favorite Tables

Are you a gaming geek? How about a 1980s geek? Either qualifies you to love the Rubik's Cube Table by Jellio, made for the geek inside of everyone. Use one as an end table or put two together for coffee table action.

Aluminum never bent so beautifully before. Christoph Boeninger's 2006 Table #28 is an original, with two shelves made from bent ribbed aluminum. Great for indoors and outdoors.

We went ape over Wisteria's Riveted Metal Coffee Table. We're now waiting for one to roll itself into our living room.

Favorite Book

My Garden Photos

A Design2Share Book

By Anthony F. Chiffolo

Book Preview

We're biased, but we highly recommend the new Design2Share book by Anthony Chiffolo, My Garden Photos, on great garden photography tips. You work hard to get your garden, yard, pool, patio, and outdoor rooms looking beautiful throughout the warm weather months; now you need to learn how to photograph your hard work to maximum advantage.

Coming Soon: You will soon be able to customize this title. Download our free BookSmart software to make your own house and garden books, and we'll give you this book file so you can customize it and make your own garden photo keepsake. This will surely be your favorite book, and a great gift idea for friends and family.

Here are some beautiful photos from Anthony's garden which he would like to share with the D2S community:

Favorite Custom Portraits

Order a colorful customized silhouette portrait by Carter Kustera for everyone in your family, a great service now available from the Jonathan Adler website.

 

Favorite Custom Wallcoverings

Walter Knabe offers a wide range of customization options for wallcovering, allowing the artistic you to express itself. Just select colors, patterns, and backgrounds and off you go! Some great custom treatments caught our eye in the photos above, from top to bottom: Fresco, Antigue Toile, and Poetic Verse.

Favorite Design Blog

Jennifer Mitchell's Design Hole site is filled with daily tips, advice, resources, and savvy opinions. Please check it out!

Favorite Sofa

The Conran Shop carries the zany Polder Sofa, an extra-extra large mash-up seating arrangement that consists of five different fabric textures and many hand-finished buttons in materials like bamboo and mother of pearl. Quirky; we love it.

Favorite Bird Accessories

We love Eva Solo and their unique, well-designed products. Above are some of our for-the-birds favs (top to bottom): the Eva Solo Bird Box, Bird Feeder, Birdtable, and Bird Bath.

Favorite Chest of Drawers

Wisteria's fantastic Kilim Chest marries handwoven Turkish rugs and accented leather details with a five-drawer chest to give you a chic piece to brighten up any room.

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Favorite Green Olympics Building

The Beijing Olympics Aquatics Center is nicknamed the Water Cube for good reason. It appears to be composed of bubbles of water without any walls, but its ingenious in its eco-friendly design, from capturing passive solar energy in each bubble cell to channeling rainwater into all aspects of the building -- even the pools.

Favorite Window Treatments

We think the Tracy Porter Bona Fide Charm Curtains are a French epic motif kick. Put them up as room dividers or window treatments, and cinch them up for extra flair. Fancy schmancy look; low price.

Favorite Hotel Chair

This is a bizarre category to find a favorite for, but we couldn't resist! The Lancaster Arts Hotel is a boutique operation housed in an 1881 tobacco warehouse, and this chair is inspired by that background. Fun Fact: Lancaster, PA is the oldest inland city in the United States. And this hotel is close to 70 galleries, theaters, and art studios that make this a great place to visit.

Favorite Headboard

Vivre has so many cool home items in their well curated collection of designer merchandise. The Casamidy Hacienda Headboard is a Mexican tinsmith's confection. The Tin Man may have wanted a heart, but now we want a tin headboard like this one. Fits a king size bed.

Favorite Storage Solutions

We're nutso about Pfeifer Studio and their Thai solid hardwood Hand Carved Storage Tables. Chic and practical at the same time.

Favorite Idea House

You've got to check out the Hamptons Cottages and Gardens 2008 Idea House in Sagaponack, NY. It's loaded with great ideas from a host of architects, designers, and landscapers. Green and eco-friendly is in this year!

Favorite Dreamland Furniture

We can definitely see ourselves daydreaming or catnapping in this beautiful Saporiti Chaise Longue designed by Giovanni Offredi in the 1970s, from Modern One in Los Angeles.

Favorite Castle Furniture

The Biltmore is America's premiere castle, and their Sevenoaks Furniture Collection is available for purchase. Get that traditional British stiff-upper-lip Vanderbilt look for your home.

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Favorite Book & Dinnerware Combo

It's easy to love Jana Kolpen's beautifully produced book The Secrets of Pistoulet and the excitement it ignited in the tabletop world, inspiring lines of dinnerware and accessories. Buy the book and add the romance of the south of France to your table.

Favorite Chair

Who wouldn't love this En Point Chair, a repro of the chair created by French interior designer Madeleine Castaing, part of her legendary shop in Paris' 7th arrondissement on Rue Jacob. Ballerina legs and blue ribbons at the knees make this quirky, quirky fun. From the folks at Wisteria.

Favorite Wallcoverings & Textiles

We're crazy-wild about Pierre Frey's venerable Braquenie branded wallcoverings, fabrics, and window treatments. Shown above are some of our favorites (from top to bottom): Le Grand Genois, Monuments d'Egypte, and Valmy.