Struggling to find the right piece for your living room that's both modern yet comfortable? Trendy yet unique? Stop wasting your time scrounging for thrift "mid-century" pieces at over-priced boutiques, and check out the Droog Hit Chair.

The Kentucky Derby is right around the corner (Saturday, May 3) -- what are your plans? If you're not heading to Louisville, you can still enjoy the festivities of the event by hosting a fabulous party in your home.

If you want to keep some of the Derby traditions in tact, you'll need to serve some particular drinks and dishes, but even before the food comes out, you'll want to set the tone with decor. Here are two ways to decorate, going along with the two types of Derby-goers (Millionaire's Row and the infield).

There are some decent options out there for environmentally conscious home decor. But really...some of them are kinda beige. Or cookie cutter same-same, or just too burlap-ish crunchy, you know?

Relax, you have options.

For one-of-a-kind decor, in the words of 1stdibs.com, "Do the planet a favor, buy vintage."

We only have one bathroom in our house. Luckily, I work from home and seldom shower so our time conflicts are held to a minimum. Of course, even if I wanted to spend a moment in the bathroom I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. My two small boys see to that. The idea of having quality time in there is just a dream in our house, something that only happens in songs and movies. What songs? How about Rubber Ducky? See, I know what I'm talking about.

That is why I was so excited when I saw this Biblio tub from Antonio Lupi which features a beautiful rectangular tub with clean lines and lots of space (length, I'm 6'3) built into a bookcase frame. How sweet is that?

It's amazing what you can get for $17,000 these days. A library for the bathtub. It's too rich for my pocket, but not for my dreams.



[via Scanner]

I'm a big fan of all of the amazing independent designers out there. In an effort to get inside the mind of the indie designer and find out just what makes all of these creative types tick, I present to you an ongoing segment I call Indie Designer Interviews.

Today's interview is with Claudine Hellmuth, a nationally recognized collage artist, author and illustrator. She creates quirky, retro-inspired mixed media collages, including custom commissioned artworks.

Tell me a little about your work. I am an artist, author and illustrator. I create custom artworks for clients using their photos of themselves, their kids and their pets. I weave them into a collage artwork. I would say my look is whimsical with a retro twist. I have also written a couple books about my techniques and filmed 3 DVD workshops. And I create illustrations for various companies for greeting cards, calendars and advertisements etc.

How did you get started as an artist? I have been an artist all my life. I went to art college and graduated with my BFA in fine Art in 1997. After I graduated I knew I had to get some sort of day job and the internet was just really starting out then, so I learned HTML and got a job designing web sites. I did that to pay the bills meanwhile building my art career on the side in the evenings and on weekends. I got laid off from my web job in 2001 and have been working for myself ever since! I was actually so worn out from working both my day job and for my art that by the time I got laid off I was relieved!

What are your top fashion & beauty must-haves?
beauty: bare minerals make up and my proactiv system!
fashion: a great pair of jeans!!

I'm a big fan of all of the amazing independent designers out there. In an effort to get inside the mind of the indie designer and find out just what makes all of these creative types tick, I present to you an ongoing segment I call Indie Designer Interviews.

Today's interview is with illustrator, mother, and indie business owner Holly Jones, who runs Vinyl Wall Art along with her husband. These wall art decals are a fabulous inexpensive way to liven up a room, and Holly creates many different designs that range from kid-friendly to chic and sophisticated.

Tell me a little about yourself and your company. I worked 6 years as a designer & Illustrator for a major scrapbook company. Recently I quit to work at home so I could be with my two cute little girls. My husband and I started Vinyl Wall Art last July. I design all the wall art we sell.

What inspires your work? Fabric designs, greeting cards, children's clothing, everything I see!

Designers are very intriguing characters, I must say. Their entire lives are built upon deciding what is or isn't beautiful, and yet many of them are fashion disasters themselves. Just take a look at Mr. John Galliano. I'm sure you've got the point.

Betsey Johnson is another one of those strangely garish designers that dress themselves and their environment to look much tackier than their sold creations. Johnson's tackiness can be a bit of an exception though, because, at least when it comes to her home, she can make it work. Check out this spread that Elle Decoration did for Johnson's very pink, very retro-cool home. The mix of items is very eclectic and is wild enough to make it clear that she did it intentionally. When it comes to something as crazy as this, the envelope has to be pushed.

Despite the natural grimace that emerges on my face when I see so much soft pink, I don't think I would say no to living in this home. I mean, Johnson has a big Siouxsie Sioux glamor shot above her bed. Come on.

How many times do you find yourself arguing with your significant other over 1) how much time and attention he or she devotes to TV over you, and 2) how many thousands of dollars he or she wants to spend on an enormous, flat screen TV versus, say an equivalently-priced diamond ring?

If it's once, or hell, even if it doesn't happen at all, the TVs at Opulent Items would be a compromise for both of you -- your significant other can enjoy an expensive HD flat panel screen, and you can admire the luxury of 155 jewels that are embedded in the frame. The white TV has 155 rubies, and the black TV on the left has G-colored VVS diamonds.

Of course, your compromise comes at a price tag of $85,000, and that's for the smallest screen size. Upgrade from 32" to 40" and you're tacking on an additional $35,000!

OK dude. So, let's pretend you've been playing the James Bond routine all night, trying to meet that special someone by wearing expensive suits, looking mysterious, dropping pithy one-liners into every conversation, and playfully hinting that you just might be dangerous. And let's pretend that, miraculously, you found a woman who was charmed by your shtick. After you've taken your lady back to the man-pad, impressed her with your voice-activated mood-lighting and enormous collection of Barry White LPs -- then somehow managed to get her to spend the night -- you'll have to make her breakfast. It's the gentlemanly thing to do.

So, 007. What are you going to cook? My recommendation is that you opt for something simple -- like fried eggs, for instance. These are almost impossible to screw up, and at least you can say you made an effort. But to really make an impression, ditch your lame old frying pan and cook those eggs in a gadget befitting an International Man of Mystery.

Introducing the Gun Egg Fryer. It does pretty much exactly what you'd think -- fries eggs in the shape of a gun. Sure, it's a little over the top, but so were you last night, and she came home with you anyway.

There's plenty of ways to spruce up your bath-time experience. Check out your local Bath & Body Works and you'll find thousands of oddly-scented soaps, candles, lotions, salts, rubs, and whatever else you can possible imagine -- all designed to soothe, or invigorate, or rejuvenate...or something.
Obviously this is all a little beyond me, but my fiance thinks it's great, and I'm glad it makes her happy.

But this latest bathing trend is slightly more off-putting. It's called Gelicity bath, and -- at least as far as I can tell -- it turns your bath water into an icky blue goo.

On the one hand, the gunk is infused with lavender, jasmine and begomot, which, if you're into smelling like flowers, is probably pretty cool. Plus, the "gel" stays hot for three times longer than water -- not bad. However, the stuff is so gelatinous that you won't be able to exit the bath until you've added a dissolving powder that turns the sludge back into liquid.

Does that sound creepy to anyone else? For more info, check out the marketing video -- the best part is listening to the narrator try desperate to make words like "gel" sound as sensual as possible.

[via Shiny Shiny]

Was one of our resolutions to make our home a place we want to relax, stay in on a Friday night, hang out? The Los Angeles Times and Daily Candy think Designer Michaela Scherrer's Mi Pillows might be a good thing with which to start. The pillows are inspired by nature and made of everything from scraps of vintage French linen to Italian leather, and feature laser cut designs. The soft colors alone like rose, sage, cocoa, silver, and white are relaxing enough, but Mi Pillows are also partially filled with lavender buds, giving them a soothing scent.

Available from michaelascherrer.com.

When you're looking for affordable, stylish furniture for your home, apartment, dorm room -- wherever really -- IKEA is your store. They've managed to bring fun modern styles to all of us who can't afford to drop $5,000 on a designer kitchen table. But even if you're totally obsessed with the store's streamlined solutions for modern living, you wouldn't want to live there -- right?

Probably not, unless you're this guy. Mark Malkoff was having his apartment fumigated, which meant he needed to find a place to stay -- bummer. He's a comedian and filmmaker, and all his starving artist friends didn't have room in their tiny studio apartments for a guest. Instead of blowing money on a hotel, Mark had a novel idea -- why not just stay in one of those display apartments in the local IKEA?

Seems crazy, but for some reason, the store actually agreed to let Mark take up residence in their New York location. He lives on the shop floor, eats all his meals at the cafeteria (hooray, Swedish meatballs!), and showers in the back offices.

The best part is that if you'll be New York this week, you can actually visit Mark. He'll be at IKEA through January 12th (after which he'll be heading home to his apartment). Everyone else can check back on Mark's website for daily videos about what life is like instead the home style mega store.

You can look like a million bucks in that Milly dress entertaining guests at your dinner party. You'll even be the hostess with the mostess with that luxurious set of linens and gorgeous dinnerware on the table. However, when it's time to put all that food away, are you going to out yourself as a cheap with those "disposable" storage containers that you keep washing?

Of course not.

French Bull makes charming storage containers for food made of 100% melamine, so they're dishwasher safe and shatterproof. Most of their designs feature bright colors in geometric patterns, but they even have classic black and white. A set of three containers is $26.

Really, now. You graduated from college over 10 years ago and you're still hanging onto that crumbling piece of foam on a rickety frame aka a futon?

While I understand the practicality of a futon (I have never in my life, ever appreciated a futon) because it's cheap, it can be used as a bed, and well, it's cheap, it's time to upgrade to something sleeker and a little more "adult." The Duo from Apt-NY looks like an ottoman when it's folded up and covered, but when you remove the "dress," it unfolds into a sleeping mat! Granted, it's not as comfortable for an overnight guest as say, your bed, but it's definitely better than that dying futon.

The Duo is $298 and comes in 10 colors.

Okay, so maybe the Ellips shelves aren't really scientifically proven to make rooms awesome, but if you take a look around the website, you should get proof enough and be able to fully embrace the awesomeness.

These shelves are assembled from specially cut pieces of wood to play tricks on the eye, adding extra fluidity to a room that could not be achieved by the usual, bulky, rectangular shelving unit. I especially love the pictured spherical illusion one, called the "Big Jim", but all of the designs are clean and would do well in any home looking for a modern touch.

Many of the designs on the website include detailed measurements of each piece in the unit, so, if you're the handy type, you could actually make your own.