From the Category "People are Weird"

Bullet-shaped ice cubes from a bullet-shaped tray. Raises once again the epistemological question, "Where do ideas come from?



















From Find Me A Gift, via StoreCrowd.

tags:
bullet ice cube tray
ice cubes

Objet du Jour: Mathias Koehler Rocking Wheel Chair

In addition to having sleek lines and an elegant simplicity, this chair just looks like a blast to me. Not just a chair, but a total sitting experience. Did I mention the light at the top? So you can read? It just gets better and better, doesn't it.

Rocking Wheel Chair by Mathias Koehler.
via Gizmodo.

tags:
Mathias Koehler
Rocking Wheel Chair
Gizmodo

Trend Alert? Puh-leeeease

This coral fabric pillow ("Trieste," by Manuel Canovas for Cowtan & Tout) is one of the examples used in a recent spread in Elle Decor magazine, labeled "Trend Alert: Coral!"

Trend alert? Coral? REALLY? Hasn't coral been a trend for at least the last five years? I know that I posted my "Coral Corral" list on ThisNext in February, 2007, and let's face it, I'm not exactly the first person to know things in the design world.

Please don't get me wrong. I like coral. I love it as a color, and I like its use in design. The Manuel Canovas fabric is woven and wonderful.

But I think it might be time to graduate coral from a trend to a classic design motif. Induct it into the Fashion Hall of Fame, as it were. Coral is just not current enough to be a trend, in my humble opinion, but it does have demonstrable staying power. Coral is one of nature's fractals and, as such, is bound to be pleasing to the eye in a way that does not get stale.

Elle Decor, nice spread. Silly title. Love your mag.

tags:
Coral
Manuel Canovas
Cowtan & Tout

Such A Deal

What's even better than wonderfully quirky items from UncommonGoods? When they're on sale. For example, these darling string doll keychains are down from $12.00 to $6.95

As for this "could it be more over-the-top" candle holder, its price is less over-the-top when it's $69.95 instead of $100.











A treat for Rover or Fluffy, like these pet mats, is easier to swallow at $9.95 than $25.00.

Sale items from UncommonGoods are 62 in number, and well worth checking out.

Eclectic Detective is proud to be sponsored by UncommonGoods. A percentage of any purchases resulting from this post will help in my ardent fight against the need to find a real job.

tags:
household
bargain
sale
UncommonGoods

Lifeshop Collection Outdoor Furniture

The Lifeshop Collection has a line of outdoor furniture with a wonderfully pod-like feel to it. I have spoken before about my love of--or, perhaps, need for--this sense of being in an enclosed space on certain types of days or in certain types of moods.















I'm no psychologist, but I suppose it's a womb thing. Oh, wait. I am a psychologist. . . .

(Somehow I never tire of that joke. Ask anyone who knows me. They'll be happy to vent to you about the extent to which I never tire of that joke.)












Aren't these poddies snuggly? Although I found this past summer that what one really wants, on a lovely summer's day, is a hammock with a mosquito net draped over it.

via stylehive.

tags:
Lifeshop Collection
outdoor furniture
podlike
stylehive

Objet du Jour: "Messy" Tablecloth

I love this tablecloth on so many levels. The graphic is wonderfully irreverent, and the simple needlepoint treatment projects a lovely indie/handmade aesthetic.
























Also, it colors outside the lines! I love it when art breaks through its frame; there's probably an arty word for that, but as I have no background whatever in art or design of course I don't know it. If there isn't a word for it, there should be. I played around with the concept a bit in this piece from my Flickr photostream. (Yes, I'm aware I'm rambling. It's been a long day.)

In any case, the tablecloth is by AZEdesign, and I spotted it on a blog called roadside scholar, which is well worth a look.

tags:
AZEdesign
tablecloth
needlepoint
roadside scholar

Objet du Jour: Yada Yada Yoga Frogs

It's been so long, do I even remember how to do this?

Hell, it's not rocket science. . . .











I was filled with joy by these yoga frog figurines. Enough so that I had to break my over-long silence and post them for you. Some of you out there might have some very tense frogs on your hands, so it's the least I could do.

Available over at Art & Artifact: $59.95

tags:
yoga
frogs
figurines
Art & Artifact

Objets du Jour - Graham & Green Mugs

Cool mugs at Graham and Greene. Above, Urban Alphabet Mugs.

Below, By The Lake porcelain tea cups and saucers.
























tags:
Graham and Green
urban mugs
tea cups

Objet du Jour: Bird Print Cups

Aren't these great? I love the graphics and the chic way the cups are stored/displayed. Just one thing: I would get obssessive/compulsive about making sure they were stacked correctly, and I really don't have time for that. Like, the cats wouldn't get fed because I'm messing with the cups.

Still, they're great. At Dutch By Design for $35.00

tags:
cappucino cups
Dutch by Design
tabletop

Objet du Jour - Twinkle Living "Midnight" Rug

I'm loving this rug from Twinkle Living, called "Midnight." Only $1016, at Design Public.

tags:
Twinkle Living
Design Public
area rug

Objet du Jour - Tea Talk Teacups

I'm loving these word-play tea mugs. The list could be endless, couldn't it? Humili - tea. Adversi - tea. Indigni - tea.

I should probably leave it to the professionals.

At Wrapables for $11.95 apiece.

via Design Milk.

tags:
tea cups
wordplay
Wrapables
Design Milk

The Mane Lion Dinnerware

Lovely dinnerware from a site called The Mane Lion. Above, the Paradise Collection (my personal favorite). Below, the lovely Elspeth Collection.




















Finally, the Pastoral Pink Toile Collection, which I myself would find necessary to pair with these adorable bunnies (salt and pepper set) from the Easter Collection of specialty items.



tags:
The Mane Lion
dinnerware
dishes

Objets du Jour: Ibride Plates and Platters

I'm loving these melamine plates designed by Ibride for Habitat.

**Warning: both sites are designed, most annoyingly, in the beloathed, innavigable flash (boooo, hisssss).**

























This line of plates is called "Sorbet," and is described as follows:

With unique and dreamlike patterns created by combining photographic imagery, turn of the century line drawings, and high tech computer effects, Sorbet is perfect for outdoor dining or the most stylish midnight beach party.

Way cool, any way you serve them.

Ibride trays, also way cool, are available at Velocity Art and Design. These are made of high pressure laminate over pressed wood and paper board.
























If you don't like the squirrel tray below, well. . . there are plenty of blogs out there, so you might as well just move on.
























Eclectic Detective: arbiter of taste in laminate squirrelware.

tags:
Ibride
melamine tableware
serving platters

Objet du Jour: My China! Emperor Rim

I've got to say how much I looooove this china pattern, My China! Emperor Rim, which I came upon via Cutable.

tags:
tableware
china pattern
Emperor Rim

Cool Rose and Radish Tabletop Porcelain

The April issue of Lucky Magazine just came through the mailslot, and I was immediately struck by this beautiful Bird's Wing Dish designed by Ted Muehling for Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg.

From the same manufacturer, I also love these Unique Wildlife Plates designed by Hella Jongerius:
























Love them but not sure I could eat off a plate with a bug on it. Might get icked out.

If you'll excuse me, I'll be spending the rest of the afternoon exploring what's in at Rose and Radish.

(By the way, Lucky Mag, word to the wise: pull the cigarette ads. Is peddling addictive poison really your style?)

tags:
Rose and Radish
porcelain tableware
Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg
Ted Muehling
Hella Jongerius

The Seventies

Aren't we glad the seventies are over? "Be adventurous with paint!" is the section heading for this groovy number.

As a child of the seventies, I took this advice to heart: I insisted that my bedroom be painted in my favorite color, orange. (I have since discovered it is not my favorite color, but my favorite flavor. My favorite color is purple--and I do not like grape.)

My mother was sensible enough to convince me that bright yellow walls and orange accessories were the best way to go, for which I was later profoundly grateful, as the color scheme did not change until after I had left for college. She did, however, allow me to have orange and yellow carpeting with shag up to my ankles. She was pretty cool. Still is.

Can you imagine attending a dinner party in this room and not being self--conscious? At least our derriers would have covered up those butt-ugly chair cushions.

But this window treatmnt is, I think, rather clever:

Though I might like it better against a painted wall. I like a kitchen window whose curtains can be closed. The neighbors don't need to see my hair before I've showered.

And, finally, this next one is actually very sweet:

It would work just about as well in a current child's room as in one from 1977. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Aren't we glad the 70s are over? Yet at the same time, aren't we glad they happened?

All images are from the Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book, Meredith Corporation, 1976.

tags:
the seventies
interior decorating
Better Homes and Gardens

Children's Rugs

I don't know about you, but this whole adulthood thing has hit me pretty hard. The long hours. All the responsibility. Not being off for three months in the summer.

But one of the worst things about being an adult is being of the wrong age for children's rugs. Which have come one heck of a long way since I was a child, according to what I found on the Rosenberry Rooms site (above).

And that's not all. Have you heard of Shelly Kennedy's Drooz Studio? If you're a parent with a sense of whimsey, you may want to check them out.

















Children or not (in my case, not), my dream house will have just the right place for the Drooz Studio "Pretend" rug, below. Perhaps just below the sunny window seat where I while away my morning reading something not too serious but extraordinarily good.















After all, a girl can dream, can't she?

tags:
children's rugs
Rosenberry Rooms
Drooz Studio