When furniture designers found themselves gloomy, questioning the purpose of their inane creations, they may have thought throwing lights into their projects would lull them out of their depression. Whether or not that worked, the glowing couches and tables are a treat for consumers. Like moths, we freak out over anything that lights up. Lava lamps, disco floors, clear Christmas lights trimming a patio. The more light, the better, especially if it's colorful. If Ferngully and Tron merged during a night of passion, their offspring would be a furniture set looking something like this. LED installations fixed with recycled wood. This colorful lite-up love child is the future of furniture. It's a way to turn your living room into a nightclub every now and then. Next New Years at ...

Next time you think about throwing a luau, forget the grass skirt and grab some grass furniture instead. This furniture merges the home with a grassy meadow. Even with potted plants, the home ensemble just isn’t green enough. With a grass carpet installation, you can experience walking on soft grass, while feeling cozy in your own home. The grass generates fresh oxygen in your home. For homeowners who are very proud of their lawns, Terra offers furniture skeletons. The lawn goes right on top. I hope this doesn't cause grass stains. It would be fun for kids, but God help their poor mothers who are crying by the washer, railing against their laundry detergent for its false advertising. A fresh green lawn is so inviting, and even dogs agree. Here is a furniture pie...

If you follow our blog, you know that we're "green" at heart. I, personally, don't hug a lot of trees, but I do admire them and walk out of my way to pass houses with beautiful landscaping. Usually that means a flowering fruit tree or maybe a bush pruned to look like a giraffe. Recently, though, I found something that ties together my love of nature with my interest in landscaping and even my hobby of sitting down! Tree furniture is just what it sounds like: chairs, tables, mirrors, frames, and sculptures shaped from trees. Furniture designer and environmental guy Christopher Cattle came up with the idea to grow these wooden stools with trunks for a base. It isn't your usual take on furniture: instead, it's a statement, in design and appreciation of nature. Aussie artist Peter Cook ...

How many times have you been warned not to throw rocks at a glass house, and how many times has that advice come in handy? Well, brave architects are planning to build a glass house showroom this year. They won't have any trouble filling it, either, with the glass furniture, glass tile, glass accents, and glass everything else that's already available. They'll have to work around birds trying to fly in and people looking up ladies' skirts, but the design itself will be no problem. An entire glass house isn't practical, especially if you live somewhere with weather. But the technology and engineering for glass furniture are ready for the right situation. You might start with a sunroof for your floor, only thick enough to walk on. Glass is surprisingly strong, especially gl...

I'm going to let you in on a little secret - I love buying furniture second hand. It's like the pieces you find at a thrift shot, flea market, or just on the side of the road come pre-installed with a heaping helping of personality and potential. After all, if you only paid $5 for it, you'll probably feel a little more at liberty to get creative with it. That's one of the reasons I love the growing trend of repurposing furniture, especially turning regular pieces into bathroom vanities. It gives your bathroom a great unique flair and an unexpected focal point. Of course, if you don't like the idea of hacking up your own furniture, or want a little more sophistication than swap meet chic, the trend is catching on with designers, too, and you can find a whole range of "repurposed" bathroom v...

Rustic decor is great on its own for a cabin feel or to remind you of Grandma's farmhouse. It also mixes surprisingly well into almost any other home decor. Unless, of course, your pad is space age or hardcore industrial, at which point I make no promises. Your style alliances have been made. For anyone with more traditional, glam, oriental, even Victorian, and especially modern, taste, you're about to have a home accent therapy breakthrough. What's this rustic decor I'm talking up? Cow horns and barn doors? Maybe. I wouldn't rule them out yet.  The contrast it makes can be pretty amazing. Other rustic decor could include rough metal handles or hinges, lanterns, animal art or skins, cozy furniture, nature silhouettes and details, old signs or documents, and lots of wood everything. A ke...

I'm sold on rustic decor and its use of sustainable reclaimed wood furniture. If you aren't yet, take my word for it until you see the photos below or get up to speed with my first post in the series. The short story is that adding country-inspired furniture and accents is a fun new trend, reclaimed wood is eco friendly, and it lets you keep family heirlooms without going for totally country decor. This post is dedicated to the best places to window-shop for rustic furniture, in no particular order since I like them all. 1. Hudson Furniture A must-shop website for rustic chic home decor is Hudson Furniture, a company as committed to style as tree saving. They have decided to only build from trees that are more than a hundred years old and already doomed to harvesting. Out of those full...

The problem: scratched furniture, scratched humans, unhappy kitties.   My two offenders.  Don't they look innocent?        Cute kitties. Bad kitties. Or just kitties that need a little more training before my couch will feel safe again.    The solution: Cat trees and scratching posts. A fairly simple fix. (Unlike when Tigger got fixed.)   Scratching feels as good to your cat as a morning stretch. It's good for cat health and nails. And it marks everything you own as their territory. (Better than tom cats who pee on everything, isn't it?) So it's a hard habit to break. Like potty-training, and every other natural "bad" habit, you need to go into scratch-training. Armed with cat supplies.    1. The first rule of scratch-training is location, location, location. F...

I always dreamed of a patio. Okay, for the first few years I was looking for apartments, I really wanted a patio. That's similar, right? Then I got one but barely used it because it was too cold. Then I lived in a sublet where there was furniture everywhere in the house but no patio furniture, and it didn't seem like a worthwhile investment. Here's the thing: if you have that dreamy patch of concrete jutting off of your house, you should make the most of it. Don't let cold, darkness, sun, lack of furniture, or even bugs, keep you indoors when you don't have to be. Here are the solutions. Patio Heaters You want to be out on your patio, even when it's cold outside. Patio heaters make that possible. This tall outdoor patio heater is named after both Napoleon and the Bellagio b...

Get ready for a conquest in mastering outdoor dining. Preparing for that summer barbecue is an exciting process. Grilling outdoors reminds us of summer as a kid, enjoying no homework, pool parties and eating as many hamburgers and hot dogs as we could. Polywood's minimalistic outdoor furniture design is lightweight and handles the elements well. Aluminum does not rust, but it can be on the pricey side. If this is your first time hosting a block party outdoors, there are a number of variables to consider before investing in a patio furniture set. Know yourself, when to save and when to splurge. In choosing the best outdoor furniture, location matters. In the North, wood furniture needs to be stored inside during the winter. Folding chairs are easier to store, and make a great ...