Every now and then I highlight a shop here on the Home blog, though admittedly I haven’t done so for quite some time. Nothing, to tell you the truth, has caught my eye lately. Today’s seller of note, The Conran Shop, actually re-entered my field of consciousness when I found an advert I’d ripped out of the New York Times Style mag ages and ages ago. I loved the selection of products featured in the ad: multi-color headphones, a miniature electric guitar and amp, toy helicopters, retro iPod docks, and other stuff designed to add a little fun to life.

Here are a few things that just now caught my eye… Charles and Ray Eames succumbed to the charms of the elephant and in 1945 designed a toy version made of plywood. However, it never made it into mass production, until now! This adorable red one is plastic, but what can you do? And how about that spacey radio? Designed by Yves Malka & Pierre de Poucques, the Apollo AM/FM radio’s controls are integrated into the design, rather than relying on buttons and knobs. Have a blast watching your friends figure out how to turn it on! Then there is the cheerfyl Japanese moneybox, the magnetboard sheep with farmalicious magnets, and all of the gorgeous furniture sold by this store.

Seriously, go and have a look — it’s worth the time. Even if, like me, you can’t afford much, it is still fun to browser shop.

I usually go in for nice hotels, unless I’m traveling by myself in a foreign country, in which case I usually like to check out the cheapest option. Usually that’s a hostel calling itself a hotel, and sometimes there’s a pool. Here in the States, my preference is for accommodations in which I don’t have to worry about touching the bedspread for fear of catching a venereal disease. (Seriously, don’t touch hotel bedspreads any more than you have to.)

Now the Madonna Inn on the Central Coast of California… does it fit my criteria? Well the thing is that I can’t figure out if it’s a nice hotel trying to look like a cheesy hotel from the 60s or an actual cheesy hotel from the 60s trying to market itself as a retro kitschy nice hotel!

JUST HEAVEN: “This celestial room is embraced by golden cherubs and kissed in shades of blue to create a little heaven here on earth. An enchanting staircase winds upward into a private viewing tower above the king bed…where gentle rays of sunlight filter through multi-colored glass during the day and soft touches of moonlight linger at night. Graceful French-style furnishings fashion an affectionate ambiance in this heavenly creation for two.”

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Let’s say you don’t have a thousand or so bucks lying around to spend on the perfect rug. You can forget all about it or lust after the rug from afar. You can look high and low for a cheaper version of the rug you really want. Or you can approach your little rug funding problem with the DIY spirit.

While I don’t know how feasible it is to dye a rug or draw on a rug, an artfully painted canvas floorcloth can stand in for other kinds of floor covering and are easy for the novice to tackle. So, floorcloths… right now you may be saying “Huh?” Which is okay, because I wasn’t aware that floorcloths existed either. Here’s the skinny:

The floorcloth originated in France and became popular in American in the early 1700s. At that time the floorcloth was made from recycled ships sails and the use was utilitarian. In early American colonies they were used to cover bare wooden floors or sometimes dirt floors. After being used for so long as a necessity, they eventually lost their popularity with the arrival of linoleum flooring.

The floorcloth eventually made a comeback but with a revamped attitude. Today’s floorcloth is not for necessity, but rather as a piece of artwork for the floor. The design is only limited by the imagination. Floorcloths are usually made from a heavyweight cotton duck canvas. Despite the fact their beauty comes from water-based paints, floorcloths are durable. The paint is sealed with several layers of water-based varnish so the floorcloth can just be wiped clean.

How’s it done? First, you need to acquire a piece of canvas — it is possible to buy pre-cut rug sizes that are already primed. If it’s unprimed, you’ll have to hit it with a layer of gesso and then a layer of latex paint, allowing for a 2-inch hem all around. Note that you’ll still need to apply the latex layer even if you buy pre-primed canvas. The next step is painting your canvas floorcloth with whatever design you like. You can rock ‘n’ roll freehand, use a stencil, or have someone who’s a better artist than yourself sketch out a design before you paint. Then you’ll need to seal your canvas floorcloth with a few layers of acrylic (non-yellowing) matte varnish. Finally, apply paste wax for a nice soft sheen.

Descriptions of canvas floorcloths don’t do justice to them. Check out this gallery of stenciled floorcloths for ideas and inspiration!

(Again, via Sterlingspider, who is awesome.)

The stylish Sterlingspider wrote to point this totally sweet rug out to me. Monsters in the bed? Monsters under the bed? Tentacles, claws, and paws? What’s not to like?

Unfortunately, my dreams of owning it were crushed before I even saw it as she mentioned the price in her e-mail. How much are we talking here? A cool $1,400 will buy this 8′ x 10′ Boogie Man Rug, which is a tribute to all things that creep and lurk under the beds of wee ones. Jellio recommends placing it underneath your child’s bed, an idea that I imagine may lead to sleepless evenings and overnight luminosity. Of course, if you don’t have a kidlet who’s of the impressionable age where the Boogieman seems oh-so-real, you could display this scarily awesome rug right in your living room.

It’s hard to resist hugging Ross Menuez’s Fauna Animal Pico Pillow, which are made from organic cotton. I mean especially now with the baby in the house, as these have no ribbons or button eyes or any of the other embellishments that wee ones are apt to swallow when you’ve got your back turned.

Aren’t they just the sweetest? What else can I say — they’re printed by hand and stuffed with hypoallergenic fill that won’t irritate noses or skin. Plus, they’re made in Brooklyn, NY, my very own post-university hometown.

I like the rabbit, the terrier, the gorilla… and the rest of them. So what if I’m a sucker for animals and pillows and plushies? Call me a girl, if you must. Or maybe a mom. On that note, you should check out the Fauna onesies and baby tees!

Calling all wood enthusiasts! Designer Singgih Kartono, known for using green-friendly practices in his designs, takes tech green and pulpy with the Magno Radio from Areaware.

The knobs, casing and antenna knob in this delightfully retro AM/FM radio (with mp3 hookups, no less) are all made from uncoated sustainably-grown new growth wood, and for every tree used in production, a new one is planted to take its place. Did I mention that it’s handcrafted in an Indonesian farming village? That makes it cute and quaint, for those with first-world guilt. Sure, you have to rub it down with some oil now and again, but that’s a small price to pay for great design. Well, those periodic rub-downs and $250, the going price.

If, however, $250 seems a bit much to pay for a radio, may I recommend something somewhat similar that’s a tad less expensive but no less beautiful.

For serious in-your-face color, you simply cannot beat Missoni Home. As much as I rave about blacks and whites and all of the combinations thereof, lately I have been dreaming about color. I’m talking about intense saturated vertigo-inducing color that knocks you on your behind before kicking you in the eye just in case you missed it.

Missoni Home does just that, with jazzy and jagged designs featuring way more color than could possibly be healthy. While I might prefer their pillows, plates, and other sundries in smaller doses, I am not averse to the idea of decking out an entire home in patterns like these:

For those far bolder than I, Missoni for the table makes a statement. A statement, perhaps, like LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!

Are furniture designers artists? Is cabinetmaking an art form in an of itself? Jake Cress seems to think so with his whimsical furniture pieces that poke fun at traditional chairs and tables. His creations are made one at a time, very carefully, by one dusty old guy (that’d be Jake Cress) who works by himself in an ancient log cabin.

According to an article in the Roanoke Times, Jake Cress “was inspired to do his funny furniture after being embarrassed by telling a curator in Georgetown that a woman had left her gloves on a table. The gloves were a part of the sculpture, Cress learned.” Whoops!

Of course, Cress’ funny furniture isn’t for those on a budget… and his traditional pieces and refinished antiques don’t come cheaply, either. A box will run you between $100 and $2,400. I’m not saying that his chests and tables and cabinets aren’t worth the lucre — far from it. Rather, in my set, these are the sorts of things we admire from afar instead of buying.

But if you’re flush, the front page of Cress’ web site does say that everything you see is for sale. Then again, it also says that the cabinetmaker will turn into a termite at midnight, so who knows.

And then there’s this:

AAAAGH! For real, someone needs to kill this mouse murdering grandfather clock with fire.

It’s summertime. Unfortunately, here in MA’s north shore, it doesn’t feel anything like summer, and it hasn’t for ages. I have about had it up to here with gray days and rain, and apparently we were even hit with some hail the other day. That’s right, early morning hail in July! On one hand, all the plants in my garden, from the cukes to the tomatoes seem pretty happy and I don’t have to worry about remembering to turn on the sprinkler. On the other hand, weather like this makes me want to do something drastic.

Like shop. And if I’m shopping to drive away a case of the blahs, you know that I am buying something pretty and cheerful and possibly pink and, damn it all, it had better be floral. Cherry blossoms fit the bill beautiful. My bank account may be shrinking rapidly, but at least my sanity is intact!

I’m digging on cherry blossom lamps and cherry blossom sushi sets and cherry blossom art prints, for starters. I’m not sure what I’ll end up with, though the cherry blossom rice paper lamps are pretty tempting. Cherry blossoms just feel like such a breath of fresh air in this horrid weather.

(click on anything above to make your house very cherry)

From the outside, the Ramp House, conceived of by Acrhivirus Architecture and Design, looks like a regular three-story home.

But this home’s pedestrian facade hides an uber cool secret, tucked away in a roof addition.

Architect Athanasia Psaraki was tasked with creating a skatable habitat, and the result is nothing short of amazing. While I’d wager that many of us if given the same task would create beautiful structures featuring ramps and other skateboarder-friendly features, Psaraki integrated common skate park features directly into the design of the Ramp House.

What you end up with is a structure that is almost fully skatable, with enough curves, ramps, and lips to please almost any board fanatic. Psaraki told Environmental Graffiti that “The ramp transitions were made on site by skater friends who had experience skating mini ramps while construction details were drawn after extensive research via the internet and people who might know!”

Very sleek, and indeed very skatable. I wonder if you could ride a BMX in there…

(Images via)