Manolo for the Home

There’s nothing like a nice squishy tosser, as I’ve mentioned previously. In my little abode, throw pillows get sat on, chucked around, used as trivets, gnawed by curious kitties, and taken on long car trips. Huh…maybe that’s why none of mine are stuffed with down and covered in raw shantung silk like the colorful examples above. If your throw pillows lead a far less vigorous life than my own, perhaps it’s time to upgrade to something more refined.

image by scriptingnews

Doesn’t that look gorgeous? It’s the little touches–like funky pillows or an heirloom quilt–that make a space feel homey to me, which is why sitting on any of my couches and chairs usually involves moving a bunch of throws and things. What are the tiny details that make you feel at home?

I’m home a lot recently, which means I spend an awful lot of time looking around my abode with a vague sense of dissatisfaction. We moved in around October 1, and I’m still not altogether satisfied with the feel of the house. I’ve spent many an hour moving furniture and accent pieces from one room to another and back again. When I get dismayed, I just think, “Hey! It’s exercise, right?”

Lately, the focal point of my efforts has been the bedroom. Yesterday, I moved one of the kitchen table chairs into the bedroom. There’s only two of us, which means there’s no reason I shouldn’t spread the chair wealth. Then I went crazy hanging plates, mirrors, and quilts. The dang room still doesn’t feel right.

I’m beginning to suspect that what my bedroom needs is a new bed. A bed that isn’t partly held together with a metal reinforcement bar. A bed that isn’t a thousand years old. My bed is serviceable, but it’s not in keeping with my current tastes. It was once The Beard’s, which could be part of the problem.

A new piece of furniture can re-vitalize a space, provided you can afford the right piece of furniture. In my case, I’ll be spending another day schlepping stuff into and out of the bedroom…

Yesterday we got to peek inside Betsy Johnson’s NYC pad. Today it’s time to have a gander inside Saddam Hussein’s mega-yacht, the Qaddisat Saddam. This $34 million boat, which now goes by the less disturbing moniker Ocean Breeze, can now be yours! Let’s have a look…

The 269-foot yacht comes equipped with bulletproof glass, a full medical clinic, prayer rooms, weapons storage, gold fixtures, marble, fountains, and more. It also comes equipped with decor straight out of the hotel decorators’ handbook.

Again, this is pretty much the set-up I would have envisioned if someone had asked me to guess at Saddam’s taste in interiors.

via Radar Online

A hearty thanks to The Manolo for letting me know that Betsey Johnson’s New York apartment was recently estate of the day over at Luxist. Had he not shared this link, I never would have had a chance to see into this Pepto Bismol world that is currently on the market for a cool $3.6 mil.

This is pretty much what I’d imagine Betsy Johnson’s living spaces looking like if you asked me to take a best guess at describing her digs.

When I first heard about Clocky from its creator Gauri Nanda during an interview, I was already in love. These quirky little alarm clocks finally went on sale many moons ago but I still don’t have one. Why? Because when I was interviewing Nanda, it was the original Clocky that stole my heart.

The “new” Clocky has modern curves paired with vintage colors, and that’s cool. New Clocky looks sweet and forgiving. Original Clocky, on the other hand, is rugged, big, and meanly anthropomorphic. He’s not going to take your crap–try to sleep in and he’s going to roll over to your neighbor’s yard and destroy their lawn gnomes. Still not ready to get up? Original Clocky will ransack your living room until he finds those compromising pictures of yourself you took in college.

You can’t avoid the realities of the morning when Original Clocky is on the prowl…

A man I know in Costa Rica lives at the top of a mountain in an open-air home. It’s not nearly as pretty as the picture you see above, being as that it’s made of a scrap wood frame paired with corrugated metal sheets. Nonetheless, I get the feeling that one of these floating beds would fit perfectly in with his charmingly rustic decor. What I’m not to sure about is whether these round, hanging beds are actually comfortable.

The site claims that they’re not only comfy, they’re also healthy.

The floating motion is scientifically designed to reactivate a deep relaxation response in our cellular memory. It will dramatically improve your sleep, or spare moments of relaxation. It is a powerful remedy for the problems of modern living.

Bunker than a bunk bed? I hope not. At $3195 for a queen size bed frame without any bells and whistles, it had better deliver on its promises.