Dish Water

Designer Erdem Selek came up with this smart design, called the Planter Dish Drip, which waters a houseplant with water from hand-washed dishes. The plastic dishrack can hold several dishes at once, though obviously not as many as your everyday dishrack. Still, it's a smart design that lends a whimsical, green touch to an everyday chore, which is something I can definitely support. While this design is still just that—a design—I'll let you know if and when it hits stores.

Poster Service

No room for a lamp on your cluttered desk? Hang a picture of one on the wall that actually shines light, instead. Irish designer Finn Magee has created a pair of posters that not only depict everyday objects, but retain their functionality. Embedded LEDs in his "Flat Light" poster lets light shine from an image of a desk lamp, while a seven-segment LED display displays the time on the image of an alarm clock in "Flat Time". More interesting than most other clocks I've seen, and a definite conversation starter. (Note: there is no purchase info on Magee's site, but there is a Contact page in case you're interested.)

About Time

No one ever says, "It's 11:43" when you ask for the time. They'll say, "It's quarter till", or "Almost noon". (Or in this office, "lunchtime" as they walk out the door.) The designers over at InsightOutsight in the UK thought it was about time someone designed a clock that tells time the way we do. Not with exact numbers, but with "rough time". So they designed one. The clock rounds off the time and gives you a phrase instead of a number. Any time from :41 to :49 is considered "quarter to", :50 to :59 is considered "nearly", etc. They called it, fittingly enough, About Time.

Weigh To Go

The Ricardo Beverly Hills Solutions Travel Luggage Collection has recently won the Product Innovation Award, an award that recognizes excellence in design, development, and function. This luggage collection features a built-in digital scale to weigh itself and its contents. This new luggage collection directly addresses one of the major problems faced by today's travelers: costly airline overweight luggage penalties and the related inconvenience of unnecessary delays. Travelers can pack their bags and know that they have not exceeded the standard airline weight limitation. All together now: Why didn't I think of that?

Money Changes Everything

The five-dollar bill is getting a face lift! Uncle Sam is unveiling a new design for the $5 bill, to make it harder to counterfeit. Click here to read all about this new bill...

It's Worth A Shot

Because everyone needs ice-cold Jägermeister on hand, at all times. Okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but the Chilled Shot Machine is a sure-fire way to take your home bar to the next level. It features a simple tap system for less mess, LED illumination to make your liquor shine, and colder-than-ice 15 degree output, to make that bomb go down as smooth as silk. Red Bull not included.

Turn The Tables

Furniture design’s favorite couple, Form and Function is at it again. The power duo that makes and breaks the barriers of space, has taken on an Umbra face: meet the Magtable coffee table, a sweet little piece that lets you prop up those feet while storing your fashion zines…or any old paper publication, really. This $158 solid wood coffee table is stunning in its simplicity: a slotted surface for spine-up storage of your circulars; its natural coloring makes it all the more unassuming. It’s a table/storage/ottoman thing! Umbra called it exactly what it means. Form and Function agree.

Bookcase In Point

It's rare to see a bookshelf with enough moxie to become the focal point of a room, but that's certainly the case with the Quad Bookshelf. The 47-inch squared bookshelf features a bevy of differently-sized shelves, sized for all different types of media and several colored back panels to add to the awesome asymmetrical design. For even more storage space, separate units can be joined together.

House Everything?

Cool concept: a billboard-based house by Polish architecture firm Front Architects. Single-mast design means you can place the domicile just about anywhere and maybe even subsidize it with an ad for Rush Hour 3 on the back.

Dog's Eye View

This is genius! Pet Peek gives your dog a view of the neighborhood. It satisfy your pup’s curiosity and help reduce barking, scratching and digging every time he senses something on the other side of the fence. Domed design extends five inches to provide front and side views. Helping Fido see through your fence for under $30; there's no way you can be on the fence about buying one!

On The Go Carts

Today everyone wants to be more green and not only is it hip to recycle - its even hipper to buy things that have been. There is a German company called Bordbar that is recycling old airline drink carts into well... more drink carts or whatever else you want to use them for! In Bordbar's online store you can design and customize your cart with the prints, boxes, shelves and drawers you want. Prices start around $1,225 for the units, which could be used in the kitchen, the office, or anywhere you need a little compact storage. Another bonus: These carts have survived years of turbulence, so their durability is time-tested. See being green is just as Plane as black and white.

Shock Factor

I recently came across this bed in a Toronto, Canada design shop. The bed isn’t all that exciting. It’s well crafted and reasonably priced at around $1400, but the obvious stand out aspect is that the bed sits on four recycled automobile springs. The shop, called UpToYou, claim that the bed offers a good night’s sleep. I do get the impression that the bed is a bit like floating on air, but what if the springs got a little too springy? You may just get bounced out of bed.

Hand-le With Care

If you live alone, it's not long before you start giving your furniture nicknames like Pee-Wee did in his Playhouse. I mean who wouldn't love spending hours talking to Chairy the Chair. That said, I've never really gotten to know my door all that well, it pretty much keeps to itself. I don't even know it's name. All that can change with this door handle. Now that your door has some character, what should you name it?

Sofa Bed

Having a simple, uncomfortable hide-a-bed in your living room is great for the occasional guest but is paled in the realm of coolness compared to this convertible bunk-bed from Mobileform. The furniture is designed so that in one simple, easy movement it will convert from a sofa to a double-decker bunk bed, complete with a ladder and a safety rail all incorporated into the transformer-like system. Modern life-style furniture like this doesn’t come cheap however. The doc sofa/bunk bed retails for $6,840.00 plus shipment from Italy and is available in multiple fabric colors aside from this fancy orange.

Stem Where?

Drinking wine is more popular than ever and now the trend is extending to home decor as well.

Lately, I've noticed the iconic stemmed wineglass shape showing up in clever uses such as this Oil and Vinegar Set (pictured) as well as Candle Holders, Light Fixtures and one very cool Doorbell.

What do you think about this glassy trend?

Your Cup Of Tea Wine

These hand blown Sommelier Wine Glasses from Maxim Velcovsky feature a vessel shaped like a cheap plastic cup. It’s the perfect glass for wine lovers that like boxed wines quality wines, but don’t take themselves or their wine too seriously. Whether it comes in a box or bottle or served in a cup or glass, it's wine by me.

Image Is Everything

Trendy Portrait is a new site that allows you to make designed & illustrated portrait based on your own photo. They can be printed on a variety of products including posters, canvas, holiday cards and wedding invitations. You new masterpiece can also be used for computer uses such as e-mail signatures, e-cards and chat photo displays. Just choose your photo and then select your style: Vector, Retro, Warhol, Pop Art, or B&W. Create now and forever hold your masterpiece.

The Writing's On The Wall

The first time I ever came across removable wall decals was from a little company called Blik, I thought they were some of the coolest things I'd ever seen. The removable designs look like murals or wallpaper, but since they are easy to apply and peel off, they're great for apartment dwellers and the indecisive. Now, wall decals are surfacing all over the shelter world in more forms that I could have ever imagined. There are stick-on wooden decals, 3-D paper decals, and even Wallwords and Wonderful Graffiti, which let you turn words and phrases of your choice into peel-off decals. I am confident to say that this is going to be a design trend that is going to stick around.

Circuit City

Be fumble free the next time someone asks for your business card. You'll see the irony in networking, as you simply flip open this clever circuit board card holder by Revolve. My favorite line of items (out of many) from Revolve are the rescued circuit boards turned into an array of office-ware, but others include: CDs, plastic bags, juice cartons, coffee mugs, and more.

Attractive Vases

This set of five Patina Style Magnetic Vases are as graceful as a group of ballerinas standing en pointe, but unlike dancers, these seemingly gravity-defying vessels get a helping hand from magnets.

The aluminum set comes with a metal base, which you place under a tablecloth, and each vase has a strong magnet on the bottom to keep it standing tall. This is a great way to display single-stem flowers, and at under $40, it's also very affordable.