A friend recently told of her idea to buy a custom-sized runner for the kitchen. Originally she was looking at a series of floor carpet squares, then she decided the "runner" really needed to offer support and comfort more than anything else. So, she turned to these marble top anti-fatigue mats, available at American Floor Mats.
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A reader pointed us in the direction of Aubuchon Hardware's unusually large selection of contact papers, and all the options there. Their selection got us thinking about this sticky substance. More

Ceiling tiles tend to either be terrible and office like or amazing bits of architectural detail. Empire West tries to bridge that gap by making attractive tiles for suspended t-bar ceilings - yes, much like the one you probably have above you if you're working in a typical office building right now. More

Who knew a garden hose could look so plush? Chase DeForest is a Denver-based sculptor who's buying more supplies at the garden shop than an art store.

Jump down for more baskets and other impressive hose creations...

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We've seen the square milk jugs which are supposed to improve delivery efficiency but they will still fill up your recycling bin. Dayless Organic Milk comes in a calcium carbonate bag and sounds delightful but looks hard to pour ... Enter JUGIT containers. More

You may find this crazy, but Sara and I were just on vacation last week and I fell in love with these plastic beach cups. After you've drunk beer, rum & cokes and other things all day long in one of the most idyllic surroundings on earth, love for plastic drink cups becomes very possible.

So I photographed them... More

Yesterday's architectural Lego masterpiece got us wondering if there was indeed any Lego-made furniture. A search quickly revealed one better: The recently released Lunablocks. These Lego-inspired, lockable, adult-sized blocks are made to make into something else.

The stackable nightstand might be a lot easier (and more expensive) to put together than we thought. More

The digitally-designed and fabricated furniture of Amanda Levete is a new kind of form-making. The furniture isn't instantly identifiable as such, appearing to be sculpture as much as anything. But on closer look and a short description, the use of each piece reveals itself: More

Texture is creeping back into modern design in a big way. As designers develop new technologies and techniques in fabrication (and continue to explore traditional crafting techniques in contemporary applications), modern home furnishings are evolving from "sleek" and "clean-lined". We noticed a huge increase in crafting techniques like weaving, knitting, and crochet at the recent International Contemporary Furniture Fair, but there were additional projects that took advantage of computer-aided construction to create texture. Some notable, textural designs and applications after the jump... More

This picture does not exaggerate. The advertising for this product seems to revolve around pet hair, but that doesn't begin to describe how much of a miracle-worker the rubber squeegee-cum-brush has turned out to be for us.

Our apartment has hardwood floors with area rugs. It's too small to store a proper upright vacuum cleaner, but the rugs are too big and heavy to make shaking them out practical on a regular basis. More