Design2Share Holiday Wish List: Passiflore Dinnerware from Gien

Word Association

fresh = passion flowers

everyday earthenware = Passiflore

Passiflore = the perfect table

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Design2Share Holiday Wish List: Sidney Chest from Studio A

Word Associations

Sidney Chest = eco amazing

chic storage = Sidney Chest

sustainable = bamboo

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If Real Isn't an Option: Our 5 Favorite Artificial Christmas Trees

Irwin Weiner ASID - It's a blessing to support Christmas tree farmers this time of year. If you live in a part of the world outside big cities where there are local tree farms, please support them; they plant a sustainable crop and deserve to make a good living, as do we all - and there's nothing like the smell of a fresh-cut tree in the home, using the proper watering and safety precautions, of course. 

But for the many of us who live in large cities, it's increasingly dubious (I think) to support the habit of transporting cut trees into the city, and you're not buying something really fresh when you get around to making the purchase. (And they're very overpriced.)

For the past ten years, we've had a Martha Stewart Christmas Tree from K-mart, and although we feel guilty that it's a vision of plastic and petroleum-based products instead of a real farmed tree, it's held up very well and we've saved time and money over the longrun - and this tree will last for eons.

Today's featured Young House Love video shows the decorating of a Christmas tree that's exactly like ours (although ours is a bit taller). And the photos in this post show some of our favorite alternative (read: fake) Christmas trees, if that happens to be your thing. Click on each photo for more product information.

I'd love to know what your family does for a tree around the holidays; add a comment to this post and tell me how you stand in the Real vs. Fake Tree issue. Thanks, and I hope you're having a fun season!

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Perfect Home Office Computer Table from Michael Bambino

Irwin Weiner ASID - It's often the case that a home office sacrifices good, clever furniture design for utility, but that's not the case with the Tambour Table, a computer table designed by Michael Bambino to hide the USB ports, laptop and mouse (when not in use), and power cords - note in the photo above how the power cord discretely pops out of the bottom right rear leg of the table! In our featured video, you'll see how the hidden storage underneath the tabletop operates. The design is lovely and functional.

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