The Way We Cook: Photographs from Kitchens Around the World

Jay Johnson - If you enjoy cooking the way Irwin and I do, plus you love home design, you'll fall for the new photography book from Saveur magazine called The Way We Cook: Portraits from Around the World. There's nothing more thrilling than to peek inside the homes and kitchens of the world's peoples, and this book offers us a rare and special vantage point.

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Green at Heart: Dutch Designer Christien Meindertsma

Irwin Weiner ASID - I love the take on design presented in today's featured video. Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma espouses "documentary design," meaning she covers the entire lifecycle of the products she designs and produces, straight to the source. Examples of her work include the popular Urchin Pouf (top photo), Oak Inside console (bottom photo), individual wool sweaters made from a single sheep that you get to know a lot about or a range of flax products from a nearby Dutch flax field.

As the LEED certification requirements for green building and design change in the coming year, everyone will become (hopefully) more aware of where their home goods and building materials came from, how they were manufactured, and what processes were used to the original elements every step of the way, from origin to your doorstep. The goal is to see consumers and homeowners making more informed, conscious decisions that are environmentally conscious and respectful. <thunderous applause>

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Gypsy Interiors: Intimate Portraits of Colorful People and Interiors

Irwin Weiner ASID - We love to show our readers how other people around the world live. You won't just get our take on interior design and decorating in the United States. (How boring would that be in a world alive with color and imagination!) I was delighted to find today's design video, featuring Roma (Gypsy) families from Bucharest, Romania in their homes. Carlo Gianferro's photographs were taken between 2007 and 2008 and they comprise a coffee table book called Gypsy Interiors: Contemporary Roma Portraits. Gianferro took portraits of individuals and small family groupings posing on stairways and in living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms.

The interiors show a strong, in-your face decorating style. The patterns, colors, textures, and layering aren't for the feint of heart. Some of the interiors are extremely modern while others are quite traditional. All the rules of decorating are broken, which I personally love. What's the fun of decorating if you can't color outside of the lines? Above all, the photographs capture a sense of pride; these homeowners are showing off their homes, and their portraits are very intimate and inviting.

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This Tiny House on Wheels Began With the Small House Movement

Irwin Weiner ASID - Massive Victorian homes and their contemporary counterparts, the suburban McMansion, take lots of land, energy, and raw materials that aren't in keeping with our more frugal and green times. Back in 1997, architect Sarah Susanka started the "small house" movement when she published her book The Not So Big House, and the movement has taken many forms. It's a lifestyle movement embraced by today's Millenials - scale back on possessions; it's a minimalist decorating movement; and it's a reduce-your-home's-footprint movement.

Click on the photo to learn more about this other tiny house on wheels. (photo: Stephanie Diani for The New York Times)

Today's featured video shows contractor Tory Smith (whose contact information is at the end of the video) discussing a tiny house he designed for a newlywed couple - and it's on wheels, making it a take-anywhere, completely portable housing solution. Note that the not-so-big-house movement is now miniaturizing to so-called "tiny homes." The interior is a revelation, finding nooks and crannies for every basic living function. And you must admire Tory's reuse of antique building materials. We often forget that the greenest thing we can do in our homes is to reuse and recycle something old into our remodeling and design schemes. Thank you, Sarah, for creating a vibrant movement that tells us "less is more." Click here for more information on Sarah Susanka and her range of not-so-big books.

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