Exotic Woven Outdoor Furniture from Yothaka

Irwin Weiner ASID - Summer turns our decorating attention to outdoor rooms, and I just came across a great Thai furniture house that uses sustainable and green woven materials in its lines. Check out Yothaka - and click on each product photo for more information.

Bonus

Click here to watch Design2Share's video on How Do I Decorate My Outdoor Spaces?

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What Does Your Sofa Say About Who You Are?

Oliver Bray - The problem of picking a couch is that all members of my family will demand to sit on it. It may sound a little harsh but at best, most of them deserve no more than a plastic bean bag flung into a far corner. Let them languish there eating their popcorn, pizza, or pork pies. After much deliberation regarding the wisdom of bringing anything shiny and new into my home, I visited a website that suggested my choice of sofa revealed much about my personality. Having misplaced my personality in some laundry basket or emergency room many, many ages ago, I was about to post a caustic comment when I suddenly realised that maybe the website advice was right. I’m a survivor and every couch I have ever bought was chosen for its potential to survive.

For this website to suggest that I make a "style statement" was salt in the wound, but I survived the sting by hatching an evil plot to drop my two kids off at their showroom for an hour. Did they think that my present couch draped in an old, freshly tomato-sauce-stained sheet was really a statement I willingly chose to make? While I drooled over the Italian furniture and luxury sofas they described so seductively, my three-year-old dribbled another baked bean onto the sheet and squished it firmly into place. I was now invited to select from an array of colours and fabrics, a reflection of how I lived. Once I stopped weeping I did just that. Being the multi-tasker that I am, I even incorporated my little fling with the fab set into my children’s story time.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land where mummies chose furniture just because it looked good, your mummy visited websites and by heavens, it did! Luxury sofas in soft, Italian leather fit my personality as snugly as support stockings and I was informed, it also spoke of my inherent classiness. The option to go with a sectional couch was tempting, especially as it suggested a flair for style, but this was married to common-sense functionality and mummy had no intention of letting common sense ruin a perfectly wonderful shopping experience. Italian wizards were showcasing two exciting new designs in high quality leather that as well as being perfect for the spring/summer season, were also perfect for the uncluttered house mummy has in this perfect land of make-believe.

With my babies sprawled in peaceful sleep on the carpet at my feet, I pulled the stained sheet from the couch we had purchased seven years ago and studied its clean lines and slightly faded fabric. What had it said about me then: that I was totally unprepared for motherhood and its inevitable mess? Aah well! When the children have eventually flown the nest and my husband has taken up residence in the garden shed to be closer to his fishing gear, I will revisit this site.

Oliver Bray of Web Marketing London has been interested in interior design and furnishing since first refurbishing his house a decade ago. Evangelising how our environment affects our performance, he now researches and writes about the latest trends in fashion, technology, and interior design to help you transform your life.

6 Smashing Furniture Designs from The New Traditionalists

Irwin Weiner ASID - Last week I told you how I was early for a client appointment in lower Manhattan and took advantage of the extra time to go for a Soho neighborhood stroll, discovering some teriffic design stores. A cluster of posts on Design2Share will be devoted to telling you what I found during my pre-meeting walkabout. Let me tell you about The New Traditionalists.

Take a walk on the semi-wild side with a furniture company that believes in craftsmanship, high quality, furniture-making processes that have been in place for generations - and in an 1896 factory building in Connecticut. American Made. I like the ring of that, don't you?

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5 Handmade Furniture Favorites from BDDW

Irwin Weiner ASID - Last week I told you how I was early for a client appointment in lower Manhattan and took advantage of the extra time to go for a Soho neighborhood stroll, discovering some teriffic design stores. A cluster of posts on Design2Share will be devoted to telling you what I found during my pre-meeting walkabout.

Imagine my delight in discovering the BDDW showroom on 5 Crosby Street! The space is wonderful (soaring) and the furnishings are phenomenal. The Craft is on full display with heirloom quality hardwoods, traditional joins, hand-rubbed oil and lacquer finishes, imaginative finishes and materials (add leather to a mirror, and I'm fully engaged), and beautiful designs that gently twist classics - but one would expect no less from Tyler Hays, the accomplished artist and sculptor who founded the company and serves as its design chief. Here are a few of my favorites from BDDW; click on each photo for more information - and explore

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