D2S Editor Favorites

  Favorite Spread-the-Word Tip

We love the new issue of Modernism magazine, with great articles and photo features ranging from Modernist Boston and Alfred Browning Parker to the cover story's visit to Robert Mallet Stevens' Paris villa. Read their online magazine edition and be sure to find our creative director Irwin Weiner's full-page ad under their Bonus section!

  Favorite Reader Recommendation

Many thanks to Oreana in Cleveland, OH for nominating Filipino designer Kenneth Cobonpue and his sumptuous Voyage bed as her favorite bedroom furniture design. We agree completely -- Cobonpue's award-winning ways continue with this woven masterpiece.

  Best Healthy Bed & Sleep Tips

We're currently reading Squeaky Green: The Method Guide to Detoxing Your Home. You've seen Method household care products in stores everywhere for several years now (great packaging!), and although this book reads a bit like a commercial ("brought to you by Method!"), there are some great tips. From their bedrooms section, we gleaned these helpful tips to keep your bed in top sleepshape form:

1. Put a dust mite cover around your mattress and pillows. They're now available in unbleached, undyed organic cotton that has no flame retardants and have been shown to work as well as the vinyl ones.
2. Vacuum your mattress, box spring, and headboard. How often? Method seems to think more is better, erring on the once or twice a month side to rid yourself of dust mites and debris.
3. Buy a PBDE-free mattress (those flame retardants that are blended into plastics and foams during production). There are many health reasons to go with all-natural mattresses, and they're not hard to find (e.g., IKEA phased out PBDEs years ago).

  Favorite Hot Bedding Looks

Okay, we admit we're on a bit of a bedroom kick here, but we spend so much of our lives in this room. Make it count with fab bedding. For the teen girl in your family, we love the Gigi bedding line from Pine Cone Hill (see photos above), with bright oranges, limes, and red and ric-rac detailing on the linens. And what's not to love about the multi-layered dust ruffles, reminding us of a Stevie Nicks outfit on acid! For the adults, we're loving the luxury of D. Porthault French linens (below). And there's more: Design2Share has other bedding favorites for you to check out, along with our Guest Rooms video!

  Favorite Media Furniture

You'll be whistling a happy tune if you add the sleek, modern Sapporo Media Console to house your freestanding entertainment center. Great for media rooms, dens, and family rooms where you might not have the budget to add built-in cabinetry and other custom media storage and display solutions.

  Favorite Critter Posters

AllPosters.com features the children's posters from artist Yuko Lau in an adorable Peek-a-Boo theme that will doll up any kids room. He has rendered a variety of wild animal and pets that are completely charming. The posters are available unmounted, mounted, laminated, or on canvas.

  Favorite Antique House

Tomsk, Russia is home to almost 2,000 all-wood gingerbread-decorated homes built in the 1800s. Some, like the home above, have been lovingly restored, while many are in need of restoration. The revival of interest in these homes is also breathing new life into the wood carving trade.

D2S Editor Favorites

  Favorite Way to Get Some Shuteye

We love VivaTerra's Gustavian Vintage Bed, made from hand-planed, reclaimed Douglas fir and executed with the simple scallops we admire in Gustavian style furniture.

  And while we're on the subject of beds, check out our Guest Rooms video, loaded with tips and advice, accompanied by our favorite picks for fine bedding and linens. We've also looked at Pottery Barn's new bedding collections, which have some fresh, bouncy summer surprises!

  Favorite Sustainable Design Video

Inhabitat, the green-design blog, produced a great video on a sustainable design panel from the recent Postopolis conference. Watch for some excellent ideas from editor-in-chief Jill Fehrenbacher and her distinguished panel of design publishers.

  Favorite Dining Room/Kitchen

Nili Baider, head of NYC's Baider Interiors, created a great country kitchen/dining room combo with powerful punches of gray and red. Bravo!

  Favorite Dinnerware

We're in love with the romantic, kinetic, textural Landscape dinnerware pattern, designed by ever-clever Patricia Urquiola for Rosenthal. Its bumps give us goosebumps!

  Favorite Reader Submission

Beverly Khan, a Sydney, Australia designer, shared some pics of a bathroom/ensuite she has just completed. She used porcelain wall and floor tiles with natural tumbled travertine accent tile (French Pattern) for a "pseudo mat" underneath the bath and up the wall between the mirrors. While Bev wanted her client to go for Venetian mirrors (no luck), she did get some of the items on her wish list: a benchtop made from ec0-friendly CaesarStone (Linen), a floating vanity off the wall, and lights underneath the vanity and in the recess. Bev writes, "My clients can pretend they're at a Day Spa. Wellness type bathroom design is my favourite." (And, Bev, we love your client's little dog, too!) Photo credits: Adam Firth Photography

  Favorite Antiques Mall

Just 14 miles from Philadelphia is historic Wayne, PA; and we recommend stopping by The Antique Store in Wayne. They have dealers specializing in 18th and 19th Century furniture, silver, Oriental porcelain, jewelry, and fine art. Visit their website, click on the "Articles" link, and read owner AnnMarie Palumbo-Parks' thoughtful essay on The Vintage Advantage, which ties in with Wayne's official "green" status.

  Favorite Storage Solutions

Congratulations to Janet Valenza and her Closet Revolution business! CR just launched their new website to reach out into cyberspace beyond their New York Design Center showroom at 200 Lex. Check out their blog for some great storage ideas, and take advantage of their free in-home consultation.

  Favorite Green Lawn Mower

The Neuton Battery Lawn Mower runs on a rechargeable battery that lasts as long as your lawn mowing job -- without the CO2 emissions and gas usage and spillage that goes hand in hand with other mowers. And you just push a button to start it without the pull-cord struggle. Keep it green!

  Favorite Lighting

We love this French Copper and Iron light fixture, wonderful for your kitchen or breakfast room, from one of many antique dealers on the Malleries website. Check out Malleries for a unique mix of antiques dealers and luxury goods; we found it fascinating that there's a site where you can buy fine antique porcelain, majolica, works of art, and furniture along with vintage clothing. Then they've added chic accessories from Hermes, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Gucci. Well done.