The Modern Look of Sterling Silver

Once just a pre-holiday polishing chore hiding inside a dusty wooden box, sterling silver tableware is experiencing a resurgence your great grandparents never would have foreseen. Forget the intricate carvings and heavy handles, new sterling silver tableware is thin lined, modern, even organic. Take Janet Torelli's work, for example. This self-taught Chicago designer takes her cues from nature and delivers elegant conversation pieces that are really worth handing down.

Bosch Goes Titanium

Bosch just updated its Free-Standing Convection Range series with a distinctive new color combination. The new Bosch Titanium™ Free-Standing Range takes America’s most popular range color - white - and adds stainless steel accents. The result is a modern, clean look that complements all-white, light-wood and even those brightly hued tangerine or lemon and lime kitchens.

Think Diffrient

Focused on delivering measurable comfort in attractive, simple forms, Niels Diffrient designed a career around creative implementation of what those who studied "human factors" or "ergonomics" learned, but rarely used themselves.

His Human Scale became a necessary sidekick to designers worldwide, and his Freedom chair an award-winning blessing to countless aching spines. Alone, these are laurels worthy of resting on, but Diffrient has a serious approach to comfort that keeps him working––now on yet another, even more commodious chair. All the better on which to sit and reap rewards of true and studied relaxation.

Milk... It does a room good

Take a Chance on this mahogany game table coated with a non-toxic, fade-resistant paint made from milk protein, clay, lime and earth pigments known as Milk Paint.

The checkerboard top covered with chalkboard paint opens up for easy storage, and the additional two drawers to hold the chalk, erasers and 24 included checker pieces will score at your next soirée.

Inspired by her own surroundings, designer Kim Kelzer likes to "take serious things lightly, and light things seriously."

Explore Kim Kelzer's whimsically modern creations.

What is blik?

It's Blik's motto that really speaks to me: blik creates wall graphics for the commitment phobic. It's a statement I bet a lot of people can stick with, and stickers are blik's business. They've created a line of award-winning self-adhesive wall decals that transform walls in a matter of minutes. blik may be affixed to any smooth, flat surface.  Ease of use––just peel and stick, mod designs, and great colors make it a perfect choice for apartment dwellers with those nasty "don't touch anything" landlords. When you're tired of your pattern, or it's time to move out, just peel your blik designs from the wall.

Now blik has brought its graphics to Target in two new and affordable lines: Wall Stiks and Glass Stiks by blik. The new decals are being carried through the end of October at select Target stores nationwide where Wall Sticks  will retail for under $20.00 and Glass Stiks for under $4.00.

And, it's not quite Willy Wonka, but select blik packages have their own version of the golden ticket. Secret Golden Birds and Silver Clouds have been inserted in a few of the Wall Stiks packages. Everyone who finds one of these treasures wins either a blik tee or cash prize. 1 in 300 wins.

This fall, blik launches its newest line for the home developed in collaboration with the Estate of Keith Haring.  Available shapes will include Radiant Baby, Barking Dogs, Angels and more.  They also carry exclusive Eames designs.

Get WITHIT

WITHIT, Women in the Home Industries Today, are collecting online donations through 9-15-05 to send to the Red Cross on September 16. WITHIT will donate the funds, including your name on their letterhead, and an additional $1,000.

To register and donate, visit WITHIT today.

Do Your Relationships Mix, Match or Clash?

Do you tend to be attracted to adventurous blue-oranges? Will your friend who favors purple make you crazy, or create a calmness in your life? Does working with a take-charge red-green colleague inspire or irritate you?

As founder of the Dewey Color System, a scientifically sound self-test that reveals what the colors you  like and dislike say about you, Dewey Sadka has written The Dewey Color System for Relationships : The Ultimate Compatibility Test for Love, Friendship, and Career Success. Using Sadka's simple system, the compatibility guide book will determine what color types equal success in your romantic, platonic and professional relationship.

The Dewey Color System for Relationships allows you to discover the secrets of successfully communicating with your romantic partner, friends, family, and even your coworkers and boss. Just choose your colors and have your partner do the same. Then compare personalized profiles to gain insight into why you interact the way you do.

Discover whose true colors are the best match for yours!

Reserve your copy of The Dewey Color System for Relationships: The Ultimate Compatibility Test for Love, Friendship, and Career Success today!

Rear Projection TV & Media Controller

With seemingly bazillions of video entertainment options available for the home, we wondered if the pros like any one brand or model better than another.

Architect Evan Galen told us that his pick for home video systems is "still the rear projected unit such as Panasonic." Galen said the clarity is even better than the flat screen models, although you still need depth to accommodate the machinery. "What I am seeing now, with the small flat screens, is units placed all over the house. At least one in every room. Small discreet items, placed in inconspicuous spots. The kitchen, for example, will have one on the counter and one near the dining table. The bathrooms all have one, the dressing rooms, too," he describes.

However, he said that the clean lines of a flat screen get a bit jumbled when homeowners opt to "accessorize" the technology with every advancement -- such as TV, satellite, music, dvr. All those options need to be managed said Gallen, who likes the Crestron toughpad for total-home media control. Otherwise he warned,  you'll  have a legion of remote controls to shepherd, corral and feed AAA batteries to. "Press one wrong button on one of the remotes, and you’ll never get back to square one".

Blow Up Your Tableware

In 1945, Finnish designer Kaj Franck set out to design a mix-and-match dinnerware that would, "Blow up your tableware." A set for everyday use, it came to be called Teema, the Finnish word for theme.  Franck’s set of objects could be used interchangeably with other colors, and was versatile enough to ensure almost limitless functions. He deeply believed that the true beauty of these objects was in their simple shapes--rectangles, circles, squares--as much as it was in their functionality.

Teema gained recognition for this style and because it was one of the first designer sets that could be bought in pieces as older sets were phased out. Now, it's getting phased back in as the Finnish porcelain maker, iittala (also known as Arabia), re-releases the Teema line with new colors (classic blue and white, brown, olive, yellow, turquoise), and updated quality--the modern Teema line is safe for oven, freezer, microwave and dishwasher use. 

Orange22 and Adam Simha

For West Coast dwellers interested in Adam Simha's designs, finding them just got easier. Some of his work is now available at Dario Antonioni's Orange22.