After a year of living in a standalone apartment with vaulted ceilings in South Pasadena and nothing but a mirror and out-of-sync dining table to show for it, Melanie Tomanov had had enough.

As an attorney working on the Westside with a 10-year-old daughter, there wasn't much time left in her single-mother schedule for shopping at Mood fabrics or high-end furniture showrooms. And even if there was, she wouldn't know where to begin.

“I had a lot of ideas, but I had no idea how to execute them,” Tomanov said.

She also didn't have a massive budget. Continue reading >>

At the Brewery, a former brewing and bottling plant turned artist colony in Downtown L.A., countless international creatives have emerged, fashion designers regularly converge, and a penchant for invention thrives.

Perhaps it's no surprise then that the live/work community recently birthed Lumi Co., a new printing technology penetrating eco-conscious furniture design. Nascent designers Jesse Genet, 23, and her partner Stephan Angoulvant, 25, are the engineers behind what they call the “Lumi Process.” With their newly developed technology, the Art Center College of Design students are able to print vivid, photo-realistic images on natural materials such as denim, wood and raw leather without any chemical treatment or processing. What makes this remarkable is this direct printing method was previously thought to be impossible in the design world. Continue reading >>

We saw styles that were dated, frumpy and just plain ugly. We sat upon the lumpy, the squishy and the hard-as-rock. The quest? To find the ultimate low-cost couch.

In the end, we came upon one simple truth: You get what you pay for. The trade-off for “Mad Men” good looks might be a lower level of comfort or do-it-yourself assembly.

The five sofas after the jump represent the best values we found on a thrifty budget of $600.

In a time when people are downsizing and trying to make do with less, Apartment Therapy co-founder Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan's “Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces” inspires.

The book makes stylish small-scale living seem like a possibility. Even if you don't live in a small home, he writes, “nearly all of us have at least one small room that we don't know how to handle, such as an entryway or a galley kitchen.”

Treehuggers rejoice: A hotel just opened in Harads, Sweden, that will eventually boast six uniquely designed treehouses commissioned by five separate architects.

The four currently open are the sci-fi inspired Mirrorcube house, the Birds Nest, the Blue Cone and the Jetsons-style Cabin house. The remaining two — the UFO house and red, Lego-looking “Room With a View” — are expected to open in October. The forest property will also eventually include a treehouse sauna.

Accommodations are designed with sustainability in mind, using low-flow sinks and incinerating toilets, which use no water and turn waste into odorless ash. Infrared film was applied to the mirror cube house in order to deter birds from running into the exterior.

Retractable staircases bring guests up to their palace among the pines, but there's plenty to do on the ground too. Activities in the area include wilderness walks, kayaking, horseback riding and the possibility of experiencing the Northern Lights.

Harads is 35 to 40 miles south of the Arctic Circle and about an hour's drive from Luleå, with regular flights arriving from Stockholm. The hotel is open year-round, and rooms cost $475-$575, which includes a buffet breakfast.

www.treehotel.se; +46 (0)928 104 03

--Krista Simmons

Photo: The Mirrorcube House; co-founder Kent Lindvall and an under-construction TreeSauna. Credit: Treehotel; Matt Cowan/Reuters

Ikea Robotics - "marketing" video from adam lassy on Vimeo.

You read that correctly: When he's not busy designing bike-powered merry-go-rounds or pushy art installations that follow you around the room, Brooklyn-based designer and engineer Adam Tyler Lassy finds himself working on other, even more whimsical inventions, like retrofitting Ikea furniture to become wireless robots which "can dynamically reconfigure interior space in response to people."

How might this work in practice? Take a look!

--Richard Metzger

Via the Make blog.

Syyn Labs, the art collective behind OK Go's Rube Goldberg machine music video, staged a night of music and interactive art installations at the Dakota Lounge in Santa Monica on Sunday. 

Floaters: People interact with "Standard Gravity," one of the interactive art installations designed by Eric Gradman.

Brushed with light: Kristy Hilands of Pasadena also interacts with Gradman's installation.

 

Stop and chat: Despite the art, there's still time for chatterboxes to do what they do best.

Most people wouldn't be caught dead wearing a shower curtain in public. Few would cover themselves in spent coffee grounds, or wrap their bodies in old fishing nets — at least knowingly. But there's a growing trend among clothing manufacturers who are turning all kinds of trash into fashion these days. Literally. Dated audiotapes. Old signs and office chairs. They're all being recycled into clothes that are sold by well-known retailers. And in an effort to take eco-style to the next level, designers are also pawing through piles of clothing waste, crafting high-fashion, hand-made items from old cashmere sweaters, T-shirts and other castoffs.

Carrying a pup in a Louis Vuitton pet carrier? It's as dated as the Paris Hilton phenomenon. In this new era of organic vegetable gardens and streamlined minimalism, dogs -- and by extension, their owners -- would look ridiculous in a fluffy pink sweater. We still want to go all out for our pets, but the approach has changed to better match our morphing lifestyle. Of course, there's the new Facebook-style Hipster Puppies site www.hipsterpuppies.tumblr.com for looking at photos of shaggy dogs wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses and Chihuahuas in hoodies. Another indicator falls in the realm of home decor.

Urban Pet Haus' "Sunk Pet Dwelling" could pass as a side table thanks to good looks that pair natural wood with silver tubing. The company's goal: "To match your pet's living and sleeping needs with your own modern decor." The Arizona-based company  is also developing a line of chic crates that could double as bedside tables; stairs that are miniature versions of what you'd find in a modern home; and sleek pet beds that'll surely be mistaken for ottomans. The "Sunk" house is available for $274.99  at www.urbanpethaus.com. Select products such  as pet stairs are also available locally at shops  Pussy & Pooch and the Urban Pet.

--Alexandra Le Tellier

Photos: courtesy Urban Pet Haus

Seasoned travelers know that the gear they tote with them on their adventures is as important as the destinations marked on their map. Less is more in the baggage department, yet our high-tech world requires more accouterments than ever, making unencumbered travel a problematic proposition.

Thanks to the industrious minds of today's inventors, there are some solutions. Slim down your options with these lightweight and space-saving items, and the perfect bag to stow them in.

Ocean Eco Bag

From the planet-conscious start-up company Ecogear, this versatile carry-all is constructed from recycled PVC-free RPET water bottles, organic cotton and toxic-free dyes and components. Lightweight and easy on the eyes as well as the earth, this green travel accessory is sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of almost any expedition -- from around town to around the globe -- and packed with enough pockets and compartments to hold all the gear you'll need.

* MP3 player pouch

* Water resistant

* Moisture-absorbent mesh back

* Includes nine separate organizational pockets

* Expandable side pouches ideal for water bottles

* Recycled plastic buckles

* Ergonomic padded shoulder straps

* Size: 12" x 12" x 7.5"

* Available in charcoal gray or pink

ITG-Vidix Goggles

Avoid the prying eyes of your aisle mate on the plane, train or automobile with these sleek, futuristic goggles. Personal entertainment takes on a whole new meaning -- and a new level of privacy -- when you simply listen to music or watch movies and play games on a virtual screen that gives the illusion of being 50 inches wide. From forward-thinking iTVgoggles, the self-contained entertainment device operates either completely wirelessly or via A/V input.

* Built-in 2GB flash memory for mega storage and playing of media files

* USB interface allows easy and high speed file uploading

* Weighs slightly more than 2 ounces

* Supports multimedia video formats, including Mpeg, AVI, RM, RMVB and FLV

* Hi-fi stereo sound

* A/V input enables connection to DVD players, iPhone, iPod video, TiVo and DVR.

* Memory card slot supports up to 32 GB

Japanese Pill Towels

Travel gear doesn't get much more compact than this super-lightweight towel from Think Geek, which, in its original form, is the diameter of a quarter. Simply submerge the pill under water like the foam gro-beasts of your childhood and, voila it blossoms into an 11-by-9-inch multipurpose towel that's perfect for wiping away the road dust you've accumulated during your expeditions.

* 10 pill towels per tube

* Sturdy biodegradable cloth

--Jason Gelt

Photo credits: Ocean Eco Bag courtesy EcoGear; ITG-Vidix Goggles courtesy Modern Gadget Electronics;  Japanese Pill Towels courtesy Think Geek.com