Stuck in the city? Fake tropical island!

This is too silly to resist: a fake little tropical island with a hammock. Perfect for that stinky little backyard or the not so little balcony facing a brick wall in the city. You know what more is silly? The price: USD 8280! Well, well...

To come: fake shark head sticking up from the floor

Going blinds

Curtains have always had a strong presence in Sweden. In contrast to countries like the UK where the standard MO seems to be to show as little as possible of the inside, presenting a nicely framed interior using curtains has been the way to go in our country of (or lack of) Nordic light. I keep coming back to one of my favorite topics and here I go again: the professionalisation of the private sphere. What I mean by that is when products or behaviors from the professional sector start appearing in our homes, for example the espresso machine or the full-size steam press for the pants. This time it's happening to the curtains. More and more - me included - is looking for something else to frame our windows with. We have huge windows in our living room and we were reluctant to lose our view with traditional curtains. On the other hand we wanted to be able to bring down the direct sun light to a minimum some days. We decided to use a typical office solution with large white vertical blinds that filter the light and shield the room from heat. Told you: office -> home. I know, you'd think that it'd look kind of sterile but I think it looks clean and modern. There are a lot of niche sites, like those all about blinds and even blogs, helping along this trend that I think is here to stay.

See? Not sterile!

Wall paper? No, wall graphics

Considering how much space our walls represent in our homes, it's odd that we don't pay more attention to them. It's like the walls in an art gallery where our furniture is the art (I wish!). Well, the folks over at Blik is helping us out today with their slick wall graphics. In true modern individual spirit you can design your own graphics. Before you do, check out their wall decals with featured artists.

Don't run around in circles, let the walls do that instead

Google announces free version of 3D modeling program

Nowadays Google is all over the place - and guess what - now they're knocking on your door. At least your virtual door. Google recently aquired Sketchup which is a simple 3D modeling tool you can use to model your home additions, interior or why not your whole house. True to their business Google then provided us with a free version of this tool. I think it's a great idea. Now people all around the world can make models of their homes or any building and place it on Google Earth. Come on, let's build Earth version 2 - only better.

Apartment 3D model from the SketchUp Gallery

Wallpaper for singles

Single? Feeling lonely in your dull apartment? Don't worry, there are other solutions to your problems than to give up the advantages of your single life: the single-tapete. If you're in a hurry there are ready-made singles waiting to populate your walls and if you're into a more personal touch you can send in your own image.

The Christine wallpaper helps you get dressed in the morning - or not.

Bemz covering the IKEA after-market

Do you think all the business is over when IKEA has shipped sofas to all corners of the world? Well, they seem to think so. You ever tried to buy a new cover for your one+ year old IKEA sofa? Yep, me too. An empty stare from the IKEA staff was all I got. Fortunately there are people picking up this after-market over at Bemz. And the covers are even _nicer_ than the original ones. They'd have to be, because the IKEA I know would not let anyone make money on their stuff if they could avoid it. I know a company that was supplying a product to IKEA and suddenly IKEA started to manufacture the exact same product and dropped the supplier like a hot potato. It was a very small company so a legal battle was probably out of the question. So, Bemz beware.

Now you can bring your sofa when visiting the Stockholm Archipelago.

Watch TV while taking a shower

Sometimes you gotta go when...you gotta go. But don't worry, there's people in the world constantly working to meet your every need. You no longer have to miss a second of your favorite show. I'm talking about TV in the bathroom! Now you can watch Baywatch and shower at the same time. You'll feel like you're part of the action. Or...you could just get a DVR and watch everything later, but hey, what's the fun in that? The guys over att AquaVision have even found a way to keep the screen steam free.