1. Colors primeval
The newest wall-color superstars? Shades drawn from deep in the Earth’s core, like charcoal and slate blue, and those pulled from a summer sky, like buttery yellow and pear with sunlit undertones. Try Benjamin Moore’s Evening Dove or Twilight Zone and Pratt & Lambert’s Fresh Cream or Catawba Grape.
2. One-Stop Reading
With Nobody & Co.’s Bibliochaise, bookworms can settle back in a cushy core surrounded by their must-reads. The chair holds five yards of books, comes in various colors and fabrics and costs about $4,800, depending on fabrication. See it at nobodyandco.it; to purchase, contact [email protected]
3. Up Light
With its bold, lacquered aluminum bands, the PXL pendant light by Fredrik Mattson for Zero will illuminate a room and improve your mood. It comes in two versions, a table lamp and the pendant shown here. $997 at Modern Objects + Design, modobjects.net.
4. Take Eames
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This summer, Charles and Ray Eames, the husband-and-wife team who influenced post-WWII American furniture and industrial design, will be honored with a collection of 16 U.S. postage stamps. $6.72 at usps.com
5. Into the Woods
Suppertime can be a virtual romp through the faux bois as the trend in wood motifs proliferates. Examples: Italian charger, $145, at Todd Alexander Romano Antiques and Decorations, New York, 212-879-7722, or Enchanted Forest teacup, $1,219, and saucer, $1,169, at Nymphenburg USA, Chicago, 312-421-3500.
6. Resin-ating
It feels like plastic and looks like glass. Resin, an extremely durable material, is being shaped into fantastic tile and countertops everywhere you look. And now New York City artist Dan Bleier is offering his eye-popping graphic designs as resin walls and screens. Wall tiles start at $86 per square foot (danbleierstudio.com).
7. Brilliant Asides
Designer Nick Dine’s side tables with their snappy high-gloss polyurethane tops are a simple way to add a little retro-crackle and pop to your living room this spring. With white oak veneers, stained dark brown or natural, in a matte finish, they start at $2,885 at Dune (dune-ny.com).
8. Plucky plates
Nicholas Lovegrove (the name as published has been corrected in this text) and Demian Repucci give blue-and-white Delftware a change of venue from the Netherlands to New York. The imagery goes from rustic to gritty with graffiti, garbage trucks and taxis on the fine porcelain plates. $100 for a five-pieceplace setting, at longroveandrepucci.com
9. A Wing and a Chair
This streamlined Briar loveseat is CB2’s take on the classic living room wingback chair. A minimal bench cushion, high back and wing panels complement its sleek profile. Striped fabric in black, white, taupe and olivine makes it easy to live with. $899 at CB2.
10. Fancy-pants plastic
Leave it to the fashion pusses in Italy. When ugly plastic flatware wouldn’t do for repasts after runway shows, two caterers came up with DeLuxe, a four-piece set in durable, dishwasher-proof plastic that mimics a classic sterling place setting. Set includes a knife, fork, teaspoon and soupspoon and comes in seven solid or nine transparent hues. Four four-piece sets are $120 at Elements, 741 N. Wells St., Chicago.
11. Warm Remembrance
Snuggle up with a vintage Swiss Army blanket dating from the 1930s to 1950s. Thick wool blankets have a gray/brown field with a wide red band and white cross. They measure 57″ x 82″. $60 at POSH, 613 N. State St., Chicago.
12. Crochet hooked
Crisp modern lines meet the loopy lines of crochet in this cotton pendant light. Crocheted by hand and dipped in starch to preserve its shape. $225 at moderndose.com
13. Total transparency
The Classic One table lamp by Danish designer Maria Berntsen uses one bulb (up to 60 watts) and is made out of a single piece of blown glass. 14.2″ high. $499 at nova68.com
14. Dining with a star
Architect Renzo Piano is known for his elegantly expressed structures, like the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Bring a piece of this aesthetic into your home with his namesake dining table. The smallest version is 39″ wide, 102″ long and costs $6,500 at Hudson Furniture, New York City. hudsonfurnitureinc.com
15. Telling tome
What’s the Case Study House Program? Or Atelier 5? With 600 entries-566 on architects and 34 more on movements, groups and styles from the 18th through 21st Centuries-“The A-Z of Modern Architecture” (edited by Peter Gossel, Taschen, $300) is a design junkie’s dream. But get it for $189 at amazon.com.
16. Picnic Panache
Turn heads at Ravinia when you flip open this cute little table within a picnic set. The cotton canvas tote is fitted out with everything you need, including a wide shoulder strap for the schlep from the train. $149.95 at Halls Kansas City, 800-624-4034.
17. Fab home
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This sleek, four-bedroom, three-bathroom pre-fab is 2,600 square feet of solid concrete and Douglas fir, punctuated with double-pane windows. The FlatPak system was designed by Charlie Lazor; uses 8-foot-wide components; and can be used to make structures up to 4 stories high-or as long as you like. Pricing starts as $250 a square foot. flatpakhouse.com
18. Play Misty for me
This fetching little doughnut-shaped device is actually Japanese design firm M-10’s Humidifier Ver.3. The perfect mister if you’re high on style and/or short on space. 12″ in diameter, in seven colors. $259 at dynamism.com. Stock up on replacement filters at the same time ($19 each).
19. Picture of Dorian Greyhound
Painter Marge Bobbish’s graceful prints depicting dogs and cats are reminiscent of Japanese brush paintings or Matisse line drawings. She’ll do custom pet portraits too. “The Blue Dachshund,” $40 unframed, at bobbishart.com
20. Wine Wisdom
Prosecco-a fruity, light-bodied sparkling wine made from the Italian-grown grape of the same name-is the next big thing, and Champagne substitute, if the partygoing cognoscenti we see at openings around town are right. The Wine Advocate’s Robert Parker gives Riondo’s version a healthy 90 points. $11.99 a bottle at Sam’s Wines & Spirits, Chicago.