I love this bar stool

The women who write Remodelista featured this counter stool yesterday and I think it's my new favorite thing.

Now I read Remodelista religiously. I admire their layout and their approach to blogging. These women are keen of eye and fast to spot something new and interesting. However, they have a tendency to list prices in Euros, despite the fact that they are based entirely in the US. This gets on my nerves. Not nearly as much as the way that the kids on Apartment Therapy (especially the ones based in LA) use British spellings, but it's close. 

Here's what I mean. This lovely counter stool is the Tabouret Tolix avec dossier and it's available for €269 from Loftbutik.com. Ugh. Buying a counter stool from a French website when you're not in the EU is a pain, and an entirely unnecessary one when there's a perfectly fine US-based supplier in awaiting your inquiries in Chicago.

So the easy and approachable low down on this counter stool is this: Tolix is the manufacturer, and tabouret avec dossier means stool with back. It's available in the US for $395 from Antiquaire. Antiquaire also has the tabouret avec dossier in painted finishes for $375. See? Easy.

"Amish" space heaters? Really?

Yesterday's New York Times ran a story about the Heat Surge Roll-n-Glow Fireplaces, the advertising blitz of which is currently clogging the avenues of public discourse. These things are being pretty heavily advertised in Florida from crying out loud, I cannot imagine the onslaught in parts of the country where it actually gets cold.

I'm regularly stunned by the audacity of this particular advertiser's claims. Stunned. But equally if not more stunning is the fact that people fall for this nonsense. This is a space heater that's made in China like just about every other space heater on the market. You plug it into the wall and it warms up a room while using the same amount of juice that every other space heater does. So rather than just letting it be a space heater, this one's disguised as a fake fireplace. Isn't that a bad thing? A fake fireplace? Then the thing's advertised as being sold for free but somehow costs between $350 and $500. Is that not a warning sign for people? I swear, gutting education budgets for 30 years to better churn out unblinking and unthinking consumers seems to have worked.

This same manufacturer of overpriced space heaters then surrounds the whole hot mess with the supposed allure of the Amish. Now, I grew up surrounded by Amish people and Amish farms and they are indeed lovely people. However, they lead an 18th century existence. An existence complete with polio outbreaks, functional illiteracy, child labor, female subservience, poor hygiene and inbreeding. Yeah, that's exactly who I want making my space heater.

Think!

IceStone recycled glass counters... cool!

IceStone is a Brooklyn-based manufacturer of recycled glass and concrete durable surfaces. For most people, a durable surface is another name for a counter. It needn't stop with counters though, IceStone can be used as flooring, shower enclosures, back splash or for any other purpose where there's a need for a durable, water- and stain-resistant surface.

IceStone earned the Cradle to Cradle Gold certification from McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, the organization that grants this certification. To quote from their press release:

New York – IceStone, the NY-based maker of green, durable surfaces used for countertops, bar-tops, bathrooms, flooring and other applications, announced today its achievement as the first and only surface manufacturer to receive the prestigious Gold level, Cradle to Cradle certification. Given by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), this certification shows that IceStone’s company and products have passed stringent manufacturing standards that measure toxic ingredients, emissions levels, water and energy usage, renewable investments, on-going data collection systems and recyclability, as well as a code of corporate ethics and labor standards.

IceStone looks like quartz composite. Actually, quartz composite looks like terrazzo, and terrazzo is exactly what IceStone is. IceStone's use of cement rather than the polymers used in quartz composite is the key to its status as a sustainable product, though their use of 100% recycled glass doesn't hurt either.

IceStone looks pretty cool, I like how it shows and I like the fact that it's a sustainable product. In the market for a durable surface? Take a look at IceStone.

I'm touched and honored

My new pal Scintilla at Bell'Avventura wrote about the strega in her Positano neighborhood today. Her post is a series of stories about a curious old woman who steals vegetables from the neighborhood gardens. Missing melanzane aside, you can add the strega to a very long list of reasons I need to go back to Positano.

Over the course of a thousand words Scintilla evokes a place where myth and memory join hands and work an impossible magic. Her post took me back to a place where eggplant-stealing witches and 10th century icons coexist in relative peace. A place where the town dog takes a nap on the same beach Saracen invaders stormed a thousand years ago. For ten minutes I was standing under the Mediterranean sun and inhaling a rosemary and lemon scented breeze. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I came to her final paragraph and read that she'd dedicated those stories to me. My day is now perfect. Thank you! Read "Stregata" here.

Caveat emptor: Ikea sells appliances

Ikea just released a new line of somewhat retro-looking appliances in a color they call Anthracite. The finish is a matte charcoal gray and admittedly, they look pretty good. Ikea had these appliances made for them by Whirlpool and that's all well and good. However, this is Ikea we're talking about and these things are being sold at a price point that defies belief. Well, it strains credibility at any rate.

Ikea's a perfectly fine store. In fact, they're beyond fine. They've revolutionized furniture retailing in the sense that discount no longer has to mean ugly. My beloved Target owes its success in a lot of ways to the trails blazed by Ikea. With that said, there are certain things I'd never buy at Target, despite my fondness for the place. Just as I'd never buy a pair of shoes at Target, I cannot imagine buying appliances at Ikea.

Maybe I'm wrong. Anybody out there have any of these babies yet? Talk to me about it.

Anyhow, here's a run through of some of their new stuff.

This is the Datid 30" built in oven and it retails for $749.

This is the Datid range hood and it retails for $549.

This is the Datid 36" range and it retails for $1749

This is their Datid 24" wall oven and it retails for $599.

This isn't part of their Anthracite line, but it's still new. This is their $999, 36" wide, counter-depth refrigerator with stainless steel doors. 

I'd love to know who made this for them and what corners were cut to arrive at that price. Be cautious for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that this counter-depth fridge is only 68" tall. That makes this a tiny refrigerator, even if it only costs a thousand dollars. Listen to me, only a thousand dollars... But seriously, any counter-depth refrigerator for under two grand smells fishy.

So there, I did my duty and publicized something for Ikea. Please read up on these things before you buy one. Something you have to buy twice isn't a bargain. Remember that.