It never ceases to amaze me how much a nice minimal palette in a bathroom works, especially when I’m so often distracted by the use of more and more exotic stones, borders, and tilemania in general. Look at how good black and white looks, especially when styled so well. The Componibili is this icing on the cake. Thanks to flickr member Laurana for posting this!

P.S. Laurana has a great blog, Life Thru a Lens. I can’t read it (I think it’s in Finnish), but the great pictures mean I don’t really need to!

I just received this email from Cooper Hewitt, urging me to vote for the People’s Design Award this year. It’s a very democratic way of anointing good design with the kudos it deserves:

Every year, the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum confers the National Design Awards, which are chosen by a jury of distinguished design gurus. But do you agree with the experts? Whether it’s handmade or mass-produced, high-end or low brow, if it’s well-designed, we want to hear about it!

Cast your vote on your favorite design from product design to architecture and from graphic design to fashion design.

Well, here at DP we’re a bit biased, because we super-duper love Bow Bins by Cordula Kehrer for Areaware, which are new to our site! So to vote for them, click here.

We also adore the David Weeks Guthrie Cubebot, also up for the award:

Vote for Guthrie here.

Oh, and we love that the Jonas Damon Alarm Clock is one you don’t feel like you need to hide on your nightstand. An ugly digital alarm clock can really wreck a tablescape.

Vote for this gorgeous alarm clock here.

Finally, the classic Kartell Ghost Chair has become a classic icon in its short life:

Click here to show some Louis love.

Finally, for all of you jumping on the ping pong bandwagon, try this handle-less version by Alfred Brodmann.

Vote for the Brodmann Blades PingPong Set here

To see all the other nominees and vote, click here.

Let’s face it, we’ve all seen so many cleverly decorated boutique hotels that it takes a lot to catch attention lately, doesn’t it? I mean, we’ve seen everything from Beetlejuice looking B&Bs to crack den chic (a certain Manhattan too-cool-for-school joint, I’m talking to you). However, as I caught up on my magazines with an old issue of W the other day, a tiny picture from “August’s Most Wanted” caught my eye (yes, I am that far behind on my glossies). It was a shot of a bedroom from the c/o Maidstone East Hampton. Let’s enjoy some fresh eye candy from their Swedish icon designed rooms (inspirations range from Eero Saarinen to Birgit Nillson the soprano, not to be confused with Brigitte Nielsen, known for Red Sonya and Flavor Flav reality shows):

The decor inside this lovely classic in are very unexpected:

Pssst, if you like that chair from The Vernor Panton-inspired room, we have it for sale here.

This joint is also extremely dog-friendly.

They also have Kronan bicycles ready to lend out to all of their guests. I suppose you could put your tiny dog in the basket and pretend he’s Toto. By the way, that would make you Dorothy.

They’ve also done their best to remain energy-efficient, from nixing the bottled waters to serving organic food in the restaurant.

Color me refreshed.

All images via c/o Maidstone.

Today we have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Edgar Blazona of TrueModern, and learning about his new playhouse design, which may just nudge your toddler into becoming a budding Modernist.

We know you’ve had a background in prefab architecture. Tell us a bit about how your experience with prefabs lead to the creation of the playhouse.

When I started building modern prefab architecture, I was trying to create a space that I could fill with my furniture designs. I felt that I needed a place that was truly modern from the moment you walked in the door. Modern architecture is sometimes unapproachable in cost. Living in the Bay Area, there really isn’t a way to be able to build a modern home. I started in the backyard, thinking I could create a small building that could house my modernist books, mid-century furniture and my own designs. Basically, the playhouse is the same sort of situation. I wanted to create an environment for kids so that they too could grow up in a modernist setting. I have noticed that kids enjoy a little simplicity when they are taken away from the primary colors of plastic play structures.

What influenced the playhouse design?

As you can see in my buildings, there is typically a glass corner or the appearance of one. You can see that within this playhouse as well…

It’s really easy to see the similarities between my prefab work and my playhouse. Frankly, the playhouse is a no-brainer given my extensive exploration into kids’ furniture, which we’ve been doing for years now.

How often have you played in your playhouse?

That’s funny you should ask. I recently had a tea party with a neighbor’s kid. We got inside it, I squeezed through the little door and sat down with her. Funny thing was, we didn’t have any furniture. It kind of make me think we should do some furniture to go with these. What’s a modern playhouse without modern furnishings? Truth be told, we just sat for a bit, giggled and played, and ended up having a really great time.

If you could find the playhouse in the home of any one person who might it be?

Brad Pitt, no doubt. A long time ago, Brad Pitt’s assistant gave me a call. I’ll never forget the day. I was working for Pottery Barn at the time ( yep- the modernist used to work for Pottery Barn! ) and this women called very interested in my Modular Dwellings structures. After I questioned her for a bit, she finally fessed up that she was Brad’s assistant. I was shocked that Brad Pitt was interested in my work. I certainly could imagine him with a whole group of these structures for all of the kids that he seems to have nowadays.

I love the Danish modern aesthetic of the 11 Ply collection. Tell us how you came about the design on these pieces.

With 11 Ply, I was trying to create a new kids’ furniture collection that could not only sit with our existing kids collection, but still look fresh and new. The name 11 Ply actually refers to the 11 layers of veneer, making up the thickness of the plywood. We started with selecting a material and then worked backwards. I chose birch plywood to be used as the main material to create a better quality item (it’s stronger and actually made up of these layers of birch veneer, creating basically a solid birch panel). I then chose a manufacturing technique that would accentuate this type of material. We’re actually using the material as it was intended. We are not putting a veneered edge; we are exposing the natural edge with sanding and clear-finishing. All of the parts and panels are cut on a CNC machine. If you notice, most of the shapes have a rounded top or the drawers have a shape that overhangs the top. The fact that we are not veneering the edges allows us to do this type of design. We even use a simple cutout to work as the drawers’ handle, allowing the user to easily grab on and open the drawer.

We noticed that TrueModern is expanding out of kids bedrooms and into the rest of the home. Tell us more about your “grown up” pieces.

We launched our first sofas a few years ago. We started with two – Luna & Lift. Although Lift hasn’t been a great success, Luna has done really well. People have really responded to the Danish looking, somewhat Haywood Wakefield-inspired legs. Just recently, we launched a few new sofa collections called Dane, which is even more Danish-inspired. The legs are solid walnut and tapered with some interesting stitching technique across the back of the pillows. These pieces in particular are a little more comfy and let you get a little cozy. Marfa is more of a lounge-type sofa, inspired by my favorite artist and modernist, Donald Judd. This block-style sofa is very low and great to kick back, while still looking super cool. Each of these collections are available in several different configurations. It’s been quite a struggle getting all these configuration options perfect and available for purchase. It’s been a long road, but we’ve finally got it and we’re super excited to show these to our customers.

And lastly, what is this Modernism For Life t-shirt brand you have launched?

Yeah- I’m really excited about these new shirts. We are having so much fun making fun of ourselves yet exposing so many to a new way of life. The idea here is that we are modernists, we are proud of our ways, and we want to wear it on our sleeves. Literally.  In a way, we are somewhat poking fun at our need for clean lines, simplicity, and good design to fills our lives. Frankly I am using  this humor to push back on the status quo. I guess I am bored with the big box stores, Pottery Barn and brands alike. Who decided that the design standard in the US needs to be a “freshened up” version of an antique? And what about clutter? We don’t need clutter. As modernists we are sick of clutter in fact. Frankly clutter makes me have anxiety you just can’t imagine. I think it all starts in the home; being comfortable at home does not need to come in the form of “stuff.” Quite the opposite in fact. Being comfortable in life is so important and I believe modernism can help us all get there. You know, it really cracks me up when you go to someone’s home and it’s a huge mess, yet they go to yoga four times a week to keep their sanity and life in check. Hello? Try getting rid of that clutter and start seeing the light. Modernism For Life- Live it!, as I say.

Thanks so much to Edgar for sitting down with us today!

Now that the Facebook images of the aftermath of Hurricane Irene from our friends in places like The Outer Banks or the Catskills have stopped getting as much space in the stream, now that the news has moved on to the next story, let’s not forget that there are still people suffering with life as they knew it in shambles. I caught myself complaining that my dishwasher was broken the other day and then quickly realized that I am a total jackass. So I thought I’d repent by writing this post, and letting you know one of the easiest ways you can help is by donating to The American Red Cross. While these waters have receded, they left towns and families absolutely devastated.

By the way, this is a great link to keep bookmarked, as you can make a donation to whatever part of the world is most in need of help.

Image is a TwitPic from @DonMeltz.