Another thing is looking at beautiful pictures of other peoples’ much more clean and organized homes. So here are a few from Flickr. Thanks to everyone who continues to add their pictures to our Fresh New Spaces Group. Whenever I want a nice little escape from whatever I’m working on, I head over there to get my creative juices flowing.

Love this clean white kitchen from Flickr member aindizain. My kitchen island has NEVER looked so good, but maybe after admiring this picture I will make it look like this.

As for the bedroom, it is NOT that hard to make up your bed everyday. If you find that it is, consider sleeping European-style, with only a bottom sheet and duvet with cover. Rooms like this make me want to get out that weird vacuum cleaner attachment and get those bunnies underneath the bed. Image from Flickr member Tomas Pearce Interior Design Consulting Inc.

Of course, an entryway is the spot where your interior will make it’s first impression, so I like to look at this one with the cool map for inspiration. Posted by Flickr member photo.OP.

Finally, thank you to Danielle over at The Style Files for continuing to collect some of the most beautiful images out there! This living room will help you resolve to have more fun with your décor this year.

If you make one rezzie this year, resolve to stay inspired. When you feel that inspiration waning, seek some out.

This video made my day. While my favorite ep of MTV Cribs is Ice-T showing off his retractable roof (no wait, that’s a lie, my all-time fave Cribs was when Redman showed off his de la casa “bachelor’s crib, don’t even have a coffee table” with the screen-less screen door, his dollah box and his cousin asleep on the floor), I think Ice Cube explaining Charles and Ray Eames’ house is a new favorite house tour classic:

Erika’s favorite line is “this is going green, 1949 style, bitch.” I think mine is ”they was doin’ mash-ups before mash-ups even existed.”

I love the way Cube gets to the point, doing an excellent job of describing this iconic mid-century modern house with such eloquence.

To take a run down memory lane and see how Redman was living, check this out. The dollah box does come in handy, and you should have one in the house.

Doesn’t he look friendly? He’s a bit of a transformer for architects, though. When you first meet Cubebot, he looks like this:

If you grew up creating all sorts of fun scenarios for G.I. Joe, or if you’re the type of person who gets a laugh from seeing pictures of sock monkeys doing crazy things, you’ll have a lot of fun with Cubebot and all of the crazy hijinks he gets himself into. I’m loving the pictures taken by Ben —– that someone kindly forwarded me last week. Here’s Cubebot living large:

He can build a heck of a blazing fire:

Here Cubebot toasts some marshmallows for ‘Smores:

Ever polite, Cubebot always brings a nice holiday gift for the hostess:

Always conscious of hygiene, Cubebot makes sure to set a good example for the kids and wash his hands before every meal:

Cubebot also likes to take good care of his body, so that you can fit him back into his original cube form:

Someday he’s going to enter the Mr. Universe bodybuilding contest and win; right now he’s working on his pose:

There are several Cubebots to choose from, including small Cubebot, medium Cubebot, and extra large Cubebot, as well as his cousins Julien Cubebot and Guthrie Cubebot. David Weeks makes all kinds of cool wooden toys that are great for tots and grown-ups alike. We love toys that are NOT made out of plastic. He also makes hilarious gorilla shaped ashtrays. Check out all of designer David Weeks’ products here.

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.