apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We were chatting with a friend who spent several years in Japan about the Japanese proficiency for maximizing usable space in the home when he mentioned the kotatsu, a low multipurpose table that transforms for warm or cold weather configurations. In winter time, the wooden tabletop is removed to be replaced with a heavy blanket and heating unit placed into the middle of the framework, effectively creating a cocoon of warmth to work at while on the computer or enjoying television...

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We are always trying to save money on electricity. No matter what we do, it's not always easy to follow through. We have selected four items that we thing will help you with your eco-friendly project of reducing your carbon footprint. Most of these devices are easy to use and will reduce your bills. Read on to find out more.

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After our past post on the 'cell phones only' vs. 'landline' debate, we know that a lot of you are keeping your landlines because of bad cell phone reception in your home. Here's the answer: the Panasonic Link-to-Cell lets you connect your incoming and outgoing cell phone calls to home handsets (whether or not you also run a landline through them) via Bluetooth. We got a chance to take this puppy for a test drive...

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There are always new cell phone concepts coming out. It's hard to judge if they will ever make it into production. Some concepts are good, others are strange and some are even mad. Still, new concepts will lead to new innovations in the mass market of cell phones, so that's a good thing. It's hard to say whether these two following concepts are great or strange. They both have some great elements and features included, but this is the first time that we've see a coffee brewer included in a cell phone, so we're a bit surprised. Read on to decide if these phones are either strange or great.

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File this under lurve! We've gotten into anatomy posters ever since we saw the amazing posters in Jeff and Jennifer's Chicago house tour. They have a great human skeleton poster that's been split up into three frames in their home office. Since then we've been intrigued by the whole anatomy as décor, and after yesterday's Lego Final Frame, we thought, what better way to mesh our two favorite things than to make an anatomy poster of the Lego man. More on the poster and the man behind it after the jump...

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When we have been asked before about options for wirelessly streaming music around the house we blogged about the Sonos and Squeezebox to name a few. There is also the Roku. The one thing in common with these solutions is that you need speakers attached to them, either after the fact in the case of Sonos and Roku or from the manufacturer like with the Squeezebox. JBL is doing something a little bit different and removing the control portion from the equation, or at least from the immediate area.

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Is it weird that we want to make sweet love to this room? Featured in this week's New York Magazine, this home office oozes romance. "The Fornasetti 'Fiori' wallpaper in Lisa’s office came from Cole & Son. A large Saarinen table functions as her desk. The pendant light is a painted Swedish laboratory lamp, and the console is Dunbar, made from burled olive. The cloud photo is by John Schabel."

We love the idea of having your desk in the middle of the room, rather than pushed up against a wall. With that bookshelf behind the desk to hold the phone, files, and all-in-one printer, Lisa is able to keep her desk rather clutter free, making its place in the middle of the room a lot less overbearing.

If this space didn't make you jealous enough, you'll be green in the face when you see Lisa's two-story roof deck! Photos of that luxury feature after the break...

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Now here's a desktop that embodies the minimalist's aesthetic to perfect effect. Diana was kind enough to share some details about her setup:

"Being a minimalist I had to, of course, try to keep my computer desk as simple as I possibly could. As soon as I bought my iMac I decided I wanted to keep my setup to both the colors on it, black and aluminum. I searched around for a desk to match them and found the Brian Computer Desk. The desk comes with a tempered glass top and has a chromed steel base. Being fan of good sound quality I had to get studio monitors instead of regular speakers. I wanted my monitors to be small and black..."

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We have always been huge fans of floating desks. Having no legs means that something that is typically big and heavy becomes very light and clean. What also very much interests us at unplggd is creative lighting. This can have a huge effect on the look and mood of a room without having to cost a lot. This desk kills those two birds with one reused, re-oriented stone of an x-ray light box.

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Ever since that infamous firmware scare, we've been reluctant to jump the boat on Sony's firmware releases. However, there are always some of those who always has to have the latest and greatest - like the people who probably sold off their Macbook as soon as the rumors came pouring in - this update is for you, my friends.

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Remember that funky e-ink cover from Esquire magazine that they made to celebrate their 75th birthday? It turns out that someone actually modified the cover to make a digital clock. So instead of just throwing your magazine into the recycling bin, you could try something like this. Read on to find out more.

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It happens everyday: Susie bought Little John a hot dog when they left the bar at 3 a.m. because he didn't have any cash leftover for the vendors. Although Little John said, "I'll pay you back," he has never paid Suzy back. Not even to this day. It's an everyday occurance for most of us, but PayPal decided that the lives of money-loaners need help too, just like the kids in the adopt-a-kid-in-South-America commercials. In an aid to get younger people to use the service more and for users to get their money back from those scrounging buddies and loved ones they have created a funny campaign, sure to go viral, using the theme of charity to create a new use for their service.

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Congratulations to Unplggd reader JayNY1, who was randomly chosen as the winner of the Target Red Hot Shop Canon Selphy Giveaway. We hope the diminutive Canon printer serves him well. And be sure to check out JayNY1's bit of DIY advice for taking photos under the jump...

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