How about some “jewelry for your shower?” Don’t have a clue what that means? Neither did I. But take a look at these cool drains for the most humble of places: that thing the water goes down in the middle of your shower.

Panagiotis Papadatos created these with the idea of bringing beauty to the ordinary. He certainly accomplished that! The drains are made from reclaimed solid stainless steel and brass. See more at  designerdrains.com . Pricing not readily available, of course. Let me know if you find out…

It’s interesting about the Color of the Year. Pantone makes the announcement early each December, and it’s greeted with much fanfare throughout the design industry. But it’s fun to watch how slowly it makes its way into actual home design products.

Remember Mimosa? That was the COTY for 2009, announced to the world in Dec 2008. It looked like this:

Pantone 14-0848 Mimosa

It’s beginning to appear, finally, over one year later. Take a look at these recent offerings from Design Within Reach and west elm.

Vipp Bath Collection from Design Within Reach

Parsons Mini Desk from west elm

 This time next year, I’ll be posting photos of trash cans in Turquoise. Sweet!

Aren’t these ottomans a kick?

I love them for a media room, a large family room, or anywhere you need extra seating and a splash of color. All fun, all on sale 20% off through Monday (but no pricing available online — you know what that means!) and all from NEST Modern www.nestmodern.com .

This came across my desk today from Restoration Hardware:

It’s not exactly 50 years old, just made to look and feel 50 years old. Very intriguing…

The only old bedding I’ve ever seen is thin and has holes in it. But what they’re promoting here sounds soft and luxurious, as in “the older the better”. Very, very intriguing…

I’ll have to see it to believe it, but I think I’ll stop by Restoration Hardware soon. From $49 to $249.

We all need a chair to curl up in, to rest those tired tootsies at the end of the day while relaxing with a cup of Mexican hot chocolate. Here’s some of my favorites :

Above, we have the Womb Chair by Eero Saarinen from Design Within Reach ($2943), The Louise Armchair in white linen ($1222) and the green velvet Chinon Armchair ($760) from Oka Direct, and the polka dot Cambridge from Laura Ashley ($1332).

I didn’t say they were practical…just wonderful. Check out www.dwr.com , www.okadirect.com , and www.lauraashley.com . By the way, there really was a Laura Ashley. She and her husband began their business in the 1950s, manufacturing head scarves a la Audrey Hepburn in the film Roman Holiday. They silk-screened the fabrics on their own kitchen table, using patterns they discovered while on vacation in Italy. The small scarves were a dime a dozen in Rome, but the Ashleys were the first to bring the prints to England. They copied them unashamedly and a design empire was born!

I have long been fascinated by the typical kitchen featured in my favorite design mag, The English Home. There, among the bespoke cabinetry and cut-stone flooring, one almost always encounters an AGA cooker.

Yellow Aga on a black-and-white floor (dog not included)

Aga (rhymes with “saga”) is a marvelous piece of  machinery. Totally impractical for Central Texas, the original concept for the Aga is an oven that is always on. The wood-burning stove is kept constantly stoked (by the servants, of course), with each oven compartment designed to constantly maintain a different temperature. The radiant-style heat is similar to a baker’s brick oven. Hotplates on the stove top offer an intense heat that promises to boil water almost instantly. Don’t you just love it?

Articles in The English Home abound with recollections of families gathered around the Aga as their hot spiced cider simmers. This would be your average May day in England; the depth of winter in these parts.

And here you have the secret of the Aga’s success. Not only is it “kind to food” as they say at www.aga-web.co.uk , it is the perfect foil against those cold, damp English days. Today’s Aga is gas-powered (although you can still buy the traditional wood-burner) and is quite energy-efficient. And check out the colors!