Thanks to all who have taken the time to vote for the "Top 10 NEW Design Blogs to Watch" and for the lovely people who have helped publicised this poll on their blogs so far!
If you are reading this and haven't voted, please vote now by emailing the new blogs that you think deserve to be watched to toptentowatch@gmail.com! The deadline is Oct 15th! Remember, the blogs have to be less than 1 year old!
For more details of this poll, click here!
Now this is one bright idea! Stefano Merlo is the brilliant Italian designer behind this cool illuminated bucket. It collects light via photovoltaic panels during the day and gives back at sundown in the form of a radioactive-looking bucket. It is not clear whether Merlo has any intention to create more of these light buckets but I really hope they do! Will be perfect to jazz up a garden or outdoor party, don't you think?
I really like these wallpaper designs by Deborah Bowness. Think they are really unique, beautiful and inspiring. For more, click here. 
Unique and beautifully textured rugs by Belgian textile designer Laure Kasiers. Do check out more of Laura's beautiful designs here. (via siagrafica). 
I love the work by artist Anne of Annechovie, especially this painting above. It is a drawing of a beautiful conservatory room in a Georgian estate created by interior designer Richard Keith Langham. I just love the floral and pink upholstery set against the romantic black and white tented ceiling and black and white tile floor. What a wonderful place to have tea with a bunch of girlfriends!
ohhh...I would love to have this Crosley desk phone sitting on my desk at home. Even though I don't have a land line, I could always pretend. It is available at amazon.com. The equally handsome carbon copy note pads are from Paper+Cup. (via The Scoop)
What a wonderful idea to inject some quirky colour and patterns to your chairs while preventing them from scratching your floor or making those terrible noises! By German design company taschide - tan und schiebe design.
Ever since I started taking the "Print your fabric" class, I have been extremely sensitive to surfaces, patterns and fabric designs in general. I really love the fabric collection and display by Finnish brand Focus Fabrik which I got to know from Debi Van Zyl's wonderful blog. So fun, dynamic and inspiring! 
I have just been tagged by Kelly of Design Crush to reveal 7 random facts about myself. Since I was recently tagged to do this, I will nominate Ron of Lifeasashutterbug to do the honours. =)
I love these tactile fabric collages by Samantha Hahn. They are made from scraps of fabric, burlap, toile, string, velvet, silk etc. sewn onto small canvasses. You can check out Samantha's blog here!
Sol left a comment on one of my recent posts on colour palettes telling me about this cool website she found called BigHugeLabs. This amazing site allows you to load picture you like and a palette of colours will be generated based on the colours of your photo!
Domestic Dystopia is a photo-documentary of six interiors of dilapidated houses in Singapore that have been abandoned and are left in a state of disrepair. Each photograph reveals the traces left behind by previous occupants, freezing the memories in a snapshot of time. Through this series, photographer Ho Hui May takes on the task of translating the deep sense of loss and nostalgia she feels when she is inside these houses. 
I will keep it very short today as I am nursing an impending cold at the moment. Just came back from a course on "Print on Fabric" and finally got to meet Imeda. Nice to meet you Imeda! The class was lots of fun and it would have been more fun had I not been partially sedated by the medication I was taking. Anyway, hope to be back in action soon. Meanwhile, do enjoy this blog called "The Paris Apartment". It is one of the nominatees of the Top Ten Blogs to Watch poll and I just couldn't keep it to myself. Lots of beautiful interiors.
Here is a great idea for introducing seating in your backyard. All you need are some basic materials such as pieces of wood, dirt, sod and water to create this lovely design. For complete instructions, click here.
Via The Home Rejuvenation, I found out about this traffic-building tool called blogrush. It is basically a widget to expose readers of a blog to other blogs with related content. It refreshes with every page load. Since this may be a great way to get to know many other related design blogs, I decided to give it a go and install it at the bottom right column of laissezfaire. Do give it a test drive and let me know what you think! I will leave it on for some time and decide it whether it is useful. Thanks stan for sharing this!
I was at a local convenience store a few weeks ago when I first saw these lovely prints on grocery bags by Envirosax. I told myself that I would check out the company who made these stylish enviroment friendly reuseable bags but somehow forgot about it. It thus came as a lovely surprise when Envirosax emailed me recently to tell me more about their newly launched eco bags in Singapore. First launched in Australia, EnviroSax has spread like wildfire across US, Japan, Canada & even Israel. Besides in local select convenience stores, these bags are also available in Takashimaya & OG at $9.90 (for singles) and $35 for a set of five.
Here are more great ways to display your books!
(above) the illuzine - a floating magazine rack that disappears under your magazines. A great way to create a feature wall of your favourite magazines!
(above) this powder-coated metal, wall mounted bookshelf will have people scratching their heads when they see your books levitating in mid-air. 
They even have design templates for you to create your own work of art on your walls!
(via Bloesem)
Think my dad will love this. He is so obsessed with this that he actually invented his own version of this game and generates his own puzzles to solve. There are exactly 240 puzzles in a roll. Available here. (via Designboom)
An insect rocking chair by Paulius Vitkauskas! Wonder how rocking on it will actually feel like. Available here.
