as green design becomes a more of a lifestyle decision and less of an “eco-trend” i’ve seen tons of eco/design sites pop up here and there. most of them have been product based but i just got an email from jennifer at sprig.com about their new site. sprig, aside from being beautifully designed, features products, interviews with eco-experts, news alerts, recipe and green beauty ideas. it’s sort of a domino-meets-treehugger-meets-huffington post type vibe. and i dig it. click here to check out the new site- i think we’ll be seeing a lot more of it in the future. it looks like they’re off to a great start. [thanks, jen]

since i started d*s in august of 2004 i’ve tested out all sorts of ideas, columns and features. some have tanked (d*s snaps) and some have floated (the d*s guest blog) but i’ve learned that the deciding element for me is whether or not i feel like the feature is giving something back to the community as a whole. for me, the biz lady events sparked an idea i’ve been trying to expand on for a few months now- connecting real life “experts” with up-and-coming designers who could benefit from their advice. so i thought, why not make this a (semi) regular column on the site? so, starting next week, d*s will feature one designer for a week each and introduce their work, their success story and then open it up for questions. when their time is up we’ll move to the next available designer. i’ve tried to invite people that i think represent various stages of running a design-based business so you’ll see bigger names mixed in with smaller names- i think real designers running real businesses have the most practical advice for our particular audience. so, we’ll be launching THIS MONDAY with textile designer JUDY ROSS. in the weeks to come we’ll cover stationery, wallpaper, graphic design, jewelry, interior design, book deals for the small designer and any number of topics under the sun. but i wanted to open it up to you guys first:

WHICH DESIGNERS WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK QUESTIONS?

i’d like to keep this indie for a while so please assume that for now i’m going to stick to people who aren’t as big as say, martha stewart. so, leave a note below and i’ll be sure to contact your requests and see if they’re available to share their expert advice.

[the coral fabric above is hable construction's "bead" in clementine- a gorgeous new colorway]

when it comes to my dream apartment, there’s a very specific look that i’m always trying to achieve but just can’t quite grasp. i think perhaps it’s not inherent in my southern disposition to choose things that have a very northern california/scandinavian vibe to them. so when i saw adrienne labelle’s house i just about fell over. i think her beautiful home in ft. greene has officially tied lena’s for my “favorite house” award. i met adrienne through friends of ours and discovered that she happens to be one heck of an interior designer, and, like all interior designers, she thought her home wasn’t quite ready to share. but of course, it was. and it’s stunning. how her home hasn’t been in a magazine yet is a mystery to me but i have a feeling she might be getting some calls about this one. you can see below for yourself and click here for full sized- pictures. i’m quite simply in love with her home. lucky for me it’s just a few neighborhoods over so i’m going to have to go beg her to let me come in and stare at everything in detail. thanks to adrienne for sharing her wonderful home- you can click here to find out more about adrienne’s interior design business. [thanks, adrienne!]

“Joseph and I live in a pre civil war wood frame house. When we first looked at the place it was under some renovating construction and they were just in the planning phase of which carpet to put on all of the wood floors. Eek! Luckily we asked them to hold off and abort the floor carpeting mission. I had them paint them instead a sort of battle ship gray. Though the floors are a little worse for the wear it really pays off in the dining room where we get to see the old wide plank floors.”

“Here are the details from the top picture of my living room: Artwork, The painting above the Fireplace is by the talented and amazing artist Mindy Setzen, the cardboard trophy is by artist Brady Dollarhide both dear friends and both of Brooklyn, NY. There is a Plexi display case that I got for Joseph Ari for his birthday to display his “Flowbots”. (Not pictured) which is currently displaying a large tin pencil stub pencil case (courtesy of ebay). Another excellent find from ebay was the totally weird sun salutation drawer unit in orange and yellow. The Chrome lamp is circa 1960’s. Pillows on the Deco chair are from Jonathan Robeshaw. Finally in a mad day of fireplace discontent I fauxed a line pattern onto the surround to give it all a little kick. The second living room shot (second from the top) contains: a bookshelf from the old 26th street flea market in Manhattan. I think the lamp is Lightolier but not positive. Art work is “Flowbot Birthday Party” by resident Artist Joseph Ari Aloi, Pink Tree painting is by artist Dan Kopp, small Sunset tree silhouette is another Brady Dollarhide creation. I got the magazine rack from a vintage site a few years ago when I was really digging Joseph Hoffman. Unfortunately you cant see the beautiful blossoms of pink out the window. It is a full frame of pink and purples…”

“The picture of the dining room (on the left) is the reason we rented this place. There is a huge dining room with beautiful wide plank flooring and a nice double door between the living room and the dining room. We have three big windows at the front of the space and as you can see the wide plank floors. There is the worlds tiniest kitchen just off to the left as well as an itsy bitsy bathroom, these the prices we paid for the light and space. My Dining table: A lot happens here. I covered the midcentury chairs with a John Robshaw canvas print and the bamboo chair in the background is in Joseph Franks Subway fabric. Silkscreen Print above the stereo is from the design collective Assume Vivid Astro Focus/Eli Sudbrack. Deco bust I got at Horseman Antiques on Atlantic Ave Brooklyn. For the Kitchen: I decided recently to paint my itsy bitsy kitchen a deep gray brown. I have so many different colored dishes and trinkets that any color I put on the wall was overwhelming. Finally, I can see my lovely Villeroy & Bosch Auculpoware china which I collect. Platter shown hanging. For our bedroom: I am drawn to really bright colors these days and but I am also drawn to old well made furniture, especially when it is found in my future inlaws basement. Painting on the wall is another piece by our friend Dan Kopp. Vintage Starwars clock radio is Joseph’s. Little white bird is from Ted Meuhling in Soho. Lately I have been into searching for wild vintage pillow cases that can dress up my drab white bed. This is a Vera one. My other favorite set is differing values of green& blue that says love all over it in a very mod type. Finally this is our little dressing area above. Butler thing was a painted find. Chair in a Gio Ponti style is an old purchase from Swankarama and the great breast Print is by friend and artist extroidinaire Rostarr.”

d*s reader julie sent over a link to one of her favorite LA floral design studios, krislyn. while their floral arrangements are stunning i was really smitten with the “objects” section of their site where they’ve created some really unique pieces using what looks like driftwood and various flowers to create mock bonsai and willow trees. i apologize ahead if i got my materials wrong but these were too lovely not to share. click here for more information on krislyn. [thanks, julie!]

designer henry julier sent over these beautiful magneto shelves he designed. the magneto shelves can be adhered to any magnetic surface thanks to several neodymium magnets embedded in each shelf. the series is modular and can be combined in a number of ways to create a shelving systme that fits your particular mood and style. click here for more information on magento. thanks, henry.

sometimes i wonder why the heck ac and i haven’t been to austin yet. i’ve been to west texas but never austin- which seems to be one of the coolest cities around. yesterday i received an email from kristi pruett who just opened what looks like an adorable new home boutique in austin, tx. kristi’s shop, finch, carries a wonderful selection of designers like diana fayt, alex marshall, laura zindel, rae dunn, karin Eriksson and many, many more. i was taken with the tableware collection and the fact that kristi has edited with such a keen eye for handmade design. you can browse finch’s collection right here or stop by 417 west 2nd street if you’re in the austin area. thanks again to kristi for sending her lovely shop over.

i’m loving collages right now- they’re a wonderful example of reusing materials to create something beautiful and fresh. yesterday artist jennifer judd-mcgee sent over a link to her brand new etsy shop, swallowfield. she sells beautiful collage work on her site for extremely reasonable prices (pieces range from $45-$55). it’s always wonderful to discover more affordable art on the web. i find myself more fulfilled these days investing in affordable, original art rather than more furniture (unless it’s a really great vintage score). so, if you’re in the market for a beautiful collage piece for your home, click here to check out swallowfield’s collection at etsy. [thanks, jen!]

i am a hopeless sweet juniper addict. i’ve been following the lives of dutch, wood and juniper for over a year now and was thrilled when i caught a little glimpse into their home a few months ago. the threesome packed up and moved from san francisco to detroit and in the process mentioned that they lived in an apartment designed by mies van der rohe and shared a quick photo of their bedroom with a vintage case study bed. my design radar went off so i’ve been watching closely to see how things progressed with their new home. finally i got up the guts to ask if they’d be interested in sharing their home with us here and to my sheer delight- they were! so i’m thrilled to introduce you to the home of sweet juniper…just click here for more (full-sized) photos. [thanks dutch, wood and juniper!] here is an intro from dutch:

“We moved from San Francisco to Detroit about six months ago; we had been living in a 500-square-foot one-bedroom, and we moved into a 1500-square-foot 1960 townhouse designed by Mies van der Rohe where our mortgage is half what rent had been in San Francisco. The importance of Michigan often gets overlooked as midcentury modern becomes more and more trendy. Herman Miller, Steelcase, Haworth are still make modern furnishings here in Michigan. Grand Rapids and Holland were once filled with now-defunct furniture companies that made iconic designs by Paul McCobb and others. There is still an abundance of amazing furniture (at very reasonable prices) in the thrift stores and antique malls.

Detroit is where modernism was born. You can see the spot where Henry Ford built his first automobile. It’s now an old movie palace that has been turned into a parking lot. Just a few miles from downtown Detroit lies Cranbrook Academy of Art, where a man named Charles Eames used to get dressed up in a tuxedo to attend faculty cocktail parts with Elial Saarinen (who designed the entire school), smoking with Elial’s son Eero and Harry Bertoia, Gyo Obata, and flirting with Florence Knoll, eventually catching the eyes of a young teacher named Ray Kaiser. For sixty years the products those two designed together have been assembled by Dutch craftsmen across the state.

Eero designed many of his iconic buildings from Detroit, including GM’s breathtaking Technical Center in Warren. The world’s largest concentration of buildings designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe lies just steps from the heart of downtown Detroit, set in a beautifully-landscaped park that has become one of the most successful urban redevelopment projects in the country, despite its location in a city that has itself outlived its usefulness in the eyes of much of the world. Moving here, I really wanted to buy as many vintage furnishings that I could that were made (or designed) here in Michigan. The most important and interesting features of the Mies townhouses are the full walls of glass in every room. We are not designers or artists. I am just a stay at home dad.”