We Covet | Better Living Through Consumerism

Coveting Pointy Clay Bowls

This sea urchin inspired votive holders are both decorative and usefull.  They are so pretty, yet could easily take someone's eye out if that need arises.  Of course, the best thing about people who sell on etsy that your non interwebs using neighbour won't have such unique candle holders and will seriously covet yours and be assured of your good taste.  It is 6 inches diameter, 3 inches tall.  Artist Heather Knight has plenty of other fabulous clay pieces to complement your pointy sea urchin piece that are also very pretty.

Sea Urchin votive candle holder, $38.00 @ Heather Knight's etsy store

We Covet Posters That Rock

I am obsessed, obsessed I tell you, with the posters from El Jefe Design.  El Jefe is Jeffrey Everett's graphic design "...punk rock company which [isn't] just about punk but also about art and politics and music and humor." 

FYI his posters = genius.

I saw Everett's work for the first time on the marquee of  The Black Cat, my favorite music venue in Washington, DC and then at an installation of rock posters at the University of Maryland.  I covet every single one of the subversive, clever and beautiful posters of El Jefe Design for myself.  I have the Raveonettes and Mudhoney posters hanging in my boudoir, but what I would really love is to own them all and keep them in a private hallway like Mr. Smithers, viewing them daily as I greedily interlace my fingers. 

But I'll settle for telling you guys about them.  And sending you to the El Jefe Design store, where you can discover and possess the freaky wonder for yourself. 

Rock concert posters $20-$75 @ El Jefe Design

Anarchic Coloring Books We Covet

Here's the thing about coloring: your kids will always, always want you to join them in their frenzies of scribbling, and you will, whenever possible, pick up a crayon and join them. So you might as well enjoy it. Dutifully filling in Cinderella's skirt with the exact right shade of blue crayon just isn't my cup of tea (Also? I, personally, am unable to approach a Disney Princess image without feeling compelled to draw devil's horns on it, and that kind of thing doesn't go down well with little girls, yanno?) So an alternative coloring book with all sorts of funky images and spaces for crayon freestyling is a godsend. The only problem is, I want to keep this book all to myself, so that I can express myself freely without the mini-tyrant hollering NO MOMMY THAT NEEDS BE RED! Because, you know, for a toddler? It doesn't matter whether it's a princess or a squiggle - there are rules for coloring, dammit, and if you can't follow them, you're doomed.

That said, I'd much rather be doomed for the tint of my expressionist squiggles than for my Cinderella devil horns. So I'm stocking up on an unlimited supply of these babies.

Scribbles Giant Coloring Book, $19.50 @ Delight.com

Coffee Table We Covet

This awesome table would be a total luxury piece if I was a gazzionlaire.  Light passes through multicolored glass and shines onto the ground below. Small stones, beach glass, and handmade marbles surround and a luminous grid of glass set in steel-reinforced concrete. Stain- and weather resistant for use indoors or out. Drooooooool....

Jessie Coffee Table, $2,200.oo @ guild.com

We Covet Art That Sums It All Up, Sort Of

This? I'd love for this to be a notecard print, so that I could send it around to let everybody know that I AM YES STILL WITH CHILD. But it's not, so I might just get it and hang it on my wall and meditate upon it in an effort to convince myself that my fetal tweety-bird is just nesting and it's all well and good and in accordance with the universe blah blah blah.

And if I manage to avoid defacing it by scrawling GET OUT FETUS across it with a Sharpie, then so much the better, because I know that I'll love it in the post-childbirth frenzy of swaddling and diapering and I've forgotten the stress of a prolonged early labor and am busy nostalgizing (?) the sweet, lost days of babynesting.

"A Nest To Simply Be In," original print by Flyk, $19.95 @  BlueFlipArt (partial proceeds to Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes)

We Covet Cool Art, Cheap

This picture pretty much describes how I feel right now, at nine-plus months of pregnancy with all the joy of backache and heartburn and - awesome of awesomes - false labor. So, yeah, this print speaks to me. I think I'll buy it.

I mean, why not? It's, like, thirty bucks and part of the proceeds go to The Nature Conservancy. And if my mood were to all of a sudden change while I was purchasing this print, I could click through the rest of BlueFlipArt's affordable art slash fundraising for good causes site and pick out something more like this. Or this.

At the moment, though, it's the weed-belching belly monster that's speaking to me. Go figure.

Prints from about $14.00, @ BlueFlipArt

Plate We Covet

Filing this under Thing I Will Buy Once I'm Independently Wealthy: despite its obvious impracticality I totally LOVE this decoupage plate from Bombus:

This large 48cm plater is decoupaged in vintage 1970's comic strip. It makes a great peice of wall art or a centre piece for a table. It is collaged with layers of cuttings then given a smooth plastic lacquer finish.

A bit pricey, but Bombus has a TON of reasonably priced paper goods that use recycled maps, atlases and newspapers. Awesome looking AND eco-friendly, folks! Win-win!

Comic Decoupage Plate, $185.00 @ Bombus

Urban Hipster Parent Stuff We Covet Shamelessly (Yes. MORE EAMES.)

So, I know that you don't know me, and that you probably don't go around buying gifts for total strangers, but here's the thing: I am eight and half months pregnant with my second kid and am not expecting a shower of any kind and wouldn't want anyone to go to that trouble anyway and even if they did it's really boy onesies and blue blankies and the whatnot that I need, but. I WANT THIS CHAIR. REAL BAD. Because, hello? It is the awesome.

So, um, you know, if you're feeling in the mood to lavish generous baby gifts on people you don't know - or, maybe, you know Tom Cruise and can convince him that miniature Eames chairs are a waaay better baby gift than fish tanks, and also, that he should direct some his largess my way - that'd be, like, cool. Yanno? Just sayin'.

Eames Miniature Elephant Chair $185.00, @ The MoMA Store

Kids' Stuff We Covet Because It Makes Us Look Cool

I'll confess: what I love most about this product is that it is Eames, and it does not cost a fortune. So, you can, like, drop references to your 'Eames' (oh, we just can't keep the child away from the Eames! She looooves the Eames!) and hope that everybody assumes that you're talking about chairs. But! If they press you for details? Just say it's your collection of vintage Eames toys! Bonus hipster parents points!

You don't need to say that it's reproduction, or that it's just a set of cards (a very special, very cool set of cards, with all variety of educational benefit to offer, but still), because everyone will be too busy hating you for being cooler than they are.

Eames House Of Cards, from $25.00 @ The Eames Gallery.

Decorating Idea We Covet: Wall Decals

I'm completely enamored of the possibilities inherent in using wall decals instead of paint and/or wallpaper. The flexibility and inventiveness of decorating with decals, and the number of companies producing them, seems to be growing daily -- just have a look at Real Simple's awesome decal round-up and resource list. And then commence with struggling, like me, to stop your brain from re-imagining every flat surface in your home. I mean, that bland old refrigerator could use some spiffying up, couldn't it?