Actually, this tree stump by designers Ilona Huvenaars and Alissia Melka-Teichroew is not what it appears at all! It's made of soft foam, and comes in colours certainly never seen in nature!
This Red Flash wallpaper (above) is the design that first woke me up to the amazing work of design duo Eley Kishimoto, and when I spotted their Red Damask design (below), I became a dedicated lifelong fan, prepared to save a wall in my home for the day when I could afford to paper it in an Eley Kishimoto print.
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Production: Tracy Lynch
Here we have a couple more pictures of the Riversfield Farm garden, where Sir David decreed an architectural garden, a formal potager, a dovecote, as well as a Gothic-style pool pavilion, all in the manner of an 18thC English garden.
Find out more about Sir David Hicks by visiting his webpage, where you can see a collection of his furniture, carpets and fabrics, as well as images of his interior design work.
After slumping into scandal and closure, the ertswhile Metropole Hotel on Long Street now has new owners and a whole new look: The Grand Daddy has opened its arms, flashing elegant bling, and it seems that Cape Town has fallen wholeheartedly into this luxurious embrace.
Make a Grand Daddy of a booking, and find out more about the Daddy Long Legs group by visiting the Daddy Longlegs website.
It's on the shelves, folks - the Revamp issue! Check out those 75 pages of beautifully updated homes, and check back in here tomorrow for a peek inside those glossy pages.
Domino blogger Nick Olsen thinks it marries the traditional sophistication befitting the new First Family with the tropical flavour of their favourite vacation destination.
Adler has used tone-on-tone walls and drapery, his signature Montmartre table and Horse lamps, and a repeat pattern of the presidential seal on the rug.
According to Domino magazine, none other than Los Angeles interior designer Michael Smith (above) has been selected as the Obamas' designer-in-residence. "The family's casual style, their interest in featuring 20th century American artists and utilizing affordable brands and products will serve as our guiding principles as we make the residence feel like their home," Smith says on Domino's website.
Smith's trademark style definitely veers towards plush tradition, as you can see in the above photos of other rooms he has decorated, but he creates a feeling of casual comfort by varying subtle shades of colour and mixing different textures and patterns.
Tracy is well known for having started the marvellous African Image in central Cape Town, and also for her work with the Afro brand. Now, with Shine Shine, she's indulging her passion for African commemorative cloths, and putting a super-contemporary spin on them.
These are very limited edition (only 5 available!), and are available from African Image in Cape Town.
via Design Sponge
The Kei collection
The Mtoo collection
My Japanese not being what it used to be (ahem), I don't know much more about these gorgeous faux bois accessories than that they're available from Japanese design store Cibone. Whatever else there is to know about them, I reckon they're definitely worth an eyeballing.
Something about packing all those letters into tight spaces conveys the sense of how densely populated and so very large these metropolitan areas are.
Beorkrem descided to design the typographical maps after a fruitless search for a Chicago neighborhood poster that would look good on her wall. "The project became quite cumbersome with 91 Chicago neighbourhoods in all," she said. Of all the cities that she has mapped, her hometown has the highest number of neighbourhoods. 
