Designed by Bo Ekstrom of Sweden and manufactured in Belgium from European bent beech wood, this beautiful, functional and space-saving device takes diaper duty seriously. It is certified through a rigorous inspection process by the independent Technical Research Institute of Sweden to withstand a baby up to 33 pounds. Though Bo reports that he tested the strength up to a 110 pound capacity, in case your worst potty training fears are realized and your kid is still in diapers as they’re heading off to college.

While style and elegance may not be the first words you think of when considering diaper duty, this pretty piece may just have you altering your stance on the matter, quite literally – since it’ll spare your posture compared to it’s traditional floor-standing counterparts.

When I first spotted this item making the blog rounds a few years ago, US was, as usual, lagging far behind the design market as it was only available for sale in Europe. We’ve finally caught on! It is now widely available on line and can be had in a price range of $600 – $750, depending of how good you are at finding your bargains. The wall-mounted changing table comes with a choice of green or ivory changing pad and even has a matching diaper dispenser for an additional $150.

The rubik’s cube may have a competitor. This toy isn’t only educational and stimulating, it’s the recipient of whole bunch of design awards in Europe and sits in the Deutsches Museum of Modern Art! Not bad for a play thing.

Designed by Jean-Phillipe Rossinelli for Naef Toys, the Quadrigo is made in Switzerland of safe, non-toxic materials. It is available in three sizes and two color options, white (above) and multi-color (below). The sizes are mini ($79), medium ($149), and large ($679!).

You can get it at Grow Modern, a site that claims, “You will be amazed by the level of creativity that these apparently purist components allow you to reach.” I’m sure you’re also amazed that such a thing can be created for $679 bucks!

Ceiling fan designs have come a long way in the past couple of years. With a more eco-conscious generation, people are shunning their energy guzzling air conditioners for the much more economical and highly efficient ceiling fans. However, no one can be expected to go green with the likes of your grandmother’s ceiling fan, complete with wood veneer blades and tiffany-style lampshades! No no, we require fans that have a lunar counterweight which, along with the fan, can orbit around it’s spherical gear housing!

The Matthews Fan Company constructs these beauties out of cast aluminum, heavy gauge spun and stamped steel, Bakelite and ecologically harvested mahogany. Each of their designs is also available in brushed nickel, polished chrome, polished copper, polished brass, dark bronze and black lacquer finishes.

The one pictured above is the Brisa 2000. Check out the Duplo-Dinamico and the Air-Ruthiane below as just a couple of the other available designs.

Yet another notable Jewelry designer, Ananda Khalsa draws inspiration heavily from Asian art and cultural symbolism to create her designs. Each of her pieces is hand painted on paper, which is then set behind hand-ground glass into fine and sterling silver. Paintings are no longer to be displayed solely on walls, use your body as an exhibit!

Looking through her work you will find a pattern in imagery used. There are bluebirds, willows, cranes and maples galore! As if the organic and serene images aren’t lovely enough, the settings she uses to display them are not too shabby either. I am particularly fond of the Hinged Bluebird Bracelet pictured above. It is available in both a wide and a narrow style at $1025 and $710, respectively at Guild.

Check out more of her jewelery at Guild as well as The Clay Pot.

As if chess wasn’t action-packed enough, in comes the wobble chess set from Umbra. Designed by Adin Mumma, a stunning landscape of hills and valleys sets the stage for the weighted wood and metallic, ball-based pieces.

Granted, your concentration may stray from the actual strategy and forethought required to play the game as you hypnotically stare at the pretty pieces flailing around!

Available from Umbra for $263.00

Calling all loft dwellers! Do you live in one room that functions as your bedroom, kitchen, dining room, foyer, library, closet, office, bathroom, and all those other rooms than suburban folk actually have walls to separate, but you consider it a small price to pay for living in the heart of a big city? Then you’ll be particularly grateful for any multi-functional piece of furniture that has a tiny footprint. Especially when that piece of furniture also happens to be this gorgeous!

The Home Office Trike is imported from Europe and made from plywood, leather and stainless steel. It is intended to provide all the accommodations of a regular office desk set-up without the space-guzzling that entails.  It’s jam packed with various nooks and crannies to fit all your office supplies as well as provide an adjustable surface to house your laptop.  The wheels allow you to roll your entire home office from one place to another with ease, and the fact that there are three wheels, as opposed to four, provides better stability when in use.

It goes for $2,200 at Deeply Madly Living.  If you’re already spending 90% of your yearly income on your city loft, you probably won’t mind sinking another 2k into this baby because, seriously, how uncomfortable are you in that cramped space as it is?!

I love the idea of a cuckoo clock in my home. It’s sweet, whimsical and takes me back. I’ve considered purchasing one for some time, but while I love the old fashioned tradition of the clock, I am not too fond of the old fashion designs.

Italian company Progetti has designed a line of contemporary cuckoo clocks for Barbero Design that give you all the charm of an old fashioned cuckoo clock but with modern style and technology. And much less noise.

These clocks aren’t just beautiful, they’re smart too! There is a built-in light sensor which automatically switches off the sound during the night and the volume is adjustable. Made of wood and pvc with battery quartz movement, these little guys range from $306 to $549, depending on the different designs.

The above image is the “nonsparatesulcucu.” See below for the “Auckland,” “Gazeebo,” and “Kalimero” designs, respectively. These and more fantastic options are available Unica Home.

John Michael Linck is a toymaker who’s carrying on his family’s tradition in woodworking. With a degree in Forest Science and Design from the University of Illinois, Mr. Linck uses Wisconsin Hardwoods to beautifully and artfully craft his pieces into durable and timeless toys that serve from one generation to the next. This craftsman does not rely on mass production, each item is made solely with his own hands in the basement workshop of his Madison home. These toys are made not only with skill, but with a lot of heart.

There are a select few toys that Mr. Linck makes, available on his website. But I am particularly in love with this walker/wooden block wagon. Containing 100 wooden unit blocks and made of Black Cherry wood which starts with a medium red color and darkens over time to a deep red, this toy could quite possibly be the only one your child needs! The removable block units are made of different shapes and sizes to fuel the imagination while the wagon serves as a great walking tool, storage solution and ride on toy! Not to mention the durability of the item will make for a heartfelt heirloom from your child to theirs.

In my book, that’s one toy that completely deserves it’s $315.00 price tag.

You can read more about it and order it here.

Here’s something sleek and chic: the Blomus UTILO Tea Stick! Make tea-time a treat not a trick. With a click, you can get your stick quick. If you don’t like my shtick, you can Blomus my… arm.

Sometimes you just want to brew a great cup of tea for one without employing the unnecessarily large tea pot to do so. But because you’re a style maven, the literal old ball and chain infuser simply won’t do. Designed by Floz, this innovative and stylish tea stick allows you to place a portion of loose tea leaves onto the plastic tray that slides out of its stainless steel sheath. By sliding that plastic tray back into the stick cavity, a plastic handle is created on the opposite end by which the stick can safely be retrieved with bare fingers from your piping hot cup.

Of course, fine mesh would probably fare better at keeping bits of tea leaves from entering the water as these holes look rather large to effectively contain the tiny particles. Also, there doesn’t seem to be much room for water to fully encompass the leaves thus extracting all their tea goodness. But I’m sure it’s relatively effective and, as always, it’s perty!

Available for $17.99 at The Flatware Store.

With everything else being pixelated these days, it’s only natural that your jewelry should follow suit.

This necklace was designed and made by South Korean jeweler and metalsmith, Hongsock Lee as a graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design. His work is described as “contemporary, modernistic jewelry that he conceives as small sculptures.” In fact, Mr. Lee’s true passion lies in sculpting and that is the designers’ ultimate dream. However, he makes jewelry for a living because he can actually earn money from it, a perk that isn’t as readily available with sculpting.

This 18K and 14K gold wire necklace sprinkled with 10 diamonds is available at Guild for $3150. Don’t just admire sculpture from afar, become one with the art form as you use the smooth lines and curves of your own body to juxtapose the straight, geometric shapes. Don’t you just feel like juxtaposing sometimes? Me neither.