Wishlist #4: LCD TV

Hey hey it's that time again! That time that hasn't come around for a while because I kind of forgot about it or stopped being greedy. Probably the first, though, since I'm greedy 24/7/52/12/365-6. Anyway, the pictures would all look the same since I'm specifically wishing for a standard flat-screen LCD TV for my fancy apartment dorm in the fall. So I'm just listing my favorite one.

And, to sate your eternal desire for visual aids, I'm listing the top 3 craziest/most awesome TVs I found on the internet today at the bottom of this post. So scroll to your heart's content.

1. Sharp LC19SB24U 19" LCD HDTV - $270

I don't know much about researching these big purchases, but I do know this:

• I have a good, solid, bulky cube of a Sharp 13" TV that has worked pretty well for 8 of the past 9 years I've owned it. So I kind of trust Sharp as a brand.


• I want 19" because my roommate and I have had a disappointingly small TV (similar in bulky cubeness to mine) for two years that makes TV gatherings frustrating. College kids: does this happen to you?? In fact, the two of us talked seriously about getting a new TV for next year. Funny since now we'll be living in the most expensive dorm and neither of us can really afford a new TV but whateva!


• I have spoken. I want this TV. Grey's, 30 Rock and The Office will be oh so much more awesome. I might even start watching House with this glorious TV, who knows. I keep meaning to, but gosh, my TVs right now are just so subpar.

And now! These are not as crazy as I planned! Mostly they are childish! But I know you skipped down here to see what they are, so I present to you: weird TVs!

a. High School Musical TV

Oh HSM. How terrible your actors are. How catchy and stupid your music is. How slutty your stars are. Yet no one can resist you. This TV is kind of awesome, if only for the clever locker storage design and the many brain cells it will suck out of a generation of kids. We can't have them turning out smarter than us, after all. We know only too well how helpless the baby boomers seem in comparison to their kids. What do I click to get Internet? Anyway, there's also an iPod dock.

b. "The Japanese Crazy TVs"

These aren't all that crazy; in fact they're really cute. But I always wonder about the practicality of stuff like this, which you kind of outgrow past oh, twelve, and have to either throw out or declare "quirky" when it's really not. Or I don't know, maybe it is but I don't get it. I could see either of the two TVs on this link in something like Toy Story though. (Incidentally, I hope they don't do any more of those, because I've lost all faith in sequels/etc.)

c. Dynatron

I am so confused by the post stemming from this image, but the caption says that it is "the most expensive TV set manufactured in Britain. Assembled by thousands of highly trained paramecia in 1948, it was called a ‘Dynatron Ether Sovereign’." I enjoy the name and its ridiculous size, so I bestow it on you and your eyes. Maybe you can make some sense out of the link.

Wishlist #three: Wallpaper

Unfortunately, living in an apartment, we are not allowed to do much in the ways of decorating. Consequently, all our rooms feature plain white walls and rather nondescript beige carpets. The kitchen and bathroom have totally fug yellowish-white-and-brown tiles. Bleh. Anyway, I found these awesome wallpapers linked from other sites and I would love to have them to ease the bore factor in our apartment, if we could afford luxuries like prettiness.

1. Heat-Sensitive Wallpaper by Shi Yuan. $?.??

This would be so pretty in a kitchen or bedroom! In fact, I think it would spark some good conversation in any room. The paint is sensitive to heat and gets progressively more colorful with hotter temperatures, "blooming" at 95ºF. I don't think it's on the market yet; it's just an idea by Shi Yuan, a creative and inspired designer, from the looks of that personal site. I think enough people online have expressed interest that it should definitely be considered as a consumer-geared product! I don't know the right term for that. My point is that I would buy it.

2. grow house grow! Christopher pattern in Cornflower. $150/roll.

These wallpapers are so cute! There are only a few options for sale on the site (which is also extremely cute), but they are all perfect. I can just picture them in my room, lending a quiet, subdued splash of color just detailed enough to catch the eye of visitors. The company is based in Brooklyn, which I really want to get to know more when I go back to New York, because it is definitely just as culture-rich as Manhattan but less hectic, at least to the outside observer's point of view.

Ok well my mind got sidetracked thinking about going back to New York, instead of about wallpaper, and these were really the only two links I had (wallpaper ain't that exciting, really), so the end!

Wishlist #two: Coffee Tables

Well, I was going to post a how-to tutorial on the wrapping paper box I made at 10 last night, but my frickin camera batteries are dead again. So instead, I will do another wishlist. Keep in mind that I dream these up pretty much on the spot as I noodle around the interwebs.

We currently can't even see our coffee table, but what I remember of it is that it's black and low, with a glass surface, and I don't like it much. None of the furniture in our apartment matches or goes with any sort of theme, so lately I've been dreaming up color schemes and themes for when we're organized enough to have them. I'm thinking black furnishings to complement our dirty-cream sofa (read: dirty and once-cream-colored sofa) and chairs in the living room.

1. Ikea Ramvik Coffee Table. $129.

Last time, the first item was the one to inspire the entire post. This time, this was just the most affordable/realistic item I happened upon first. Ikea always wins my heart. I like this black color and the rather inconspicuous design. It also has drawers and space inside for all the crap we would inevitably need to hide in it. (Given open surfaces, we tend to make chaos. You'll see when I post about the kitchen someday.) Plus, that little space on the bottom could be a nice spot for some well thought-out shelf design-ness, like trinkets or something kitschy like that. The only thing I don't like about it is its bulk, especially compared with some of the next few items.

2. Room and Board Nelson Bench. $629-$764.

I love this! Room and Board was the sponsor of Apartment Therapy's "Small is Cool" contest that I mentioned last time, and the winners received prizes from them, which is so so lucky. I think this "bench" coffee table is a little too cutting edge for our apartment's motif, but I still love it, and would love to ogle it in someone else's house, even. That's how selfless I am! I accept the fact that I can't afford (both stylistically and financially) certain things, but I allow others to purchase them so I can admire the dreams I gave up.

3. Room and Board Halo Cocktail Table. $330-$1479.

First I have to wtf at their listed price. How does that variance happen? I may be confused by the fact that this link lists the item as the "base" of the table, but still. Anyway, I think glass always looks classy (if done right I guess), and tends to go with whatever decor you already have. Honestly I have no idea what I'm saying; I've never furnished a home. Don't listen to me. I just think this Halo table is really pretty, and I love the name. It's like angels are resting their heads beneath your living room floor. And who doesn't want that? Unless you've got some real assfaces living downstairs.

4. Spacify Arena Coffe Table. $1870.

Annnd absurd item of the post. This beautiful cylindery table is just so... shiny. It comes in black, too, but I couldn't find a picture. This price is so insane, though! Do people really spend that much on a big white slab of table? I guess they do if they're concerned with buying products that are made in Italy. Italy is sooo romantic blah blah blah. It's a table! It doesn't know where it was born! I could put my butt on it and it wouldn't care! Is that really worth $1870? Whateva. The point is, I actually really want this piece of crap.

Thanks to:
- DesignBloggers (Arena)

Wishlist #one: Bookcases

I have big dreams. Big dreams of my dream house. Dreamy dreams about my dream house of dreams. Since that's a pretty big dream, I often settle for having small dreams, too. Things I want include storage units, aesthetically pleasing decorative objects, and better, sleeker appliances/electronics. I guess when you add all that up, it turns into just another big fat dream. Whatever! Here's a book storage wishlist.

1. Bruno Rainaldi Sapen Bookcase, Design Within Reach. $220 small, $330 large.


I saw this in a post on OurBedrooms, a Livejournal community, and it looked so amazing that I knew I had to have it. One day my vertebral book heaven will come. When you fill it up completely, the shelf seems to be invisible, and it looks like you just stacked all your books (up to 70) all neat and tidy on your own. Very impressive. I definitely prefer this over my current bedroom bookcase situation: a white two-shelfer as old as I am, in an ugly white plastic-feeling adfljlkj I need to stop describing it because it sounds as awful as it is.


2. Brave Space Tetrad Bamboo Set. $1,000 for 5-piece set; $2,000 for 10-piece set.

This one is completely unrealistic for me, but everyone loves Tetris. And, most people like books (maybe the two exceptions are struggling Kindergarteners and the boy from my high school who listed his favorite books as "I don't like to read" on Facebook). So what better idea than to combine them? The z-shaped ones seem a little impractical to me, but I bet books look awesome in them. You can stack the individual shapes however you like!


3. Ikea Linnarp Glass Door Bookcase. $100 per 2-piece set. Black, red, or pine.


Ikea - affordable, chic sellers of home furnishings and hot dogs. I like this style for many reasons other than the price: it keeps your books dust free while also hiding them slightly (books are still visible) from the sight of critical dinner guests. Also, I just find this incredibly classy - I picture a sophisticated British surgeon opening the Linnarp bookcase in a white sitting room, looking over his wire-rimmed glasses to find Gray's Anatomy, shutting the door with a gallant click, and raising his finger, ready to explain the workings of the liver. Yummy.

4. Nils Holger Moormann Bookinist book chair. 2.187€ (about $3,407 and yes I used the European currency notation used in France and Germany. I think.)

I wanted to slap on a completely tacky bookcase as the final item in my list, but Google kind of failed me people are probably too embarrassed to post such things on the Internet, and everything I found while searching for "tacky bookcase" was utterly awesome. This thing looks horribly uncomfortable, but it has a wheel for reclining (label: "Not for highway use" - those Germans crack me up) and a place to store your Moleskine! So freaking European. I love it.

Thanks to:
- Design*Sponge book storage roundup (Sapien, Tetrad)
- BoingBoing archives (Bookinist)