You know what’s annoying about beach chairs? If you want to read on the beach, what do you do with your book or e-reader? Sure, you can prop the chair up and read, but what about if you want to lay down for some relaxing reading? You’re stuck with tired arms after holding the book up.

To the rescue comes the Ostrich 3-in-1 Patio Chaise Lounge Chair. It has a hole near the top (like a massage table) so that you can lie face down, put your book on the ground and read in comfort.

What do you think? Is this better living through design? Is this something you would find handy for summer? Let us know in the comments!

Image courtesy of Target.

The sink is an simple way to provide a bathroom with a focal point — especially a smaller bath where space is tight. Tthe Kitchen & Bath Show is going on this week, and there have been a lot of new and beautiful sinks in the blogosphere. We especially love this one that Bob Vila found. It’s a real stand-out, made with copper and designed to be seen! Made by Premier Copper Products, it is hand-forged from recycled copper. Gorgeous and green!

If you enjoy the outdoors and communing with nature, and if you’ve ever desired to expand your outside bathroom repotoire beyond camping trips, this might be just the toilet for you!

Architect Sou Fujimoto created this glass toilet stall to take advantage of the beautiful rural landscape in Ichihara City. For use only by women, the toilet stall is, well, interesting to say the least.

What do you think: Interesting architecture or wacky use of space?

Image courtesy of CNet

While perusing Twitter, we came across Nigel Maynard’s Tweet about these interesting hooks. As HomeIQ says, these “will either make you smile or freak you out.”

By artist Nick Davis, these bronze hands and feet are perfect for hanging coats, acting as 3D art and scaring your guests. What do you think? Would you want these in your hallway?

Images courtesy of HomeIQ. 

Are you looking for a multi-person seating alternative to the couch? Have a dream of “swimming” in cushions? Do you really love birds? Then this seating option might be for you!

The Giant Birdsnest by O*GE is “a prototype for new and inspiring socializing space, which can be seen as a morph of furniture and playground.” It looks like it could be used as an unusual sleeping space in addition to seating. Think of the great conversations you could have while in this nest!

Would you ever put something like this in your family room?

Image courtesy of O*GE

Are you remodeling a princess-themed bathroom? Or maybe one in Vegas? Well, look no further than this sparkly bathtub by SICIS. It’s made out of glass that l00ks like pink sequins.  A perfect present for the sparkly shoe-lover in your life!

We want to know if the heel of the “shoe” could be used as a water slide into the bath for an extra dash of fun. What do you think of this fun and unusual bath?

Copper and wood are two of nature’s most beautiful materials. Tamasine Osher has used copper piping, along with wood, to create some gorgeous industrial-chic pieces. It’s a very innovative use of a material that might otherwise have been used for scrap! What do you think?

Images courtesy of DigsDigs.

We recently attended the annual Minneapolis Home & Garden Show and came away impressed by a number of fine craft artists in the Twin Cities area who produce interior goods.

Deirdre Hjelle creates mosaic art that can be used on any vertical or horizontal surface (see example above). She works with a technique called “opus sectile,” or “cut work,” seen in the image atop this post. Each piece is cut by hand from a stone slab — most commonly granite, marble, travertine or slate — and then fitted together like a puzzle. She puts a backing on groups of pieces so that larger installations can go together in just a few slabs.

The cabinets shown in the photo at right were built by Dan Jaskowick, who has an impressive portfolio of kitchen, bath, media and fireplace cabinetry. Jaskowick has been in business for 30 years and offers a lifetime warranty on his work.

Finally, a company that we like for its innovation, quality and heritage of family ownership: Cambria USA. Cambria uses engineered stone made from 93 percent pure quartz with 7 percent resin and binder. Shown in the photo below, it’s non-porous, stronger than granite and requires no sealant. We’ve seen some amazing things created with Cambria.

How about you? Been to any home shows this year? Got any products to share?

No matter the home, a remodeling project is a big undertaking, and the reasons we choose to remodel are virtually infinite.

That’s why we’ve created a new feature for Marvin.com, the myMarvin Remodelers Gallery, which features several case studies complete with before and after photos and homeowner stories on what inspired their project.

We hope you’ll visit the gallery to explore the many visions realized through some of the most impressive remodeling projects in the country. And if you’ve recently completed a project and you would like to have it featured in our gallery, encourage your contractor to send before and after photos to us for consideration.

For now, enjoy three gorgeous projects that injected new life into older homes.

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off Tuesday in Las Vegas and some of the most well-respected blogs are making predictions for what to expect.

Over the years, CES has been the site where companies have introduced innovations like the camcorder, the compact disc, high-definition televisions and even the original Nintendo gaming system.

Last year, we highlighted household innovations from the CES floor, which included many smart home technologies that will re-shape the way we live in and interact with our homes.

Here’s some of the early predictions for what we’ll see at the 2012 CES:

Mat Smith, Engadget: “It’ll be what we’re not seeing that looks likely to be the major trend for household tech — namely wires. We’re expecting to see broader (and closer to retail) takes on inductive charging. We’re talking more convenient ways to wirelessly top up your phone, possibly integration into your car and home — all in a way that’s far more subtle than that black industrial mat of yesteryear. We’d expect to see it seeping into many more devices beyond smartphones. Leave those remotes on your coffee table as it charges the batteries for you.”

Matt Burns, TechCrunch: “A smaller but still notable trend for the 2012 CES involves Siri clones inside new product types … Several smart TV concepts have optional voice controls. Using a mic embedded in a remote, viewers are supposedly able to control certain functions with just their voice. We haven’t seen any demos but the company’s limited descriptions lends us to believe that the feature set is very limited and is probably more of a novelty than a useful feature.”

Kukil Bora, International Business Times: “The CES 2012 will introduce enhanced energy management system in your home, using gadgets like thermostats that can be controlled remotely via browsers and smartphones. Broadband companies are also getting into the scene by selling home-automation bundles. In October last year, Verizon started offering a Motorola system for remotely monitoring energy and cameras in the home, which was previewed at the CES last year.”