Living on your own has its perks. For one, you’re not subject to the decorative whims of design-challenged parents or roommates who think Billy the Big Mouth Bass makes any living room complete. While you have plenty of taste, enhancing your abode is never as simple as finding a rug that really ties the room together. For those with a flair for interior design who have run a little dry on resources, we recommend checking out The Cultivated Home. The new blog from Nina Freudenberger, one of the principles at Haus Interior, spotlights specific vendors, new designers, events and stores in the NYC area that are sure to leave those with a specific interest in the beautifying of living space lusting for more.

We never really knew that there was such a thing as “competition grade” espresso and cappuccino cups. I’m not even sure we knew there were espresso and cappuccino competitions — but as long as the folks at Terra Keramik are here to enlighten us we can get behind their new collection of premium competition grade, espresso cups, cappuccino cups and coffee mugs. These dishwasher-safe ceramic coffee chalices are made free of the tyranny of lead and cadmium glazes and are triple fired so that they’re extra durable. While their stability is certainly appealing, we also like the fact that available in eight vibrant colors, accented in platinum, and hand signed. Additionally, these caffeine containers are the preferred choice of over 30 professional baristi for their regional, national, and international competitions. If they’re good enough for them who are we to argue? The whole line of cups after the jump…

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The auto industry may be suffering, but quality product design isn’t. A line of bowls and coasters influenced by classic cars has been created by New York-based Ramnarace. Recycled aluminum is put to good use by someone who knows a thing or two about the metal. Designer Sid Ramnarace worked on projects for Ford, Aston Martin, and Lincoln before turning a few of his favorite forms into products for the home. The combination of sleek lines and dramatic design used in the Mika and Stirling bowls is eye-catching — not that we’d expect anything less from someone who had a hand in developing the look of the Thunderbird.

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Lighting fixtures, Legos, and inflatables have never before converged. Now, Chile’s Rodrigo Alonso Schramm gives us Modulair, customizable inflated components which you assemble to create attractive hanging lights. By combining any of four modules (triangle, square pentagon and hexagon), you can build a light exactly to your taste. Of course, no matter what you do with them, Modulair lights maintain their futuristic ice crystal appearance. Adorn anything from your kitchen to the Fortress of Solitude.

Kat Nouri brings us simple, attractive home items with versatility. Modern-twist features the products of Nouri’s collaborations with several Bay Area designers. The result is a collection of functional bits with multiple uses that come in patterns sure to class up your home. Our favorite example is the Vinotagz; little markers to place around the stem of your wine glass so you don’t lose it among the others at a party, which can also be used as napkin rings.

With all of the hard work you put into going “green” you might consider yourself a martyr for the environment. But would you ever stick your hand in a socket if it meant consuming less energy? Probably not. Thankfully, that’s not your job anymore Brother and Sister Earth. Dane Whitehurst of The Play Coalition has eliminated the need for your eventual electrocution with his creation of the Martyr Lamp. This little energy saving buddy, created from standard lighting fixtures and a plastic sheet, would rather unplug his own life than see you plug in a wattage guzzling halogen lamp. He utilizes a single golf ball bulb that will stay cool, light up, and conserve energy at the same time.

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The cold days are fast approaching, and while we’ll ultimately be thankful when the heat kicks in, the last thing we look forward to is the massive energy bill. Keeping tabs on the thermostat has become a necessity nowadays with energy at a premium, but sometimes that temperature managing device can be too confusing to fiddle with. Thankfully, Ecobee has ironed out all of the kinks with their very own version of the integrated intelligent programmable smart thermostat. Their WiFi enabled touchscreen (it resembles an iPod) makes being green easy with a quick save button that automatically sets your system to conserve. If you’ve forgotten to lower your heat after you’ve left your home, you can also login online and tinker with the settings remotely, which might come in handy if need to freeze out an unwelcome houseguest.

A toothpick holder that becomes a spiny animal and salt and pepper shakers disguised as trees are just two of  the freshly released items in the second series of Alessi’s Orientales animated tableware collection. We first featured Giovannoni Stefano and Takeda Rumiko, the first of which we featured a few months ago. The aforementioned Forrest Gump set is probably the best of the new line, but a couple of the Sweet Fish castors would look great on any kitchen shelf too. I can’t wait to see what’s next so I can have an excuse to spend more time in the kitchen.

If being woken up in the morning by a dutiful robot buddy is a trait of the future, then Tokyobay has assured that the future is now. Tokibot clocks take three classic robot styles and equip them with chest-inlaid timepieces that would make Flava Flav pout with jealousy. Check out the various styles and colors these helper-bots come in at Tokyobay. If you love the traditional robot dance box-head style like I do, Rivet is a clear choice.

Industrial designer Justin Porcano has a way of turning inanimate objects into items of mass sex appeal. Whether we’re looking at his exquisite furniture work or some of his product creations, we often can’t help but fall in love at first sight. It’s no wonder clients such as Target and Dell have lined up to work with his Oakland based company, Upwell Design. Even with corporations clamoring for his services, Justin finds the time to continue to churn out quality designed products that, along with artistry, always do an astonishing job incorporating function into their form. His latest samples, an artist’s penbook for the designer on the go and incredibly sleek lightswitch wallplates, certainly uphold that tradition and are most definitely worth a look.

If you’re looking for that one-of-a-kind bed, armoir, or rocking chair that fits in perfectly to your unique space — and you’ve got a few bucks to throw around — you might want to take a look at the work of Allan Lake. The U.K. designer uses an array of British hardwoods from sustainable woodlands to create fantastical furniture that looks straight out of a surrealistic fairy tale. Each commissioned work is akin to art, blending in beautifully with its surroundings, yet still might inspire you to turn your bedroom into a museum for your new centerpiece.

Magazines may soon be a thing of the past thanks to the Internet, but a website can’t occupying space on your coffee table. Instead of tossing your perodical 1.0’s any old place, we think it would be much easier to slip them neatly inside the Pictura Suspended Magazine Rack. This wall mounted stainless steel digest depository, designed by Karl Karlsson, fits up to 12 mags and contains a window that allows you to see the front cover of your latest issue of Guns & Ammo or Sleeping Illustrated, more or less framing it as a work of art, just as the graphic designer who put in all that hard work intended.

Normally if you were to engage in fisticuffs with a lighting fixture you’d probably end up in some sort of insane asylum. The genius minds at Fluid Forms however, have turned it into an artful endeavor with their new Cassius lamp. The Austria-based design firm affords customers the opportunity to shape the lamp to their own liking using an online interface in which the product’s lampshade is utilized as a heavy bag with the punches being thrown by a pair of virtual boxing gloves. The result is a truly one of a kind creation made by you that may eventually lead to anger management classes.

We like pretty linens. They don’t make our three hours of sleep a night any more restful, but knowing they were designed in Paris at least makes us feel special. With that in mind, Kiolla digitally prints designs featuring such subjects as blue flamingos, sleeping geisha-like princesses, and devil duckies on 100-percent cotton sheets. If you don’t see something you like, the company is currently holding a competition for designers to submit their works for the chance for them to be used as future prints.

In the future there’ll be no such thing as a newspapers. All reading will be done on a complex device called a computer. But as long as someone’s still putting print to paper there’s going to be waste associated with it. Thankfully, there are people like the inventive minds at Onceneto design studio, who have found ways to turn the print industry’s trash into someone else’s treasure. Teaming up with Santiago’s La Tercera de la Hora daily newspaper, the Chilean firm founded by Ricardo Vargas and Abi Jarkowiec has taken the difficult to recycle cardboard tubes from the periodicals printer rolls and connected them using a steel support to create a nifty chair called the Conolounge. While this precious furnishing is still in the prototype phase, with any luck, it’ll be rolling hot off the presses sometime soon.