If you’ve ever been told that you’re a bit nutty, then this newest design material is definitely for you. Kirei, a Solana Beach, California-based company, has found a way to transform discarded coconut shells into fascinating wall tiles and panels.

Kirei Coco Tiles are an entire series of eco-friendly designs made from coconut shells. The shells are glued to plywood backers using only low- or zero-VOC resins and adhesives. Not only are these products made from 30-percent recycled materials, but they are remarkably unique.

Look at all the different designs for these tiles! Somewhat mosaic in appearance, Coco Tiles come in many different patterns, including basket weaving, checkerboard and swags. There is surprising variation in color, with a wide array of browns, tans and even more striking tones that create the effects of black and white.

Tiles are 1 square foot in size, while wall panels are 4×4. With such a unique new product, there’s really no end to the design applications they could serve. Coco Tiles have been used in furniture design, wall coverings, cabinetry, flooring and other clever interior design uses.

While any application of Coco tiles will look attractive and artistic, purchasing them is also a great way to promote responsibly harvested wood products and eco-friendly materials, making them a great prospect for earning LEED credits for your new build project.

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Walls. They’re so bourgeois, non? Unless, of course, they’re used in a totally functional way. An advertising exec living in Paris hired h2o Architects to completely rehab his digs. The mission: eliminate walls without a clear purpose, open up the small space and make better use of the remaining walls.

Originally, the tiny apartment consisted of six miniscule rooms, each completely compartmentalized with a door to the entryway. The new design, however, allows for a continuous flow from one end of the home to another. The walls themselves serve various functions for each room.

The idea was to make the apartment more spacious and efficient by using the negative space just as vigorously as the positive. The result is partial room dividers-slash-bookshelves, display niches and built-in cabinetry.

Added wall thickness provides even more storage space and functionality.

But not all walls are created equal. Some are thicker than others, and are composed at odd angles. This was done on purpose; some of the walls need more depth for the functions they serve. It also it allowed the designers to create natural-looking nooks in what might otherwise be a distraction.

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What if you could remodel your home using only the materials you remove? One couple, with the help of their 35-year-old home’s original architectural firm, did just that. With only some new materials used in the renovation, all of the removed supplies were reintroduced to the home.

The house, originally a vacation home on Long Island, changed hands over the years. The most recent owners decided a renovation was in order to give them more room for their family. So, they expanded the existing kitchen and dining room, up-scaled the bedrooms and refinished the floors, walls and countertops. Since the integrity of the home’s original construction was of the utmost importance to the new owners, they looked to the design-architect firm for ideas. New York-based Bates Masi + Architects realized that they could give the owners what they wanted by reusing materials.

Ingeniously, they managed to salvage the cypress boards that composed the home’s south-facing wall and deck for use in the new addition. The original siding was repurposed to serve as the new siding, stair treads and scrim material, allowing the house to keep its aged patina. Not only did this save money and natural resources, but it kept that old, cozy feeling that made the home’s exterior so great. New materials would have needed another 35 years of aging to achieve that same effect.

By reusing the old siding, the home is now seamless. So many older homes have that distinct division between the old house and the new construction projects that subsequent generations have tacked on, but here, there’s no telling where history ends and the present begins.

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#1 – Some things look better in multiples, especially if they’re brightly colored – flowers, jellybeans… and these sunny tables. At $65 each, a trio is an affordable complement to any room.

#2 – Remember the Sleestak’s on the Land of the Lost? I’m certain my love of intensely colored glass stems from their use of that crystal matrix table. And it may also explain why I want this $150 piece bad. “Add to Favorites” – click!

#3 – Check out this whimsical spiral bed with optional canopy. Easy assembly is required, and we’re told it’s sturdy. $900 (with canopy in Queen, Double or Full).

#4 – Or, if you’re not clumsy like me and thus less likely to impale your body parts on the spires, perhaps this bed is more to your liking. The Dingle Bed – yes, the Dingle Bed – is said to be Willy Wonka-inspired and features fired-clay ornaments. $800.

#5 – And finally, the Arching Bed in Steel (cat not included). Shown here in a most suitable environment, it really illustrates what a difference a headboard can make. Will the list of home furnishings I crave never end? $700.

For more Delia furnishings, click here.

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CaesarStone proves that stunning texture isn’t just for countertops anymore. Quartz counters are slowly climbing the walls and lending themselves to a variety of special applications. Check it out…

Part of the Motivo line, this textured surface was created using patented embossing technology. The design is subtle yet remarkably detailed.

Here’s a dark variety, Ebony Reflections. The surface was used for the company’s showroom in an earthy bathroom setting.

A fireplace gets a unique twist with CaesarStone’s Blizzard Corian. Pure, clean and brilliant.

You can also order laser-etched designs to create awesome artwork.

CaesarStone shows quartz in a whole new light. Let it spark your imagination as to what you can do with this timeless, practical material.

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The chockablock style of these wood pieces from MSTRF adds texture to traditionally smooth furniture.

Varying colors create a most eye-pleasing headboard with interest and depth. For $2,358, you’re getting the bed frame as well.

$853 will net you this solid zebra and poplar side table with glass top to complete your urban lair.

This coffee table is available in black or white lacquers and walnut for $888.

Packed-together pieces of black-stained poplar form this limited-edition, numbered and signed wall piece. It’s 24”x32”, and yours for $388.

Last on this list, but at the top of our shopping list, is this walnut night stand. This is the look I was going for when I cobbled together wooden blocks in shop class to create a miniature version for use as a planter. My creation failed; this one’s a success, and thus the $1,155 price tag.

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California’s Crowley Lake is the site of this amazing wintry hideaway. A perfect blend of casual and impressive, it makes for free-and-easy living, adult-style.

Designed for privacy, Tim Gallagher’s three-story house blends in with the landscape, both in its rough shape and use of low-maintenance, naturally weathering materials.

The 2,400-sq-ft. space boasts four bedrooms, one bath, a living area, and a large garage to house wintertime toys. The furnishings are unfussy and inexpensive. After all, the location and killer view make enough of a statement.

In fact, this sofa and coffee table are from IKEA.

Even the art is minimalist, with a series of colorful snowboards lining the stairway.

Rows and rows of windows let in natural light, while the top level’s overhang offers shade.

In shadow, the cabin looks like it’s carved into the bottom of the mountain. Just beautiful!

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Designer Vern Yip goes to town on a few boring living spaces. Here are 6 outrageous ones from Deserving Design.

#1 – This uber-masculine bedroom combines brown leather, black walls and red accents – a very unlikely color combination. With a twinkling background, it’s a Phantom of the Opera-esque fantasy land.

#2 – A creative way to make a shared room as private as possible, individual beds are swathed in drapery. Artwork inside each unit says “bungalow,” not hospital bed.

#3 – Locker rooms are typically smelly places where jocks hang out and make rude jokes. This design invites respect and conviviality with conversation areas, artwork and fresh-looking lamps.

#4 – Would you believe this is a garage? A fun transformation makes it a favorite place to hang in the house while still keeping it conducive to its original use – parking and storage.

#5 – An otherwise neglected hallway becomes a multipurpose dining and music room with eclectic yet rustic furnishings.

#6 – Decorating with words makes a big statement in this now-trendy living room. It needed little else than a profusion of black-and-white personal photos and travel mementos to make it comfy, yet stylish.

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The Sliding Kitchen by Workstead is a new design scheme to save space in a tight kitchen.

LEED AP Stefanie Brechbuehler and Robert Highsmith of Workstead designed this kitchen transformation from top-to-bottom. The problem: lack of space in a cramped Brooklyn apartment. Their solution: utilize a grid system with the cabinetry and optimize headspace by implementing sliding cabinet doors. Genius.

Because there wasn’t much countertop space in this single-wall kitchen, the designers worked to offer creative spaces for displaying pretty objects and keeping useful items within arm’s reach. They accomplished this by stacking multiple wall cabinets over the base cabinets and countertops, as well alternating slider doors and open cabinets.

The gray-on-gray color scheme brightens up the space, giving the illusion that it’s bigger than it is and accentuating the room’s openness.

The cabinet door sliders really do provide quite an advantage. Not only are they easy to operate, but they save more space than traditional forward-swinging cabinet doors. Sure, an open cabinet door doesn’t need much space, but in a diminutive kitchen, an open cabinet door slices through the visual breadth of the room and cuts it down a size.

What really helps tie the room scheme together is the mirrored format for the living room’s entertainment center. From the living room staring off into the kitchen, it appears as if there’s a continuous wall spanning from one room into the next, which also adds to the illusion of grand size and space. Well done.

The kitchen before transformation:

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Cardboard: it’s not just for shipping your eBay items anymore! Now people are recycling all sorts of materials, like corrugated cardboard boxes, and finding cool new uses for them. Not only are we saving landfills and our environment, but we’re seeing some awesome new inventions – ideas that wouldn’t have been conceived otherwise.

Designer/innovator Jason Schneider creates cardboard furniture that, at first glance, appears to be solid wood construction. But look a little closer, and you can see the layers of wavy corrugated cardboard.

Although I’ve seen cardboard furniture before, never have I seen such functional and attractive pieces before. Schneider uses the contrast between light and dark to make his pieces even more visually intriguing.

What’s even more attractive is the way he’s shaped the pieces in his collection. Most pieces are rounded, elliptical or oblong – very stylish and free-flowing.

You’ve probably noticed that parts of the furniture are painted. Schneider uses 100-percent all-natural milk paint to achieve this effect.

Looking back on his earlier work, it’s easy to see the transition Schneider made to the cardboard pieces he’s making today. Prior to this, his collection consisted mostly of wooden innovations, but they have the same unique hallmarks that are distinct in his more current works.

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