The effect the lamp creates is stunning. Sadly, its price tag is stunning in an altogether different way.
Bringing lamps and lights outdoors after the sun goes down can bring a festive atmosphere to a dark patio and a touch of magic to hidden garden. Here’s our look at five outdoor lamps and lighten systems. Some are expensive and some are high value, but all of them, we think, are very cool looking:
None of the four sleeping bags reviewed below are ones you’ll come across shopping the REI sleeping bag finder. Practical, portable, warm—these four sleeping bags have none of those qualities. But each does have a design that’s novel (to say the least) and a look that resembles something un-sleeping-bag-like:
Spot Cool Stuff wrote previously about a rental villa in France where guests can live like human hamsters. But perhaps you’re looking for an animalistic unusual hotel experience more avian than that. We have your answer: The Human Nest.
The Nest is literally a human-sized abode made of branches and woven wood. Think of it as a piece of art that you happen to be able to sleep in.
Covering a typical house recycles between 600 and 1,000 car and truck tires
Nearly any solid object could be used to construct a roof. Choosing roofing material that’s durable—and protects what’s underneath—is the tricky part. Here’s a review of three unusual objects that creative designers have used for their home roofs:
Spot Cool Stuff has reviewed several transparent products in our time, not all of which have been optimally practical:
A transparent bathtub? Interesting, though perhaps kind of creepy in a voyeuristic way.
A transparent cell phone? Great looking but its transparency doesn’t serve any useful function.
A transparent airplane? Not so economically viable. And it makes for terrifying landings.
But a transparent canoe? That’s not only cool, but advantageous.
You may have heard the term flashpacking, the act of traveling in the spirit of a backpacker but with the budget of one more monied. Well, from the Netherlands comes what might be the ultimate in flashcamping—a portable, wood-burning spa.
The Dutchtub is a personal hot-springs-to-go. If you have a tub-sized patch of flat ground, wood and 200 gallons (750 liters) worth of water or snow you can have your own spa virtually anywhere.
Hammocks have come a long way since pre-Columbian natives in South America wove together sheets from the bark of a Hamack tree and strung them up between two poles. Hammocks today are stylishly designed, scientifically engineered and, we have to imagine, a whole lot more comfortable than lying on bark was. Here are three especially cool selections:
We are surprised at how often a gorgeous (and expensive) home pool is cluttered by a plastic (and cheap) lounge chair. For an elegant lounger to have pool side — or in the garden or out on the lawn — there’s the Balu bed, part of Mazuvo’s woven furniture line. The Balu comes with weatherproof fabric, washable pillows and a natural looking plastic mesh construction that makes it durable enough to keep outdoors for prolonged periods of time.
