Year-Round Valentine's Day

I've been struggling for the right words for Valentine's Day decorating, but am in a bit of a sugar cookie-induced haze. I had a speaking engagement today, and the lovely audience thanked me with a big tray of sugar cookies with inch-thick icing. I can barely move, much less form a coherant thought.

Instead of pontificating, here is a breakdown of some things that COULD be considered Valentine's Day specific, but are actually sold year-round. Therefore, you don't have to feel self-conscious displaying these wonderful things past Feb. 14th.

The Max Litterbox by Cats Rule, at Petco. I saw this over the weekend and really couldn't stop thinking about how this company managed to make a cat toilet so lovely and whimsical. See website for store locations.

The Fleur-de-lys drinking glass at Anthropologie (Rittenhouse Square) transforms simple tap water in to ambrosia. All for $8 a pop. I've been meaning to buy a set of these for a while, but have previously been put off by the somewhat hard edges and the teeming mass of humanity that descends on the store on Saturdays, my preferred shopping day. But someday, these will be mine.

But nothing says romance quite like this sexy tiger rug. All kidding aside, a tiger rug is great for breaking up the monotony of both your marriage and a monochromatic decorating scheme. Really. Everybody becomes much more interesting when a sassy rug is in a room. Head straight to Matthew Izzo to buy one.

Jewels Are Life Enhancing

Personally, I have never gravitated towards using candles as home decor. Nothing against candles and the people who use them, really. It's just that I would feel a need to buy whimsically shaped candles, and then I would feel terrible lighting them. And if I just didn't light them, the candles would accumulate dust, and then I would feel bad about neglecting them. It's really a vicious cycle that I wasn't willing to participate in, if you can somehow follow that.

But I must say that I'm thinking of revising my opinion re: candles, all because of these vaguely medieval Jewel Stem Candle Holders, available at P.H.A.G.-Philadelphia Home Art Garden (252 S. 12th). They'd make a very nice impact on your Thanksgiving/Holiday tables, breaking up the formal nonsense of plain white china.

Finding an Alternative to Traditional Crystal Chandeliers

So I got an e-mail today, asking if there were an equally glitzy alternative to a crystal chandelier. The reader had nothing against crystal chandeliers (don't worry, I won't take it personally, just because I would install chandeliers in my refrigerator if I could), but well...we all have our different tastes. That is perfectly understandable. Free to be you and me, that sort of thing.

I was about to recommend entwining christmas lights around a disco ball (kidding), when I thought about the new pendant globe-shaped lighting I've been seeing around town. Round pendant lighting has always either been: a. dust magnets, b. too fussy/small to make a big splash or c. made of flimsy paper.

But now I'm seeing products to the contrary, such as the Schonbek Da Vinci crystal pendant available at Arch Street Lighting (120 Arch St.) and Tom Dixon's Mirrorball pendant at minima (118 N. 3rd). Da Vinci has been making the rounds in the press, mostly because it's the first lamp you can throw in to the dishwasher; but both are equally glitzy alternatives to the stereotypical chandelier. They command a certain strength with mass, which is different to the feeling you get with chandelier tiers or arms.

Tom Dixon Mirrorball, left; Schonbek Da Vinci, right.

Photos from minima.us, schonbek.com

BYOB- Bring Your Own Bark

Can't enjoy the outdoors in the city? Why not try bringing it indoors. Sort of.

Flown the Coop

There's a jewelry store in the Cherry Hill Mall that features these very grand crystal birds in their displays, possibly in the hopes that a large glittering pink parrot would positively compell us to buy a heart-shaped diamond ring. Well, I might have not fit their target demographic, as I left, sans heart-shaped diamond ring. Yet the crystal bird haunted me: Was this objet d'art available for purchase, and if so, where could I incorporate one in my drab daily life?

I immediately thought of the Archer Court salad servers sold by Neiman Marcus-owned Horchow. These overwrought branch-like salad throwers are just begging for a crystal bird of some sort. And behold, Swarovski came to my rescue. They offer not one, but three choices of birds for your very own overwrought utensils and the like. I'd rest my salad servers near the perch, in an unassuming way, in a buffet setting. The site also recommends the birds for your desk too, but unless you had one of those lovely light-filled offices, the birds would seem to be a depressing reminder of your lack of basic freedoms at work.

Swarovski birds are available at the Swarovski retail stores in King of Prussia and Willow Grove.