Photograph courtesy of Plusminuszero

Compared with other 12th-century inventions—glass mirrors, movable type, restaurant menus—clocks still inspire an astonishing amount of design innovation. Luckily, their size and price make them the perfect medium for décor experimentation. Monica Khemsurov

1. (pictured above)
For a small alarm clock (it's only 2.3 inches square), the 2.5R Analog is capable of penetrating even the deepest sleep haze, thanks to a neon-green case and exaggerated hands. Another detail: It's sculpted to fit perfectly in your palm.
2.5R Analog Alarm Clock by Plus­minuszero, $69

2.
Up-and-coming French craftsman Cédric Ragot's bell-shaped Mantel Dome is an ode to the carriage clock, the glass-encased portable timepiece that 19th-century somebodies like Jules Verne took on their travels.
Mantel Dome by Cédric Ragot for Innermost, $228

Photograph courtesy of Innermost

3.
Known for making organic, craft-inspired forms—like a quilted stool—feel modern, Dutch designer Kiki van Eijk first hand-stitched this clock out of fabric and then cast it in porcelain, creating a curiously wrinkly, cushioned effect.
Soft Clock by Kiki van Eijk for Moooi, price on request

Photograph courtesy of super-orange.com

4.
There's something nostalgic about the Big City clock, with its Wall Street styling and four time-zone displays. It's one of the hippest offerings from the Dutch company NeXtime, which produces every kind of timepiece imaginable.
Big City wall clock by NeXtime for Habitat, $70

Photograph courtesy of Habitat

Furniture designers are finally tiring of slick plastic and carbon fiber and are seeking out materials with more personality, such as the home-furnishing classic, wood. Here are the new pieces that prove knots and grain can look plenty fresh. Monica Khemsurov

1.
The Turkish firm Autoban has reworked the bergère chair, stripping down the form, widening it to seat two, and giving it a relaxed slope.
Bergère sofa (pictured above), by Autoban for De La Espada (from $3,895)

2.
A chunk of reclaimed hardwood cradling seven sacred texts, Juxtaposed: Religion has marked San Francisco-based designers Mike and Maaike, from California and the Netherlands, respectively, as rising stars.
Juxtaposed: Religion shelf, by Mike and Maaike for BlankBlank ($2,500)

3.
Choosing wood doesn't necessarily mean embracing brown. The Ki chair, by the Italian icon Mario Bellini, layers a veneer that's been bleached and painted with zebra stripes over a sustainable-wood core.
Ki chair, by Mario Bellini for Horm ($700)

4.
Designer Matthew Kroeker has a yen for multifunctionality. The two halves of his bench can be used three ways: interlocked, pushed together so their outer edges are jagged, or as separate seats.
Splinter bench, by Matthew Kroeker for Jane Hamley Wells ($1,980)

5.
The Light Extending Table, part of U.K. artisan Matthew Hilton's first collection, is named for the way it seems to hover above the ground and can stretch from 6.5 feet to nearly 10 feet in length.
Light Extending Table, by Matthew Hilton for De La Espada (from $5,580)

Courtesy of Gary Gordon

Gary Gordon has masterminded the lighting in David Bowie's home, J. Crew stores, and even the West Wing of the White House. Here's his advice for how to flatter your well-chosen Noguchi tables and Breuer chairs.

Q: How do you decide what kind of light you need in a space?

A: Lighting sets the mood, like music. It's up to you whether you want Mozart, Ella Fitzgerald, or Nine Inch Nails—and it depends on the activities you do there. You want the light in a living room to be ambient, because people read and watch TV there, while dining feels more intimate if the light is focused and dramatic. Kitchens need general light, so you can see your fingers while you're chopping.

Q: So which lights do what?

A: Chandeliers, pendants, track lighting, and reading lamps create focal light, while recessed fixtures and ones that bounce light off the ceiling make general light. Pendants, floor lamps, and table lamps can be used at any height as long as they have translucent shades—in white fabric or white glass—to light faces.

Q: If a room doesn't get sunlight, can you fake it?

A: You need [to mimic] two components: the sun, which you replicate indoors using focal lighting, and the sky, or general light. You have to have both, because monotonous light—like on a cloudy day—can make people listless. But focal light by itself can make people tense and uncomfortable, like they're in an interrogation room. Monica Khemsurov

If you want to update your home's aesthetic without involving a contractor, switch up the lighting. Here, three of-the-moment designs to try. Monica Khemsurov

1. Super-Slim
New LED technology means a sliver of a lamp can illuminate your whole work space. Look for brightly colored versions in organic shapes instead of minimalist metal styles.
Leaf lamp by Yves Béhar for Herman Miller, $499, dwr.com

2. Industrial
As the baroque trend fades, upstart artisans are making raw, utilitarian lighting that looks like it was lifted from construction sites, factories, and film sets.
Limited edition Fold Lamp in Cor-Ten steel by Alexander Taylor for Established & Sons, price upon request, establishedandsons.com

3. Exposed
Instead of trying to hide the wiring that pendant lamps require, designers are making the kinks, loops, and colored cords the lights' defining features.
Serpentine lamp by Studio Hausen for Ligne Roset, $355, ligne-roset-usa.com

Photographs courtesy of Herman Miller, Established and Sons, and Ligne Roset

Courtesy of DWR

Design Within Reach branches out with Tools for Living, a general-store-style home boutique that sells MOMA-caliber flat-ware, tape dispensers, screwdriver sets, and dog bowls. Courtney Colavita

The man who, with Eric Goode, designed the polished Bowery and Maritime Hotels in New York, shares his advice for how to make your home guest-worthy.

Q: What's the biggest difference between home and hotel design?

A: Hotels are designed to be spotless. Virtually every item in the Bowery Hotel is made to be cleanable. You don't want to give that hygienic impression at home.

Q: So what is it, then, that makes some hotel rooms so appealing?

A: I used to live in the Chateau Marmont, and I loved that it was utterly immaculate all the time. Hotel rooms are optimistic and hopeful places. The stress is gone.

Q: How do you re-create that feeling at home?

A: Throw away your junk. I apply Jackie O's advice: When she got dressed, she looked at herself in the mirror. The first thing she saw she'd take off before she left. Monica Khemsurov

You'd think you wouldn't want your place to look like a hotel room. But when the sleepover spot in question is a stylish operation furnished with some of the best new design out there, copycatting can be a good thing. These destinations let you take home a lot more than mini-toiletries. Monica Khemsurov

Courtesy of The Viceroy

1. Viceroy Hotels
On the website for the Kelly Wearstler-designed Viceroy hotels in Santa Monica and Palm Springs, California, you can order neoclassical pieces like ornate plaster wall adornments ($90) and nickel drawer pulls ($60 each).

1819 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, and 415 South Belardo Road, Palm Springs; 800-439-3719

Courtesy of Dream Hotel

2. Dream Hotel
From the relaxation-driven Dream Hotel (or its website), you can get a bed ($1,100) or a desk ($2,000) that emits a soothing blue glow. There are also less New Age-y items like white leather lounge chairs ($690) and aluminum Artemide lamps ($220 to $410).

210 West 55th Street, New York, 866-437-3266

Courtesy of Keating Hotel

3. The Keating Hotel
At the first hotel crafted by Pinin-farina, the company behind cars for Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, luxe Italian design is applied to espresso machines ($700), chaise longues ($4,500), and glass-and-steel end tables ($450).

432 F Street, San Diego, 877-753-2846

Courtesy of Claska

4. Claska Hotel
This spring, Tokyo's original bou-tique hotel got a makeover that involved the work of up-and-coming Japanese artisans; some of it, like Shimizu pottery teapots ($45), spare wooden tissue boxes ($20), and Noguchi lamps ($68), is for sale in its Do shop and online.

1-3-18 Chuo-Cho, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 011-81-3-3719-8121

Photo by Dan Hallman/Corbis Outline

The man behind a much-imitated line of retro-modern home goods gives his tips on how to be a stylish host.

Q: What mistakes do men make when they entertain?

A:They try to make [the setting] too masculine—and they equate masculinity with somberness. That looks sad when you're throwing a party. You can't use plain white everything.

Q: So what do you recommend instead?

A: You should always try to avoid formality, so your tableware should be casual and a little whatever-ish. It shouldn't all match or be from the same store. The key is making it look like you didn't try.

Q: How do you feel about using flowers?

A: They can work if you go with graphic varie­ties like poppies or Gerber daisies. No baby's breath unless you want to feel like you're in some kind of soft-core, Victorian porn. Monica Khemsurov

For tips on where to find the best in furniture design, check out our story on the new wave of boutique auction houses.

Photograph courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Jamie Gray, proprietor of the New York design store Matter, on how to pull off the grown-up Playskool look. Monica Khemsurov

Q: What should you look for when buying plastic furniture?
A: Make sure the piece you want feels solid. If it looks like something you might find in a frat house, keep shopping. Let your nose guide you too. I once opened a box with a plastic stool in it that reeked of resin—never a good thing.

Q: What's the best way to incorporate high-end plastic furniture into your aesthetic?
A: I like to juxtapose plastic with more natural materials. A set of Grcic's Myto chairs—in yellow, maybe—alone would be pretty bold. But when paired with a walnut dining table, the color is toned down the the dark wood.

Q: What else is making a comeback in the design world?
A: Marble and brass seem to be on the upswing. The right plastic piece would be in good company with either of those materials.

Courtesy of Serpentine Gallery

London is finally getting a taste of Frank Gehry's handiwork. His spiky timber-and-glass construction for the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park goes up in July and will host music events and lectures before coming down in October.
Courtney Colavita

Sure, there are still negative connotations to contend with—lawn chairs, dorm-room décor—but new high-design plastic furniture has more in common with the work of sixties Italian masters like Enzo Mari than with anything you'd see in the aisles at Kmart. Monica Khemsurov

1. Myto chair by Konstantin Grcic for Plank ($275)

Photography courtesy of Plank
German designer Konstantin Grcic fused a classic cantilever shape with modular seventies construction for his new chair, made from a specially engineered plastic.

2. Drift bench by FutureSystems for Established & Sons ($21,500 as shown)

Photograph courtesy of Established & Sons
This high-gloss polyurethane bench—by the firm that did the tubular-aluminum entrance to the Comme des Garçons store in New York—is named for its doppelgänger: a piece of driftwood.

3. Opus Incertum bookshelf by Sean Yoo for Casamania ($629 as shown)

Photograph courtesy of Casamania
Constructed from a tougher version of Styrofoam, these honeycomb-shaped shelves can be stacked, used as room dividers, or even put on the patio.

4. Torch Lamp by Sylvain Willenz for Established & Sons (price on request)

Photograph courtesy of Established & Sons
A cross between car headlights and flashlights, this cartoonish lamp is Belgian Sylvain Willenz's first contribution to Britain's leading furniture-design house, Established & Sons.

5. Anglepoise Fifty lamp by Anthony Dickens ($79), anglepoise.com

Photography courtesy of Anthony Dickens
Young Brit Anthony Dickens offers a new take on the Anglepoise task lamp, imprinting its iconic shape, fossillike, in transparent plastic.