Made.com - Designer furniture straight from supplier

Made.com, a seven-month-old U.K. start-up that sells top-quality furniture online at deep discounts by cutting out those middlemen. Made.com is also putting its customers at the Web's leading edge by employing a form of crowd-sourcing to generate product designs.

The only catch, customers wait eight to 12 weeks for their orders. However buyers are willing to endure this for 50% to 80% discounts: Made.com is selling a shipping container's worth of merchandise a day. Li claims his company's furniture is as well made as the stuff sold by such high-end retailers as Roche Bobois and Conran. "We use the same suppliers," he notes. 

See more at Made.com

Ikea genius publicity - turning Parisian bus shelters into Ikea lounges

According to the company’s press release,  IKEA continues to improve the everyday life of the Parisians, by ‘transforming bus shelters into small cozy lounges. An innovative break at this period of crazy Christmas shopping. From 15 till 21 December 2010, IKEA is in the streets, offering the inhabitants and visitors of the Capital town, the possibility to wait for the bus in an IKEA lounge, comfortably sited in a sofa of the famous Swedish brand.

See more at Freshome

Swiss Alps home - By Clavienrossier

Geneva studio Clavienrossier created this home in the Swiss Alps by adding two tinted concrete volumes atop the remains of a stone house and adjacent barn. The project is located in Charrat in the Valais canton of Switzerland and involved demolishing much of the existing structure while retaining the original cellars and floors.

See more at Dezeen