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Often two things that are seemingly incongruous come together to create unexpected brilliance. Peanut butter and chocolate. Peanut butter and jelly. Peanut butter and bananas. Never mind–peanut butter goes with everything. More like apples and cheese. Or Kenny Loggins and Kanye West. But in the bathroom, function is paramount, and forcing Kanye-like modern technology into your traditional, Kenny Loggins-like fixtures rarely results in mashup brilliance, just products like these.

Safe Flying

With Steuler Fliesen LED Tiles, you can recreate the joy of air travel by installing lighted tiles leading to your nearest exit. Please be aware that your bathroom has exits in the front, in the rear, and located over the wings. Take this time to find your nearest bathroom exit.  Keep in mind that it may be behind you.

Glow Stick

Like a giant glow stick, the Wet LTT Bathtub looks better suited to a dance party than a home bathroom. With this tub, all you have to do is mix some drinks, put on some Lady Gaga, and it’s a party.  Although I’m not sure how you’re going to get any privacy to go to the bathroom.  Those drinks might be a problem after all.

Healthy Glow

The WellSpring Built-in Steam Shower from Hansgrohe bathes you in the healthy glow of its internal “chromotherapy” LED lights for “health.”  That is, if you consider vein purple or alien green the colors of a healthy glow.

Practically Speaking

The Nymphaea vessel sink uses LEDs to change the color of the basin with the temperature of the water. Personally, I’m pretty sure I can figure out the temperature of the water my hands are in without a color cue.  But if your sense of touch has failed you, I’m sure this is incredibly practical.

Pill Poppers

Laserton’s LED Lighted Medicine Cabinets are the perfect place to store all your medications. Tired of keeping track of which pill’s which? With this cabinet they all look the same under that colored light, so you can just take any of them–you won’t know the difference until later that night.

As much as kids need to get away to their own hideouts, I’m pretty sure adults need it even more give–often because of those same kids. So, the ideal solution for any family:–a treehouse.

And today, if you’re interested in building a treehouse but don’t have your own construction company, you’re no longer destined to nail a few 2 x 4s to a tree, slap a piece of plywood on top, and pray your kids don’t end up with tetanus and a broken leg thanks to your building skills. Now you can purchase plans or hire pros to build safe, and yes, even sophisticated treehouses of every size and for every use.

Custom Treehouses

The Treehouse Workshop not only offers treehouse construction workshops, they also custom design and build amazing treehouses for clients across the country. A Washington state licensed and bonded contractor, they create treehouses that range from simple, kid-friendly treehouses to full-featured homes up to 1000 square feet that just happen to be located in trees.

Their designs include artist’s studios, guest houses, yoga studios, and homes complete with turrets, crow’s nests, screened porches, and swinging bridges in a range of architectural styles, often using reclaimed materials. When you look at these homes, you can’t help but start reevaluating whether a foundation is a better base for a home or if a tree is.

DIY Treehouses

If you’re in the market for something a little simpler (and cheaper), Treehouse Guides offers complete plans using simple construction techniques for building your own treehouse, allowing almost anyone to build a simple, safe, functional treehouse. With step-by-step directions, cut lists, and full-color diagrams for treehouses up to 64 square feet, the plans make what might otherwise be a rather frustrating experience simple for even the less architecturally inclined of us.

Not only do they include all the treehouse plan information, they also detail which trees are suitable for each treehouse, including diameter and angle, ensuring your trees and treehouse are copacetic. You can download the PDFs for instant gratification for only $29 or less, or purchase a printed version if you’re old school.

So the next time your kid asks you to build her a treehouse, you’re out of excuses. Build both of you a place to play–after all, where else is your kid going to learn that a full house beats a flush?