green

When it comes to bathroom designs, the Internet is flush with ideas about the contemporary toilet. These days, you’ll find lots of green bathroom remodeling tips about the latest generation of high-efficiency toilets (HET). The newest HETs offer an .8 gallon procedure, where older toilets consume 6 gallons to do the job. But none of them look halfway as interesting as these unique designs I’ve culled by Googling and going with the flow.

Commodious dentitis

Photo by Holy Taco

Photo by Holy Taco

Toilet designs like this make you wonder what their creator had in mind. Perhaps it was an earnest attempt at water conservation through the power of persuasion.

Bathroom for massively multiplayer addicts

Photo by Curious Photos

Photo by Curious Photos

Last year a 20-year-old British man died from a blood clot that formed during his all-night shifts on his console playing the online game Halo. In 2009, a young Korean man committed suicide when he discovered could no longer walk away from his console. Seriously, gentlemen, take a break, will you?

Go fish

Photo by Izismile

Photo by Izismile

Someone call PETA. What happens to the fish when the tank drains to flush the commode? It’s an interesting enough design, but I couldn’t possibly sit there with all those eyes on me.

Heat for your seat

Photo by Nomadness TV

Photo by Japanese Stuff

You have to hand it to Japanese designers who created this warm toilet for those icy winter mornings. It’s probably not the model to choose if you have a family member that already spends too much time in there.

The butt of someone’s joke

Photo by Reverse Monster

Photo by Reverse Monster

No, it’s not the Grateful Dead’s old drum kit. But with more than 2,050 different styles of bathroom toilets on the market, you’d have a tough time convincing your spouse to live with this one.

Uncanny experience

Photo by Azareal

Photo by Azareal

It took an Atlantis astronaut more than six hours during his spacewalk to “fix” bad smells coming from this toilet on the International Space Station. It would take you a month of physics classes at the Houston Flight Center to learn how to use this clinical masterpiece.

Need to read up on your flush-toilet antiquity? Peruse Gizmodo’s “The Long, Unglamorous History of the Toilet.”

Cave update: Interior designs that rock

You don’t have to be a Neanderthal – or Plato – to live in a cave. Humans resided in subterranean dwellings long before we invented trailer parks, condos and warehouse conversions.

Talk about green architecture! Talk about interior design! If you’ve ever prowled the American Southwest, you’ve doubtlessly observed how cool a cliff dwelling is during a scorching Arizona day. I lived in a cave on the island of Rhodes and never longed for electrical devices, heating or appliances. And now, you can buy the ultimate in cave homes just on the outskirts of Bisbee, Ariz.

Subterranean conversions feel just like home

Photo by Yahoo

Photo by Yahoo

This week, Yahoo reported on a 37-acre estate replete with a 2,890-square foot dwelling that includes a guest house, home office, and library. For $1.5 million you can take it all for granite.

Interior design for romantic primitives

Photo by The Seattle Times

Photo by The Seattle Times

An American photographer and her Turkish partner bought this lovely cave in Ortahisar, Turkey, and they outfitted the bedroom with a brass bed. They bought the cave for around $5,500, thereby forever avoiding Turkish window glass prices. Check out the story in the Seattle Times.

Going native

Photo by Inhabitat

Photo by Inhabitat

Missouri is renowned for its sandstone caves. Here in Festus, Curt and Deborah Sleeper performed a mind-bending cave conversion into this 15,000-square-foot home that uses geothermal and passive solar energy. You won’t find a heater or air conditioner in the place!

Man-cave inside a cave

Photo by Underground Homes

Photo by Underground Homes

If you love man caves, you’ll marvel at what the owner has done with this place in Coober Pedy, South Australia. Coober Pedy calls itself the “Opal Capital of the World” and more than half its residents live in underground homes.

Pass the SPF 5.

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Recent Comments

  • Kid's stuff:Bedroom furniture for dreamers

    Hey Woodrow,

    You've put together a great post here. Hardwearing and long-lasting bedroom furniture is so important when you have young children, and choosing pieces which can handle the rough-and-tumble that comes with having little ones is key!

    Best wishes, Alex.

  • Awesomely Oddball Lawn and Garden Accessories

    I plan to do this. What was your process in painting the bottom...outside portion of the tub?

  • Poor staging can crush your home sale

    Woodrow, you have once again 'nailed' the essence of the issue of staging your home for sale with easy to understand pics and words. These are definitely rules to live by, oh wise one! I know I"m soaking up the knowledge you share--- now excuse me while I wring myself out. Can't wait for the next issue.

  • To everyone, a room of one's own

    We've recently bought a house which needs A LOT of work and I'm trying to convince my other half to let me build a "room of my own" for the house, one where I can put my games console and beer fridge. She's not gone for it yet though. The most I've managed to get is an office I can work out of ... not quite the same ... LoL.

    Mine would certainly be like the car boot room in the first image :)

    Ben

  • Home designs you haven’t seen before

    I wonder how far the folks in the Rock House are able to drive in their car? Maybe down to their boat? It's so true that home is where you are at the moment.