House Blend

Energy-saving lightbulbs get a designer makeover with Plumen, which uses 80 percent less energy than the traditional incandescent light bulb, lasts eight times longer, and looks good doing it. Designed by Sam Wilkinson for London-based Hulger, the sculptural bulb (available in various voltages, including an Americas-friendly 110-volt version) was recently snapped up by London's Victoria & Albert Museum for its permanent collection. "The name comes from 'plume' -- a bird's show feather, designed to attract attention to a bird’s prowess and beauty," according to Hulger. With a bulb so ripe for display, who needs lampshades?

Scouting for ways to unstick kids from all of those mesmerizing screens? Crack open a Kiwi Crate, a parent-designed, kid-tested box of fun. Each crate is filled with all of the materials and inspiration needed to complete hands-on projects that range from the crafty (create and decorate your own windsock) to the scientific (a gardening primer complete with ready-to-grow beans and squash). For the gift that keeps on giving, opt for a Kiwi Crate subscription ($19.95 a month), which will send a steady stream of analog excitement directly to your doorstep.

If you've ever wished Pictionary would loosen up, you'll enjoy WhatchamaDRAWit, a new doodling game that challenges players to imagine and sketch endearingly odd scenarios. The deck of 110 cards includes directives such as "Draw a Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy at a birthday party for the Easter Bunny" and "Draw an alien swimming in a bowl of pudding." Use the included 60-second timer to keep things competitive or take a more leisurely approach -- we suggest cocktails and colored pencils.

Even design purists are hard-pressed to avoid marring their pristine walls with a dull disk of ribbed plastic: the inevitable smoke detector. A little bird told us that’s all about to change. Meet the Chick-a-Dee, perched perpetually on a branch and ready to emit an 85-decibel-alarm at the first sign of smoke. Originally hatched by Dutch designer Louise van der Veld with an eye to residential interiors, the Chick-a-Dee has winged its way across Europe and is finally bound for North American nests, having been given the all-clear by Underwriters Laboratories. Brooklyn-based neo-utility debuted the device stateside earlier this year at the New York International Gift Fair, and the A+R store will start shipping chicks in a few weeks.

We confess to a longstanding obsession with scissors, the sharper and sturdier the better. If a pair is out of reach, we get a little jittery. This fixation probably stems from a collage-crazy childhood, when we were forbidden to use the "good scissors": gleaming, orange-handled Fiskars that beckoned from behind a locked cupboard. Since then, we've stocked up: vintage scissors, folding scissors (great for travel!), neon shears from the Dollar Store, and a fine pair that Staples swears is somehow eco-friendly. But the scissors we keep out on the desk to admire and use daily is this striking pair from the famed Italian homegoods company Seletti. Functional, beautiful and vaguely menacing, they're also handy in the garden for "small prunings." Indoors or outdoors, they're a cut above.

This spring, put a little birdhouse in your soul, or at least in your backyard. Our latest favorite is a no-frills seasonal shack that can be recycled when the weather gets chilly. Kikkerland's foldable birdhouse is made of "weather-resistant" cardboard that can be left alone or glammed up to your heart's content. (But do go easy on the glitter -- we hear that squirrels can't get enough of the stuff.) Assembly is as easy as making a few folds and popping in the wooden-dowel perch. Meanwhile, the nice price ($5.00) gives new meaning to cheep n' chic.