Shelf smarts
www.smartfurniture.com
We’ve never heard of "dumb" furniture, but we can still see why "smart" applies to the custom-designed residential and retail shelving featured at this site. SmartFurniture.com shows off its simple, contemporary designs while at the same time offering buyers some creative freedom. Using the online designer tool, you can click from a palette of shelves and beams in a range of wood types and colors, and drag them together until you have an original product. Even better, if you get stuck, you can chat live with a designer. This site really practices what it preaches: It gives you simplified designs and the right accompanying tools, making it easy to organize your home. The downside? It’s not "simple" for your wallet. You might end up paying $500 for a bookshelf that your friends will think is from IKEA anyway.
Go go gadget
www.thinkgeek.com
The makers of thinkgeek could’ve referred to themselves as "technophiles," but they’re too honest for that. Instead, this website embraces their true identity: gadget-totin’, Monty Python-quotin’, binary brethren—geeks. Thinkgeek.com is eHeaven for tech-lovers, and its vast collection of gizmos, toys and nerdy tees is a real treat for these types. In the "gadgets" section, for example, the site sells a range of functional items, from ever-useful cord organizers to decidedly decorative LED candles. We enjoyed browsing through the "Home & Office" section, however, with its seven-day alarm clock that has settings for each day, and Rare Earth’s magnetic fridge pins, which can hold up to 10 sheets of paper (how you come up with that kind of bulk is up to you). Stuff ranges from the clever and imaginative to the excessively nerdy (Star Wars tees, really?).
Dinner for seven
www.thescramble.com
What’s for dinner? If you’re throwing up your hands and saying, "I don’t know!" or, "I hope the kids won’t mind cereal again," you might want to take a look at TheScramble.com. This site offers a meal planning service that removes the pains of having to throw something together at the last minute, run to the grocery store after work for ingredients or waste incompatible leftovers. With a yearly subscription ($47.50), the site gives you email notifications each week with a package of five weeknight recipes and your weekly grocery list. While there are plenty of other sites out there that provide meal-planning services, TheScramble.com is our favorite because of its fresh, healthy, and often vegetarian-friendly approach. If this seems pricey, though, you might want to try www.menus4moms.com. Its program is free, though maybe a little less kind to veggies. In the end, the DIY route seems best—just browse through the sampler weekly menus of the many meal-planning sites out there until you get the hang of things.
Virginia’s finest
www.transientcrafters.com
Plenty of you have probably popped into Transient Crafters on the Downtown Mall and eyed their local handcrafts, but we just discovered that their website is a great place to browse, too. If you don’t know already, Transient Crafters is an artists’ cooperative that features about 60 local artists who manage the store and sell their artwork—things like handmade soaps, woodwork or paintings. While the store is like a gallery of their art, the website is like a larger gateway into their lives. The site includes photos, bios and links to the artists’ personal websites, so if you really like a certain potter or carver, Transient Crafters has provided all the info you need to keep up with her work.