If you’re a fan of craft artist Vincent Thomas Leman’s “abstract traditional” style — the heart of the practical yet whimsical Dust Furniture — you won’t want to miss the Etsy outlet for handcrafted “prototypes, web exclusives, extras and sometimes, mistakes…”

Right now, the online shop is showing four gracefully curved tables, three funky clocks, and this fascinating two-part cabinet called “Crook and Cranny”:

This cabinet is comprised of two sections, a taller bookcase portion with shelves for storage or display, and a smaller cabinet section with a door and one interior shelf. The pieces interact with each other in an interesting way, with the taller section resting on the shorter section. The two parts are permanently secured together.

For a look at the fun-loving furniture pieces in regular production, and a list of boutiques and galleries where they’re available, visit www.dustfurniture.com.

Cabinet below and shelf unit above, Vincent Leman‘s “Stacked Cabinet No.4: The Acrobats” is one of the Dust Furniture series at Artful Home. Done up in Baltic birch plywood and painted in tasteful tones, it would work as brilliantly in a traditional decor as in an eclectic or modern setting.

The designer was really thinking when he came up with this furniture piece: it has adjustable feet, in case your floor is not entirely level. (Just imagine having a bit of a wobble on a curvy cabinet like this, and maybe a glass of wine or two inside you!) Bonus: you could count on the top of the shelf staying free of clutter!

And of course I am reminded of those funky jewellery boxes and mini-cabinets by Masterpiece Cabinets… and now I’m wondering, who else is playing off the straight-and-narrow with their cabinetwork these days? Have you seen more wonky wonders, in your travels?

If you can’t laugh in the bathroom, where can you?

Ideally, of course, we want to sprinkle the whimsy about the whole house, to put the stamp of personality on each and every room.

But if that’s a bold move you’re not quite ready to make, and especially if you’re in a temporary home and/or your tastes are in a state of evolution, the bathroom can be a comfy place to cut loose.

Even the most princess-like of dainty powder rooms can work better with a light-hearted touch…

Bathroom Cabinet Inside-Out, anyone?

Okay, if the look you’re going for is more of a Victorian bordello or Cleopatra’s bath, or a baroque bathroom fantasy, perhaps it’s not the right cabinet for your particular posh loo…

But check that simple yet witty graphic illustration of the contents of the storage space, the clean lines and uncluttered construction, that bold colour — yes, it’s a cabinet that’s got a lot going for it!

I’m suddenly thinking about the new mudroom that we’re aiming to add on here (contractors and weather permitting) this spring. By all means, go for the bathroom if the style suits, but just think how many other places could be jazzed up with this neat-o Authentics design — or a DIY variation, if you’re the crafty clever type. Summer cottage? Kids’ room? Laundry centre? Home office?

For a drop-dead-gorgeous family room, there’s any number of ways a spendy type could drop a few thousand without pausing for coffee… You could splash out on a flat-screen TV, for example, and pretend it’s modern wall art.

Or… you could tuck that traditional chunky-style TV set away in an amazing beech and mahogany cabinet that looks like a miniature building.

This is my original cupboard, inspired by a conversation with a friend who liked the look of dolls houses but wasn’t interested in the interior layout and all the scale furniture to go with it, and who often commented on how ugly the television set was, considering its prominent position in the room.

Patrick Owen (the craftsman behind Furniture Follies) says he’s looking at ideas for incorporating other materials — mosaic, for example, or marble and natural stone patterns — into the highly original cabinets.

I love the use of stained glass in the terrace of row houses that are his Kitchen Cabinets, and the chimney-pot detail on the Honfleur Cupboard.

Ah, these cabinets are going to turn up in my dreams!

JR’s grandmother was a Brit who used to talk about feeling “wonky” every now and then, when she was a bit unsteady on her feet (age, not vino) and had to sit down. I wonder if this was the way she saw the world, at those moments!

The Mini Wonky Jewellery Box here, a little chest of drawers just under a foot high, is the bold primary version of a whole clan of these woozy dance-y little stash boxes from Paul or Sandra Szewc at Masterpiece Cabinets.

But that’s actually pretty tame. In fact, there’s a whole gallery of even more groovy one-of-a-kind hand-painted boxes to gladden the heart of your Inner Flower Child — especially if she is, oh, Alice in Wonderland!

Catch this wonky wave at the One Of a Kind Show in Chicago, Illinois, USA, from December 7th to 10th, 2006.