Ahead of its time
Chicago designer Jim Doan named the Sarah Clock (below, from $500) for his fiancée, a loverly gesture if ever there was one. With its flexible graphite stem and flared face, it resembles an elegant flower-the clever kind, that tells time. At Orange Skin.

Power to the people
High style and big-box retailers are not mutually exclusive, as budget-minded shoppers well know. Case in point: New York designer Thomas O’Brien’s mass-produced Vintage Modern furniture and accessories, new this fall at Target. The collection includes crisply classic pieces such as the Sideboard cabinet ($399.99), Stepped Cylinder lamp ($39.99), and Earth Circle carpet ($149.99), all shown here.

The shape of things to come
Worried about a wall? Bored with a door? Maybe it’s just too flat. Explore all kinds of graphic possibilities with Wallter stick-on three-dimensional circles and squares, available in sets of eight ($44) at MCL Home. They come small (with the biggest piece 6 inches across) and large (10 inches across) for maximum mix-and-match amusement. Arranged any way you choose, the wood-based shapes can be painted to match your wall or to provide zippy contrast to it.