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This Minimalist Desk Isn’t Really a Desk, But It’s Perfect for Small Homes

From the latest West Elm collab with Bower Studios.

west elm bower console table with chair West Elm

By Tyler Chin

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Welcome to Window Shopping, a weekly exercise in lusting over home products we want in our homes right the hell now. This week: at-home mushroom grow kits, leather-bound notebooks and more.

For West Elm’s second collaboration with Brooklyn-based Bower Studios, the brand released an eight-piece capsule with a motif of disk-like and spherical shapes. The minimalist collection features tables, light fixtures and more. My favorite piece is the console table. It isn’t exactly a desk, but hey, everything with a big-enough surface these days doubles as a workspace.

Burrow continues to find a way to infiltrate every section of our home. And I’m not mad about it. Its latest endeavor is a set of benches and credenzas. The Bento Bench is the latest addition to Burrow’s Bento collection, which includes a credenza, coffee table and side table. Each piece in the Bento collection grants subtle customization from reversible doors to modular tray tops. The bench has a movable cushion, and the whole thing costs just a fraction of the George Nelson bench. Hell, the Nelson bench’s add-on cushion costs more than the Burrow bench.

Pros

After two-plus years of stanning Empirical Spirits, the boozemaker that sells literally undefinable booze (they call themselves a “flavor company”), I’m chuffed to report the company is still releasing bangers. CAN 01 is an absurd blend of milk oolong tea, toasted birch and green gooseberry. In the glass, it’s almost champagne-like. Also, unlike nearly every company that’s sprung up in the last 6 months selling this or that non-beer canned booze, it packs a punch – a 10% ABV one, at that. At $45 for a four-pack, it isn’t cheap, but viewed as a cocktail (like a number of Brooklyn restaurants near me are selling it), it’s not a bad hit to take.

Grovemade just launched a line of leather-bound notebooks and they prove that writing by hand will never go out of style. Available in a range of sizes and two colors, the notebooks start at $50. Why so much for a notebook? The cover is made of vegetable-tanned leather, and the binding is made of brass. The best part is that the pages are refillable, so these little notebooks will last as long as you have ideas to write down.

Earlier this year, we called Magic Spoon a better quarantine breakfast cereal. The brand’s low-carb, high-protein cereal now comes in two new flavors: Peaches and Cream and Strawberry. And unlike the other flavors, these come packed with real fruit pieces. Keeping in line with the brand’s nostalgia factor, the boxes feature a couple new mascots that are an update to your classic Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam. Find me snacking on this way after breakfast hours are over.

Too often, candle containers go straight to the landfill once the wax is used up. Siblings is trying to combat waste by offering melted scented wax in plant-based packages to refill your existing containers. It’s as easy as microwaving the packaging and pouring the wax into a vessel.

Its latest offering is Summer Scent, which has top notes of lime, which fades into coconut atop a base scent of dirftwood. San Francisco-based illustrator Monica Garwood designed the packaging, and orders include a five-inch by five inch print of the artwork. As an added bonus, 20 percent of profits will go towards Woke Vote, which seeks to improve Black voter turnout.

Smallhold is a small New York mushroom farm that sells its fungi to Whole Foods and local grocery stores. It also designed the rooftop mushroom garden for Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Maison Yaki. Now the brand is tackling at-home mushroom grow kits. Blue oysters — no, not Blue Oyster Cult — are one of the easiest types of mushroom to grow at home. Mist the spores a few times a day, and the blue oyster mushrooms will make the perfect addition to soups and stews.

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