Online shopping has taken the world by storm…

Below is a list from Home Textiles Today, a publication to the trade for fashion and textiles.  The media snoop that I am, I thought this was worth sharing. 

2010 Favorite 50

Rank	Company	Headquarters
1	Amazon.com	Seattle
2	Walmart.com	Bentonville, Ark.
3	eBay.com	San Jose, Calif.
4	BestBuy.com	Richfield, Minn.
5	JCPenney.com	Plano, Texas
6	Target.com	Minneapolis
7	Kohls.com	Menomonee Falls, Wis.
8	Google.com	Mountain View, Calif.
9	Overstock.com	Salt Lake City
10	Sears.com	Hoffman Estates, Ill.
11	Macys.com	Cincinnati
12	OldNavy.com	San Francisco
13	LLBean.com	Freeport, Maine
14	LandsEnd.com	Dodgeville, Wis.
15	QVC.com	West Chester, Pa.
16	Yahoo.com	Sunnyvale, Calif.
17	WomanWithin.com	Indianapolis
18	Blair.com	Warren, Pa.
19	Kmart.com	Hoffman Estates, Ill.
20	VictoriasSecret.com	Columbus, Ohio
21	HomeDepot.com	Atlanta
22	Lowes.com	Mooresville, N.C.
23	Haband.com	Oakland, N.J.
24	ColdwaterCreek.com	Sandpoint, Idaho
25	AE.com/AmericanEagle.com	Pittsburgh
26	Zappos.com	Las Vegas
27	Gap.com	San Francisco
28	LaneBryant.com	Bensalem, Pa.
29	Newegg.com	City of Industry, Calif.
30	HSN.com	St. Petersburg, Fla.
31	TigerDirect.com	Miami
32	MSN.com/Bing.com	Redmond, Wash.
33	Cabelas.com	Sidney, Neb.
34	SamsClub.com	Bentonville, Ark.
35	Craigslist.org	San Francisco
36	KingSizeDirect.com	Indianapolis
37	Forever21.com	Los Angeles
38	Express.com	Columbus, Ohio
39	Costco.com	Issaquah, Wash.
40	Chadwicks.com	Boston
41	Roamans.com	Indianapolis
42	Eastbay.com	Wausau, Wis.
43	NewportNews.com	New York
44	FashionBug.com	Bensalem, Pa.
45	Buy.com	Aliso Viejo, Calif.
46	AOL.com	New York
47	Aéropostale.com	New York
48	BananaRepublic.com	San Francisco
49	EddieBauer.com	Bellevue, Wash.
50	Nike.com	Beaverton, Ore.

Ikeahacker is the most focused of the design blogs I follow. It’s about Ikea items hacked to be either of a different purpose, or to be better than originally designed. That’s it. There’s no articles on cats or business or even green. Just Ikea, re-purposed.

The actual hacks can be hit and miss. The cabinets above are a hit in my opinion. The Office Storage from Kitchen and Bath Units make the most of an awkward space and make it look like they were a custom fit. You can’t ask for much better than that.

Jules started Ikeahacker back in 2006 and now has tens of thousands of readers daily. All about Ikea hacks, all the time.

But my favorite hacks are the ones that are something I would never have thought of. Like chicken coop hacks. Of course, perhaps I never thought of this because I don’t have chickens – but I still think it’s a brilliant hack.

Chickens. Seriously.

Sans chickens, but all organized and bug-free.

Can you guess what this one is? A trash can turned into a Halloween costume of course!

You really have to wonder where people get these ideas…

This last hack – well, when I saw it I just couldn’t help myself…

… it’s a stripper pole for cooks. Ikeahacker – you’ll never know what you’ll find next.

Apartment Therapy is the grand master broohaha of all interior design blogs. To the best of my memory it was the first (feel free to correct me on that if I’m wrong) and it is by far the largest and most popular. The site was co-founded by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, an interior designer based in NYC.

The blog even has a Mission “Helping people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy by connecting them to a wealth of resources, ideas and community online.” And it succeeds – this site is a monster of information. Which is the best and worst thing about it. It’s a bit of a nightmare to navigate (my one and only complaint). But if you don’t mind clicking far and wide – what a plethora of beautiful images await you.

I had already written this post with all of the links to the articles each picture corresponded to and some witty content to flow around it. Apparently I’m an idiot and didn’t click on “Publish” or “Save Draft” because it’s not here. Hours of work – gone. Can I tell you how I wanted to scream when I saw that this morning?

So – I’ll say this. Apartment Therapy is an amazing site. They various sections such as kids, interior design, electronics, and environmental (green). The main area (interior design) is divided up by location in the US, so you can see what’s hot in Chicago as opposed to San Francisco or Los Angeles. The editors have a fantastic eye, some of the writers are brilliant as well – and overall there’s a reason why it’s the most popular design blog on the planet.

Now if they would only work on their navigation… Apartment Therapy – what all other blogs aspire to.

A magazine (Nest) is calling their version of this column “Link Love” which is so much more accurate, I’m quite tempted at liberating (i.e. stealing) this term for Tchochkes as well. But I won’t. Any witty suggestions for a column name will be accepted – and the chosen namer will be given a thank you from Tchochkes on the site.

Design*Sponge is such an amazing site and Grace Bonney, the founder of the site, has worked to create content that has serious value on several fronts.

First and foremost for me would be the eye candy – of which there is in abundance. My favorite columns are “Before and After” and the designer home tours.

All images randomly taken from Design Sponge.

I love that. This is what green should be about.

Her editors have fantastic ideas – like the movie translation to decor. It’s called “Living in” and Amy Merrick has a fantastic way of taking old movies and translating their decor for today.

I could live there – couldn’t you? I don’t know if I want to raise the spawn of Satan – but at least the apartment is nice.

My second favorite thing about her site is the Biz Ladies column. While on the one hand it seems off-scope for a design blog, it’s been such a help to me (and others) that I couldn’t imagine it not being there. I guess Grace is turning Design Sponge into more of an online magazine than a blog (the difference being that a blog tends to focus on one subject while a magazine runs the gamut.)

My third would have to be the “City Guides“. (Admittedly, I haven’t used one yet – but I did write one.)

But back to the eye candy… I want that bed cover.

These images are part of the “Sneak Peak” home tour of Twig and Fig.

Such a fantastic blog. I get it in my inbox every day – and I always take a look. It’s part of my daily dose of design.

Admittedly this won’t be as much of a review as it will be a gushing tribute, because review infers a bit of a critique which would include negative comments as well. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about Desire to Inspire. It is such an amazing blog filled with gorgeous home porn.

Yeah, I said it – Home Porn. That sweet delicacy to the eye of women, gay men and metrosexuals everywhere.

All of the photos have been taken at random from Desire to Inspire.

MidCenturyJo is in Australia and her counterpart Kim is in Canada – and together they scour the world wide web for gorgeous homes – mainly from photographer and real estate websites. However, they also cover their own homes (Kim’s kitchen remodel for example), their love of animals and things sent in from readers (and they have a lot of readers).

MidcenturyJo is an artist (at least, it looks like it is from her Etsy page – gorgeous stuff she’s sold there – but nothing new when I last checked) and a writer.

Kim is a web developer for the Canadian government – who knew, eh? I found that out from Behind the Blog on Apartment Therapy!

But honestly, who cares what they do when what they share is just so gobsmackingly (yes, I made it up & no, I don’t care) lovely.

They post daily, which is rather incredible considering how many pictures are loaded per post.

The commentary has a personal touch, which I love. And yes, I need this denim sofa as well (a comment made by MidCenturyJo on the WINKS post.)

They’re so good they are even part of the Martha Stewart Circle network. (Jealous? Me? Oh yeah. How about A LOT.)

And they love animals. So much so they have a Pets on Furniture feature every Monday. Gotta love that. It’s like my husbands worst nightmare. Our dog isn’t even allowed in our house. She is allowed in my office – because it’s not connected to the house and it’s my office.

Basically there are so many fabulous places in every post you’re either going to end up dreamy eyed after visiting their site, or thoroughly depressed. Like I am right now looking at that stunning kitchen. That white marble counter top. Yum.

These lights are just bizarre, and I love them.

Desire to Inspire succeeds at it’s goal.