One of my favorite things in the whole world is climbing into a bed made up with freshly cleaned and pressed sheets. So today, I thought it might be fun to take a sneak peek at how the "other half" lives -- or at least how they sleep.

Here are 4 luxury bed linen lines that most of us will never have a chance to experience -- but hey, at least we can dream about them!

I don't know about you, but I am starting to get some serious spring fever. We may have several weeks of winter left, but that hasn't stopped me from scouting out ways to welcome the sunshine. Here are five easy things you can do to encourage an early spring at your house.

Spring fever tip #1: Now is a lovely time to force some flowering bulbs like pristine paperwhites. These flowers bloom quickly and will last long enough to give you that extra boost until things start blossoming again outside. Buy a kit, or try this tutorial.

Congratulations to our winner, mamakin616!

When it comes to home decorating, I love heading to my local Lowe's because it has everything I need in one place. Sure, I might get lost in the massive warehouse while looking for that extra can of semi-gloss paint, but hey, that's half the fun of it, right?

Now that the holidays are here -- Lowe's is the perfect spot to snag great gifts for everyone on your list. That's why we're giving one lucky Stir reader a $100 Lowe's gift card. Whether you're looking for carpeting, window treatments, or that fun doodad your father-in-law just has to have this Christmas, Lowe's is sure to have it all.

To enter to win, simply tell me:

It was with great interest that I read that the standard thermostat had been redesigned by a team that took Steve Jobs and Apple as their inspiration. It’s so genius. I mean, it seems that stores like Skymall and Hammacher Schlemmer exist only to convince us that we need things we’d never use, when in fact what we want is new twists on the ubiquitous items we use every single day.
 
The new thermostat, called The Nest ($249 at store.nest.com), is more than just sleek and sexy-looking -- it learns your family’s habits so that it can turn on and off even when you don’t think to do so, which is supposed to save you energy. Which is great and all, but really, it’s kind of amazing that we accepted this ugly ecru-white box as a must-have for as long as we did.
 
Now, I’m hungry for more home utilities that look better than they have to. Here’s what I’ve found:

While fall has many wonderful aspects -- warm, sunny days coupled with cozy, cool nights; dappled sunlight; crisp, changing leaves; apple orchards; football; hay rides ... I could go on and on -- there is one downside. No matter how much you like cooler weather, at some point, you just have to close the windows and lose the powerful air-freshening aspect of, well, fresh air. And given that we tend to enjoy spending more time indoors in the fall, pet odors, kid messes, sports equipment, and generally stale air become really obvious really quickly.

If a good cleaning doesn't improve matters as much as you'd like, it's time to take out the home fragrances to make the air inside your house smell as good as the air outside.

Even though I haven't been in a position to buy much of anything lately -- broke like a joke, if you haven't noticed! -- I've persisted in staying in touch with my flash-sale sites. It's a little form of torture, I guess, or maybe inspiration: Keep on plugging and when things get better, I'll be able to indulge my shopping jones again!

Gilt Groupe started the flash-sale craze in 2007. The idea was to bring very short-term sales to a national audience. Daily email alerts announce new sales, and if you want it, you have to act fast.

Tons of other companies jumped on the bandwagon, and now there are many flash sale sites -- but only a few for home decor. Two new contenders have just joined the market. See what you think about this modern-day way to shop smart.

Please note: These sites don't let you browse until you've signed up, so clicking through is going to be frustrating. That's just how they work, though. That's why I scouted ahead for you!

I love my darn iPhone. Every time I try to quit it, I find myself in need of its services – as a Filofax, a research tool, a camera. So when it comes to home and garden help, it’s seems like it would be a natural fit.

The trouble with apps (many of which are also available for the Android and BlackBerry, if you swing that way) is they’re only as good as their makers, and people who are skilled at coding and designing apps aren’t necessarily the same people who have a deep and meaningful knowledge of vegetable gardening. On the other hand, coders do tend to know about making things look nice, so ...

Here are some apps I find most useful for all things home and garden. Have you got more to add to the list?

Are you a stamp geek? I don’t mean a collector -- come on, that’s just weird. I mean, when you get to the post office, do you find yourself drifting over to the board of new stamps and going, “ooh ... Simpsons! I need those!” even though, in this age of online billing and Evites, you almost never actually get through a page of stamps?

I am. And the latest stamp-fest is made for me: it celebrates pretty, pretty industrial design -- pretty appliances, fancy furniture, and classic tchotchkes. Do you think these designs are stamp-worthy? What would you nominate for the next round, if you could?