eBay Find of the Day: Candy Colored Poufs

I want to get three or four of these brightly hued Moroccan leather poufs to scatter around the living room floor, where they'll invite lounging, provide extra seating for a crowd, and add pops of brilliant color to the room.

The 20-inch poufs, in ten fun colors, are $95 each with Buy It Now from the eBay store Moroccan Fantasia.

P.S. Click here for more on colorful Moroccan poufs.

eBay Find of the Day: Moroccan Tables

I could tell you about these fab orange lacquered modern-meets-Moroccan side tables -- you know, the ones I'm kind of eying for myself? But then I'd have to kill you.

Oh ... oops.

Current bid: $102.50

Retail Therapy: Tazi Designs

Some nights, I dream of Morocco.

I have never set foot in North Africa, but it's long been a place that absolutely fascinated me. Very few books about Moroccan design manage to escape my Amazon wish list, and I read Maryam's wonderful blog, My Marrakesh, with a mixture of envy and acute longing. One day, I'll book a stay at Maryam's breathtaking guesthouse-in-the-making, Peacock Pavilions.

Sadly, a visit to Morocco will have to wait until our kids are bit older and our bank account a bit fatter. But in the meantime, when I yearn for a mini-Moroccan escape I can slip into Tazi Designs.

Hidden down a quiet alley in San Francisco's chic Hayes Valley, the three-storey showroom housed in a converted industrial warehouse is an anomaly in a neighborhood known for its very spare, very modern, and very northern-European-influenced boutiques. To step into Tazi Designs, by contrast, is to be instantly transported to the bustling souks and exotic riads of Marrakesh.

Opened three years ago by former telecom exec and Moroccan transplant Hicham Tazi, the shop specializes in gorgeous and authentic Moroccan architectural elements, furnishings, textiles, lighting, accessories, and tableware, as well as custom design.

Here you'll find mosaic tables ($159 to $2,220), colored-glass perfume bottles ($26 to $48), intricately carved and painted octagonal tables ($95 to $720), tile fountains ($1,100 to $1,800), hand-embroidered Turkish bedding ($350 to $550), painted clay tagines ($48), and a veritable rainbow of luscious silk throw pillows ($55 to $85).

Trust me -- this is no pseudo-Middle Eastern import-emporium crap. Fittingly, the prices at Tazi are a step or three up from what you'd see at Cost Plus and stores of that ilk. Still, many items are surprisingly reasonable.

A few of the things that caught my eye during a recent visit:

Bone-inlaid mirrors and furniture, $850 and up

Hand-dyed and -embroidered leather poufs in lots of poppy, non-traditional hues, $155 and up

Antique carved chairs and daybeds, $450 to $1,800

Embossed metal tea trays, $150 to $220

Tribal flatweave rugs, $290 to $3,400

Carved mirror, $790

Leather slippers, $35 a pair

Moroccan lanterns, $66 to $2,500

Hand-painted tea glasses, $7.50 to $9 each

The Tazi showroom is located at 333 Linden St. off of Gough in San Francisco. It's open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. (The hours can be a bit arbitrary, though, so call before heading over: 415-503-0013.)

Bonus for you non-Bay Areans: The Tazi Designs website also offers e-commerce.

eBay Find of the Day: Filigree Chandelier

Part "Arabian Nights" and part "Hollywood Fabulous," this rewired vintage filigreed brass chandelier would add incredible nighttime drama to the dining room or boudoir.

Current bid: $50.

Cool Stuff: Poufs That Are Rad

My friend Anne wrote me the other day, mourning a find that got away. She'd spotted a "gorgeous little Moroccan red leather pouf" at a garage sale. They wanted $20; she tried to haggle them down to $10, with no luck. She left, then thought better of her decision and went back. The pouf was, of course, gone. Now she can't stop "picturing its perkiness everywhere" around her house.

In an effort to cheer Anne up, I went hunting for another little pouf that she could fall in love with. I didn't find anything for $10, or even $20, but I did find a surprising number of poufs in cheerfully bright hues -- none of that hippyish brown or burnt sienna leather for my mod-loving friend -- and at fairly reasonable prices.

Anne, do any of these strike your fancy?

Turquoise pouf from Tazi Designs, $120

Tazi fuchsia and tan pouf, $85

Tazi white pouf with red embroidery, $185

Tazi fuchsia pouf with gold embroidery, $120

Tazi orange pouf with red embroidery, $120

Tazi pink pouf, $120

Green and white pouf from Living Morocco, $175

eBay Find of the Day: Moroccan Table

I love the incredible carved detailing on this vintage Moroccan Tabouret table -- and the fact that it's painted, so its appearance isn't as dark and heavy as these tables often are.

Whether you use this as a side table, a plant stand, a compact coffee table, extra seating, or simply as an exotic accent piece, it's a showstopper.

Current bid: $284. (Hurry -- the auction ends Sunday afternoon.)

Cool Stuff: Moroccan Table at Target

I just saw via Another Shade of Grey that Target is rolling out a huge new collection of Moroccan-style furnishings and accessories, so I clicked on over to the Tar-jay site to check it out.

The look they're featuring is a little dark and heavy (and, let's be honest, a bit "hippie") for my current mood. But I did spot this cute octagonal table for just $40.

I've been looking for one for awhile, with the idea that I'd spray-paint the whole thing in high-gloss white, hot pink, lime green, or some other shocking shade (maybe Maryam of My Marrakesh's "Majorelle Blue"?) -- a la the Garnet Hill tables, below -- to highlight the table's great detail and to give the piece a bit of mod-glam style. But I've hesitated up until now to "deface" a true Moroccan table in this way, or to part with $128 for Garnet Hill's cheerful version.

But for $40 and a can of spray paint? I'm all over it.

You can find the Target table here, and the complete line of Target's new "Moroccan Mod" offerings here.