Monday's News: Slim dwellings, Michael the monarch and Pharrell's think tank…chair

Hello world – isn’t is a joy heading into work on a wintry Monday morning? No? You’d rather be stuck in the I’m a Celebrity jungle with no-one but Kim Woodburn for company? Oh dear. Still, at least you’ve got today’s selection of daily design news to cheer you up…

mydeco’s pick of the top three stories:

1. Daily Mail: Thin house for someone with a fat wallet: Property 6ft wide on sale for £550,000

Image credit: Daily Mail

Wanted: buyer with an open mind and a narrow waist for unusual property in Shepard’s Bush, west London. Buyer must not have been affected by recession in order to afford £550,000 price tag. Buyer must also be mobile in order to negotiate five flights of stairs. Claustrophobics need not apply.

2. Cool Hunting: King Michael of Spain

Image credit: Cool Hunting

He was branded the ‘king of pop’, so the inspiration behind Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of Michael Jackson needs little explanation. One in a series of homages to the musical monarch at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, the painting was inspired by a Ruben’s oil of King Phillip II of Spain,and depicts Jackson at the peak of his career. No jokes about the cherubs, please.

3. 2modern: Tank chair

Image credit: 2modern

He might rap about getting a free lapdance, but Pharrell Williams’s latest furniture designs indicate that the artist and entrepeneur has thoughts that go deeper than P.Diddy’s pockets. This ‘tank chair’ examines – in Pharrell’s words – what it is like ‘to sit in the seats of our youth (as well as others)…fighting for a series of reasons most of which can be argued and debated….’ It looks pretty cool too.

The best of the rest:

The Times: Not just for Christmas

The Times: Zara Phillips: By royal appointment

The Times: A view to a killing

The Times:  The Dubai Dilemma

Daily Mail: Bright idea: Couple’s Grand Designs-style house that can rotate to follow the sun

The Guardian: John Lewis breaks sales record

The Guardian: My space: Freida Hughes, poet and painter

Inhabitat: Sustainable Design Firm Pugh + Scarpa Win 2010 AIA Architecture Firm Award

That concludes our segment for today, I hope we’ve managed to alleviate your Monday blues. Make sure you come back and see us for more design juice tomorrow…when we’ll be one day closer to Friday.