We've all grown accustomed to generic white garage doors that are common place in new construction in the past few years. Because of this, we met up with Amaury Almaguer at the 2008 Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show to check out his custom painted garage doors. Amaury Almaguer uses car paint since it is intended to be durable in extreme outdoor conditions in all of his garage door designs. Accessories that add detail to each door are made out of recycled materials like aluminum cans. When you look at the decorative touches up close, they look as if they were the real deal.

A typical garage door can be made over for about $2,000 over the course of two days.

Outdoor Misting Systems are a hit and miss for us. Most of the traditional systems spray a water-heavy mist and then has huge, clunky fans pushing the mist around the air. The result is a soggy experience that during humid days, can make the heat seem more unbearable. The Jetstream IJ Series Outdoor Comfort System (the name could use some work) changes that. Instead of obtrusive fans, the Jetstream system uses a high velocity, high pressure system that pushes water out of a ceramic nozzle at 1000psi, then the JetStream's DNA JetPorts take over and direct the cool air to the desired location at high speeds. The result is a 10-20 degree differential. At the show we noticed a comfortable cool breeze, which got cooler and cooler the longer we stood in the location. The Jetports can be rotated an entire 360 degrees so you can change where the cool breeze goes depending on the requirements for that day. Top that off with an energy star rating and the system feels even cooler (pardon the pun).

The average patio can be outfitted with the Jetstream system for about $4,500 USD.

The three-person operation, Nature on The Rocks, is the perfect example of family-run business. The company creates Italian terra cotta pots that are either hung or placed on a select-grade cypress wood stand. The result is a product that looks natural in any place they are shown, even at a crowded show like the 2008 Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show. Each pot is concepted and designed by Yanice, while Guy works his craftmanship.

Want to hang around? Mark Watts's Hanging Chair Plus allows you to do just that. This maple and oak hanging chair can keep up with folks up to 350lbs, enough to carry most of the population. There are many versions of the chair, including an EZ Hang Hammock. The company also has accessories like a foot and head rest, cup holders, magazine holders among others. A typical hanging deluxe chair can run you over $300.

More at the Hanging Chair Plus web site.

The Solaris Weather Proof Love Seat with a soft cover measuring 65 inches in diameter is a sexy piece of outdoor furniture. Gone is the uncomfortable wicker material that plague outdoor furniture and in its place is hand-woven synthetic rattan skin that covers the powder-coated aluminum frame. The upholstery is also weather proof, something you'd hope to find in all outdoor furniture.

The Solaris Love Seat with Soft Cover by Outstanding Furniture's is available in Black, Chocolate, Ivory or Natural, though the cover can only be found in White.

Take a stroll through Home Depot and you won't find a mail box that calls out modern design. I should know, I ended up buying a plastic mailbox. Designer Frank Samuels created a stainless steel mailbox, which he called Premier Mailbox. The contrast between the stainless steel body and the cedar plywood is striking. And don't worry about the rain as the mailbox has been coated three times in a UV-protected sealer. The mailbox will set you back $400, and the stainless steel stand another $280, so a cheap mailbox this is not.

Found at Design Within Reach.

Unlike indoor cleaning robots like the iRobot, the Solar Breeze Skimmer benefits from being outside: it is 100% powered by solar power. And since this robot is exclusively powered by sunlight, you will never have to pay a dime to charge this. Best of all, it makes cleaning your pool easier since you won't need to constantly take it out of the pool to recharge it. Leave it overnight and in the morning it starts doing the work all over again. Such is the life of being a robot.

There is one downfall to the Solar Breeze Skimmer though. The robot does not clean what is in the bottom of the pool, just what is on the surface, so you will still need to use your pool pump for some of the time.

In addition to picking up the garbage, the Solar Breeze Skimmer also contains a chemical dispenser which uses standard pool chemical tablets.

At $450, the Solar Breeze Pool Skimmer does not come cheap, but it will help take care of most of your cleaning duties without taking a toll on your energy consumption.

You've probably seen these type of heaters at restaurants with outside seating, what you probably haven't seen is one that does both. So, the The Patio Palm Heater and Mister finally does what the do-only-one-thing should have done to begin with. The heater provides 40,000 BTU of heat, enough to keep you cozy in your chilly back yard. The unit is powered by propane and features an easy tank exchange mechanism.

Just don't turn both the heater and mister on at the same time or the universe will implode.

$759 will get you one at the manufacturer's web site.

I found these Chinese Garden Stools at Wisteria and thought they were interesting. To be quite frank, I didn't know what a Chinese Garden Stool was. I did a quick search and more of them turned out rather than an explanation in the search results. Still, this ceramic light green version at Wisteria seem to have a more modern take than the other Chinese garden stools I found online. I'm going to assume you can actually sit on these even though they look fragile, so feel free educate me otherwise.

Dimensions: 14 inches in diameter by 19 inches in height.
Price: $129.

One of our friends recently had a pool installed in his house and to protect his kids from drowning in the pool, he installed a vertical Magna Latch. The concept for the Magna is cool because the latch sits about four feet off the ground and in order to remove it, the child needs to pull up on it. The Manga Latch is basically a lock powered by a powerful permenent magnet (never loses its power), so the gate snaps and is locked. Additionally, the lock can also be locked with a key, so it adds double protection.

Anyhow, we thought it was a clever device for those looking to secure their pool for the safety of their kids. The Magna Latch seems like a good way to keep them out.

Make sure you check with your local authorities for height measurement/requirements on swimming pool gates before actually buying one as those differ from county to county.