10 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From Sleeper Sofas to Zooey Deschanel’s Stain Wipes

After buying a home last year, Strategist contributor Fanny Singer went on a six-odd-month hunt for asleeper sofafor the tiny cabin in the backyard that would be herofficeand occasional guest room. After nearly giving up hope, Singer finally foundthe Bautier Guest Bed, a piece of minimalist furniture designed to slide open into something that actually looks like an attractive, real bed frame thanks to interlocking wood slats and stacking mattresses. It’s “easily assembled, exceedingly chic, and a perfect office daybed to festoon with an absurd number of throw pillows,” Singer reports.

As someone who lives in a small New York City apartment, Laura Fenton says she’s learned to “Tetris my family’s belongings into cabinets and closetsjustso to make things fit.” Still, it’s not easy, so she called on fellow New Yorkers who are also living in small spaces and asked them for the best hacks to make tiny apartments feel bigger. Interior designerGunnar Larsonpointed to Gothic Cabinet Craft’s simple wood storage bed with built-in dresser-style drawers. “I’ve used them in multiple projects and also in my own home,” he says. “The quality is amazing, and I love the finish-color options.”

Chef and Strategist contributorKiki Aranitadidn’t think she needed theKitchenAid Rice and Grain Cookeruntil she realized how well the machine cooks quinoa and beans. Aranita says it’s sleeker looking than any rice cooker she’s owned and cites the matte black with a stainless-steel lid and a clear water tank. But most importantly, the KitchenAid cooker does the additional work of measuring your grains or legumes. All you have to do is add the estimated amount you want to cook and use the touchscreen to identify what the beans or grains are (and whether they’re rinsed or not) and the machine will disperse the correct amount of water for cooking.

“You need different things for different stains,” saysZooey Deschanel, who keeps these Shout wipes in her bag. Deschanel counts them among her go-to stain remover supplies, describing them as “abrasive” and great at taking stains out quickly. “Nothing sucks more than when you have a nice thing that gets ruined because you spilled tomato sauce on it, and if you don’t treat that stain right away, you just ruined something awesome,” she explains.

Whenshopping for toys, our senior writer (and resident toy expert) Liza Corsillo knows it can be hard to discern the playtime mainstays from the ones that’ll soon be collecting dust in the corner — and the more money you spend, the bigger the risk. So, to help you splurge wisely, she spoke to teachers, toy-store owners, and lots of fellow parents for their recommendations. Kathleen Cann, a preschool teacher and mom, says her 2-year-old daughter loves walking and balancing on logs in the park, and this wooden balance beam lets her do the same thing indoors. The set has four slim planks and five connectors made from sustainably sourced birch plywood and New Zealand pine.

In the latest issue of ourBeauty Brief newsletter, our beauty writers discussed their (quite extensive)hydration tacticsand the ways they curb dry skin during the coldest months of the year. As a “humidifier truther,” our senior editor Crystal Martin swears by the power of humidified air. She owns multiple humidifiers, from theCanopy portable oneto theHey Dewy, which she keeps on her kitchen counter while I’m cooking. “Without them I feel sick and shriveled — even my hair revolts,” Martin explains. “Humidifiers are the single biggest thing saving me from dry, New York City radiator heat.”

Have you ever considered letting astrology guide your way to the perfect gift? Well, our writer Dominique Pariso interviewed eight astrologers on what each star sign tends to be drawn to, thenhandpicked a list of gift ideastailored to each one. As it’s Scorpio season, Scorpios are typically looking for something “emotionally meaningful and profound,” says astrologerSonja Francis. Annabel Gat, the author ofThe Moon Sign Guidewho also writesweekly horoscopes on Substack, has her eye on a “smoky and spicy” fragrance and says “something romantic and emotionally stirring like perfume is a great gift for them.”

In a new edition of “Strategist Brain,” we heard from our writer Rachael Griffiths, who revealed she’s “currently cheating” on hergo-to blush(NARS liquid in Torrid) with this Tower 28 balm. While the NARS is a solid makeup staple, Griffiths says the ease of the Tower 28 means she’s reaching for it far more during her rapid ten-minute makeup. “I also find that I’m less prone toblushblindness as not only is it a really buildable product, it’s easy to blend out if I take it a bit too far,” Griffiths explains.

Trench coats are one of the only outerwear pieces that can tie together an outfit while keeping wet and muddy elements out. In ourroundup of the best ones for women, we named Gap’s Icon Trench Coat our best overall pick because it’s not too fitted or oversized and features medium-weight fabric that you can wear year-round. “It has a straight silhouette, which looks nice whether I wear it unbuttoned or tie the removable belt for a little extra cinching around my waist,” says our junior writer Brenley Goertzen, adding that it looks more expensive than it is.

In our latest installment ofDon’t DillyDally, you’ll find Muji’s premium Labo line, which was recently launched in the U.S. The upscale yet still affordable collection will have seasonal drops featuring streamlined women’s and men’s basics in high-quality materials like cashmere and wool.