Living with thoughtful design at home

Why are these strange blue boxes scattered about and bolted to the floor of a Palo Alto living room?

Because the house belongs to design innovator David Kelley, founder of the design firm IDEO, and like most things in his home, the boxes are part of Kelley's worldview that good design is about building empathy with people.

The purpose of the boxes is to make visitors feel more comfortable in the room, says Kelley. "They break up the expanse. It doesn't feel like such a big room," he says. And, sure enough, when he throws a party, Kelley's guests tend to huddle around them, as if the boxes were people.

In the above video player, see Kelley give Charlie Rose a tour of the thoughtful design behind the layout of his home, the stuff in his personal workshop, and his choice of furnishings.

The house was designed by Kelley's mentor, architect Ettore Sottsass, and as you'll see in the video, a memorable feature of the house is his daughter's bedroom. Kelley's teenage daughter not only has her own room, she her own house, which was modeled after the little green houses in the Monopoly board game. Is there a teenage bedroom in history that's cooler than this?