Numbers are on my mind -- and everyone else's it seems -- but I'm not talking free checking or the mind-boggling numbers they call the national deficit. I'm talking about basic numbers, toddler-friendly numbers like "one, two, three, go!" or "four, five, six, pick up sticks!" that fly from my mouth more times a day than I can calculate -- now that my 2-year-old daughter is learning to count.

We count everything together, and this litany of numbers in daily life -- from counting stars at night to pairs of unmatched socks -- is somehow soothing and inspiring. Watching yet another creative countdown to the number 20 on "Sesame Street," I found myself as mesmerized as my daughter. Wow, numbers are amazing, I thought. Look at those clean graphic lines, those postmodern shapes. What simplicity. What design.

Hmm ... what can I do with numbers? No sooner had I begun to rethink the design by numbers concept when I walked into a bath store with a towering display of towels embroidered with big bold numbers. Interesting, I thought, but one display does not a trend make. But that night, poring over my latest issue of Shelter, I was struck dumb by a photograph of a stunning staircase -- numbered from top to bottom.

OK, maybe something numerical is brewing in the zeitgeist ... and when I dined at a trendy eatery the next day, guess what? At the center of each diner's table -- polished to a high minimalist gloss -- were large block-print numbers.

That night after putting my little one to bed (we counted so many sheep I needed a shot of espresso), I went to my workroom. Closing the curtains against the coo
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