Archive Category: Home & Garden
Ugliest Product of the Year Contest
The Oops Design Awards have taken it upon themselves to do something that should have been done a long time ago -they have created an award for the ugliest, silliest and most useless product designs of the year. As you may have guessed, the lamp above is in the running for ugliest. It is the Oswine Lamp designed by Johanness Hemann. The nominees gallery actually has a few items I like, but for the most part it’s brimming with hillariously hideous items.
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Solar Birdhouse
Even our fine feathered friends are getting into alternative energy! This birdhouse design from Studio Oooms has a solar panel on the roof, and a translucent perch that lights up at night. The idea is that the light will attract bugs that the bird can feast upon. Genius! Link -via J-Walk Blog
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Geek Rug Mimics Circuit Board
This latch hook rug was obviously made by a computer nerd. On the page is an image of the circuit board it is based on -it’s amazingly well-replicated.
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Outlet Wall Helps You Manage Cables
If you’re like me, you have a major problem with cables taking over your home life. Here’s a great, visually interesting way to overkill the solution -a whole wall of outlets.
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Goldfish Bathplug
Well, isn’t this cute? And it keeps the water from going down the drain while you bathe. Link -via Swiss Miss
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There, I Fixed It
There, I Fixed It is a blog profiling the strange and imaginative ways people rig up what they need with what they have. You’ll be forgiven if you thought this radiator repair job was supposed to be a still. Link -via Metafilter
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Bloody Evidence Chef’s Knife
This chef’s knife is so awesome it’s criminal! Behold the Evidence Chef’s Knife, complete with fired-on, food-safe "blood" design and evidence tag! At just $14.95, it’s a steal (though we definitely don’t recommend that you use it to commit any crime): Link
Also check out these other fun kitchen stuff at the Neatorama Online Store:
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Jell-o Jewels Sparkle With Deliciousness
Yummy, classy and fat free. These Jell-o jewels have real gold powder in them. They’re part of a Jell-o mold competition in Brooklyn. The cheeseburger and shishkabob ones are fantastic, along with the oyster pearls. It’s all worth a look.
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NES Controller Doorbell
An intrepid Nintendo fan hacked a wireless doorbell together with a NES controller. It looks really cool, I just wonder which button actually makes the door ring.
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Tree Grows Under Car -Lifts It Up
Junkyard workers in Japan noticed this seedling sprouting up under a car over 25 years ago. They let it grow and now it’s lifted the whole car up in the air. Now they’ve created a shrine around it. Check out the video here.
Link via Boing Boing
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Pootre Art From Plum Trees
Peter Cook and Becky Northey started making what they call Pooktre, the shaped plum trees into art and furniture. They started by making trees into a coffee table and a mirror frame. The chair above is one of the greatest. They harvest the trees in the fall and make new art from the stumps, which make new growth.
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Backpack Vacuum Cleaner
I’ve heard of their existence for years, but I’ve never seen one quite like this: behold the backpack vacuum cleaner that you wear.
Seems like it’s a better idea than dragging a heavy upright model around the house, right?
GeekAlerts has the details: Link
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The Scary Washing Machine
Someone gave Mike Whittaker and his wife an old washing machine, saying it was “a bit noisey”. That turned out to be an understatement.
As the last bit of water was pumped out and it clicked into gear I immediately knew there was something strange a foot. The rumble was too low, almost subaudible but it had a clatter in it’s note that said ‘You’re going to regret living with me’. And it was right.
The temperature started to drop in the room, white frosty steam started appearing in my breath, the light bulbs dimmed, flickering as they dulled, and then it hit. Full force, completely out of no-where like a freight train roaring through an empty station at full speed in the night, while you stand at the platform clutching at your belongings as the wind roars and the scraping heavy steel monster goes hurtling past in front of you at 100mph. The difference though between a freight train and the washing machine is that in a matter of seconds the train has passed and you are back sitting in silence with your beating heart. With the washing machine it’s relentless. You have nowhere to hide, the sound will find you and bash on your skull with an aluminium frypan and snatch the words away from your mouth as you yell out for help.
I got used to sitting outside on my doorstep a lot that year. It was a concrete house and the walls were thick. Outside you could still hear the machine smashing away inside like a rock drill and but least it took away the frypan on the head element.
Whittaker also describes the time the washing machine vibrated so badly that a porthole portal to another dimension opened above it. He put the washing machine up for sale on the New Zealand auction site TradeMe with a reserve of $1. After intense bidding and over 800,000 views, the machine sold for $5,160. The retail chain that bought it may take it on tour. Link to website. Link to news story. -via Digg
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Sofa Transforms Into a Pool Table
I must’ve been living under a rock since I missed the bidding on this super awesome sofa/pool table combo. The sofa, a 1970s collaboration between Pierce upholsterer and pool table manufacturer Riley, is probably one of a kind prototype - it’s perfect for a retro bachelor pad!
The sofa/pool combo has made its way round the Net, but I found it while surfing About Colon Blank: Link
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Sun Jar
I once thought that sun tea made in a jar was really something, but how cool is storing sunlight in a jar? The Sun Jar is a regular Mason jar with solar cells, rechargeable batteries, and LED lights. It also has a light sensor, so it turns on automatically when darkness falls. And get this: they are completely sealed, with no switches, so you can even leave them outside as garden lights. Available in yellow, blue, or pink. Link -via the Presurfer
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Defying Developers: Buildings of the Resistance
Buildings are creatively converted or utterly demolished all the time to make room for highways and other large-scale civic problems, but the laws vary on what can be done when a single hold-out structure stands alone against a sea of fat-cat developers, builders and architects who all want nothing more but for them to move.
Sometimes they successfully force out residents or bribe them with offers that range up to 20 times the value of the home and real estate - but in many cases they simply have to give up and build around them, creating so-called ‘nail houses’ that stand apart from their surroundings.
In some cases, these incredible stand-alone structures have huge fan bases of individuals who applaud their willingness to stand up for their property.
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12 Terrifying Pieces of Furniture
Comfy furniture envelops you like a hug from a trusted friend. Then there are new designs that may haunt your nightmares! Pictured is a bench called Evolution by Nacho Carbonell. There are eleven more pieces that might be even more frightening! Link -via the Presurfer
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The Crack Garden
Photo credits: Kevin Conger (top left), Nancy Conger (top right), Tom Fox (bottom)
The Crack Garden is an award-winning project by CMG Landscape Architecture in San Francisco, California. The project transforms a desolate concrete landscape into a lush garden:
Inspired by the tenacious plants that pioneer the tiny cracks of urban landscapes, a backyard is transformed through hostile takeover of an existing concrete slab by imposing a series of "cracks". The rows of this garden contain a lushly planted mix of herbs, vegetables, flowers, and rogue weeds retained for their aesthetic value.
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Das Hugs: Squiggly, Modular and un-Boring Radiator
Who says that radiators have to be boxy and boring? Take a look at this squiggly DAS Hugs modular radiator that can be molded into any shape you want. As long as it resembles squiggly noddle, that is: Link - via Cribcandy
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The Woman Who Moved Her House Brick by Brick
In 1947, after the love of her life passed away unexpectedly, May Alice Savidge bought a house to restore.
A few years later, she was told by the town council that her house was to be destroyed to make way for a road. Needless to say, May didn’t take that lying down: she fought the town … and lost. But Savidge never gave up:
In 1969, when she was 58, the bulldozers reached her gate. Her response was to number each beam and pane of glass so that her home could be reassembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Dismantling the heavy oak timber frame, held together with tapered wooden pegs, was both difficult and dangerous. A team of local demolition contractors helped May. She traced over a sample of brickwork using greaseproof paper and crayons so that she would know which bond to use and how thick to lay the mortar.
She continued to live in the house as it was taken down, sleeping beneath the stars in the freezing cold. [...]
She found a site in the seaside town of Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, and obtained planning permission and laid foundations. A lorry made the round trip to Norfolk 11 times to carry every part of the house.
So began a life of hardship. She had no electricity and worked by the light of Victorian paraffin lamps. She used an alarm clock to set herself targets each day, noting how many nails she extracted from oak beams per hour, as she dismantled the house and prepared for rebuilding. [...]
Two years later, the framework was fixed to the foundations by a local carpenter and May started to infill the brickwork. She had no experience of brickwork, but was determined to lay every single brick perfectly.
It would be another eight years before the roof tiles were put in place and the property made watertight.
By the time she was into her 70s, however, May had moved in and the house stood proudly in its new gardens, each old oak beam in place, the brickwork nearly complete and many of the walls plastered.
Savidge continued to work on the house until she died at the age of 82. Her niece, Christine Adams, continued the job to finish the house and now recounts the amazing life story of her aunt: Link - via Cellar IotD
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Motifo: Magnetic Pixel Turns Your Fridge Into Art
Peter Locke created a set of colored magnets called Motifo that act as giant pixels to turn your fridge into a works of art:
Each mosaic design has been specially crafted to use the same combination of pieces, so every mosaic can be made with the 1296 pieces included in each motifo pack. If you want to create a new design, just rearrange the pieces.
If I’m not afraid that they’d swallow the small pieces outright, this would be a blast for my kids! Link - via Funfurde
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20 Brilliant Bookcases
I could spend hours looking at the unique creations of furniture and industrial designers. Here is a wonderful collection of twenty strange, unusual and modern design bookcases. My favorite is this ‘Round Sofa’ - which is yours?
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Spray Paint Can Lamp
Your spray can empty after a hard night graffitying? Don’t toss the can! Remember the environment, and recycle it into something cool.
That’s what artist Jake Rankin of Portland, Oregon, does: he takes spent Krylon cans and turn it into a lamp. Best yet, the on/off switch is the paint nozzle.
(No words on whether you get the faint smell of fumes whenever you turn it on). Breeze Block Gallery has ‘em for $60: Link - via Coolbuzz
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8 Awe-Inspiring Swimming Pools
Seriously, if I had a back yard larger than a postage stamp and a budget that could accomidate more than a nice dinner ever few weeks, I would totally pimp it out with one of these. I mean, come on! Look at that one in Thailand!
The standard pool, in all its sparkly-blue, hot-summer-day glory, is enough to send most hearts aflutter. Add an edgy architectural design or sweeping city view, and you may just have your next dream destination.
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RIO Lighted Shower
This shower head has 96 programmable LEDs of various colors to provide a surreal shower-in-the-dark experience. Sounds pretty cool until you realize that this experience will cost you over four grand US. £2,799.00, to be exact. Link -via Geeks Are Sexy
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14 Times the Luck!
If you thought a four-leaf clover was lucky, check out this thing: it’s a 56-leaf clover. The clover was found by Japanese farmer and clover expert Shigeo Obara, featured previously on Neatorama. That’s a lot of clover leaves - enough luck for a whole village!
Link - via observationsofanerd
(image credit: Kyodo News)
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Chalkboard Glassware
These glasses make it easy to identify whose drink belongs to who at a party. Then when a person gets to the point where they can’t spell their own name, you know they’ve had too many! Link -via Unique Daily
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The Elephant Padlock
Crooked Brains blog has a very spiffy collection of antique and unusual padlocks, from back in the days where any household item was an opportunity for showing off craftmanship.
Link - via somethinbeautiful
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Top 10 Toilets Screaming High-Tech in Luxury
Toilets are no more an eyesore. Experience the difference of total comfort and luxury with these high-tech toilets. This post covers 10 most advanced toilets available.
The technology that’s packed into toilet seats these days will make your head spin.
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Blockbuster Quik Drop Box Oven
Cooks in Liberia are wily geniuses when it comes to recycling stuff. No oven? Not a problem - just take an old Blockbuster Video Quik Drop box and make it into one!
Details over at AfriGadget:
They showed me the oven, a big metal cabinet against the far wall; looks like a refrigerator on legs, to allow a coal pit to fit under the bottom, but when I get near it, I see it’s a Blockbuster Quick Drop Booth! The front, where the slit had been closed, faces the wall and the back door is to access the oven; inside are several fridge trays, on which they lay the pans. The door is then locked with a simple bolt and sealed all around with wet cloths.
The cake was fabulous.
Link - via BB Gadgets
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