Archive Category: Home & Garden
Incinerating Toilet = Barbecue?
The EcoJohn incinerating toilet uses no water at all!
The EcoJohn Sr. is a waterless, incinerating toilet certified for safety by Underwriters Laboratories, which, for classification purposes, called it a barbecue.
“Toilets haven’t really changed for the past 100 years,” Stefan Johansson said. “People are always looking for better products, better solutions. The EcoJohns are better, cleaner and good for the environment.”
The unit can be installed at a site as a primary toilet or carted via trailers and used as portable toilets.
The toilets, one of several waste disposal products offered by the company, operate pretty much like the units found in homes across America today. But while those toilets use water to carry waste away, the EcoJohn Sr. is equipped with a propane-fueled burner.
After a user does his business, he closes the lid and a large, screw-like auger turns and carries the waste to the burn chamber where the propane burner then bakes urine, feces and paper into ashes.
The EcoJohn is useful for places where it is impractical to install a sewage system, such as vacation cabins, rooftop parties, and construction sites. But the question in everyone’s mind is: why does it have to be classified as a barbecue?! Link -Thanks, Julie Anne!
(image credit: Mark Martinez/Orange County Register)
| Neatorama Shop » Home & Garden » Ice Trays | ||
See more Fun
and Unusual Ice Trays » |
||
Motherboard Walls
Chris Harrison and a friend built these motherboard walls for Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott Hudson:
Each motherboard wall took approximately 6 hours to assemble . The longest step by far was laying them out. Not only did we try to distribute the colors in an interesting way, but dozens of different sized boards had to fit together perfectly and not overlap the edges. Not an easy task I assure you. Additionally, we added a third dimension by stilting approximately one fourth of the boards at different heights.
Link – via growabrain
Dinosaur Lamps

The Brando website has just released a new product that allows you to build your own polypropylene dinosaur lamp using “simple pieces of puzzle”.
There are two models to choose from: Triceratops and T-Rex.
Link (Triceratops) | Link (T-Rex)
Nymph Lamp

This lamp looks like a giant centipede in the outdoor setting, but it’s just 19 inches tall (and over 30 inches long). The Nymph Lamp, from Site Specific Design, will set you back $2,600. Link -via Dump Trumpet
Lila Jang's Wall-Climbing Sofa

This wall-climbing sofa by Lila Jang is the perfect for that odd corner of the house where no other furniture fits
It’s part of the 2007 contemporary art exhibition Parcours Saint Germain in Paris – via basic_sounds
| Neatorama Shop » By Artist » Mike Jacobsen T-Shirts | |
| Nemesis (Double-sided) | See more T-Shirts
by Mike Jacobsen » |
Global Warming Rug

The “Global Warming” rug, created by the Barcelona-based rug company Nanimaquina and the Mexican design collective NEL, can be seen at this year’s “International Furniture Festival” in Valencia, Spain (23-27 September).
Extreme Home Makeover House Foreclosed!
It took 1,800 people and six days to rebuild the Harper family’s home in
ABC’s 2005 "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
… but it took just one bad decision for the family to lose it all:
More than 1,800 people showed up to help ABC’s "Extreme Makeover" team demolish a family’s decrepit home and replace it with a sparkling, four-bedroom mini-mansion in 2005.
Three years later, the reality TV show’s most ambitious project at the time has become the latest victim of the foreclosure crisis.
After the Harper family used the two-story home as collateral for a $450,000 loan, it’s set to go to auction on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse Aug. 5. The couple did not return phone calls Monday, but told WSB-TV they received the loan for a construction business that failed. [...]
ABC said in a statement that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home. "Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families," the network said.
Some of the volunteers who helped build the home were less than thrilled about the family’s financial decisions.
"It’s aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it," Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped vault a massive beam into place in the Harper’s living room, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
They need another Extreme Home Makeover, please! Link (Photo: ABC) – Thanks Geekazoid!
Bloody Table by John Nouanesing

Sadly, this "bloody" table is only an art concept by John Nouanesing. Check the rest of John’s portfolio … someone gotta make these things for real! Link – via Geekadelphia
BTW, Eric Smith and Tim Quirino of Geekadelphia were interviewed by Philly Weekly, and were kind enough to mention Neatorama as one of their inspirations – Thanks Eric!
Airplane House

One of my favorite blogs, WebUrbanist, has a neat post about homes "recycled" from other things. Like this airplane house, for instance:
Joanne Ussery, a hairdresser, was looking for a new mobile home to put next to the lake when her brother-in-law, an air traffic controller, had an unorthodox suggestion. She paid $2,000 for the 727 fuselage, $4,000 for a house-moving company to move it to her lot, and six months and $25,000 to renovate it. The resulting house has some unusual features, and is built to last; (Source)
Check out the rest of the 7 Superb Examples of Recycled Urban Architectures – Thanks Marilyn Terrell!
Toto Bar by Isay Weinfeld

This unassuming set of Toto Bar boxes by Isay Weinfeld unfolded to reveal cleverly designed storage spaces for an evening’s cocktail party. It stores everything you need from liquors to glasswares! Link – via MoCo Loco
| Neatorama Shop » Custom Bobble Heads & Cake Toppers | ||
| Turn yourself or your loved ones into a hand-crafted, custom bobble head and cake topper. Commemorate a graduation, celebrate a wedding or simply make a Mini-Me of yourself - with over 109 body types to choose from, this bobble head is the perfect custom gift! | ||
See more Bobble
Heads » |
||
Micro Compact Home

That is the m-ch or micro compact home, a 2.6m cube lightweight compact house designed for one person or an agoraphobic couple. Its inventor, Prof. Richard Horden, wrote:
The micro compact home [m-ch] is a lightweight compact dwelling for one or two people. Its compact dimensions of 2.6m cube adapt it to a variety of sites and circumstances, and its functioning spaces of sleeping, working / dining, cooking and hygiene make it suitable for everyday use.
And if you think that no one could live in one of those little cubes, they actually have constructed a "study village" populated by students of TU Munich (makes sense, they’re students – my first college apartment was no bigger than that!). They’re not cheap though – they cost about EUR 25,000 to 34,000 each!
Link via Blogging Ultra Modern Design
Felted Household Appliances

Photo: Hans Tan
Some artists make cute little felted things – but not French designer Lise Lefebvre: for her art thesis project, titled "The aesthetics of domestic sound," she created a series of "acoustical skin" – basically covers for household appliances and tools to muffle the sound!
Link [Flash, click on the last projects] – via Andreaxmas
Jammin Johns: Toilet Seat Guitar and Keyboard
Why settle for a boring toilet seat? Musicians Marvin Maxwell and David Boone decided to bring their love of music to the toilet … by making handcrafted guitar and keyboard toilet seats (their motto is "music to your rear")!
Calculator Keypad Chair at PantoGraph

photo: PANTOGRAPH
I ran across these fantastic bench shaped like numeric keypads and a chair shaped like a mouse by Japanese studio PantoGraph. Can someone who can read Japanese tell me what they’re all about?
Link (Don’t miss the Diorama section – it’s wonderful!) – via misterstarfish
Exploded Light Bulb Lamp
Hans Bleken Rud of Norway’s NorthernLighting designed this pendant lamp, made to look like a giant incandescent light bulb that has just exploded!
Link [Flash, click on Products, then Scheisse]
Zing Spoon

Let’s face it, sometimes there is a need to launch your lunch or defend your dinner, and this is the perfect utensil to do it with. It’s easy to use; simply load up a particularly mushy pea or corn niblet, aim, pull back the spring-loaded handle and watch your food take flight.
Link -via Everlasting Blort
Zombie Lawn Sculpture

Add some fright to your flower garden with this resin sculpture by Alan Dickenson. Link – Thanks, Tom Jackson!
Speakers of Unusual Designs

Freshome blog has a neat post about 17 home audio speakers that don’t only sound good … but they look good too! Well, actually I don’t know about "good" … how about "unusual"?
This one above is the Woofer Speaker System by Buro Vormkrijgers. Yours for only $1,449.00:
Pun intended, the "Woofer" is a co-axial speaker system consisting of two dogs. The custom engineered electronic filters make for great sound, and the aesthetics – well, you’ve definitely got two new best friends.
Here is the list: Link – Thanks M!hai!
Hiding in Plain Sight: Man Planted Cannabis Hedges
Talk about "cultivating drugs" – a couple in Nerang, Queensland, Australia, decided that the best way to grow their cannabis plants is to hide them in plain sight … so they made them into hedges!
Sen-Sgt Symons said he had never seen cannabis shaped and trimmed into a hedge in his 25 years in the police service.
Neighbours looked over the fence in amazement as police dug up the manicured crop and removed it to be destroyed.
"They are a lovely couple," said one neighbour. "Who would have thought that hedge was grass? It just looks like an ordinary hedge in a suburban yard."
Make Your Own Foaming Soap

I received a bottle of foaming soap as a gift and had wondered if I could refill it, since it measures the proper amount for hand washing so well. A comment at Consumerist led me to an Instructable on exactly this question. Foaming soap costs more than regular liquid soap, but the difference is the container. And the secret is that the foaming soap you pay more for is regular liquid soap that has been watered down! Now I know what to do with all this “bath gel” my family got for Christmas. Link
| Neatorama Shop » T-Shirts About The Economy | |
| $700 Billion T-Shirt | See more T-Shirts
About The Economy » |
Diamond Rings Found in Toilet -12 Years Later!
10-year-old Cameron Delonde was retrieving a dropped toothbrush from the toilet when he found a set of diamond rings! Cameron and his father traced the rings to the former homeowner who had lost them 12 years earlier. The rightful owner’s daughter, Mary Trainor was delighted to see them.
Trainor said her mother passed away five years ago and she and her brother searched in vain for the family heirlooms, to no avail. She said she was thrilled to have them back and still can’t believe they’ve been returned.
Cameron’s father said he’d had a ring stolen years ago and remembered how that loss felt. He said he was determined to return the rings.
Web in the Windows

The name of the window dressing business is Nets2go, but that is not usually interpreted as “internet”. One customer, however, asked for very specific designs on all the different window blinds in his home. Besides the Digg blind, he also commissioned blinds with the logos from Facebook, StumbleUpon, Firefox, Wordpress, YouTube, and more! His ‘net blinds didn’t go over well with his wife; the two are now separated.
“It was coming anyway”, Mr Schofield told us, “but my design choice for the blinds was pretty much the nail in the coffin. She doesn’t understand the intense geek in me. And anyway, the only one she’d even heard of was Youtube”
Link -Thanks, David!
Remote Buddy Holds and Finds Your Remotes

How many remotes do you have? Are you always looking for them? Then here’s something for you: the Remote Buddy, a vertical remote holder that not only serves as a home for your remotes, but will help you locate them when they wander out of the room … Link – via OhGizmo!
Google Earth Helps UK Teens' Summertime Craze: Pool Crashing
Ah, Google Earth. It’s an amazing technology and service from Google … which inadvertently helped launch UK’s summertime craze: pool crashing!
Teens begin by surfing Google Earth’s satellite images to find houses with swimming pools — or at least paddling pools. Once a target has been identified, sweaty swimmers then use Facebook to arrange an organised, but uninvited, pool-crash. [...]
Owners of several plush poolside properties have already returned home to find teenagers taking a dip in their man-made lakes or their spoor: beer cans, dog-ends and vomit floating atop their once crystal-clear pools.
From Cradle to Grave: The Story of Life, Told with Beds
This is the story of birth, life, and death ... told with (unusual) beds!
Cribs and Cradles
Make sure your baby gets the right start with this $15,000 carriage crib!

... or if that's too rich for you, how about these round cribs from Petit Trésor? At less than one-tenth the price, they're a bargain!

But if you're a bad baby, here's the crib for you, an installation piece called Mama Tried by Jack Daws:

Kid's Beds
What? A regular bed for Daddy's little girl? Never! Not when you can have this $47,000 Cinderella pumpkin-shaped carriage bed from Posh Tots:

... or for the boys, how about a pirate ship bed from V.I.P. Kids? Just £3750.00 ...

Beds for the Young Adults
Enough about kids' beds, here are some fantastic beds I wouldn't mind owning ... Of course when you're a young adult and single, this bed by Dominic Wilcox is really all you need ...

Dominic Wilcox's Bed (1999)
Or if you're too busy working on your career, here's a computer desk / bed combo for you:

The Computer Bed by FlyingBeds - via Freshome (many more modern beds there)
With sky-high housing prices, a lot of young people start out having roommates. But that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice style, here are a couple of beds that fit this particular stage in your life:

DocXL, Sofa/Bunk Bed combo

The mattresses are on teak platforms suspended by heavy ropes.
Photo: Jean Allsopp for Coastal Living - via Curbly
Beds for the Young and Restless
And now, a bed for the, um, romantic period of your adult life ...

Springy bed made with recycled suspension springs.
Very comfy (erhm, for sleeping of course, what were you thinking?)
Bed for Couples
Then onto having your own place, and perhaps a significant other and a more mature taste ...

The Tree Bed by Shawn Lovell Metalworks

Cloud bed by Courtney Skott
After a while, you've started to build some assets ... and along with money comes paranoia (or is it just prudence?) So here's the perfect bed/tank combo:
... and after a while, comfort is all that matters, so here's an electric adjustable bed from Relax The Back (I so want this, but my wife vetoed this idea because she knows that I'll just make it go up and down while she's trying to sleep ... She's a smart woman!)

The Last Bed

Photo: Claudecf [Flickr]
The tomb of Charles Pigeon, the inventor of a non-exploding gas lamp (I suppose that's very important), in Cimetière de Montparnasse, signifies eternal rest for him and his wife.
| If you like this article, please Buzz it up! Thank you! |
Highest-Popping Toaster in the World
Meet the CO2 gas-powered toaster, the highest popping toaster in the world and apparently some sort of art project by Freddie Yauner: Link – Thanks SenorMysterioso!
Also, don’t miss: The Fastest Clock in the World (keeps time to a millionth of a second – for those who can’t afford an atomic clock)
10 High-Tech Coffee Tables

BornRich blog has a neat list of the top 10 high-tech coffee tables for your home. This one above is the interactive LED coffee table, called The Wave, which senses where over the table you put your drink and lights up accordingly.
Link – via GeekAlerts
Tomorrowland Dream House at Disneyland

Disneyland has a new Tomorrowland attraction, called the Innoventions Dream Home, a showcase/model home built by Taylor Morrison that is chockful of new technology from HP, Microsoft, and Life|ware.
The interactive mirror is described as such:
Teen Daughter’s Room
At her desk, the Elias family daughter can connect with friends or her favorite entertainment. As she develops new interests, she can easily change the photos and posters in her room. But she may be spending much of her time in front of the Magic Mirror, a virtual mirror that projects accessories, hairstyles and the clothes from her closet onto her reflection, fitting the styles to her body so that she can try out different “looks” as she prepares for her brother’s party. Tip: Watch as she holds the dress up for consideration. The virtual skirt even sways as she twirls around!
mod*mom blog has more info: Link
Shower Curtain Smell? Yup, Toxic.
Ever smelled a new shower curtain? According to the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, a Virginia-based advocacy group, that smell is toxic:
Vinyl shower curtains release over 100 toxic chemicals into the air in people’s bathrooms, including known carcinogens and reproductive toxins, according to a new report calling for the ban of Polyvinyl chloride in bath curtains and liners.
The laboratory tests of five new PVC shower curtains, released Thursday, found 108 different volatile organic compounds were released
into the air over a 28-day period, including off-gassing above the recommended level in the United States for seven days.These compounds can cause respiratory irritation, headaches, nausea and damage to the liver, kidney and the central nervous system. Some VOCs are also suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.
Aphrodite Drawers by Tadao Hoshino

The Aphrodite Drawers by Tadao Hoshino look like a chest of drawers that is about to topple over … but the piece actually has a bit of clever engineering in it:
The Aphrodite is a highly original piece with cantilevered drawers, giving the illusion of instability. The name of this piece is inspired by the numerous possibilities for creating a variety of effects when drawers are opened in different ways.
| Neatorama Shop » Science T-Shirts (Geektastic!) | ||
See more Science
T-Shirts » |
||






















