Archive Category: Home & Garden
How To Break Down a Door
The Art of Manliness blog has a post about How to Break Down a Door … Here it is, just in case you need to (like a burning building or something like that):
Now, from my experience, it’s virtually impossible to kick open a properly installed exterior door with deadbolt locks and heavy duty hinges. If the door and frames are metal, it is impossible to kick open.
Link – via The Evangelical Outpost
Whatever you do, just don’t do it like this:
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Tea-Over-Ice Pitchers
Tea-Over-Ice from Tea Forté is a set of two pitchers: the smaller one, used to brew the hot tea sits on top of the larger one, which holds ice.
The idea is that after your tea is brewed, you can simply flash chill it by pouring it over the ice for a glass of iced tea (the pitchers are made from heat-resistant glass)
Brilliant! Link – via swissmiss
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Houses Covered in Kudzu
Photo: Jack Anthony
Kudzu is a climbing vine introduced into the United States from Japan in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Expo as a forage crop and ornamental plan. In the early 1950s, US Department of Agriculture encouraged farmers to plant kudzu to reduce soil erosion.
Fast forward a couple of decades later, kudzu is a fast growing weed that has infested about 11,000 square miles of the southeastern United States. It costs around $500 million every year in lost cropland and control costs.
Jack Anthony has a photo gallery of abandoned houses in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina that have been taken over by kudzu, noting that they make "interesting natural sculptures": Link – via Cynical-C
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Self-stirring Cup
A new teacup called Ceramic For Mix (which appears to be made of glass) eliminates the need for a stirring spoon. This is acheived by a ball installed in the bottom. Designer Florian Dussopt says,
“The ball is put into a slightly protruding base to keep it in place when stirring and drinking.
“Users gently move the cup, like you would when swirling a glass of cognac, and the action pushes the ball around.
“The ceramic ball mixes all various sugars and milk at the same time, thus eliminating the need for a spoon.
“When you drink, the ball is blocked by the gravity in the recess of the glass.”
The company, Ana Gram, has made prototypes and is looking for a manufacturer. Link -via Digg
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£130 Million Home Comes With ... a Garden Squatter!
Imagine the shock of this poor ol’ tycoon: he wanted to build the world’s most expensive home only to find that he has a squatter in the garden!
A billionaire is planning to transform a vacant London stately house into the world’s most expensive home – but can’t evict a squatter who’s been living there for the past 21 years.
Harry Hallowes, 71, was awarded squatters’ rights last year, which means he can continue living in his tent in the grounds. His small plot is now worth a staggering £4million.
Link – via One Large Prawn
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The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon
Good spoons have heavy handles, but that makes it difficult to lay your spoon down when eating from a bowl. If you don’t want to put the spoon down on the table, you’ll tip the bowl over. But this bowl and spoon combination makes it easy to rest your spoon in your bowl. $21.00 Link -via J-Walk Blog
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Cure for the Boring Toilet Paper: Innovations in Toilet Paper You Can Buy on the Web!
Chalk up another benefit to teh Interweb: ordering online can relieve you of the doldrums of white toilet papers! For instance, take the Sudoku puzzle toilet paper to the left. It’ll surely help you while away the time …
Here’s a neat article at our pal mental_floss: Innovations in Toilet Paper – via Miss Cellania
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Persian Puzzle Rug
Katrin Sonnleitner created this extremely modular flooring: a Persian rug called PuzzlePerser, made out of thousands of individual puzzle pieces! Link [Flash, click on Project, then PuzzlePerser] – via MoCo Loco
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Japanese Homewares (That You Can't Get in the United States)
Apartment Therapy LA Blog has a neat post about some homewares from Japan (that unfortunately, you can’t get in the United States). This one above, a dining room set called Cube Style, is very cleverly designed for small apartments (as you probably know, space is at a premium in Tokyo)
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Beer Bottle Bricks
In the 1960s, Heineken got the brilliant idea of making square beer bottles … so that after you’re done drinking the beer, you can use the bottles as bricks!
Made in England by Gentlemen blog has the pics of a wall built out of Heinies: Link
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Why settle for a boring computer mouse when you can surft in style with Road Mice, a cool wireless computer mouse that looks just like the car of your dreams? Road Mice is available in various Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge, and Ford models including the popular Black Mustang with White Stripes shown to the left. It's the perfect gift for the auto-enthusiast in your life! |
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Chairman Mao Chair
That’s the Chairman Mao chair, created by artist Gerard Scarfe, as seen in I’m Learning to Share blog.
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Neverending Bookshelf
Photo: Andreoli
That’s the "Neverending" bookshelf, made out of Corian by Italian designers Luca Nichetto and Andreoli. Link
It’s just one of the many bookshelves featured on this very specialized "Bookshelf Blog" – via Metafilter | If you like this, you’ll love Freshome’s feature "30 Most Creative Bookshelves Designs"
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LEGO Planter
After Bob of TheBobBlog saw a Park Planters pot by Tristan Zimmermann, retailing for $100 (or even higher), he decided that he could do one cheaper … with LEGO! Here’s Bob’s version, the LEGO Planter: Link – Thanks Bob!
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A Disaster-Proof Bed
The Quantum Sleeper is a bed that converts into a bullet-proof, airtight shelter that is shielded from biochemical attacks with filtered ventilation and rebreathing equipment. Options include a toilet, a short-wave radio, and motion detectors.
Link via Gizmodo via Ace
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Bizarre Furniture Made From Recycled Materials
One of my favorite new blogs, WebUrbanist, got a new post about 20 creative (and somewhat bizarre) furniture made from recycled materials.
The four above are: light made from old fluorescent light tubes by Castor Canadensis design collective, a Lamponi lamp made from an old iron, a shopping cart chair by reestore, and a bicycle wheel table by Andrew Gregg.
Check out the full list here: Link
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Rug Glows with Each Step
It only makes sense: a rug that lights up when you walk on it. They call it Footlume.
“The glow that the rug emits is very soft,” said co-inventor Leona Dean, of London South Bank University, who also noted the innovation’s party applications, “It can provide ambient mood lighting or flash in time to music as a talking point at a party.”
Dean and another LSBU engineering student Zoe Robson developed the light-up rug, called Footlume, for a college course, and they will exhibit the innovation at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Show in London this month.
The electroluminescent rug uses rechargeable batteries and lights up in response to the weight applied when a person walks across the carpet.
It could also light the way to the bathroom in the night and serve as a child’s night light. Footlume is a prototype, but could be produced commercially if investors are interested. Link -via Digg
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Throwzini Knife Holder
This knife block makes you feel like a circus knife-thrower in your own kitchen! It’s not yet in stock, but you can register to be notified when it becomes available. Link -via Dump Trumpet
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Reel Furnitures
David Meddings of reelfurniture makes chairs and tables out of recycled timber. One of his specialties is this rocking chair made from those giant wooden reels (like the ones used to transport power lines). Link – via Ectoplasmosis
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Black Facial Tissue from Japan (Where Else?)
Attention hipsters: you wear black t-shirt, black jeans, black shoes … but still use white tissues to blow your nose? You need this: a box of Japanese black facial tissue.
Spiddlement blog has more pics: Link – Thanks Jeff Jones!
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Extreme and Modern Beds
Freshome has a collection of 16 of the Most Extreme & Modern Beds You’ll Ever See. Some are space-saving ideas, some convert into other furniture, some are powered to do things, and some are just beautiful designs. All have product links. The bookcase bed shown here lies against the wall until you need it, when you can assemble it on the floor as a twin or double bed. Link -via Geek Like Me
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The Silent Smoke Detector Sprays Wasabi in the Air
If you’ve ever eaten sushi, then you’ll know that a little dab of wasabi (or Japanese horseradish) goes a looooong way.
Now, a company in Japan has created a prototype silent smoke alarm for people with hearing disabilities. It sprays a mist of wasabi essence (from spray can wasabi!) into the air.
The pungent smell succeeded in waking up 13 out of 14 test subjects within 2 minutes. One deaf subject woke up in a mere 10 seconds.
Link (with embedded LiveLeak videos) – via Spluch
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Heartbeat Bookshelf
Be still, my heart! Swedish designer Måns Salomonsen created this awesome bookshelf shaped like a heartbeat in an electrocardiogram.
Link – via Freshome (See also Freshome’s neat 30 Most Creative Bookshelves Designs we blogged about a while ago) – Thanks Julia A.!
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Slipper Genie
Why use a dustmop when you can just clean the floor by walking on it? Microfiber fingers on the soles of these slippers grab dust, dirt, and hair as you walk around. The sole is detachable for cleaning. The drawback is that they only come in a size to fit women’s sizes 6-9, so children, most men, and women with larger feet are exempt from using them. Link -via the Presurfer
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Rejected Star Wars Merchandise
ToyOtter recalls some Star Wars products that he and his partners pitched to manufacturers a decade ago.
All told, we cranked out well over 100 concepts that were taken to final art, and easily 300 that didn’t make it that far. No part of Star Wars was too small to think about, no character too minor. I’ve never had a situation before or since where someone said to take your favorite subject and do whatever you want with it. Nothing was too crazy or expensive to try.
Some of their ideas were accepted, adapted, and manufactured. But the ones that weren’t are even more interesting! I suspect Alex would go for this grill. Link -via Everlasting Blort
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Story Blanket
Tiago da Fonseca designed a blanket that’s also a bedtime story!
Once upon a time there was a blanket. This blanket had several sheets containing a traditional bedtime story. Each “page” adds a layer of linen making you warmer (or cooler) and comfier hopefully guiding you and your partner into a pleasant night’s sleep.
Link -via J-Walk Blog
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Ice Cube Shaped Like a Guitar
The cool factor is pretty high on this one: Cool Jazz guitar-shaped ice that doubles as a stirrer.
The silicone ice tray makes 3 ice guitars and costs $8.
Link – via clusterflock
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No More Wire Hangers!
The Becohanger by Wannabeco is a new clothes hanger made from environmentally-friendly carboard. It is completely biodegradable, and may replace wire hangers in Britain.
“Each year 100 million wire coat hangers are put into UK landfill where they take centuries to degrade – it is this we are trying to prevent,” said Alexander Beattie, Head of marketing at Wannabeco.
“We have worked out a way to alleviate this problem as well as provide an innovative and ecologically friendly media space for our advertising clients”.
Yes, the hangers will be paid for by advertisers, and distributed to dry cleaners. The ads will be printed with environmentally-friendly ink. Link -via Fark
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Bookseat by Fishbol
The bibliophile in me love this simple yet inviting "Bookseat" by design firm fishbol (but I certainly don’t love the auto-play music on their website’s homepage) – via MoCo Loco
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One Log House
The Famous One Log House is a one-bedroom house hollowed out from a single log that came from a 2,100-year old redwood tree:
After felling this 13 foot diameter forest giant, Art Schmock and a helper needed 8 months of hard labor to hollow out the log into a room 7 ft. high and 32 ft. long, weighing about 42 tons.
Link – via Crazytopics
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Get Your Cables Under Control
Does your computer or entertainment system look like a chaotic spaghetti factory? Then read the Top 10 Ways to Get Cables Under Control. Each tip has a link to instructions. I know from experience that “just getting them out of the way” is an open invitation to herds of dust bunnies. Link
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