04 November 2011

A cool, interactive, appliance repair graphic

Dealing with a malfunctioning major appliance is always fraught with anxiety and headaches. Trying to troubleshoot the malfunction to see whether or not try to deal with it by yourself is beyond the skill set of most homeowner's, though the repairs themselves are not.

Part Select put together repair information about washing machines, refrigerators and ranges and put them in a very clever graphic that will tell you the general costs of parts and the relative ease of making the repair yourself. Something like this may save you some money but it will definitely save you some headaches. Just click on the graphic to launch it.


Source: PartSelect Appliance Parts

01 November 2011

Carpets by Naja Utzon Popov

When I was in London for the first-ever Blog Tour, I had the pleasure to meet the incredibly talented Naja Utzon Popov. Naja weaves carpets and I saw this one in person at Tent London.


The shapes in this carpet remind me of a centipede but only slightly. Her work's not the least but unsettling but still, there's something insect-like about these designs. Few forms of life are as beautifully designed as a centipede so my likening her carpets to one is meant as a compliment.






When she's not invoking centipedes she playing with snow crystals and when's not doing that she's sculpting or designing other household objects. Whatever else goes on in the design wold, Naja Utzon Popov is clearly a woman to watch.

31 October 2011

How to deal with a washing machine

In Europe, where to put the washing machine takes on an importance that's not the case in the US or Canada. Since homes tend to be smaller there and space tends to come at a premium how to deal with laundry is not something to be taken lightly. When I was in Italy for Cersiae last month, I saw what has to be the best integration of a washing machine with a bathroom ever.





The manufacturer is Geromina and since nobody in Italy seems to have any use for a dryer I'm going to assume that the machine shown is a washer only. What do you think? Would you integrate a washing machine into a bath?

27 October 2011

Kids' rooms from Resource Furniture

Between my nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, I have been up to my elbows in kids recently. I guess it's yet another symptom of getting older, but I can't get enough of the people in my gene pool.

When I was in Pennsylvania last week, one of my brothers gave me a tour of the addition he put on his house recently. Though it's not quite finished, I did see that there were bedrooms for two of his daughters in the addition.

At a time when his children are starting to go out in the world on their own, he's still adding bedrooms and he tells me that they'll need the room when his kids start coming back with families of their own.

The idea of adding room for kids reminded me of some new offerings from Resource Furniture. Resource takes the idea of a Murphy bed and advances it by an order of magnitude or two.

How cool would it be to add a bedroom that can be tucked away so that the room being added can do double duty as an office or study?

Resource's Poppi Ponte adds more than two meters of closet space and requires a third of the room of a regular twin bed.




In what looks like a home office or study desk, Resource's Lollisoft SD turns into two twin beds.



Slick! Resource Furniture has showroom in New York, Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Hong Kong but their furniture is available just about anywhere. Spend some time on Resource Furniture's website before you buy new furniture.


26 October 2011

Bath trends, a Bathroom Blogfest post

Every year at this time, bloggers from all over the world weigh in on the topic of baths. The Bathroom Blogfest has been going on for six years and the topic for 2011 is "Climbing Out." Not in the sense of climbing out of the commode but in the sense of climbing out of recession.

I've been fortunate to spend a fair amount of time abroad this year and in walking around a bath trade show in Europe, one would be hard-pressed to notice that there's a global recession on. While in the US, people seem thrilled to wallow in the economic doldrums, in Europe people can't shed them fast enough.

The key word over there right now is color and I hope with everything I have that the economic optimism I've seen in Europe this year extends across the Atlantic, and soon. While economic conditions in the EU are bad, they are addressing them. Unlike here in the US where everybody seems to want to point fingers and whine about the price of groceries.

As bad as things are in the US, I'm convinced that the first Economics teacher I ever had was right, recessions are psychological. So while the US languishes in shades of gray, the EU loves color. Here are some shots I took of Cersaie, the tile and bath show I went to in Bologna a few weeks ago.

See all that color? Good to moderate times are coming, I believe that with every fiber of my being. So long as the Tea Party implodes that is. Sorry to get political. Kind of. Anyhow, here are some examples of the bright colors I've seen in the EU.















Between the amazing colors and shapes on display in Bologna this year, I'm beginning to think that there is a way out. Endless thanks to Tiles of Italy for getting me to Bologna and for letting this blogger know that there's a thread or two of hope out there.

NameBlog NameBlog URL
Susan AbbottCustomer Experience Crossroadshttp://www.cust omercrossroads.com/customercrossroads/ 
Paul AnaterKitchen and Residential Designhttp://www.kitchenandresi dentialdesign.com
Shannon BilbyFrom the Floors Uphttp://fromthefloorsup.com/
Toby BloombergDiva Marketinghttp://bloom bergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/
Laurence BorelBlog Till You Drophttp://www.laurenceborel.com/
Bill BuyokAvente Tile Talkhttp://tiletalk.blogspot.com
Jeanne ByingtonThe Importance of Earnest Servicehttp://blog.jmbyington.com/
Becky CarrollCustomers Rock!http://customersrock.net
Katie ClarkPractical Katiehttp://practicalkatie.blogspot.co m/
Nora DePalmaO'Reilly DePalma: The Bloghttp://www.oreilly-depalma.com/b log/
Paul FriederichsenThe BrandBiz Bloghttp://brandbizblog.com/
Tish GrierThe Constant Observerhttp://spap-oop.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth HiseFlooring The Consumerhttp://flooringtheconsumer.b logspot.com
Emily HooperFloor Covering News Bloghttp://www.fcnews.net/category/b log/
Diane KazanUrban Design Renovationhttp://blog.urbandesignrenovat ion.com
Joseph MichelliDr. Joseph Michelli's Blog http://www.josephmichelli.com/blog
Veronika MillerModenus Blog http://www.modenus.com/blog
Arpi NalbandianTile Magazine Editors' Bloghttp://www.tile magonline.com/Articles/Blog_Nalbandian
David PolinchockPolinchock's Ponderingshttp://blog.polinchock.com/
Professor ToiletAmerican Standard's Professor Toilethttp://www.professortoilet.com
David Reich my 2 centshttp://reichcomm.typepad.com
Victoria Redshaw & Shelley PondScarlet Opus Trends Bloghttp://www.trendsblog.co.uk
Sandy RenshawPurple Wrenhttp://www.PurpleWren.com
Bethany RichmondCarpet and Rug Institute Bloghttp://www.carpet-and-r ug-institute-blog.com/
Bruce D. SandersRIMtailinghttp://www.rimtailing.blogspot.co m
Paige SmithNeuse Tile Service bloghttp://neusetile.wordpress.com/
Stephanie WeaverExperienceologyhttp://experienceology.blogspot. com/
Christine B. WhittemoreContent Talks Business Bloghttp://sim plemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/
Christine B. WhittemoreSmoke Rise & Kinnelon Bloghttp://smokerise-nj.blogspot.com/
Christine B. WhittemoreSimple Marketing Bloghttp://www.simplemarketingblog.co m/
Ted WhittemoreWorking Computershttp://www.kinneloncomputers.com/
Chris WoelfelArtcraft Granite, Marble & Tile Co.http://www.artcraftgmt.com
Patty WoodlandBroken Teepeehttp://www.brokenteepee.com/
Denise Lee Yohnbrand as business biteshttp://deniseleeyohn.com/best-bit es