If you need a little extra sparkle for your home this holiday season - check out my Etsy store at:
When it comes to a drill, don't waste your time with a lightweight. This is a tool to invest in, with a model like the DeWalt pictured, as a good one will last years and a cheap one most likely won't have the muscle you need. To accompany the drill - skip the infinite socket sets and extend your reach with a chuck extender like this one from Lee Valley:
A handy Husky hex wrench set is the best stocking stuffer - never worry about keeping or better yet finding the many allen wrenches that enter our lives, and treat yourself to a nice round handle to hold onto at the same time. Measure twice, cut once - a speed square is still one of the most useful tools to have around - and it does double duty for arts and crafts.
Any all-in-one tool kit will come with a basic wrench. That's a guaranteed way to loose some skin when you try to pry out an offending piece of hardware. Invest in a Vise Grip (this one's under $10)- you'll never use your old pliers again.
Spare your fingers from a bashing with simple quick-release clamps. Any surface can become a worktop, but it's hard to hold what you're working on in place without a clamp or two. Clamps make your dining table roughly equivalent to a full-fledged workbench.
Finally, for the handy person who has it all - give them a great way to store it. Tools are only helpful if you can find them! I prefer a mobile wheeled cart with plenty of shallow drawers for easy sighting of the tool you seek. Happy building!
For more on the beach mats in particular, check out their parks&recs site. The mats can also be found on mobile airstrips and anywhere else you need a walkway in a heartbeat. Check out the construction detail - how often have you thought about using woven solutions?
Some of you may be familiar with Brabantia trashcans, commonly found at BB&B. Williams Sonoma is now promoting a new ironing board by Brabantia, and I like what I see. They continue to reinvigorate products that many companies write off as low-margin or commodities. The design features on this ironing board make it a product worth owning.
Read the full article here, and consider that if the mainstream media is talking about the end of cheap China, the time was yesterday to look for newly affordable options Stateside.Where once low-tech factories and scant wages were welcomed in a China eager to escape isolation and poverty, workers are now demanding a bigger share of the profits. The government, meanwhile, is pushing foreign companies to make investments in areas it believes will create greater wealth for China, like high technology.
Many companies are striving to stay profitable by shifting factories to cheaper areas farther inland or to other developing countries, and a few are even resuming production in the West.
"China is going to go through a very dramatic period. The big companies are starting to exit. We all see the writing on the wall," said Rick Goodwin, a China trade veteran of 22 years, whose company links foreign buyers with Chinese suppliers.
"I have 15 major clients. My job is to give the best advice I can give. I tell it like it is. I tell them, put your helmet on, it's going to get ugly," said Goodwin, who says dissatisfied workers and hard-to-predict exchange rates are his top worries.
Designer greats have been making cool mod furniture out of cardboard for decades. Usually, it's a little pricey for cardboard - you're buying the design philosophy more than the item. But there are some cool things being made out of cardboard these days that are fun and affordable:
Studio David Grass produces some affordable and attractive furniture like this sweet stool
Cardboard Design makes all manner of products, but my favorite are their kid's playhouses. My own little rocketeer has enjoyed his for years :)
You can also find lots of affordable kids items, like these adorable chairs & table on Orange Onions.
Cookie scoops, like these classic stainless steel beauties from Norpro, will change your feelings about baking cookies. We all love cookies, but making 24-48 little balls is not the most gratifying task. The scoops keep your hands free, fill the sheet pan in 2 minutes, and perfectly portion the dough for even, round cookies.
Keeping with the stainless theme, shallow metal prep bowls like these by WINCO have more uses than you can imagine. They aren't deep like mixing bowls, but generously sized and shallow to make mixing pasta, salad, meatloaf, and everything else a breeze. Plus, they're a bargain from restaurant supply stores.
If you've never tried keeping your spices in a drawer, it'll change your world. You can read all the labels at once and quickly find and replace what you're looking for. I'm still waiting for more stylish options to emerge, but for now these by Dial provide the best fit for existing drawers and bottles.
This is the best can opener I've ever used. And I've tested, cut up, and redesigned dozens of them over the years. This one locks in place for secure use and compact storage and it NEVER slips. Yet again, OXO transforms a frustrating task into a pleasurable one.
Treat your self to an attractive oil cruet like this one from Mario Batali's line. Too often our counters are crowded with bulky oil bottles for cooking. Grab a couple of cruets, color coded or labeled, and transform your countertop into a sleek cook's station.
If your dog craves crunching water bottles, these toys are for you. Water Bottle Buddies like those sold by Kyjen provide an adorable sleeve for your water bottle, protecting your dog from bottle shards. When the bottle's shot, toss it in the recycling bin.
The Verdict: Can someone please marry the two? Nylon sleeves should be able to achieve both cuteness and durability. Then this product would be truly excellent.
Yep. Denim Diapers. You really are seeing that. My gut reaction is to sink this product, but I'm trying to take a step back into the target's mindset. There are lots of people who let their kids run around in just a diaper all day - I may not be one of them, but this product doesn't appeal to me. Maybe it will appeal to them?
I know most people wonder if buying "Made in the USA" really matters. It can seem like it's just another marketing ploy. It's also really hard to walk away from a similar item that costs hundreds of dollars less, just to buy a homegrown product.
My husband had a serious habit - he drank in the morning, throughout the day and the evening - he was and remains a seltzer fanatic. Then we brought the Sodastream into his life and now he's a changed man - he can make his own seltzer for a fraction of the cost and without tearing through seemingly millions of plastic bottles to get his fix. I highly, highly recommend it!
I may be waaaaay behind the times, but I really didn't know about this yet: European countries, Denmark in particular, are building trash incinerators to generate electricity and heat (we did too 15yrs ago but have not embraced newer cleaner technology). And it's completely clean. Cleaner than burning wood in your own fireplace! It's one of those fascinating, frustrating articles for those with common sense. I may have lived in NYC but I don't understand Bloomberg's negative reaction to the technology when the city produces 10,500 tons of waste A DAY!!! Read the NY Times article to learn how trash can solve it's own problems.
A push mower to desire from Fiskars - The Momentum Reel Mower. Another great application of the basic fly wheel - I haven't gotten a taste yet but I'm eager to see if it delivers that effortless sense of power. Also, are those mainly plastic housings? Could be a concern for long-term durability, which is a mainstay of the classic push mowers.
"The old days of trying to spin things simply doesn't work anymore," President Patrick Doyle, who will become CEO in March, told The Associated Press in an interview. "Great brands going forward are going to have a level of honesty and transparency that hasn't been seen before."Please, let this succeed and educate the other American companies who are still looking to squeeze margins and pull fast ones on customers in order to save their bottom lines.
Don't bring it into your home: buy less, avoid packaging and bags, use refillable systems and concentrates, make your own when possible (cleaning products for example), provide restaurants with your own containers for leftovers or takeout (recycling is imperfect, do it but don't rely on it - reducing is the best policy!)
Don't let it leave your home: reuse anything durable (get creative, list things you need and things you have and see what matches!), compost, garbage disposal, use as many glass, metal, ceramic, and wood products as you can (especially food storage containers like my favorite Pyrex shown below)
