We recently showed you Karim Rashid’s very cool egg-shaped chair. In another cool chair entry, we found this this beauty on Design Milk. From Spanish company Joquer and designed by Ramón Esteve, its space age sexiness would add interest to any room and serve as a real conversation point. It looks comfortable too! What are your opinions on bold furniture such as this?
From an article in the March 2011 issue of Qualified Remodeler magazine:
According to the Energy Conservation Enhancement Project at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 20 percent of all electricity produced in the U.S. is used for lighting, but 50 percent of that electricity is wasted by inefficient lighting sources or careless consumers. Lighting-control systems, which long have been utilized in commercial buildings, have become affordable for the average homeowner. And today’s wireless lighting-control systems make installation easy and practical for renovators.
Easy-to-use lighting control systems make homeowners more likely to use only as much light as they need, only when they need it. Like most other energy-efficiency efforts, a single home deploying this technology won’t make much of an impact at a global level. But as these technologies become more affordable and more commonplace, it’s sure to make a dent in overall energy usage and all that comes with it.
Wired systems are better-suited for new construction because of the intricate wiring system that would be rather invasive where walls already exist. Wireless control systems are, obviously, less invasive, avoiding damage to walls. But they require batteries or some other power source and can cost more, which is the trade-off made for ease of installation.
The article from Qualified Remodeler offers more details about this family of products, including an introduction to several specific models you can choose from.
photo courtesy of LiteTouch Inc.
We’ve seen some cool home products lately and thought we’d share them here. Because we believe you, like us, appreciate cool things for your home.
At a recent electronics industry trade show, Samsung showed off a television with a transparent screen. It sounds kind of cool, but it looks even cooler:
That photo is courtesy of Geek.com, which points out, “a transparent wall-mounted display in the home would be desirable. At the moment, when the TV is turned off, you are left with a big black rectangle on the wall. With a transparent display it would be possible to hang a picture behind the screen which would be seen whenever you aren’t watching the TV.”
Take a look at this clock by Umbra, which features an orb of walnut wood that seems to float underneath a glass dome. The good folks at Dwell magazine write, “We can’t cop to knowing how the heck this walnut clock face hovers, seemingly without support, inside its domed glass cover. But we will admit it caught our eye and we can’t stop thinking about how cool it would look on a mantle, making every time check a mystifying experience.”
Karim Rashid, famous designer and friend of Marvin, has designed a neat egg-shaped chair that would be equally cool in a kid’s room or in any other space designed with a modern feel.
Included in a Wired.com round-up of gifts for the handy do-it-yourselfer in your life was this gorgeous wood cabinet on wheels. It’s tough and useful and could function as anything from a utilitarian kitchen island to a stylish workshop toolbox. It has a hefty price tag ($549), but as they say, you get what you pay for.
Earlier this month, nearly 2,000 exhibitors converged on Chicago’s McCormick Place for the 2011 International Home & Housewares Show, the world’s biggest showcase of new home products.
Featuring everything from cutting-edge coffeemakers to revolutionary wine racks, the show features traditional products reconsidered to groundbreaking products aimed at fixing solutions for problems you never knew existed. (For instance, Aladdin’s collapsible salad bowls.)
While IHHS featured plenty of products that bordered on novelty, there were plenty of practical items on display:
Crane Cool Mist Drop Humidifier – In the past, dehumidifiers were bulky, unattractive and best left out of sight where they’d growl and hiss. Crane’s model comes in a sleek, teardrop-shaped design available in several color options. And as an added bonus — it’s quiet.
Reduce Vision Stainless Steel Water Filtration Pitcher by Base Brands – Finally, a stylish alternative for the eco-friendly set. Base Brands’ pitcher follows water bottles in trending away from plastics, which have limited recyclability and can produce harmful toxins under certain conditions.
DeLonghi kMix Collection Coffeemaker — DeLonghi is among a throng of appliance makers rolling out bold colors to brighten up the kitchen. The kMix Collection features a drip coffeemaker, an espresso maker, a kettle and a toaster, each of which is constructed with heavy die cast aluminum.
If you are looking for a luxurious heat-and-relaxation thing to add to your home, but a steam room is too impractical and a hot tub is too much upkeep (and maybe too Jersey Shore), how about a sauna?
According to the Listed blog, they are among the most requested home improvements currently. Listed says:
Saunas have been at the core of Finnish culture for thousands of years, a traditional toasty respite in a cold and snowy climate, according to the nonprofit North American Sauna Society, an organization for those who use, build and sell saunas.
Unlike a steam shower, saunaing can be a communal activity (the Embassy of Finland in DC has a sauna that becomes a centerpiece of cultural events and parties) and unlike a hot tub, there’s not constant mixing of chemicals and worrying about drowning. It’s healthy and feels wonderful in the winter.
Best of all? It can cost as little as $3,000 to make a closet into a small sauna. The larger or more luxurious the sauna, the more it can cost.
Would you consider adding a sauna into your home?
Image courtesy of Video4Net on Flickr
On Design Milk, we found this, well, let’s just call it “seating” because it’s not really a couch. It’s made by German design company Taurus and is called Circula. Very intriguing concept!
It’s unusual and could promote community and conversation because users have to face each other. On the other hand, it could be a little difficult to fit into a room, although it can be divided into various configurations (visit Design Milk to see more). What do you think? Would you use something like this in your home?
The bathroom may qualify as the most used room in the house — certainly the most necessary! Due to this, it seems like many homeowners want to add on another bathroom (no more morning shower rush!) or remodel an existing bathroom (no more orange and purple tile!).
Via the New York Times, we found this cool product: it’s a bathroom in a box! From Bath Simple, it’s designed to take the guesswork out of bathroom building and remodeling.
“Designing a bathroom takes an inordinate amount of time,” said John Crowley, a designer in Berkeley, Calif. “You have to get different pieces from a lot of different vendors.”
Mr. Crowley’s answer is a “bathroom in a box,” with every item needed for the job — paint, tile, fixtures, tub — arriving in one crate, ready to install. Customers of Mr. Crowley’s new online company, Bath Simple, answer a few questions about style and budget, enter measurements, then choose all items needed for anything from a simple powder room to an elaborate master bath.
Almost everything you need is in the box, from appliances to paint. The site allows you to make some choices regarding appliances and design and ships it to you, ready for your building professional to install.
It’s simple and perfect for a quick bathroom solution. What do you think?
Last week we featured some of the smartest new gizmos in the world of home technology that were showcased at the massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Today we have a nice round-up of the newest “greener” gadgets. (“Green” would generally refer to items that are truly environmentally friendly, whereas “greener” refers to devices that, as a class, aren’t necessarily great for the environment but, as innovations take place, they become much easier on the environment, relatively speaking.)
Mike Chino, managing editor of Inhabitat, penned a piece for My Life Scoop about the top 5 greenest gadgets at CES. Among them is the nPower PEG Kinetic Energy Charger, which captures your body’s kinetic energy — the natural motion from walking around, climbing stairs and other regular activities — and stores it for charging other devices. “Simply toss this pint-sized power charger into your backpack or briefcase,” Chino writes, “and it will capture kinetic energy from your daily activities and transform it into electricity to juice your gadgets on the go.”
For those of you who are more style-minded, the Budget Fashonista has a round-up of some more nifty gadgets from CES, including the fancy bracelet shown here. According to the Budget Fashionista, “If you’re the kind who likes to wear your love of technology on your sleeve, the Asus Waveface Ultra is for you. The not-yet-available OLED wristband can be worn as a bracelet, but functions as a smartphone.” Maybe it’s not for everyone, but that’s just plain cool.
If you’re interested in more green gadgets from CES, you could spend hours pouring through Google search results, but a good starting point is Inhabitat’s coverage of the show.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, smart home technology took center stage thanks to a flood of household features reimagined and reprogrammed to work toward an energy efficient home.
References to The Jetsons and Back to the Future aren’t that far off, either. Companies like LG and Panasonic unveiled appliances that monitor their own energy efficiency, think for themselves, and, in some cases, self-repair. Meanwhile, GE introduced a new grid monitoring system that gives homeowners a vivid understanding of how they’re consuming energy. Heady stuff, and it’s all about to hit the market.
Here are some of the home tech highlights featured at CES 2011:
Highlight: According to Engadget, LG’s ThinQ technology includes, “Downloadable diagnostic information and the ability to hit a few buttons on the appliance to emit a series of tones to assist LG technicians troubleshooting problems over the phone.”
Highlight: For the Kenmore Connect refrigerator, we like the practicality of remote temperature control. Whether by smartphone or tablet, consumers can easily raise or lower the temperature throughout the day, making the appliance more energy efficient.
Highlight: The GE Nucleus provides extensive grid metrics and analytics, but the average homeowner is more concerned speaks dollar signs, not kilowatts. Nucleus allows consumers to see exactly how much money is being spent on their energy usage around the home. In this case, knowledge really is power.
Small kitchens: we’ve covered them before because it is fascinating to see how all the kitchen essentials can be fit into a space that is compact, efficient, and dare we say, beautiful. Dig Digs rounded up some small kitchens that we think anyone would be glad to cook in. Let’s take a look at a few…
How luxurious is this tiny kitchen? Gleaming stainless steel appliances and everything a cook needs are featured in Kitchen Studio by Fendi Casa.
Come together by Albrecht Seeger and Martin Klinke is a fun kitchen/dining room all in one.
And Grandma’s Revenge is a complete multi-use cooking and eating space. Just open and close to get different looks!
Check out more at DigDigs!
