Search Results for: blog high tech bathrooms

Hotel Furnishings Go High-Tech

By now I’m sure you are familiar with Westin’s signature Heavenly Bed. The pillow top-mattress bed, introduced almost a decade ago, became an instant hit and is credited with starting a revolution in hotel bedding. (You can now buy your own Heavenly Bed at Nordstrom stores.) The mega-popular bed set off a hotel furnishing war of sorts and Wyndham Hotels fired back with a “Smart Chair” aimed to do for comfortable multi-tasking what the Heavenly Bed did for sleeping. For those of you who don’t frequent Wyndham Hotels the “Smart Chair” is a high-tech furnishing that has integrated pivoting tables, … Continue reading →

Pop Culture Goes High Tech

I have blogged about the power of YouTube in previous entries, but this latest incident truly proves how powerful the medium has become. Police in New Zealand say they were able to catch a thief thanks to a video posted on the popular Internet video sharing site, YouTube. According to officers, the man was taped circling the store, stealing a laptop computer, slipping it into his overcoat, then stepping out of the store unnoticed. Or so he thought. Shortly after the thief took off, his performance in the store was posted on YouTube – set to “The Pink Panther” music … Continue reading →

High-Tech Bathrooms

We’ve all heard of high-tech kitchens, but not very many homeowners think of integrating advanced technology in the smallest room in the house-—the bathroom. I will be the first to admit that when I stroll through design showrooms I tend to gravitate towards new products for the kitchen and larger living areas. What’s more, when I travel to hotels and run across a product that makes washing up safer and more comfortable I rarely consider installing it in my own home (in most cases I figure it’s a luxury I can’t afford). The following are some of my favorite high-tech … Continue reading →

Home Sweet-Smelling Home

The interior of your home may look like it just got ripped to shreds by a tornado, but it doesn’t have to smell like the aftermath of Mother Nature’s fury. Right now, Pier 1 Imports is practically giving away the most beautiful potpourri sachets filled with incredible scents ranging from Citrus Cilantro (my personal favorite) and Crisp Bamboo (another fave) to Asian Spice and Pomegranate. I know because I was just there yesterday stocking up on stocking stuffers. One dollar per sachet. Score! While I’m not encouraging you to live like a sloth and mask the stench that may be … Continue reading →

Why the Mold in Your Home Must Go!

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For years now we’ve been told that mold in our homes is bad for us. It seems to creep into our homes before we know it. Damp basements and bathrooms are its favorite hiding spots and we need to seek professional help to get rid of it. If you have mold lurking in your home, there are more reasons to get rid of it than aesthetic value… your kids. Numerous studies, including one from the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study found that 3-year-old children who had visible mold in their homes during infancy were 7 times more likely … Continue reading →

Reasons I am glad we homeschool: Electronic monitoring

In a time of mass failure of standardized tests, and children finishing high school unable to read or do college level math, it seems that schools are spending more time and money worried about behavior and tracking kids than actually teaching them anything. In a case of innovation gone awry, a school district in Sutter California has mandated that students wear radio frequency badge/transmitters so the school can keep track of the children. The badges show the name and grade of the student along with a wireless transmitter that beans their ID number to a teacher’s handheld computer when the … Continue reading →

Checking Your Remodeling Recoup Cost

Do you ever wonder what upgrades to your home might add in terms of value? Even with a slumping housing market, you can still increase your home’s resale value with the right renovation. As everyone knows, kitchen and bathrooms get the greatest recoup in investment overall, but some other numbers may surprise you. Recoup value on projects can vary by region. This can make sense in some places, such as insulated windows in New England getting a greater recoup value, while not make sense in other places, such as upgrading an air conditioning system in Texas getting a small recoup … Continue reading →

Monday Morning Funnies: The Bathroom Gestapo

Monday mornings demand extra caffeine, a little lollygagging, catching up with co-workers on the happenings and news from the weekends, and of course humor. Today’s focus in the Monday morning funnies is a humorous policy from a real company on how they dealt with workers taking too many bathroom breaks. The moral of the story I guess is to make sure you don’t drink too much before going to work in the morning. . .or choose a career you can do from home where there is generally free access to the facilities. The Bathroom Bank I cannot imagine what types … Continue reading →

The Word of the Year

If you have a teen who is obsessed with computer games then Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year is one you are probably very familiar with… especially if they do a lot of winning. Three cheers for “W00t.” The hybrid of letters and numbers used by online game enthusiasts as a way to express happiness or victory, topped all other terms in the Springfield-based dictionary publisher’s online poll for the word that best sums up 2007. Must have been quite a year for gamers. Merriam-Webster’s president says he is pleased with the choice because it reflects the growing role technology plays … Continue reading →

House Plant Tips

It doesn’t have to be difficult to have beautiful houseplants if you follow a few tips. I should know. In this household, we have the ability to kill a cactus. No matter how hard we tried, we always wound up with either dead plants or plants that made a real mess in our house. But we have learned a few tips along the way that help. Here they are: 1) To prevent the soil from leaking out of the bottom of potted plants when you water them, simply place a coffee filter in the bottom of the pot or planter. … Continue reading →