Outdoor home improvements strictly for the birds
The idea of a birdbath – the idea itself – sets my mind loose on sociology-politico judgments galore. For heaven’s sake: they just look good and help out our two-winged buddies. Still there’s a back...
View ArticleIt’s time for kitchen wall clocks
Has the digital age eliminated the need for wall clocks? Not so, I say. Your wall clocks may begin from the notion of decorating, adding a fresh design to a drab wall. After a fashion, I can report...
View ArticleStaying ahead of wall decorating trends
Are wall trophies here to stay? Let’s be frank about taxidermy, shall we? Done tastefully, a stuffed animal looks great on your walls. Done poorly and your home looks like Norman Bates’ office in...
View ArticleKid’s stuff:Bedroom furniture for dreamers
George Bernard Shaw wrote that youth is wasted on the young. The older I get, the more I believe it. I would be half the cranky mature citizen I am today if I had one of those cool kids beds on the...
View ArticleLiving in planes, trains and automobiles
Americans are peripatetic by nature. Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like somewhere else. We’re on the move, a trait that led to the creation of a vast mobile home and RV culture. My favorite...
View ArticleSummer weather report: Outdoor showers
There are bath people and there are shower people. Just like people who own a cat and a dog, there are people with baths and showers. My back could be gnarled with sprung muscles, and I’d still prefer...
View ArticleBathroom designs for eccentrics
They say there’s a wrench to fit every nut. That’s a metaphor for saying that there are bathroom designs to fit every taste and eccentricity. The unique comfort stations below prove beyond all doubt...
View ArticleUgly spring product recalls by the CPSC
You know the old axiom: for want of a nail, a shoe was lost. In this case, for want of a nail, a working rubber gasket, a well-calculated electrical circuit and your tools and appliances can blow up in...
View ArticleCool chairs and gummy bears
German architect and designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is credited with saying, “A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.” I suppose that’s why there’s no end of chairs –...
View ArticleGimme shelter: Preparing for the Big One
Everyone should have a respectful fear of natural or man-made catastrophes. Today you can choose from the Mayan prediction that the world will end on December 21, 2012 to the everyday fear that a nut...
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