Bookshelves have taken over almost every wall I have. And while they’re nice, they’re not stylish. Modular shelving, like these stylish Qubicles, would be really nice.
Sold in sets of three cubes, Qubicles are designed for easy arrangement and variability. With an inner storage area of 8in x 8in x 6in, each cube provides plenty of room for books, pictures, CDs, or little glass unicorns. The outer dimensions of each cube is 10in x 10in x 6in.
What makes Qubicles stand out among other modular shelving systems is the bracket system. Once the bracket is mounted you can rearrange the cubes any way you wish—without having to use tools. They simply slide in and slide out.
Multiple colors are available. So, for example, you can change your Qubicle colors for the holidays. Put up orange and black Qubs at Halloween to display mini pumpkins. Change it up in time for New Year’s Eve.
Sound great? The tricky thing is this: Qubicles are not yet available for purchase. They are listed at Quirky, a website devoted to developing and selling inventions and innovations devised by people like us FIYers.
The way it works is that Qubicles are available for pre-sale at $32 set. When demand hits a certain threshold, the product goes into the manufacturing stage.
It’s a girly thing to admit, but I love baths. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not goin’ for any pink foo-foo scented bath salts and such. But there’s something just plain awesome about soaking in a tub with a book or TV show and a glass of wine—or a decent beer (none of the light crap).
But I don’t know if I could bring myself to even get near one of these tubs. They’re just . . .too artsy looking to even be tubs – even if they ARE tubs. Check these out:
That’s just plain daunting. I feel like one of the King’s bath-boys would be hovering over me with some sort of tiny bath towel. And the bathroom would have to be the size of a football field.
Yeah, I know. WS Bath again. But this thing is really cool. You know it. I know it.
But what wouldn’t be cool would be someone walking in while I’m taking a bath. It would be like viewing a hairless albino seal through a viewing port at Sea World’s Seal Encounter. Type that many S’s in a sentence and you know how serious this would be.
Okay. This is a bathtub I can wrap my head around. Or sink my behind into. It’s somewhere behind the built-in towel and soap shelves. In this case, the tub can be either freestanding or nestled against a wall. And the taps can be mounted on the wall, floor, a Pillar column, or on the edge of the tub itself.
This is just the tip of the melty iceberg, if ya’ know what I mean, when it comes to the world of designer bathtubs. I’ll be back with more!
Considering you are on FixItYourself.com, you may not know that Cynthia Rowley is a g0-to name when it comes to choosing an outfit or even a fancy handbag. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
And now, when it comes to running carpet, rotating screws, and cutting wire, the New York designer is getting into the game with her Genuine Article line. These items will stand out like a sore thumb in almost any toolbox, but not because they are designed for dainty hands.
Proving that you can be pretty as well as pretty handy, each tool in the Genuine Article line has its own unique look. There’s a patterned pair of pliers, a screwdriver, a tape measure, and even a flowered staple gun — yes, it’s important to be pretty when firing off staples with such force. Other items include a hammer, wire cutters, and a level. She’s even come up with a bag to keep everything in. And if you are more interested in a traditional toolbox, this one might be a match.
The perfect gifts for the wife or girlfriend, it says you want her to be involved. I’m going to get a set for myself, because I know my husband will keep his dirty mitts off.
Genuine Article items are sold for $10 each (the bag is $25). However, you can save a few bucks by buying items in sets, which retail for $25.
See that? Looks like a regular power strip, right?
But can your run-of-the-mill power strip do this?
Or this?
Nope. That’s what makes the Pivot Power so unique.
I’ve wanted something like this for a long time due to the cramped nature of my home office. I can barely fit my legs under the desk thanks to all of the cables running to a power strip that I suspect has been in my family for at least two generations.
The flexible nature of the Pivot Power would make it possible for me to loop the strip in a corner away from my feet. And with six outlets, I wouldn’t have any problem plugging in all of my stuff—regardless of the size of the adapter. Couple that with surge protection, and my computer will be happy as well.
Here is the Pivot Power in action:
The Pivot Power went into production at the end of June 2010, and is available for both American voltage (110v) and European voltage (240v).
So as I sit here and kick my current power strip, I know that I’ll be getting one.
If I owned my own amusement park, I’d name it Jig-A-World. Or maybe a strip club. (A girl can dream, right?!?)
Thankfully, someone already has the name, and they saw it a completely different way.
Jig-A-World is a company that makes automotive and home improvement products. Their latest invention is an eco-friendly line called EconoGreen Plastics™. Believe it or not, EconoGreen products include drop cloths and trash bags, which seem like the most un-Earth-friendly items imaginable. Good going, guys!
According to Jig-A-World’s announcement, all of the bags are made from 100 percent recycled materials and are totally oxodegradable. That means they can break down within two years. Even more awesome, the company isn’t taking advantage of the green movement by expecting too much of your green. Prices for the bags start at about $3.99.
“Now consumers have an affordable option for green bags that they can use throughout their home without paying a premium or sacrificing quality,” says said Cindy Sutton, VP at Jig-A-World USA, Inc.
Also pretty nice: you won’t have to scour stores or the web to find EconoGreen products. Just drive on down to your local Home Depot. EconoGreen garbage bags come in all shapes and sizes, from tall kitchen bags to the ginormous contractor clean-up style.
While not large enough to hold a platoon of stormtroopers, this AT-AT storage unit can hide cables and other items in a stylish, geeky sort of way.
This Chinese-manufactured homage to the All-Terrain-Armored-Transport vehicles from the Star Wars films is comprised of several interconnecting wooden pieces—sort of like those little puzzles of dinosaurs that you find in the kiddy section of a book store. They look a bit incomplete without a paint job. I’d get out some pictures from the movies and add some detail – including battle scars.
It’s a little difficult to tell the size of the AT-AT from the pictures, but it appears to me like something that would fit nicely beside (or even on top of) a desk. The body looks to be the perfect size to house a surge protector, while the head can be used for related items such as connectors, spare cable, or small tools.
My Chinese is a little rusty, but with the help of a currency converter I calculated the cost of this item at just over $8.00 US. That’s without shipping, of course. And with the taxes on hyperspace routes running so high these days, shipping may cost more than the AT-AT itself . . .
While I’m not sure how practical this circular bookshelf would be, it looks like it holds quite a selection of texts.
It is part of The Archive Series, designed by David Garcia as an exploration of space and books with a goal of muddying the line between form and function. As such, this shelf is designed with both exercise and relaxation in mind. You can either walk in it down to the local mini-mart for a six-pack, or do what this guy’s doing:
Either way, I think my back would hurt. According to the designer, this bookcase holds a half ton of books. That’s a lot of reading, my friends.
But I have to admit I’m enticed by the idea of a “nomadic library.” Sure, it’s bigger than my iPhone, but there’s something to be said about good ol’ hardback books.
If only I’d had this thing in college. I could have plowed over everyone in my path and actually made it to class on time, rather than graduating with the uneven shoulders I incurred from the 9 million pounds of books I carried on my back.
The Archive Series currently resides at the University of Roskilde’s Main Library, and includes some other unique furniture related items. Check out that crazy thing in the background:
If I had to traverse something like that in order to get a book, I’d probably never read again. . .
Tokyo-based MAQ, Inc. is promoting the Garbage Bag Art Work Project featuring their very own decorative garbage bags.
The idea is simple—and pleasing, in an odd way. Instead of being littered with piles of nondescript plastic bags, garbage pick-up sites are being turned into areas of temporary artistic expression.
Garbage bags manufactured by MAQ are imprinted with a variety of images inspired by nature:
Other prints include various animals (some realistically depicted, others extremely abstract), company logos, and a certain Sesame Street character who lives in a garbage can.
As strange as this project sounds, I think it’s great in concept. It’s the execution that I find lacking. While these garbage bags are definitely more pleasing to the eye than the usual black bags, I think it’s a stretch to call the end result “art,” even if they are stacked in an eye-catching pattern.
Shoji: “In traditional Japanese architecture, a shoji is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a sort of grid of wood or bamboo.”—Wikipedia
Shoji doors are an elegant alternative to your standard, run-of-the-mill door. Designed to slide open, these doors take up far less space than a regular swinging door—and they bring the flavor of Japan into your home.
These doors, created by the Birmingham Door Company of Detroit, Michigan, utilize Maple, Cherry, Oak, and Walnut hardwoods that deepen in color with age.
In Japan, rice paper is normally used in Shoji doors to create a sense of privacy. Thanks to the Japanese sense of honor, that works fine. Here in the United States? Well, good luck with that. The Birmingham Company augments the rice paper with a vinyl backing that not only muffles sound, but also strengthens the door itself.
Shoji doors are not useful only to divide rooms. They can also disguise unsightly items—such as the good ol’ home office desk that has a computer keyboard buried somewhere beneath mountains of paperwork and silly toys that help the easily distracted avoid responsibility.
Is moving your dinner from the kitchen to the dining room table too much exertion after the strain of cooking the meal?
Are you a fan of dinner in front of the TV?
If your answer is yes to either of these questions, the CookIn Table by Young Chan Choo, may be for you. Go ahead – take your kitchen to the living room.
Designed to encourage family time, the table features low-to-the-floor Asian design. And with a cooking surface right in the middle of the table, the whole family can be involved in meal preparation (though I’m not sure if that’s a good idea).
Beneath the glass top are four shelves that pull out for extra space—ideal for extra serving space during a meal if less than four people are attending. Four drawers are also provided in the table’s base to store utensils. Lastly, the bottom of the table can be removed to reveal even more storage space.
But the true highlight of this table is the cook top. Utilizing induction cooking (a cooking method that heats cookware via magnetic energy), the cook top heats up only when exposed to a metal objects.
I find this to be an interesting design that combines form and function—but I have a few reservations. Shelves, drawers, storage, cooking element – it seems like a bit too much. With all those moving parts, something is sure to break.
But it is quite attractive—and I think it serves the purpose of providing a unified area for people to gather. As long as they can stand up from the floor after the meal. My knees aren’t what they used to be.
