CFL BULBS: The dark side of efficient light

Jim Berlow, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Hazardous Waste Minimization and Management Division, says:

"probably the most important thing that people need to connect with compact fluorescents is that they save significant quantities of energy," adding "two thirds to three quarters of the energy associated with lighting [is] being reduced".

He also recommends:

"quickly ventilating the room," and "Getting all the people and pets out of the room for 15 minutes and let the room air out."

when a Compact Florescent Light (CFL) bulb breaks. 

You may not know that mercury is essential to a fluorescent bulb's ability to emit light, around 5 milligrams of it to be exact, and mercury is highly toxic. When a bulb breaks, mercury escapes as vapor that can be inhaled and as a fine powder, settling into carpet and other textiles.

 

Disposal of burned out bulbs is tricky.

In many locales it is illegal to throw fluorescents out with regular garbage. 

The EPA and Earth 911 maintain online directories of collection sites. 

Among major retailers of fluorescents, IKEA offers to take back compact fluorescent bulbs in its stores free of charge.

Some Best Buy and Home Depot (left) stores also have recycle containers.

You can ever order a t-shirt

 

WHY SHOULD I HIRE AN INTERIOR DESIGNER?

Having a great sense of your likes and dislikes is an excellent starting point, but there's so much more to a well-designed room than simply filling it with your favorite things. But why? Why bother "creating" a room? The easy answer to that is 'comfort'. Believe it or not, a professional designer can help in ways you might not expect. 

I CAN'T AFFORD IT
A home is an investment, whether it's an apartment, condo or mansion. Hiring a designer is definitely a budgetary consideration - a top designer can earn about $150-$250 an hour (plus up to a 30% commission on furniture) - yet the input of a trained, creative, professional person has numerous advantages. A top designer has his or her place, but there are many young designers who charge half that hourly rate and come with the same resources and discounts. 

I'M TOO BUSY
If you simply don't have the time, hiring an interior designer is a great idea. The furniture/lighting/accessory/art/remodeling/renovating/space planning/painting/rug shopping/plumbing fixtures can be overwhelming and certainly time consuming. A designer can narrow everything down and steer clear of regrettable expensive purchases or awkward construction surprises. 
Yes, contractors are not designers, nor do they want to be. 
A designer's value for the money is exponential. A good designer can spot a poorly designed kitchen in 10 seconds.

WHAT DOES AN INTERIOR DESIGNER DO? 
I personally do not like to refer to myself as a decorator. I do not only help chose lamps and drapes. From a home office layout to a home renovation from the ground up, I can advise, I can design, I can purchase, I can draw floorplans, I can provide the best options - all based on your individual needs and desires. 


To be continued

One of my own favorite before and afters...

UPCOMING EVENTS: Pasadena Chalk Festival

I apologize to the Pasadena Chalk Festival for stealing the above image and the following information from their website. 

PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL WEBSITE 

SATURDAY, JUNE 18 AND SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2011 -10:00am. – 7:00pm.

Designated the World’s Largest Display of Chalk Art in 2010 by Guinness World Records, The Pasadena Chalk Festival will draw over 600 artists from across Southern California and beyond, who will use 25,000 sticks of pastel chalk to create spectacular murals on concrete throughout the beautiful courtyards of Paseo Colorado. Amazing works of art from every style imaginable, classical to contemporary, whimsical and fantastic to socially relevant, will be created and shown at the festival over the course of Father’s Day weekend. 

This one-of-a-kind public art event, now in its 19th year, is free-of-charge at Paseo Colorado. The most outstanding murals in several categories, as selected by the participating artists of the 2011 Pasadena Chalk Festival will win jetBlue round trip tickets, along with other special awards from our sponsors. Visitors will be able to vote for their favorite mural, “The People’s Choice Award” in participating Paseo Colorado retail stores.

All winning murals will be announced at 5:00pm Sunday evening.

Some work from previous years:

see you there?

PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL WESITE

The Inspiration Architpod (re-post...)

Coolest little round building ever!!

It could be an office,

a meditation room,

an outdoor changing room/restroom,

a tea room,

a yoga room,

the naughty child's time-out space,

a panic room,

a fallout shelter,

a room where one can go to scream when life becomes too much...

A portable spherical room, from a catalog...The possibilities are endless...
Hammacher Schlemmer, America's Longest Running Catalog

UGLY ARCHITECTURE 2: Oy vay iz meer

This house is located in the Mid Wilshire area. It is surrounded by classic L.A. 40's Spanish and Craftsman style homes. I wonder what the house that once stood here looked like. I hope it was decayed beyond belief. 

It's so big. And square. 

I like the idea of the entry...it's almost brown-stone-ish. 

The tree is nice.

How should I look at this? Strickly on a critical level? That seems bitchy. 

Should I think about what someone could do to the house short of knocking it down and starting over? 

The windows are OK if not lacking in any sort of rhyme or reason from the exterior.

The totally flat front facade is awful from top to bottom. The balconies are silly. The balcony covers are sillier. The enormous arched window is enormous. And the colonnade across the top is totally fakakta. 

The lights are no good, especially the wee little guy floating in the center of that side wall. Poor little thing out in the middle of nowhere...

Call Ashleigh ASAP!

NEW PRODUCT: Cupa glasses from Sempli

Love these!

Sempli owner Daniele Semararo describes his Cupa glassware in his interview with Ganzo Mag: 

the “Cupa – DS” [is] for brandy e whisky, the “Cupa – VS” for wine and the “Cupa – XS” for shots e liquor...These stemless glasses have a cone shaped bottom that rotates on its own axis. In doing so, the tumbler spreads the aroma in its surroundings, the wine glass helps oxygenate the wine, and the shot glass creates an amusing show on the table! There is also a tray, to help with serving the beverages, and a coaster to keep the glasses still on the table when desired. My intention is to present them at NYIGF (New York International Gift Fair) this summer, but meanwhile the first glass will be launched in the US at an event in LA next month!

GENIUS, right?


Read entire interview here:
http://www.ganzomag.com/?p=1984


Sempli Website:
http://www.semeraro.se/

EARTHQUAKE PREP: Installing clips on kitchen doors

Before I painted our kitchen cabinets, we had safety latches on the cabinet doors that were good for protecting inquisitive small children from what lay beyond, but for a couple of grown adults, these latches were unnecessary and tricky. 

That was a few years ago and needless to say after painting the cabinets, I did not re-install those latches. Since the shocking footage of the 9.0 in Japan, our interest in earthquake proofing the house is on an upswing and concern for what might fly out of our upper kitchen cabinets became a priority. I was in denial. I did not want those child proof latches. Then we realized there were options and to OSH we went. 

We found these, but I'm sure what these are called. The receipt says "door latch". They were $1.19 each. 

This door latch is composed of two main pieces - a male and a female (that's what butch guys say, isn't it?) and the screws you'll need to install them. The two plastic rollers on the female piece are spring loaded to clamp onto the protruding male piece.

After a little trial and error, the installation of the $1.19 door latch made in China and distributed by Amerock in Rockford Illinois, became fairly easy and proved quite effective. 

First, locate where female component will be installed. 

The main concern here is making sure that when male component is installed, it will actually reach and clip into the female. To achieve successful intercourse, the two rollers need to be placed exactly where door will hit when closed, so place it a little over the edge of the shelf and close the door. This will move the piece to the exact position it should be mounted. 

Next, screw the piece into position. I had to drill the screws at an angle because of gap between face and case of cabinet. 

Now that your female is in position, we need to locate the male. To do this, I was able to use a particularly inky marker that I have. Insert the male component into the installed clip. Mark the outside edges of the man part and close the door so that the ink and a faint outline will transfer onto the door, showing where it should be installed. 

Hold door latch in position and screw into place. 

Be sure that the screws will not penetrate the door and poke out thru the front...

...and you're done!