New Furniture Tip-Over Guidelines

Furniture tipping over can create a significant hazard in the home, particularly to young children, although the frail elderly and the disabled may also be disporportionately negatively impacted as well.  Top quality furniture has always resisted tipping over as a result of use far more effectively than cheaper goods, because best manufacturing practices and materials create structure that builds this in to a large extent.

However, particularly since most people purchase mass market goods, much of which does not come anywhere near meeting these kinds of inherent quality standards, it’s important to read the press release below, and to be alert to the hazard, as well as to ways you can mitigate it.

In earthquake-prone areas such as California, it is particularly important to bolt taller pieces of furniture to the wall in order to prevent tip-over in an earthquake (although that still won’t help with the problem of poorly constructed drawers falling out). In an earthquake, all bets are off as to what will or will not tip over due to construction quality, and you’ve got to assume that everything will fall over. Securing tall pieces to the wall is just plain a good idea everywhere else, too, for the reasons outlined below, just on general principles, and is the reason this new voluntary standard has been developed.

In future posts, I’ll address the question of what to look for in furniture construction of various types of furniture in order to ensure you get the best possible quality, which contributes to safety, comfort, usability, durability, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness, as well as pure pleasure and enjoyment.

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(05/18/2009) AHFA Will Use Consumer Website to Help Educate Parents About Furniture Tip-Over Hazards
By: Jackie Hirschhaut, 336/881-1016

HIGH POINT, N.C. – ASTM International has released a revised furniture tip-over standard requiring manufacturers to include a “tip restraint” with each chest, door chest and dresser taller than 30 inches.

“Tip restraints attach the piece of furniture to an interior wall, framing or other support to help prevent the piece from tipping over,” explains American Home Furnishings Alliance Vice President Bill Perdue, who served as co-chair of the furniture safety subcommittee that worked on the revised standard. “Furnishings that comply with the new standard also will carry a new warning label that cautions parents not to open more than one drawer at a time, not to place televisions or other heavy objects on the top of the product, and not to allow children to climb on drawers.”

Vintage Wallpaper | Flip Video

Vintage Wallpaper – Red and White | Flip Video

OK, so this isn’t strictly about interior design per se, but how cute is this – the Mino Flip Videocam, available in an unlimited number of skin patterns!

I am going to be quite unable to resist buying one of these things in the pattern shown, especially because I’m a complete sucker for anything red.

Offered in two models, at an incredibly reasonable price, and able to record up to 4 hours of video on a single charge with the larger model, this compact little camcorder that will plug directly into a USB port to upload your video to your computer or directly to email ought to fulfill almost anyone’s recording needs, at a price that can’t be beat.

If you can’t find one of their own skin designs from among the literally hundreds they offer that suits your fancy, including other wallpaper-like designs, you can either upload your own image or design your own pattern from scratch – so you can literally match it to your own wallpaper, if you want – or anything else.

The customization options boggle the mind.  Talk about a great way to personalize a gift, or put your company logo on gear used in-house so it will more likely find its way home if you misplace it somewhere, or to just have a whole lot of fun, and be sure that your camcorder will never be mistaken by anyone else for their own.

Finish the Design First

One of the many ways an interior designer can save you money is by ensuring that the design for your home or office is completed and that all details are hammered out and all materials are selected before you start to make purchases, do construction, etc. It is always cheaper to make changes and iron out details on paper before you start actually making changes, purchases, etc. – often by quite a lot.

Particularly when undertaking a complex project such as a kitchen or bathroom remodel, there can be literally hundreds of decisions that must be made, many of which depend on decisions made before that, and most people who have never been through it before really have no idea how involved this can get.  Even a single chair may potentially have as many as five or six  or even more fabrics, trims, and/or finishes involved; the complexity increases exponentially when you move beyond that into a full scale redesign or remodel of an entire space.

It ought to go without saying, then, that it’s best to wait until the design is complete before you undertake activities like demolition, installation, or purchasing anything, for the same reason – not to mention keeping your designer sane and happy.

One of the most difficult situations to work with is when clients get in such a hurry that they think they are speeding things up by hiring a contractor and starting demolition before they’ve hammered out all of the details of what’s going to replace what’s already there, or if they run out and select the paint colors and paint the whole interior on their own before we finish deciding on the furniture and fabrics and other finishes.  In reality, the exact opposite is true, and this sort of thing is just going about the whole remodeling and design thing rather bass ackwards.

What ends up happening is that the design usually has to be completely reworked in order to accommodate these hasty actions, which invariably will cost you at least double what it would have cost to just put the brakes on and go about things in an orderly fashion in the first place, not to mention taking a whole lot more time.

Yes, I can probably find some way to cobble something together that will work with the pea green, orange, and turquoise paint scheme you’ve just put up, at least sort of, but it will take many more hours of time in showrooms, sifting through fabrics, in order to find it than it would have to start with the basic scheme and all soft goods, and then to select complementary paint colors, or have it custom blended to match exactly.  Paint is easy, but it’s dramatically more time consuming to match fabrics or rugs to paint than vice versa, and it limits options tremendously.  When any kind of construction is involved, the potential problems just multiply way beyond this.

And all of that extra time involved to work around what’s already been done out of order will cost you money.

Since most designers now charge on an hourly basis, this isn’t the end of the world for us, since we’ll just keep on billing you to redo the job until it’s finished. It’s annoying for everyone, though, because it compromises our ability to do a really stellar job for you at a reasonable price, and may well cause your job to go over budget, which everyone hates. And we hate, hate, hate having the design screwed up this way, with clients often ending up with something less than they would have had otherwise, all while paying more for it. Jumping the gun like this is usually a lose/lose proposition all the way around, for all of these reasons. We don’t like having to bill you to redo a design – or losing the chance to do the best possible job for you – and I have yet to hear of a client who actually likes having to pay for it.

If you want to make changes midstream, or to start construction on one part while something else is still in progress, or to incorporate elements you did not initially include such as those new antique rugs you picked up in India, that’s certainly your prerogative as the client, but do at least run your thoughts and any product selections by your designer before you do take any action to find out what impact on the overall project such changes will have.

If your project also happens to be a charity project or something else that the designer has for some reason elected to do for you pro bono, however, and you put the cart before the horse, you have now also just thoroughly ticked off your designer as well as cost her a lot of money, which is not exactly going to get her to want to go out of her way to keep on working on your project, or to do others for you at another time.

I have no problem reworking a design if what I come up with initially isn’t quite right and we need to tweak it or even start all over again in order to ensure it’s exactly what is right for that job and that client. That’s part and parcel of the whole process. But when I’ve worked my tail off to create something wonderful for a client – especially when it’s a freebie – only to find that they’ve just now changed the whole ballgame by putting the cart before the horse, then that does not make me a very happy camper at all.  And I know that you aren’t likely to be as happy with the end result as you would have been otherwise.  Stuff happens, and unexpected obstacles crop up that force design changes often enough as is.

So, yes, I know you’re champing at the bit to just do something you can see once you decide to undertake a design project, but do yourself a favor, and rein yourself in until you’ve got the whole design finalized, at least on paper.  Your pocketbook will thank you, your money will go further, and you’ll be much happier with the end result.

Designer Pick – Hand Painted Screen

This stunning hand-painted 4-panel screen with a scene of an Italian boar hunt would be spectacular in any room of the house, either as a room divider, to hide an unneeded door or unattractive architectural “feature”, or even just hung on the wall like the artwork it is. The soft, soothing blues and greens combine to create a trompe l’oeil image that will make small rooms look larger than they really are.

W90″ x H80″

Retail price: $10,065

Hoechstetter Interiors price:  $7,811.43, plus freight

(Prices subject to change without notice.)

Product Recalls

I just came across some information on kitchen appliance product recalls on the Kitchen-Exchange blog that you might want to be aware of.

1. GE Recalls Ranges Due to Fire and Burn Hazards – GE Profile(tm) Freestanding Dual Fuel Ranges

2. Recall: Kidde XL Fire Extinguishers – Kidde Recalls to Replace Fire Extinguishers Due to Failure to Operate

3. Maytag/Jenn-Air/Amana/Admiral/Magic Chef Refrigerator Recall – Maytag Recalls Refrigerators Due to Fire Hazard

4. Bosch and Siemens Dishwasher Recall – Bosch(r) and Siemens(r) Model Dishwashers Recalled by BSH Home Appliances Corporation Due to Fire Hazard

5. RECALL – GE Profile, Monogram & Kenmore Ovens – Hazard: The extreme heat used in the self-clean cycle can escape, if the wall oven door is removed and incorrectly re-attached by the installer or the consumer. This can pose a fire and burn hazard to consumers.

6. Wolf Recalls 24,000 48″ Ranges – Hazard: Delayed ignition of gas in the 18-inch oven can cause a flash of flames to be projected at a consumer when the range door is opened, posing a burn hazard to consumers.

Contractor Awards

These images that an architect friend sent to me are too funny not to post. You really have to wonder about people sometimes…

Enjoy!

Shades of the Winchester Mystery House!

Hot New Product – Magnetic Wallcovering

Ever wish you could put things up on your walls without damaging them, say with magnets? Without having to hang an assortment of typically ugly magnetic boards first?

Well, those days are over. Thanks to a company named Vitrulan, a new fabric, aptly entitled “Magnet”, has hit the market.

Magnet is but one of a series of high tech, glass fabrics developed by Vitrulan. A patented magnetic back coating turns otherwise fairly pedestrian (but paintable) fabric made of glass into an entire magnetic wall.

The big advantages of glass wallcoverings in general is their superior wear and cleanability properties, plus wall protection. Glass fabric is easily cleanable, making it also an ideal choice for wall treatments in a child’s room or even an operating room, and its durability makes it suitable for use in the most demanding environments. It also covers a magnitude of finish flaws in the room, and is fireproof.

With Magnet, even large format drawings may be displayed and moved around at will without damaging walls with the usual pins, tape, or putty to affix them.

Because it’s paintable, you aren’t stuck with a limited palette selection the way you are with other kinds of wallcoverings.  Paint it whatever color you like to coordinate perfectly with the rest of your room.

What other appropriate uses can you think of for this interesting product?

Can’t Afford to Remodel? Think Again…

If you’ve put remodelling and redecorating plans on hold because of the economy and thinking you can’t afford to do it right now, it’s definitely time to rethink that position, for a variety of reasons.

If you’re like many people, you’re likely spending more time at home these days instead of out and about, eating out, going to theater and concerts, travelling, etc. So why not be sure the space you’re spending all this additional time in is your dream place to be?

Unlike the money you spend on vacations and the like, which brings fleeting joy, the money you invest into your home may pay back when it comes time to sell, but just as importantly (or even more so), it will also reward you psychically and emotionally every single day you live there by making your home even more comfortable for every day living. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to come home at the end of each day and feel that thrill of being in a space that you love and that nurtures you no matter what else is going on in your world? To have a home that you actually don’t even want to leave?

You don’t have to spend a lot of money, if you don’t want to or really can’t afford to – even just a fresh coat of paint, some new throw pillows, a new painting or area rug, or moving the artwork or furniture you already have around to different locations can give you a facelift and needed boost. New lighting, new fixtures, and new hardware for your doors and cabinetry are other inexpensive upgrades that can pack a lot of punch.

Don’t know quite what to do, and can’t afford to hire a designer to do the whole thing? Most will consult on an hourly basis to give you any needed advice that can help you avoid expensive mistakes, and to get you pointed in the right direction to complete the job yourself.

However, if you can possibly come up with the cash, now is very definitely the time to go ahead those more major remodelling projects you’ve been putting off, or to remodel a home you’d hoped to sell but now find you have to remain in.

Pet Friendly Interior Design

Cricket looking more disgruntled than she really was at the time

I’m sitting here with Cricket on my lap, my boyfriend’s cat who’s “on loan” for a few days, since I volunteered to cat sit while he’s out of town. It’s been a few years since I had a kitty of my own in the house, my beloved old Standard Poodle Fennel

Fennel (RB) at "summer camp" - where I used to board him when I traveled.

died last fall, and I’m still hunting for my next puppy, so I’ve been completely petless for a little while now – for the first time in 18 years. It’s really weird. Although I visit Cricket and her daddy often, it’s really not the same as having one of my own, in my own home all the time. So, I’m really enjoying having her here, and as I deal with the fur and litter box, I’m reminded of all of the fun – and the hassles – of pet ownership – including the implications for interior design.

Anyone who has ever had a pet knows that they pose a challenge to having and maintaining a beautiful home, even when they’re very well trained. Accidents and messes are just a part of life with an animal in the house, which includes vomiting, tracking dirt in, and anything from occasional incontinence to outright bad behavior making them soil anywhere they want, as well as other issues such as cats scratching the furniture, climbing the drapes, etc. The soiling issues also get worse as the pet ages, or if it develops health problems.

People often ask me how they can still have a nice home when they share it with pets, so here are some thoughts.

PREVENTION FIRST

No matter what materials you choose for your home, your first line of defense is obviously to make sure that Fido or Garfield are well-trained so that they do their business where they are supposed to, and use scratching posts, climbing towers designed for the purpose, and their own chewtoys instead of the furniture and drapes to exercise their natural instincts to chew, climb, and scratch. Keeping the critters off of the furniture altogether will help preserve it, but for most people these days, that’s not an option, and you still have to deal with the floors anyways.

Regular bathing and grooming of your pet will also keep it clean and prevent shedding, which will help immensely with maintaining the cleanliness of your home.

WHAT’S UNDERFOOT?

Chinese Drywall Health Hazards and other Problems

As reported on March 5, 2009 in my post entitled ” Chinese Drywall Corrosion Problems Proliferate in US ” Chinese-made drywall is causing all kinds of problems in new homes in multiple states.

It turns out that the problem is even worse than I previously realized. Not only are metal building elements and electrical elements affected and the home permeated by the nauseating sulfur-like or acid-type smell, but appliances are failing at a particularly high rate, often in under a year – far faster than one would ever normally expect. Silver jewelry and tableware may tarnish quickly, and mirrors are turning black. Even computers and Xboxes are needing replacement or new motherboards quickly.

This stuff is also causing a wide assortment of health problems as well – headaches, nosebleeds, upper respiratory tract infections, etc., which are often only better when the residents are away from home.

The full story is on the Consumer Reports website.