Pasta Roller Attachment for Your Kitchenaid Mixer
The Kitchenaid Mixer is a popular kitchen appliance, at least judging by the numerous accessories for it out there (remember the flaming decals designed just for this mixer?).
Here’s another add-on: a pasta roller attachment.
If you love the idea of fresh pasta, and you don’t mind doing some of the work yourself, then this might be a gadget for you. The roller works your dough into sheets for making egg noodles, tortellini, or lasagna. Or use the two cutters designed for preparing fettuccine and spaghetti from the sheets of pasta.
Because it’s better to think outside of the (pasta) box, right?
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Rain Barrel Planter Conserves Water & Looks Good in Your Yard
A rain barrel is a great way to conserve water, since it allows you to store rain that runs off the roof in order to later use it for watering, gardening, car washing, etc. Rain barrels provide a supply of “soft water” that doesn’t contain chlorine, lime, or calcium, so why not make the best of it?
Typical rain barrels can be on the ugly side though (who really wants a big wood or plastic barrel sitting beside the corner of their house?), so here’s a more attractive alternative:
The Nino Rain Barrel & Planter Plus is a combination 55 gallon rain barrel with planter, allowing you to camouflage the barrel aspect with some cheerful flowers. It’s made from virgin FDA-rated food grade resin and is available in a number of colors, so you can choose something that matches your other pots and planters.
$235 from Yardiac:
Nino Rain Barrel & Planter Plus
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Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock Makes Getting up Easier
There are morning people who bounce out of bed before their alarms even go off… and then there are the rest of us. If you fall into the “rest of us” camp, and you repeatedly find yourself hitting the snooze button or placing your alarm clock across the room so you have to get out of bed to get to it, you might benefit from a dawn simulator alarm.
The BioBrite Sunrise Clock gradually lights up your room in the morning to wake you naturally (great in the winter when you have to get up when it’s still dark out).
“The SunRise Clock is derived from medical research on light and human behavior. In the early morning, the biological clock is sensitive to low intensity light. So, waking to a slowly increasing light can result in a smoother, more natural transition to wakefulness. It features an audible back-up alarm, the ability to set dawn and dusk cycles of 15, 30, 60, or 90 minutes, fade to nightlight, adjustable display brightness and more.”
And just in case that wake-to-light stuff doesn’t work, there’s a backup beeper.
$115: BioBrite Sunrise Clock
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Ofuro Outdoor Soaking Tub
On a chilly winter day, sitting in a hot bath feels really good. It’s even better when you can enjoy that steamy water outside with snow swirling around the bare branches of the trees.
This deep two-man outdoor soaking tub is based on the Ofuro, a chin-deep Japanese tub that is designed to provide a zen-like experience.
These tubs are made by a company in the U.S. using Western Red Cedar (the thick wood construction means the water is insulated enough to stay hot longer than in a traditional bathtub).
As an added bonus, the cedar gives off a pleasant aroma that can help you reach that zen-like state. The tubs themselves use “an architectural stainless steel strap system which allows the tub to naturally expand and contract with out worrying about the wood splitting.”
In short, if you’re looking for a way to relax and enjoy a spa-like experience without leaving home, you can pamper yourself with an outdoor soaking tub.
From Cedar Tubs
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Movie Popcorn at Home with Retro Hot Oil Popcorn Maker
I don’t know about you, but I love movie popcorn. Made-at-home microwave popcorn, and even air-popped popcorn, just doesn’t taste the same. It’s the fact that the kernels aren’t popped in oil. But if you get a real hot oil popcorn maker, then you can get that at-the-movies taste whenever you want.
This retro hot-oil popcorn maker is cool looking too.
The stainless steel electric kettle can make 16 cups of hot, fresh movie-style popcorn per batch. It has a built-in stirring mechanism that “ensures light, fluffy kernels every time.”
And it’s retro and red. What more could you want?
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Q & A - Dorm Room Décor Tips
My daughter has a real sense of style. Unfortunately, her dorm room doesn’t. We want her to be comfortable but have obvious limitations on what we can change. Any tips to spruce up her space without adding to our already sky-high college costs?
Lisa V.
Memories of my college dorm room are quite fresh, despite more years having passed than I care to admit! You are right to consider the limitations. You don’t “own” the space that you are improving and colleges rightly have limitations on doing anything that can damage the space for the next student (I remember all the repair work we had to do to fix up holes from darts that missed the dart board!)
Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to spruce up the space. An excellent resource is HGTV.com’s popular “Rate My Space” community. The Dorm Room gallery allows users to both showcase their dorm room décor and to share advice on other student’s college spaces. (http://hgtv.com/dorms)
Last year, nationwide spending on dorm décor and college apartment furnishings reached an estimated $5.43 billion, with young adults 18-24 spending an average of $159 each.* Ready to help students ace decorating difficulties and maximize the money they spend, designer Angelo Surmelis - host of the HGTV program “Rate My Space”- offers some expert advice on creative dorm room decorating on a dime.
“Color is one of the easiest ways to make an impact in any room, and dorm rooms are no exception,” he said. “Since painting walls is usually out of the question in most dormitories, finding new, inexpensive and creative ways to add color is the key.” Surmelis suggests the following ways to add color without ever having to paint:
* Get inexpensive canvases and paint them all a single color or a few different complimentary colors. Cover a wall with the canvases for added interest and a great color focal point. They are also easy to repaint if you get tired of the color(s) you used. Group a few canvasestogether for major impact!
* Fabric can have a similar effect while adding texture. Stretching colored or patterned fabric over canvases, cork boards or simple plywood boards cut to custom sizes and shapes will not only give your room instant color, it will give you an extra design element that can influence bedding, pillow and accessory choices.
* Most paint and wallpaper stores have remnant wallpaper that you can purchase quite inexpensively. Frame interesting papers with ornate thrift store or flea market frames to give your room instant style that not only feels personal but chic and unique.
* “Another big dorm decorating issue is dealing with the small space,” Surmelis added. “Since dorm rooms can be quite small (and are often shared), maximizing storage is essential.” He offers these tips on utilizing space:
* Get stylish by utilizing furniture pieces that can double as storage - like ottomans that open up, beds with pullout drawers and storage in the headboards, as well as vertical storage units.
Use your walls to their fullest potential. Simple shelving or even cubes (that you can customize with paint or wall paper) can add instant interest while providing storage that keeps surfaces neat and clean. And salvage yards are a great place to find alternative brackets for your shelving - plaster scones, for instance.
Tom Kraeutler is the host of The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show and the Home Improvement Editor for AOL. For more tips, sign up for Tom’s free e-newsletter here. Tom’s latest book, My Home, My Money Pit: Your Guide to Every Home Improvement Adventure, is available in bookstores everywhere and online.
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Brick Driveway Pros and Cons
A brick driveway can look fantastic, as long as it’s well designed, installed, and maintained. But is brick the right material for you? Let’s look at a few of the pros and cons.
One of the big pros to brick pavers is that they lend a sophisticated traditional look to your home. If you’re looking for curb appeal, brick can be a great driveway choice.
You can also get artistic and have creative patterns installed with different hues of bricks. For the homeowner wishing to be eco-friendly, it’s possible to reuse old bricks, and there are more and more outfits willing to assist you in finding reclaimed materials.
A big con to brick driveways is that they’re significantly more expensive to install than asphalt or poured concrete. Brick pavers cost around $8-$20 per square foot, and pavers made from used brick can run as high as $26 per square foot. If you have a large driveway, that can add up quickly.
Also if there are any roots growing beneath the driveway, or the ground shifts or sand beneath erodes, it can create an environment where weeds will grow up between the pavers. A weedy driveway will sink your curb appeal in a minute, and tugging them out can be a tedious weekend chore.
Any driveway material comes with pros and cons, so consider what’s best for you and your budget before deciding.
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Dog Breed Cookie Cutters — Woof!
I remember helping my mom make sugar cookies as a kid, and even though I liked chocolate chip better, I had fun with the sugars since we got to use the cookie cutters on those. We had such exotic shapes as circles, diamonds, and squares (not the most creative collection, I’ll admit).
Today you can do even better with animal shaped cookie cutters. The dog breed ones, in particular, caught my eye.
The one shown here is model after the Samoyed, and there are quite a few breeds to choose from at Kritters in the Mailbox. While I didn’t see my dog’s breed, I did spot Golden Retrievers, Irish Setters, Huskies, Rottweilers, and others. For those who want something more exotic than the family dog, you could also pick up an armadillo, raccoon, or even a llama.
Those ought to make some good looking cookies. Good luck finding the right frosting color for an armadillo though.
Prices run about $12 - $15 per cookie cutter.
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Full-sized Smoker/Grill for Serious Tailgate Cooking
I’ve actually never been to a tailgating party, but I have used a little portable camp grill, and I have to say I definitely prefer the big ones that can do it all. Grilling, smoking, rotisserie cooking, eyebrow singeing, you name it. If you, too, think bigger is better (and you have more tailgating cookouts than I do), you’ll want to peep the Hitch Pro Smoker/Grill Combo.
“This unit features medium gauge steel construction, 20 in. x 28 in.cooking surface, full length fire box pullout tray, removable grill grates, adjustable dampers, large thermometer on front, removable grill grease drip cup, chrome stacks on top, 2 side shelves, 2 position adjustable hitch arm mount to fit standard receivers. Also available with optional single spit rotisserie unit.”
Yes, we’re talking serious grilling power right from the back of your truck.
A mere $1750 from Southern Yankee Bar-B-Q
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Heated Limestone Lounge Chair for Indoors or Out
There aren’t a lot of stone chairs that you come across (though we’ve looked at a lounge chair made from concrete and metal before), I guess because it’s not the softest material out there. That didn’t keep the folks at Spa Equip from creating a perfectly lovely looking lounger made from limestone:
The Cleopatra Classic Heated Lounge Chair
And it’s the heating element that sounds delicious to me. Though the lounge chair itself has some nice body-fitting curves, I wouldn’t usually pay $14,000+ for a piece of furniture, especially not one made from stone. But this sounds nice:
“The ergonomic design ensures comfort and the radiant heat emanating from the stone warms the soul. The ultimate expression of ‘warmth therapy’, it penetrates deep into the body for a thoroughly delightful as well as therapeutic experience.”
It definitely sounds like a spa experience.
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