It's been a long week, folks

Rather than several shorter blog entries this week, dear reader, you get one lengthy entry. How and why did I fall so sadly behind? I think it was because I was distracted; partly by how humanity’s collective Schadenfreude allowed the public descent of a celebrity into serious mental illness to become a media event worthy of tasteless jokes.  I was also saddened by the loss of Toronto Star columnist James Travers, who worked so hard to  keep us informed about the things that really do matter — like the decline of democracy.

 
But because I am essentially an extremely shallow person, I also spent the early part of the week slowly pondering a new product that turned up on my desk; a battery-powered motion-sensing soft-soap dispenser.  Shown at left, the Lysol Healthy Touch Dispenser sells for about $15 at major retailers. It’s supposed to help stop the spread of cooties, and is suggested for use in the kitchen, bath and laundry areas.  The idea is that you won't have to touch the dispenser at all, so you won't risk contaminating it with bacteria that the next user could pick up when they touched it or pressed the pump.

Now I must say I do like hands-free tech for my kitchen, where I have a Delta touchless faucet set with a soft-soap dispenser (LOVE IT!).  Which means if I’m working with raw chicken, I can wash my hands without touching surfaces and worrying about spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria

But after careful consideration, I’ve decided that when it comes to the laundry and bathroom, unless you think may have to perform an emergency tracheotomy there, this kind of high-end tech gizmo ain’t necessary.  Why not instead save the planet  a few batteries and just use a bar of soap? And keep nagging your kids to wash hands often, taking at least as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday to You twice through.

 


 
The coolest thing I saw this week was the Dyson Air Multiplier, which is a blade-less fan that expels 405 litres of air every second. It’s James Dyson’s response to conventional fans, which he says always disappointed him.  “Their spinning blades chop up the airflow, causing annoying buffeting,” he explains in a news release. “They’re hard to clean.  And children always want to poke their fingers through the grille. ” (Of course that that will learn them, I always say.)

The Dyson Air Multiplier should hit Dyson.com, The Bay, Home Outfitters, Sears, Future Shop, Best Buy, Canadian Tire and all Dyson authorized independent retailers by mid-March. Prices start at $380.

 
The most inspiring chats I’ve had all week were with colour guru Janice Lindsay and Joanne Currie of Pittsburgh Paint With both, I talked about my new-found appetite for using colour in the home, and of the magnetic pull I feel toward reds and oranges. I am, for the record, in love with PP's Hacienda palette - shown above.

Got great advice from both. For those who want to embrace colour but are faint of heart,  Joanne C suggests painting a chunk of a strong colour on the wall (or even on a canvas that could lean against a wall) and taking time to gauge your  reaction to it. (Although she's betting on the fact that you'll love it and decide to carry through, if not with it, with another confident hue!)

Janice L listened to my shining ode to red, orange and yellow and about how I wanted to use five shades of each in every room of my house because they’re so beautiful and I love red and orange is great and yellow is so sunny and  blah blah blah.  Such a diplomat. Then she casually suggested that sometimes colours we might consider boring - say Pittsburgh Paint’s Jute - actually work really well as a backdrop for stronger colours. And lo, I found a swatch of jute and I lay it against my beloved bricky-red Granada and golden Oro de maya and burnt pumpkin Dulce de Membrillo. And I saw how those colours would work as excellent accents to the brown-paper-parcel-ish Jute.  And it was good. Thank you, Janice.

I’ll have more good advice from both in my Hot Home Products column next week. In the meantime, I’m off to sunny Las Vegas, land of the styrofoam Eiffel Tower and 20-ounce portion of meat.

Small-scale, sustainable tables. Cute, no?

 

 

Here’s something fun for Friday. Quebec-based designer Nicole Belanger of Nickadoo custom-makes tables from tree trunks salvaged from lumbering or from naturally fallen trees. (Why do they make me think of talking trees from a Maurice Sendak story? I almost expect one of the axe slits to turn into a mouth and start chatting. I know, I know, it's a bad sign when you begin to think your furniture is trying to communicate with you.) Each piece is cleaned without chemicals, then kiln-dried for four or more weeks. After sanding and hand-polishing, the log is coated with a non-toxic sealant and legs — usually wrought-iron or chrome — are added. I like them; they really mesh with my new motto, which is "Use What You Got". Whaddya think?

Canadian consumers confident but cautious

About two minutes after I filed a story about how Canadian consumers are increasingly looking to the internet for home décor inspiration and to buy home furnishing and accessories, I got a press release from IBM that further bolsters that notion. According to a recent global survey by the tech giant, the number of “instrumented” consumers – those who use two or more technologies such as a website, mobile device or in-store kiosk — increased by 65 per cent in 2010 over the previous year. That’s almost double the global result, which saw a 36 per cent jump.

The change is happening so rapidly that Canadian retailers may have to play catch up, suggested John Dawkins, IBM’s Canadian retail sector lead, in the release.  “Wider access to bandwidth at lower rates, an increase in the number of Canadian wireless service providers, adoption of social media and a comparatively faster economic recovery are driving the emergence of a more complex, competitive and sophisticated shopper,” he says.

The study paints a picture of the average Canadian shopper: she’s frugal but confident about her earning power, carefully considers the opinions of family and friends, and  is often responsible for shopping for other family members ( No surprise to mothers everywhere, used to hearing things like “Mom, I’m out of socks. Can you get me some?”)

The survey showed that the recession has changed shopping habits; consumers are now more focused on buying only what they need, searching for sale items, waiting longer to purchase and using technology to save time and shop more efficiently.

Other findings include:

Shoppers are increasingly using social media to discuss retailers, products and brands with friends, family members and other consumers. 

Consumers want to check competitive prices in store, using smart phones and UPC tags.

Consumers will spend more and be more loyal to retailers who offer them quality, service and promotions on items they regularly buy and remember things such as their preferred payment methods. (Gheesh, could I write a response to that one! Maybe I will, next time I'm in the mood for a retail rant!))

What about you? How has technology changed the way you shop?

Forced to choose testosterone over tempra this weekend

 

 

This week’s Hot Home Products column features an online site that sells hand-painted reproductions of works by old masters. I find that interesting for a number of reasons, which I won’t go into now (would it kill you to buy a paper on Saturday?)

If original art is more your thing, get yourself down to the Artist Project event  running from March 3 to 6 at the Queen Elizabeth Building at Exhibition Place. You’ll see works by over 200 independent artists, such as Montreal-based Janice Taylor, who did the mixed media piece above and Russell Brohier, whose photograph of an under-loved classroom is also shown above.

There will also be a slew of other features, including UNTAPPED, an exhibition of 25 emerging or self-taught  artists, works by photographers using 3D technology and a competition of works based on the theme of lemons (yes, the fruit).  As part of an Art Chats series, art writer and educator Betty Ann Jordan will tell you everything you always wanted to know about abstract art but were afraid to ask, and Melony Ward, publisher of Canadian Art magazine will host a panel that looks at the state of art in Canada. (No word yet as to whether Rob Stop the GravyTrain ^TM Ford will attend this one, but my guess is not.) Installation Alley will showcase large-scale sculpture and conceptual art, while a Video Art Wall will introduce work by digital media artists.

If my son didn’t have hockey play-offs this weekend, this is where I’d be. Instead, I’ll be the mom screaming “play nicely!” while testosterone-fuelled 15-year-olds smash into each other. Which is, in its own way I suppose, a kind of performance art. But at least Art Project attendees won’t have to watch psychotic parents of artists projecting their own long-lost hopes on their kids, and nobody will be carted off with a concussion. We hope.