Dressing Your Home

Interactive Wall Display Creates Infographics Of Your Real-Time Energy Use

This futuristic wall display and home energy conservation system reveals real-time usage and encourages the user to change their behavior by self-monitoring and comparing their own stats with those of their neighbors.

The Triad Energy concept device has easy-to-understand infographics so you can see at a glance how much energy you are using how close you are to the targets youve set and how your usage compares with similar households nearby. It is also linked to a web-based analytics platform that lets you view a detailed history of your usage.

The system was developed by industrial design graduate Erica Pozzey from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) who is currently studying for a Masters of Applied Science (Research) in QUTs Creative Industries Faculty. Through self-monitoring Triad Energy encourages socially optimal behavioral change as the user alters their actions to achieve desired goals by tracking their progress reaching targets and comparing themselves to others. Erica Pozzey said:

The capacity to compare and share your usage with surrounding homes or suburbs draws upon the idea of surveillance.

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Tags: Use, Wall Display

Down Under Luxury: Back-To-Nature Retreat Gets Elegant

You may have fond memories of camping with your family, but chances are those memories werent made in a camping retreat as delightfully offbeat as this one.

The Drew House was designed by Simon Laws of Anthill Constructions as a luxury campsite for a family on the eastern Australian coast. Near a town called Seventeen Seventy, the structure sits amongst ancient trees near the start of the Great Barrier Reef.

Laws was inspired both by the pristine natural setting and by the residents own histories. Their families have strong ties to the sugar cane industry and they themselves fondly recall spending camping holidays in the area.

The luxury getaways cylindrical shape calls to mind the mill houses associated with Australias sugar mills.

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Tags: Backtonature Retreat, Retreat

Small Bathroom Redesign

Want to remodel your home, but have limited space? Even with a petite house, renovations to the bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bath can add plenty of value to your home. Consider a small bathroom redesign, today! You don’t have to worry about the small size of your home since you can still have a beautiful bathroom in a little space. This is exactly what remodeling is all about, helping you achieve that which was not obtainable initially.   Space should not be an issue Every now and then, you find homeowners seeking the services of small bathroom redesign contractors for the sole purpose of increasing the functionality of their bathroom without taking up more space than necessary; this is especially the case in a situation where space is an issue. It is not unusual to find some professional decorators skipping the bathroom since they find it difficult coming up with better ideas that would spruce up the environment within this important space in every home. But you do not have to be disturbed since there are various ways you can actually improve and transform your bathroom.  

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Tags: Bathroom, Small Bathroom

Florida retailer Howard Fineman receives Ashley Chairman’s Award

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Howard Fineman, managing member and CEO of the three Ashley Furniture HomeStores here, received Ashley’s National 2011 Chairman’s Award, recognizing the retailer’s continuing community and charitable outreach efforts.

 Howard Fineman, second from left, of Ashley Furniture HomeStores, Jacksonville, Fla., receives Ashley’s 2011 Chairman’s Award recognizing community and charitable outreach from the company’s Ron Wanek, left, Todd Wanek and John Disa.  Children of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Ashley Furniture HomeStores team members pose on a stack of beds in the retailer’s distribution center. The bedding was given as part of Ashley’s A Hope to Dream program and the Salvation Army’s 50 Beds for 50 Kids campaign.

Since opening the first location in 2005, Fineman and the HomeStores here have expanded their charity outreach with groups and programs such as A Hope to Dream, The Donna Foundation fighting breast cancer, the Salvation Army and the Greater Jacksonville Area USO. Fineman accepte

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Tags: Award, Howard Fineman