For BBQ Lovers
iGrill Bluetooth Meat Thermometer ($99.99)
iGrill from iDevices turns your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch into your own personal sous-chef, enabling you to multitask between your grill or oven and guests with the peace of mind that your food is perfectly cooked, at target temperature and safe for consumption. Available at igrillinc.com and Apple Stores.

For Golfers
SensoGlove Digital Golf Glove ($89.00)
Made of the highest quality cabretta leather, SensoGlove is the perfect gift for fathers that love golf from beginners to advanced. With SensoGlove, golfers can quickly learn how to hold the club, avoiding bad habits and improving every part of their game, from backswing, downswing, impact, follow-through, to driving, putting, and chipping. Available at sensoglove.com and through distributors, sales partners, and golf schools around the world.

For DIYers
Switch ($79.00)
DIYers will be fixin’ for a project with Switch. With 18 different attachments, this ultimate modular utility device allows them to mix and match their most frequently used tools and group them into themes like travel or outdoors. The Switch is available at Quirky.com in teal.

What are you getting your dad for Father’s Day?

Post from: EveryJoe

The Power of Portables

Image: Murray Feiss Lighting

Choosing the right kind of lighting and paying attention to its placement can instantly make small rooms look more spacious. A dark or poorly lighted home will always feel smaller.

For small spaces, it’s best to incorporate accent lighting with functional lighting. A multi-lamp approach is very effective in helping to visually enlarge a living room or bedroom. Place several table lamps and small accent lamps throughout the room. Having multiple points of lighting dramatically increases the psychological perception of the space. Torchieres, which direct light upward, can add dramatic ambient lighting to smaller spaces with vaulted ceilings.

When using portables, the lights should not be bright and should actually have relatively low wattage or dimmers. For lamps without built-in dimmers, look for table-top dimmers, available through most ALA-member lighting showrooms.

Sconces Make a Statement

Wall sconces are particularly good choices for areas without a lot of floor or counter space for portables. Sconces are capable of providing functional as well as ambient light. They are available as fixtures that can be either hardwired into the wall or plugged into an outlet.

A technique called “wall washing” is effective in making spaces appear larger. It involves positioning one or more sconces so that the light grazes the wall, drawing attention outward. The effect can be very dramatic and create a different awareness of a room’s scale.

Check out more tips on lighting from the American Lighting Association in these LightingHow-to Videos.

Post from: EveryJoe

Now through November 8, 2010, you can take part in the IKEA Life Improvement Sabbatical Contest. This amazing contest offers one person the chance to win a year-long sabbatical (worth $100,000!) to advance a project that improves the life of others. Whether you’d like to volunteer at a homeless shelter to start a non-profit organization, this contest gives one winner the opportunity to pursue their passions, and share their experience with the world.

IKEA

From September 14 – November 8, 2010, those that are interested can submit their proposal online at www.thelifeimprovementproject.com. Basically, you write an essay on your vision and how you’ll get it done, tell them how you to plan to use the money, and then enter. The winning project must be in the U.S.

In addition to the contest, consumers are encouraged to attend FREE Life Improvement Store Seminars at IKEA locations across the country. Beginning this month, IKEA is hosting a series of 51 of these seminars to provide customers with the tools, inspiration and product suggestions to help people improve their life at home.

Visit www.thelifeimprovementproject.com to learn more about The Life Improvement Project.

In addition, we’d like to offer you an opportunity to win a $350 IKEA gift card to tackle a project that will improve your quality of life in the home. To enter the contest, leave a comment here and let us know what you would buy from IKEA if you won the card.

Your comment will automatically enter you into the contest, which ends on Friday, October 29, 2010. We will select one random winner from all the entries to receive the IKEA gift card.

Disclosure: Gift card provided by IKEA

Post from: EveryJoe

Image: PaintQuality.com

1. Get all of your furniture out of the way by moving it to the center of the room, using plastic sliders on heavy items so you don’t have to lift them. Cover everything with plastic, blankets, or old sheets. Then, put down drop-cloths to protect your floors from stray droplets of paint.

2. Scrub all the surfaces you’ll be painting with a sponge and mild household detergent solution before going to the paint store. That will give them time to dry while you’re out shopping.

3. Making multiple trips to the paint store can consume gobs of time, so try to do all of your shopping in just one visit. Before leaving your home, see what painting tools and accessories you have on hand, then create a shopping list. . . or save even more time by going to www.paintquality.com to download a helpful checklist.

4. Buy technologically-advanced top quality 100% acrylic latex interior paint. These durable paints, some of which serve double-duty as both primer and paint, are better at hiding the color that’s underneath. As a result, you may need to apply just a single coat – saving you not only time and effort, but money as well.

5. Tape the edges of the surfaces you’ll be painting to enable you to apply the paint faster. You’ll quickly recover the time spent doing this. And taping will make your finished paint job look a lot neater.

6. Work “top down”: paint the ceiling; then the walls; next, the windows and trim; and, lastly, the baseboards. Following this sequence will help keep just-painted surfaces free of paint spatter or drip marks and cut down time spent on touch-up work.

7. When painting a ceiling or wall, start by “cutting in” a corner section with a paintbrush, applying a 3” band of paint around the edge. This will enable you to quickly fill in the area with a paint roller. Repeat this process in 3-foot increments.

8. Apply the paint liberally. Trying to “stretch” your paint by applying a thin coat is false economy: You might end up needing a second coat to completely hide the original color.

9. Assuming that you purchased top quality 100% acrylic latex paint, your cleanup will be a snap. Being water-based, these paints can be quickly and easily cleaned off of brushes and rollers with plain soap and water.

10. The last time-saver when using top quality latex paint? Not having to wait for the “paint smell” to go away. Eco-friendly latex paints have very little odor, so you can put a freshly-painted room back into service right away.

Post from: EveryJoe

Image: Flickr (Meg Marco)

Last year in the second quarter, Lowe’s posted a profit of $939 million and revenue of $14.51 billion. This year, profit was down to $759 million and revenue was down to $13.84 billion. Those number represent a drop of $180 million in profit and $670 in revenue.

Robert A. Niblock, the CEO of Lowe’s, gave a number of different reasons for the drop in profit and revenue.

Said Niblock: “Wavering consumer confidence, unseasonable weather in core markets, and restrained customer spending compared to last year’s fiscal stimulus-aided results led to lower than expected sales in the second quarter. Cautious consumers remain reluctant to take on discretionary projects until signs of economic improvement are more evident.”

Apparently, investors weren’t buying the excuses. On Monday, Lowe’s shares fell from $22.83 to $20.47 — a drop of more than 10%. In fact, market experts pointed to Lowe’s poor performance in its second quarter being a big reason why the stock market was down on Monday.

Post from: EveryJoe

Masco (Image: Flickr)

The losses by Masco were more than most experts predicted. In fact, one national poll had predicted about a $40 million loss. Masco’s revenue dipped more than 30% internationally and almost 25% domestically.

The number of homes being built in the United States is at a low not seen in decades. Home improvements are also down significantly. Although there’s been some positive news in those two areas as of late, the year-over-year numbers continue to be poor.

Masco’s stock price is nearing $9.50 after starting the day at over $10 before the release of this news.

Post from: EveryJoe