This technology is a development on the impressive Liquid Crystal Displays or LCD TVs that have become so popular in households around the globe.

With a standard LCD model the light which creates the quality picture on your screen is emitted from cold cathode fluorescent lamps.

However an LED TV uses Light Emitting Diodes (hence the name LED) to create the backlighting.

Ultimately this gives the viewer a much brighter picture which will bring the colours to life on the screen.

Contrast is also improved greatly by using this technology, as it gives you deeper blacks and brighter whites on screen so you get one of the best viewing experiences possible in your own living room.

With an ordinary TV, blacks can appear almost dark grey and lighter colour can often appear gloomy, but this is not the case with new LED technology because of its innovative backlighting system.

Not only do you get the best picture quality but you will also be doing your bit for the environment.

LED are not cheap televisions but depending on the make and model, LED technology uses up to 40% less energy than your standard LCD TV set and can help save money on your electric bill.

This not only helps the planet by reducing your carbon footprint but will also make that scary energy bill at the end of the month seem less frightening.

By taking all these factors into account LED TV’s seem to be the future of home viewing with its stunning picture quality and more environmentally friendly technology.Similar Posts:

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I got the DC22 from their PR folk and this time, unlike the last, they had cleaned it up before handing it over to me so I could start using it immediately.

What’s in the box:

• The DC22
• Operations manual
• Quick start guide
• 5 year warranty
• Dual mode floor tool
• Stair tool
• Combination tool

Design

The DC22 is known as the ‘baby’ version of the DC23, both of which uses the proprietary root cyclone technology for increased and jitter-free suction. It is roughly 1/3 the size of the DC23 with a relatively small footprint that will fit well in most households and is rather lightweight for a machine with its capabilities. The most surprising aspect about the DC22 is that its suction power is in fact comparable with it’s older sibling, the DC23!

The overall design is pretty clever because it allows the entire vacuum hose to be wrapped neatly around the body of the vacuum and allow the handle to be hooked firmly against the side of the body. I’ve always been impressed with Dyson products because of their attention to detail in their product designs. Their vacuums may look like Rube Goldberg machines but in truth, are far from it because it embodies great functionality and ease-of-use

Having a relatively large dust canister means it is capable of vacuuming the common household several times over before it needs to be emptied. The canister sits snugly  at the front of the body, easily detached with the press of a button and comes with a trapdoor to easily dispose of the dust. It also comes with a lifetime HEPA filter that is washable and durable.

What strikes me the most is that the handle/wand is extremely lightweight which greatly helps with maneuverability. Unlike most other vacuums that typically employ metal for the wands, the DC22 uses reinforced plastic that is equally hardy, less the weight of normal vaccum wands. The DC22 comes with a 5m retractable cable that is located at the back of the machine. While this may be a minute detail, the machine does a really good job of retracting the cable without getting stuck even once during the many times I tried it, unlike the issue you get with most vacuum cleaners out there which choke when the cable gets tangled or is at an acute angle to the vacuum.

Testing

Before starting, here’s a list of tests I intended to put the DC22 through:

• different floor types – tiles, hardwood flooring, carpet
• tight spaces – crevices, under the bed, ceiling corners
• suction power – small to large particles

Trying to be as impartial as I could, I took the DC22 across the same surfaces as I did with the DC24. What I find most astounding is the suction power this little marvel had. It was able to pick up all sorts of dirt and debris (small to large – large being pebble sized particles) with no difficulty at all. In fact, the wand was so light and maneuverable that I had no problems whatsoever with tight corners and sliding door tracks. The DC22 worked so well on all 3 floor types, it made me want to do even more vacuuming! Mind you, the suction power can be slightly overwhelming if you’re thinking of using it on your curtains (don’t be lazy, curtains are meant to be washed, not vacuumed).

Hitting the ceiling corners was no problem at all as the machine is pretty lightweight hence lifting it whilst standing on a stool to reach the top corners of the ceilings in my home where spiders often spin their webs does not cause imbalance or lack of ability to maneuver freely.

The DC22 is perfect for homes with carpets because it does a crazy marvelous job of cleaning the dirt out of carpets – this is something you have to see to believe for yourself. In fact, head on over to major departmental stores and you’ll probably be able to catch a live demo of the DC22 in action on a carpeted surface.

After cleaning the house with the DC22, it was time to test how well it fared with cleaning and resetting it back for next use. The trapdoor dust bin made it easy to detach the bin with the flick of the release and i was able to empty all the dust particles into a bag without a mess. Next, I took the HEPA filters and put them through about 4 rounds of soaking and squeezing before the water dispelled from the filters became quite clear. I ran it a further 3 rounds to be certain I had quite cleaned the filters for the next round of vacuuming. The filters were extremely easy to clean and were left overnight to dry.

The next day, it was a piece of cake reassembling the washable parts back into the DC22 for another round of usage. This time, I vacuumed the interiors of both cars. I know it’s more of a home cleaner but I figured if it did cars well, it would be a testament of its performance in tight corners. Using the crevice tool, I was able to reach almost all areas without much difficulty at all. Overall, I have been extremely impressed with the Dyson DC22.

Here’s the lowdown summary of the DC22 from my test drive:

Pros

• Great design – function centric (dust bin with trapdoor, washable filters, wrap around hose)
• Liftetime HEPA filters – certified by the Asthma and Allergy Association
• Great maneuverability – extremely lightweight wand and all the tools necessary to reach spaces large and small
• Completely bagless i.e. no extra costs
• 5 year warranty

Cons

• Power cable could be longer
• Suction power can be a tad overwhelming to those who aren’t used to handling a powerful machine

Conclusion

I doubt anybody will have much to complain about this machine once they’ve had a try at it. The DC22 is simply an engineering marvel in terms of size, power and usability. Although Dyson vacuums are priced above the market average, there is good reason for it – it simply cannot be compared against the bulk of its competition. It would simply win hands down. I’ve never been this impressed with vacuum cleaners until my encounter with the DC22 and DC24.

If you’re looking to get a vacuum for the long term, this is the one you should be aiming for.Similar Posts:

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Thomas, from Tboox was nice enough to allow me to select from their entire range of Wink Wall Decals. Of the 49 available designs, I narrowed it down to the following  models – Circa, Snazzy and Pizzi. Eventually, I finally decided on Snazzy. The package was delivered very promptly by a very friendly gentleman from the courier service, also named Thomas coincidentally.

Naturally, I was excited to do the installation and couldn’t wait for the weekend to come quicker. Saturday eventually came and YinLeng and I (btw, she’s a real decal installation expert by now) decided to dive in to experience Wink Wall decals.

Unboxing

No surprises with the unboxing in any way. The package comes neatly flat packed in a bright pink jacket that embodies the playful nature of Wink Wall decals. Within the box, there were four sheets on which the Snazzy motifs were stuck onto. Along with the package is a translucent card for the installation.

The downside to the way that the decals were packed was that because Snazzy was a circular motif decal, some of the decal circles were housed within the larger circles. As I normally cut around the decals before I begin, to allow me to determine the design by placing the separate decal pieces on the ground and visualizing the end result, I had some difficulty having to cut out each of the decal pieces due to the way they were packed. Having said that, this was really a minor downer

Once I had laid out the design on the ground, it was time to transfer it onto the wall itself. Seeing as we’ve gotten quite a bit of experience with decals and that this particular design isn’t extremely difficult to configure, we didn’t use masking tape to place the decal pieces up on the wall before doing the transfer.

Installation

We decided to install the decals in the second bedroom as that room was still largely undecorated. All that was in there was a built-in wardrobe, dresser and a bed. It was time to test if Snazzy could liven up the room.

Hopping onto the bed, we started installing the first piece from the Snazzy decals collection. After sticking the decal on and using the card to smooth down, I found it extremely easy to peel off the transfer paper despite my initial concerns about how the transfer paper looked slightly suspect due to the fact that there were visible bubbles between vinyl and transfer paper.

Once I had the first few circular motifs stuck on, putting up the rest of the vinyls was a breeze. I guess this installation was a lot easier compared to the decals from SomethinUrby and Blank Canvas Design due to the simpler design and larger pieces to deal with.

In total, it took us just 45 minutes from start to end to install the decals and we were largely satisfied with the results.

Here’s a list of pros and cons from my experience:

Pros

• Package is sturdy and came completely intact upon delivery – made of good quality card paper and housed 4 large pieces of backing with decals on it
• Website is easy to use and has a decent selection as well as colour choices for most individual decal models
• Freedom of design – Snazzy is pretty much a free-form decal where the user is not constrained to sticking it in a particular manner. This creates more allowance for mistakes
• The card provided to perform the transfer was thick and strong enough to perform the transfer without any glitches
• Price is definitely very affordable
• I also tried pulling off the decals and reinstalling at a different spot to test if it left any markings – it didn’t

Cons

• Difficult to cut out the decals into individual pieces because many of the Snazzy circles were housed within the larger decals to save space
• Requires a lot of smoothing down before peeling off the backing due to air pockets

Overall, there isn’t really much to complain about Wink Wall Decals simply because it is affordable, easy to install and creates the desired effect. The instructions that comes with the package is also extremely concise and easy to understand. If you’re looking for an affordable way to decorate your home, head on over to Tboox.com today to pick out the Wink Wall Decal of your choice!Similar Posts:

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Having decided that the wallpaper should be installed on the dining area wall, we proceeded to looking through the catalogue. Now, this was the really tough part as Ferm LIVING’s collection was simply brilliant and well suited for most any modern home and at the same time, coupled with the fact that like all catalogues, you only get a small sized sample of the product, which makes imagining the final product rather difficult.

After several rounds of deliberation, this was our shortlist:

1. Berry Black

2. Forrest Flower

3. Walldots

4. Squares

It only got more difficult from here on because these were now designs which we fancied from the original lot. We proceeded to drop Squares with the rationale that it was more suitable for a smaller wall section and the cool 3D effect might be slightly too much for dinner guests. Next up, we eliminated Berry Black after deciding that we didn’t want the dining area to look ‘rustic’. We were now left with Walldots and Forrest Flower – we kept holding up the two samples from the catalogue to compare and yet couldn’t really make up our minds on which was more suitable. At last, we decided on going with WallDots for its metallic element and the fact that it was more impactful than Forrest Flower.

Read the full review after the jump – find out how the installation turned out…

My-iconicdesigns.com then arranged for their preferred installers, Wing’s Walls, to come by for the wallpaper installation. The installers were extremely professional about the entire activity – first carefully moving the furniture out of the working area and laying out the tarpaulin coverings on the laminate flooring before preparing a special mixture that looked like plaster (that obviously wasn’t). They started sanding the wall to eliminate whatever pimples and other imperfections identified. Once the sanding was done, the two guys would then coat the walls several times over to ensure a smooth consistency. To my delight, they were pretty meticulous with the entire exercise. Once done, they left it to dry whilst we all went out to grab a quick lunch.

After lunch, the pair got to work with one of them laying out strips of wallpaper whilst the other spreads a glue-like substance over the back of the wallpaper. They then lift the strip up and transfer it against the wall – one working from a ladder and the other on the ground, ensuring that the alignment is correct before pasting it firmly on the wall. I was told that the first piece is always the most critical for alignment, which is why it will take much more time to get stuck on compared to the other pieces.

Slowly, but surely, several more strips were put up and smoothed out. Due to the structure of my plaster ceiling with L-box, the installers made sure that they cut around it and filled the inside of the L-box with wallpaper as well, to ensure that no part of the original wall was visible. They expertly cut around power points, ensured that the bottom of the wallpaper sat perfectly with the wooden floor paneling and ensured that the joins between strips were not visible. Once done, they sponged down the entire length of wall in which the wallpaper was installed on and carefully cleaned up and helped to put the furniture back to its original position. I really dig the professionalism of these folks.

All in all, it was a pretty good experience watching the guys perform the installation. I was told to leave it for 3 days before all the air bubbles eventually disappear and not to clean it during this period. My dining area was now completely transformed with the simple application of wallpaper. The whole area now has depth and character added to it and we were definitely not disappointed with having chose Walldots.

True enough, by the end of the third day, all visible air bubbles had vanished. I decided to give the newly wallpapered wall a wipe down. Cleaning was indeed a breeze and largely due to the wallsmart technology used in Ferm LIVING wallpapers where they are non-woven, extremely durable and totally easy to clean. Stains can just be wiped off like how you would clean a painted wall.

Having selected a wallpaper with metallic properties was a good choice indeed because it sheds off a different allure in different light at different times of the day. We’ve had numerous dinner guests since and they’ve all marveled at the wallpaper and for those who have been to our place prior to the installation, commenting on how much of a positive difference it has made to the space itself.

Here’s a quick summary of my thoughts on Ferm LIVING wallpaper provided by my-iconicdesigns.com:

• Selection can be difficult – simply because they’ve got a myriad of marvelous choices (not a bad thing!)
• High quality, non-woven, easy to clean – making maintenance a non-issue really
• High aesthetic quality – provides depth and character to a living space (can be used to make the space look larger or cozier)
• Easy to install (though you should get an expert to assist)
• Affordable (avg price RM350 per roll) – think long term: good quality wallpaper can last 10-15 years – how many times over would you have had to paint your wall in that time period? Also, paint will never provide the same aesthetic quality as wallpaper

Having had this experience with wallpaper, I can safely say that I am now a big fan of it and will definitely be using it when we are able to finally move the little one into his own bedroom. Easier said than done. The wall decoration choices for a child’s room are both exciting and aplenty.

If you’re contemplating wallpaper for your home, I would strongly suggest buying high quality wallpaper from trusted and proven brands – not the generic variety. Head on over to my-iconicdesigns.com today to view the available designs and find out more about wallpaper.Similar Posts:

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Locally, they’re available from Creative Home Concepts and Macy’s. Although the price tag for these decals are higher than the commonly retailed ones which usually hail from Korea or China, you’re basically getting better quality decals made in France and paying for the intellectual output from well-known designers. If you look at it being a genuine alternative to wallpaper or even comparing it against artwork, then the price isn’t really all that expensive.

We decided that the one wall which we really wanted to decorate was the first floor living room wall which our favourite rustic couch was lined up against. This is the wall perpendicular to our wall-o-memories.  For a long time now, we’ve been looking for the right piece of art that would have to be large enough to be impactful, that we also liked. Unfortunately, we never got around to finding one which truly called out to us, at a reasonable price

I finally decided on Ich&Kar’s JunglePeas to create an extension of the green outdoors inside the living hall. I also really like the concept of creepers flowing down from the wall where the sofa is placed although in reality, I wasn’t sure if it’d turn out well at all. At RM421 per pack, we required 2 packs (each pack has approximately 60 creepers each).

Domestic’s Vinyl came in pretty large flat packed packages. The package was made of plastic and much larger than the standard sized cardboard packages typically used for wall decals. The front of the package is translucent, allowing you to view the contents. The front also has a sticker briefly detailing the model and a brief description of it. The rear of the package provides generic instructions for installation. All in all, the packaging impressed me. Hopefully its contents will impress even more!

Different to most other decals I’ve used, there was no card to smooth down the transfer paper during installation. In fact, when I took out all four sheets, I realised that the card wasn’t necessary because all I needed to do was to peel the sticker off the backing and stick it directly to the wall, unlike the other wall decals I’ve installed which required sticking the decal, smoothening it and then removing the transfer paper, leaving the decals permanently on.

With approximately 3 hours to complete the installation before having to head off for a wedding dinner, YinLeng and I got to work

I gave the wall a nice good wipe down before starting out to ensure that there were no dust or particle remnants to hinder the installation process. Once that was done, I set up the ladder by the wall. YinLeng and I both decided that we would install the Jungle peas in such a way that they would all start from the top of the wall and flow down towards the couch. Added to that, we agreed that we should try to have a few pea strands on the adjacent wall to make it look more organic

Here’s how we were set up – YinLeng would be the installer and the one on the ladder whilst I would be the one who peeled off the next strand of Jungle Peas to pass to her. Mind you, my task is not as menial as it seems – I am also the quality assurance agent for the entire installation which really meant that I had to step back to direct and make sure that she was installing the strands perfectly straight down, as gravity would have it if it were real natural creepers

Peeling the vinyls off the transfer paper was extremely easy and that was a major plus point because some of the Jungle Peas strands were really thin and looked extremely easy to break off. I have to commend the quality of both the transfer paper and the vinyl here as not only was it easy to peel off, the vinyls themselves are much stronger than they look. Many times, I got the strands tangled around my hands, or even with the ladder when passing the strands to YinLeng and despite it’s very fine design, we were able to easily untangle the strands without breaking them even though some of them were probably only at 2-3 mm thick at certain points

Installing it on the wall was extremely easy as well. Unlike some of the other decals which we’ve worked with, we needn’t have to stick it then rub it in to make sure it stuck on properly and then remove the top layer transfer paper. For this, all we had to do was take it off the transfer paper and stick it on the wall. The only thing we had to make sure was that we were sticking it with the design flowing straight down because we had to stick the strands about 2” beside each other. We had to make sure the first few were aligned correctly so as to make sure that the entire installation wouldn’t end up being skewed. Whenever we made any mistakes with sticking the vinyls, it was really easy to peel off and start over without compromising the adhesive or even damaging the fine strands. This gave us more confidence to move at a quicker pace

We first lined up the entire width of the wall with the vinyl before moving to the next level, where we randomly extended certain strands to make it look more organic. I would advise all of you out there to plan your installation first in order to ensure that you have enough material to cover the designated space. I did some calculations beforehand to find out how many strands I had as well as the width of the wall and came out with the conclusion that if the strands were about 2” apart, I’d be able to completely fill up the width of the wall and have ¾ remaining of the second vinyl pack to append to the strands in more random fashion to create more of a ‘flowy’ effect

The entire installation took us about 2 hours. By the end of it all, I’d have to say that I was extremely happy with the outcome and thoroughly impressed with the quality of the vinyl. With this design, it feels that we’ve brought some of the outdoors into our living hall (maintenance free! No watering, no pruning, no worries ever!). Although its price is a lot steeper than the other decals I’ve had the experience of installing, the difference in the build quality and material is highly apparent, with this being far superior. Installation was a breeze and the product is forgiving when one makes mistakes during installation. A part of the reason for the higher price tag is also the fact that these products are the output of established designers from all over Europe.

My take is that many might be put off by the price tag when comparing alternatives but I’d really beg to differ in this sense because one should not directly compare these – designer products – against the more affordable alternatives as it wouldn’t be an apple-to-apple fair comparison. To be objective, I’d compare it against buying designer art because in a way, the vinyl itself is a form of designer art with the only difference being the fact that the installer has a free hand in determining the output. I’d strongly recommend this product to any of you out there who are looking to decorate your walls with designer quality decals. Doing a self-installation also gives you a sense of fulfillment knowing you were the architect of the end product. It’s a pretty fun thing to do as well to be honest

Head on over Creative Home Concepts to view their catalog today.Similar Posts:

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The machine was delivered to my doorstep some days later. To my dismay, the machine wasn’t cleaned from its previous use and I had to go about cleaning it before really testing it out.

What’s in the box:

• The DC24
• Operations manual
• A quick start guide
• 5 year warranty
• Combination tool (basically, an extra suction tip)

Before trying it out, I decided to clean the HEPA lifetime filter to prevent any bias to the review. I had rather hoped to get a clean machine so I could start immediately but that wasn’t the case. What I really liked was the fact that the lifetime HEPA filter was so incredibly easy to wash. All you needed to do was soak it and squeeze all the water out to dispel the dust particles caught in the filter. Do this several times and you’ve got yourself a filter as good as new.

Once the filter had completely dried, I fitted it back into the DC24. Before I get ahead of myself and write about the entire experience, it’s best I touch on the design elements of the DC24 first

Design

The DC24 is a lightweight in its category. Being an upright, it sits on top of a large orange ball which allows for a great turning circle and balance. When I first saw it, I thought to myself ‘this is something the Ghostbusters would dig!’ Unlike conventional vacuums, the DC24 has a design that makes you think it’s a complicated piece of hardware, which it actually is because of all the technology and inventive genius put into it. But where it excels despite being a complicated piece of hardware, is that it is extremely easy to use.

It is 108cm to the top of the handle when extended. 28cm wide and 32cm from front to back at the base, giving it a relatively small footprint for an upright vacuum.

Despite having lots of catches and buttons, it’s designed to basically take all of 5 minutes to get to grips with the entire functionality of the DC24. The electric cable is 6 metres long and cleverly wraps vertically at the back of the machine. The polycarbonate dust bin sits in front, right under the HEPA filter, and is extremely easy to detach with the flick of a catch. The thing I find clever about the dust bin is the trap door functionality that opens with the push of a button, allowing all its contents to be released straight into the trash can. It’s the little details like this that the folks at Dyson have put thought into that makes the entire cleaning process that much easier.

The reversible wand feature in the DC24 is pretty neat. For those hard to reach places, all you need to do is push a button and remove the handle from the machine, pull out the accordion hose, stick it to the back of the handle and voila! you have yourself a flexible suction wand! The combination tool can then be attached to the wand and act as a crevice tool or converted into a dusting brush.

When in upright position, it is extremely easy to get the DC24 into action by simply pressing on the pedal release. Next to the power button is a button that changes toggles between floor and carpet vacuum mode.

Putting it to the test

Before starting, here’s a list of tests I intended to put the DC24 through:

• different floor types – tiles, hardwood flooring, carpet
• tight spaces – crevices, under the bed, ceiling corners
• suction power – small to large particles

Starting out from the ground floor, I was able to cover all 3 different floor types and I have to say that it worked extremely well on tiles and hardwood flooring. I initially didn’t think it did that well for carpets but then realised that I hadn’t hit the toggle to allow it to more effectively suck the dirt from the carpets. Once I did that, the DC24 did an amazing job with the carpets. I tried ‘dirtying’ the carpet surface by integrating larger particles e.g. dustballs and was impressed to find that the DC24 was able to pick them all up.

For tight spaces, I used the reversible wand with combination tool and was able to pick up the dust bits from the floor corners. I really like the versatility of the DC24 – being able to convert to the reversible wand mode in under 10 seconds. Next, I headed up to the bedroom to vacuum under the bed and here’s where I found a fault – due to the angle of the combination tool, it was only effective up to about 20” under the bed from the edge. Beyond that, the combination tool is at an angle where there is not enough suction due to the lack of surface area coverage. This I found rather disappointing because my current RM400 water-based vacuum is able to go much deeper.

For ceiling corners, I had to stand on a stool and lift up the DC24 at the same time whilst vacuuming with my free hand as the accordion hose was not long enough but this is reasonable as I don’t expect that the accordion hose would’ve been designed to cater for this. But what I’d like to imply here is that the DC24 is light enough to be carried around.

Being such a lightweight vacuum, the suction power was incredible and it never hiccupped at any point, even when I stressed it with larger particles on textured surfaces. Cleaning it was really easy as well with the trap door release from the dust bin.

Here’s the lowdown summary of the DC24 from my test drive:

Pros

• Extremely great design – well thought off (e.g. cabling, reversible wand, dust bin with trapdoor, washable filters)
• Lifetime HEPA filters – certified by Asthma and Allergy Association making it hygienic and allergy friendly
• Great turning circle from ball design – engine actually sits in the ball!
• Good consistent suction power on different flooring. Works great on thick carpets too
• Completely bagless i.e. no extra costs
• Small footprint and lightweight, easy storage and great mobility
• 5 year warranty

Cons

• Doesn’t do great to reach far under the bed due to poorly defined angle of combination tool
• Would be great if they had a tool for stairs that could fit the reversible wand in the package

Some cool facts about Dyson

• Dirt in a Dyson vacuum cleaner is subject to 150,000 G forces – that’s 43,000 times more than what Formula 1 drivers experience at the tracks
• Dyson has their own on-site zoo which breeds dust mites. Strange but true
• Over 20 million Dyson vacuum cleaners have been sold worldwide

Conclusion

Yes, this is one vacuum that really impresses. It’s a marvelous piece of ingenious innovation that is easy to use, clean and store. The only downside I have about it is that the power cord could be longer than 6m and the combination tool could have been engineered at a deeper angle. Having said that, I’m largely impressed with it and the vacuuming power it possesses. To be honest, I’m quite tempted to get one myself, but at the same time curious about the other models which I haven’t quite tested to know for sure if the DC24 is the right choice. But given my experience with vacuum cleaners in general, I would have to say that the DC24 is the one that I’m most impressed with and would definitely recommend it for homeowners of small to medium sized homesSimilar Posts:

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**latest update – 3 Sep 2010**

The folks from Tboox have announced that users from howshouse.com only merely need to inform them verbally or email them at admin@tboox.com mentioning ‘howshouse’ and they will provide a 15% discount + free delivery off purchases!!! Ain’t that great?

The parcel that was delivered was simply delightfully packaged. On one side, it read ‘NEVER OVERSLEEP AGAIN’; on another, ‘ALARM CLOCK ON WHEELS’. I’ve read about Clocky in foreign tech sites some time ago, where its claim to fame is that it runs away from you when the alarm goes off so that you’ll have to physically get up to locate it and shut the alarm off.

Some say this is an annoying way to be woken up but others swear by it helping them get up on time for important meetings and interviews. I used to be a really heavy sleeper – my friends from uni can testify to this claim as they have seen me sleep through 25 missed calls, had the joy to slapping me across the face on occasion to get me to wake up, and had extreme peace within the household when I’m asleep and not singing off key. However, these days, I’m no longer the ‘log’ sleeper that I was and I wake easily to my cellphone’s alarm. Oh, how I wish I’d met you earlier, Clocky

Full review after the jump

After unboxing Clocky, I was surprised to find that it was actually smaller than I expected it to be. The construction and build quality felt solid and the wheels had quite a bit of bounce to them (after all, Clocky claims to be able to jump off heights of up to 3 ft!). My Clocky came in chrome colour and it looked immaculate with its white wheels. If you find chrome being a magnet for fingerprints, Clocky comes in ‘almond’ too – the original colour.

Excited to see Clocky in action, I put the batteries in (note that batteries are sold separately) and saw Clocky’s display light up. I quickly pored through the owner’s manual (yes, I’m a typical male – troubleshoot later rather than read the manual before operation) and set the time and subsequently set the alarm to go off within the next minute.

I waited in anticipation whilst little Ryan waited curiously, wondering what dad was waiting for. All of a sudden (well, not really, since we waited) Clocky’s alarm rang – and it sounded very much like R2D2. The sounds it made were extremely unique and somewhat shrill and I would think some study was made beforehand on the effectiveness of these sounds in waking people up. I waited a while more before figuring something was amiss – Clocky didn’t ‘run’ as advertised. I could see the smirk on YinLeng’s face now… the ‘I told you to read the manual’ look.

Upon reading the manual, I found out that you can set a snooze interval between 1-9 minutes, after which, when the alarm rings a second time, Clocky will activate its wheels to run away. Setting the snooze interval to 0 will get Clocky running the moment the alarm rings. Naturally, to see Clocky in action, I set the interval to 0 and set for the alarm to ring within the next minute.

When the minute came, Clocky bellowed in R2D2 fashion and started running in a random manner. There was no pattern to its movement but it was very swift and I’d imagine catching it would be somewhat difficult. It ran around aimlessly for a while, stopped momentarily and ran around again. I can only assume that it was designed this way to allow its owner to actually catch it with some ease. I was amazed with its movement and its ability to get out of tight corners but little Ryan was totally amused with Clocky, probably thinking it was a new toy to add to his collection. He had so much fun chasing the little clock around the room and it was just joyous to watch.

Initial reactions to Clocky aside, it was now time to actually test it out proper. I decided to test Clocky over 3 days, choosing the weekend for my test simply because:

• I generally sleep later on Fridays but had to wake up early that Saturday
• United were playing late so that meant I’d only sleep at around 2am on Saturday but seeing as I had a gym appointment on Sunday, I’d have to wake up at 7, which leaves me with only 5 hrs sleep – hardly enough hence I had to rely on Clocky

Testing Clocky based on my weekend schedule was perfect because it was not aligned with my usual sleep pattern and it would really allow me to measure Clocky’s effectiveness

Day1

After coming home on Friday night, I set the alarm for 8am. I like that Clocky has a built in backlight feature which is surprisingly bright in a dark room. Read a couple of chapters then fell asleep.

Woke up to the unfamiliar R2D2 alarm sound and heard Clocky’s mechanical wheels in motion. Jumped right off bed and caught hold of the little clock – it hadn’t gone very far when I managed to catch it.

The alarm was loud enough to wake YinLeng but Ryan didn’t stir. All’s good

Day2

I set the alarm for 7am before watching United take on Fulham. Turned out to be a disappointing 2-2 draw. Slept immediately after the game. Heard the now more familiar sound of Clocky’s alarm tune and sluggishly got out of bed to catch the little critter. This time, I was slower off the mark and Clocky had raced all the way across the room to the TV wall. Caught it and set the alarm off. I’m finding that I’m breaking my snooze pattern with Clocky. Hurrah! Headed off to the gym for class.

Day3

I left the alarm set at 7am. This time, I opted not to let Clocky run to see if I’d settle back to my normal bad habit of snoozing at least once before waking up proper. Being more familiar with the R2D2 sound, I still woke up easily to it. Surprisingly I did not snooze but got right up off bed – perhaps in my half awake state, thinking I had to catch Clocky

Conclusion

Clocky passed the tests with flying colours and will now take its place as my default daily alarm. My thoughts right now are that I would set Clocky not to ‘run’ unless it’s one of those days where I know I’d not be getting enough sleep or have to wake up for a really important event.

This product designed by Nanda started out as a uni project but due to its uniqueness, is now a fully commercialized product. Locally, it is available from Tboox.com at RM119 for the almond version and RM129 for the chrome version. If you’re looking for a good alarm clock, get the Clocky. Why? Because it’s so much fun and really effective. How many people do you know have fun alarm clocks? Be one of them!Similar Posts:

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The first thing you’ll want to do is throw excess items away. Did you find that bottle of moisturizer that’s been sitting in the back of your cabinet for the last two years? Toss it out. Throw away anything you don’t regularly use. If you don’t know what it is, or don’t remember buying it, you don’t need it. Throw it away!

Next, it’s time for a little chemical warfare, you versus cabinet stains. Get out your best scrubbing brush and any common house cleaner, like 409 or some generic brand. If it’s been a particularly long time since you’ve cleaned out your bathroom vanity cabinets, you may need a stronger specialty cleaner (available at most hardware stores). The most important thing to remember here is: let no mold make it out unharmed! If you leave even a small patch of mold or mildew uncleaned, it will grow into a mold colony very quickly, negating all of your hard work. When it comes to cleaning, the more meticulously you work, the more rewarding the endeavor will be.

Now that your bathroom cabinets are clean, it’s time to re-organize. Group the things you didn’t throw away into similar units, and then place them in the bathroom cabinets in an orderly fashion. It may be a good idea to buy additional small plastic containers that fit in the cabinets.

Congratulations, your bathroom cabinets are clean! Hopefully this time, they can stay that way.Similar Posts:

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British colonials in Burma first started the Western fascination with oriental furniture, introducing Indian styles to the British Empire. Eventually, as trade negotiations with the far East became more prominent (and bloody complicated, but that is a different story), the West was introduced to Chinese, Japanese, and Korean style furnishings. To this day, oriental furniture is a very popular choice in modern American homes.

The allure of oriental furniture is largely due to its subtle beauty. Asian style furniture is noted for its minimalistic approach, opting for function over form. The beauty lies within its unassuming designs, representing great but subdued artistry. Oriental furniture is often built from very sturdy elm, gingko, and kiri wood, although of course some oriental furniture is built from sturdy bamboo. Asian style furniture often comes in a rich, dark hue that is sumptuous and visually intriguing.

The pride of Asian furniture is in its lacquer finish. One of the major differences between Eastern and Western furniture design is that westerners tend to value sleek, shiny objects. Easterners, on the other hand, tend to value a natural look more. Oriental furniture is not so much beautiful on its own, as much as it is stunning in the way it interacts with the rest of your furnishings, and the way it subtly plays with light and shadow.Similar Posts:

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Coincidentally, about a week and a half after getting my sample from SomethinUrby.com (read my review and experience of their decal here), Joanne from BlankCanvasDesigns approached me to review their product, hence this post- HowsHouse.com’s second official review of a Malaysian online retail store for wall decals.

BlankCanvasDesign was also kind enough to allow me to select my choice of decals. However, the entire transaction was done backend by the BlankCanvas team and my decals were delivered to me by courier 2 days later, hence I am not able to provide my opinion and experience on their website’s handling of transactions. The decal of my choice was Cyberflowers, which is part of the ‘Classics’ range. The good thing about BlankCanvas is the myriad choices of colour schemes available for most of their decals. Unfortunately the downside is that they do not have a colour preview which would’ve been rather useful.

I knew just the place to set this decal up- our master bedroom, just above the bed headrest on YinLeng’s side of the bed. It’s a wall i’ve always wanted to put something but just never got around to doing it. Here are some pictures of the unboxing:

Front of package

Back of package- with generic ‘how-to-apply’ instructions

Entire decal comes in four large squares- when I first saw this, it immediately dawned on me that I might have a daunting task ahead

Squeegee included- made of plastic, much like your credit card, only without the magnetic stripe,chip card and purchasing power.

Now, because this was a floral pattern, we really had total freedom on designing the layout of the decal as it was not restricted in any way at all. Whilst promoting creativity, it could have a downside too for those who lack imagination might struggle to piece together the decal into an attractive form. YinLeng, being the more creative of the two, cut out the vinyls into smaller, more manageable pieces and laid them out on the floor to create a design which we both agreed on.

The aim was to have the decal start at the intersection of two walls, and flow towards the centre of the wall that we have our bed up against (You’ll soon see what i mean in the pictures to follow). Here are some images after we laid them out on our bedroom floor. We both democratically agreed on the layout- though secretly, I was wondering how the end product would look like.

Next we transferred our design to the wall. We taped the individual decal pieces against the wall in order for us to get a much clearer picture of how our finished product should look.

We decided to have a few loose cyberflowers, away from the branches to cover more wall. Right after we were happy with the final layout, it was time to start squeegee-ing and sticking the decals. I wiped the wall down and YinLeng, at 39 weeks pregnant, looking agile as ever, started with the lower corner whilst I went straight for the loose flowers.

The squeegee was very effective and the transfer paper was rather thin but sticky. We didn’t have any problems sticking the decals on at all. Occasionally, the decal might not come off the transfer paper and onto the wall, but with a bit more squeegee-ing, it’d come right off and stick perfectly on the wall. I was extremely satisfied with the quality of the vinyl. For review purposes, i deliberately tried to remove one of the decals to check for staining- there was none; and re-usability- I’m guessing it isn’t advisable by the manufacturers but the decal stuck on well anyway for the second time.

Overall, I liked that we decided to have the decal start from the right wall and flowing onto the main section of the wall we have our bed up against- i reckon it gives it some character. I am thoroughly impressed with the outcome and this would not have been possible but for the high quality and ease of application of the decals from BlankCanvas. We took a little more than an hour to complete the entire process (it might’ve taken longer if not for our experience with the Winter Sakura decal). It’s hard to tell whether it’s a sticker or if it was painted unless you look at it from a very close range and run your fingers through.

I’d like to thank BlankCanvasDesigns for graciously providing HowsHouse.com with a sample for review.

Here’s a list of pros and cons from my experience:

Pros

• Package came totally intact- well designed and made of thick card paper, all decals were stuck onto four large squares of backing paper
• Multitude of colour choices to select from for each decal. This would enable the user to tailor the decal to most any existing wall colour combination
• Freedom of design- due to the nature of the design, it required us to be creative and design the layout of the decals ourselves. In truth, we did sneak a peek at the website for some pointers but once we got started, it was pretty easy
• Decals are of high-quality and do not stain the walls upon removal. Extremely easy to apply
• Squeegee was effective- made of plastic and was tough enough to effectively transfer the decals from transfer paper to wall
• Price- BlankCanvasDesigns retail their decals from about RM85-RM149 in general. Many may find it expensive paying for ’stickers’ but in truth, it you look at it from a time-cost basis, it’s not at all pricey. Would cost more if one were to buy an artpiece for the wall or use wallpaper.

Cons

• Despite having a multitude of colour choices, it would’ve been great if their website had colour previews for each of the choices available
• Some might find it difficult to piece together the decals and create a suitable design. Would’ve been nice if the package comes with some examples for those of us who lack a little creativity. Nothing worse than screwing up the application of the decals!
• Instructions were very general. I’m not certain I would’ve been totally comfortable with the simple instructions had it been my first time applying decals. It’d be nice to see model-specific instructions but I suppose that comes at a cost to the BlankCanvas team as well

Overall, the entire experience from start to finish was pleasant- nothing too confusing that we could not overcome- and we are very thrilled with the outcome. The pictures in this blog post do not do it any justice but believe you me, the effects are quite marvellous. Go check out BlankCanvasDesigns now and pick a decal to beautify your home. Decals are the modern equivalent to expressing art on the walls of your home.

Click here to jump to Blank Canvas Design’s official site

Previous posts related to wall decals:

Wall Decal Review- SomethinUrby

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