How To: 7 Random Uses for Used Tea Bags
The next time you brew yourself a nice cup of hot tea, don't throw the tea bag away. Old tea bags can be used in many ways ranging from household cleanup to DIY beauty and even gardening.
Retro Furniture Search Results
News: Mind Screw! Shifting Reality = Endless Interior Decor Possibilities
You have two choices for keeping your living room looking fresh: A. constantly update the decor by tripping out on acid—NOT recommended—or B. paint your living room white and get two video projectors. Created by Mr. Beam:
What Every ManBoy Covets: The Nintendo Entertainment System Coffee Table
Little boy gamers don't care about coffee tables. But when a little boy gamer grows up, he's gotta have some kind of furniture. Like a giant NES coffee table with a fully functionally, giant NES controller. So Matt (grown boy gamer) built one:
News: Cardboard Mechanics
We love it when everyday material is used in a new and unexpected application. Cardboard is something most of us take completely for granted. We need it when we're moving, and that's about it. When Frank Gehry created the cardboard chair in 1972, he blew the minds of both the furniture and the design world. So strong. So durable. So fluid.
How To: Apply an oil- or water-based stain to wood
Staining wood is an exciting and fun step in your refinishing process. Staining brings out and enhances the patterns in the wood grain and it unifies an overall color. At this stage your project piece begins to look more finished. Allow enough time to complete this task from start to finish to ensure continuity of color. You have the choice of using either water or oil-based stain, and each offers advantages and disadvantages.
How To: Make a folding screen using old hinges and shutters
Assembling the wooden screen is simple, but be prepared to get grimy while rooting around the salvage yard for matching hinges.
How To: 9 Cheap Interior Decorating Tips
To add a splash of unexpected color to your living space, paint the side of your door a vibrant color, or repaint an old piece of furniture to a bright new hue. Sometimes interior decorating, especially if you want to do it on a budget, is simply a matter of elevating what you already have or adding a single piece that changes the ambiance of the entire space.
How To: Remove Permanent Marker Stains from Any Surface
Contrary to its name, a permanent marker is not completely permanent if you really need to get it off a non-paper surface.
DIY Hack: Fix Your Stubborn, Hard-to-Close Door with a Couple Toothpicks
Toothpicks can be surprisingly handy when it comes to woodworking and fixing small household problems like stripped screw holes and scratched furniture. They can also be used as a quick fix for a hard-to-close door that has to be forced or slammed shut.
How To: 20 Non-Cooking Uses for Olive Oil
If you ever run out of shaving cream in the morning, just step over from your bathroom to the kitchen and use olive oil as a substitute. Not only does it save you a future trip to the drug store, it also helps moisturize your skin.
How To: 16 Uses for Wire Coat Hangers That Have Nothing to Do with Hanging Clothes
Do you have an excess of wire clothes hangers from multiple trips to the dry cleaners? Rather than letting them take up space in your closet, you can use them for any number of things, from holding your necklaces and magazines to unclogging your sink and fishing dropped objects behind furniture.
How To: 10 Easy DIY Methods for Removing Ink Stains with Household Items
Need to remove an ink stain from your carpet, clothing, wooden furniture, or new pair of jeans? Thankfully, as with most DIY stain removal techniques, you can probably concoct your own stain-removing solution from common household items in your bathroom or kitchen. Some examples include white vinegar, corn starch, toothpaste, WD-40 spray, dishwashing soap, hair spray, and even milk. Yes, milk.
How To: 15 Clever Uses for Expired Debit, Credit, Gift, and Membership Cards
Do you have a junk drawer full of expired gift cards, membership cards, school ID cards, debit and credit cards, and other sturdy rectangular pieces of plastic you no longer use?
How To: 11 Amazing Ways to Reuse Used Coffee Grounds
Do you drink a lot of coffee? Before you toss your used coffee grounds into the trash or compost bin, see if you can use them to deodorize your freezer, cover up your wooden furniture scratches, and help clean up the grease and grime from your pots and pans.
How To: 8 Fabulous Ways to Repurpose Fabric Softener Dryer Sheets
Just dried a load of laundry? Don't throw away that used fabric softener sheet just yet. You can repurpose a used sheet for a variety of practical uses around the home, such as picking up pet hair from your furniture, deodorizing your gym bag, removing static cling from your stockings, and adding shine to your mirrors and toaster.
How To: 10 Fabulously Practical Uses for Scotch Tape
Scotch tape may not be as versatile as duct tape when it comes to mending things, but it still has a number of weirdly practical uses that goes beyond taping down wrapping paper and sealing envelopes.
Trash Treasure Hunt: An Illustrated Guide to Dumpster Diving for Newbies
There is no discount like free. And if you are not afraid to get your hands and clothes dirty foraging through dumpster bins, trash cans and the back alleys of department stores or restaurants to score perfectly usable items and perfectly edible food without paying a single cent, then dumpster diving might be right up your alley.
How To: 11 Slick Uses for WD-40 Spray
Originally invented in the 1950s to develop a rust-preventing solvent and degreaser for the aerospace industry, WD-40 spray has at least 2,000 practical uses for house-cleaning, gardening, furniture maintenance, farming, and more. Commonly used to repel water and prevent corrosion, WD-40 can also be used to help lubricate stuck objects (like zippers and LEGO parts), make shovels slippier for more efficient use, and even keep pigeons from pooping on your balcony.
How To: Mod a Sony Walkman Cassette Player into a Retro Apple iPod Case
Another media player bites the dust. First, we saw the extinction of the phonograph and gramophone. Then came the fall of eight-track tapes. Even modern record players became more and more obsolete, with DJs switching over to the world of digital music. And today— the end of cassette players! What's next? Compact discs?
News: DIY Gigantic Nintendo Coffee Table Controller
Playing Super Mario Bros 3 with a giant controller on a projection screen = nerd nirvana. Giant NES controller/coffee table/storage box made by Kyle Downes. This piece of furniture actually connects to the system, and works as a real controller. Scroll down for video demonstration and images.
How To: Make jello shots with the world's hottest pepper
Ghost chiles. They're the hottest chili peppers known to man, and they come from India. They're rated at over one million Scoville units. The typical jalapeño pepper only has between 2500 and 6000 Scoville units. You don't need liquor to get messed up on these jello shots!
News: Smart Chairs With Butt Memory
Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka (creator of the crystal chair) is back with a new "shape-shifting" chair, set to debut at Milan Design Fair this upcoming week.
News: Dust Off Those Old Nintendo Cartridges, Hyperkin Is Here!
Do you remember when video games came on tiny chips in plastic cartridges? When the CD and 3D graphics just meant ugly games with long load times? Before epic cinematics, spoken dialog, or cordless controllers? Do you still have all of your old games and lament that the consoles, cords, and controllers required to play them have either been stolen by exes or broken while moving apartments?
How To: Play Emulated Games on Linux with Your Xbox 360 Controller
I have to say, the Xbox 360 controller is the best controller ever created. When I first held it back in 2005, I swore that the dudes working at Microsoft came over and took a molding of my hands because of how great it felt. The thing felt like it was born there.
Classic Commodore 64 Reborn: Get a 2011 PC in Retro Skin
Back in 1982, the Commodore 64 home computer was released by Commodore International for $595 (which would now be close to $1,300). It featured an 8-bit microprocessor, 16-color video microchip, awesome sound chip, parallel and serial capabilities, and a whopping 64 kilobytes of memory, all of which helped make it the best selling home computer from 1983 to 1986. It surpassed anything IBM had out at the time. Its greatest competitors were the Apple II and Atari 8-bits, 400 and 800. And it had...
News: Massive Xbox Live Sale in E3 Week!
MS is having an Xbox live sale blowout during E3 week, up to half off in most games! And what's better is that these are actually good games, not the crappy ones!
How To: Record conversations secretly
Surveillance expert Julia Adams offers the different ways to secretly record a conversation in this how-to video.
How To: Install shoe molding
If you have hardwood floors in your house, take a look at your baseboards. Right in front of the baseboards there is usually a smaller, curved molding about ¾” tall. How does this short molding look? Is it painted over, chipped and/or just beat up in general? If so, you can easily replace this molding and make a huge difference in the overall appearance of your room. And, it is fairly easy to do.
News: The Easiest Way to Find Clothing & Accessories That Celebs Wear in Movies
With film being such a vital outlet and marketing tool for fashion, movie stars are either wearing the coolest and latest threads, or retro looks that are sure to make a comeback. I regularly see a cool jacket or pair of sneakers being worn by an actor in a movie I'm watching, and I just know those items would look great on me.
News: Craft a Steampunk chess set
We love these Gomi Style guys. Creators of past sensations like the cardboard chair and aqua mirror, here they come with a new inspiration. Steampunk!
News: Kindergartner handcuffed after throwing tantrum at school
Police in Milledgeville, Ga., say they handcuffed a 6-year-old kindergartner for safety after she allegedly threw a tantrum at school, tearing items off the principal's wall and upending furniture, WMAZ-TV reports.
News: Artist to Schlep Mammoth Chunk of Ice from Greenland to NYC
It's an ambitious How-To project to say the least, or more specifically, an over-the-top political art installation by San Francisco artist Brian Goggin. You may have previously heard of Goggin for his "Defenestration" project—an installation of "frozen" furniture, being tossed mid-air from a San Francisco apartment building. But Goggin's latest project sounds significantly more challenging to execute, considering the elaborate game plan involved:
How To: David Lynch's Hair as the World's Greatest Masterpieces (+ How to Meditate)
San Francisco writer Jimmy Chen over at HTMLGIANT cleverly composited the beloved filmmaker/artist/furniture designer/transcendental meditation expert David Lynch next to the likes of Cy Twombly, Vincent Van Gogh, John Singer Sargent, Roy Lichtenstein, Claude Monet and Katsushika Hokusai.
News: The Secret Life of a Love Doll
Famed artist and photographer Laurie Simmons boasts an impressive career spanning over three decades. She's shown at some of the world's top art institutions and galleries, and appeared on art world popular PBS television series Art 21. She also happens to be the the proud mother of promising young filmmaker Lena Dunham, the 24-year-old director of last year's indie hit Tiny Furniture.
News: The 130 MPH Dining Room Table
Just the other day, we featured Perry Watkins' "Wind Up" mini car, plus his extreme lowrider, the "Flatmobile". Both impressive.
News: House for sale
Have someone pretend to be a house salesman who's showing some people around a house. On the outside everything will seem normal but as they walk into the house everything goes mad.
News: Yum, These Scaly Feet Look Delicious
Sometimes the "nasty bits" are unexpectedly yummy. With a reputation for being both cheap and reliably good, Chichi Wang of Serious Eats describes chicken's feet:
How To: 12 Simple, Spooky Tips to Scare Up Your Halloween Party
Throwing a Halloween party this weekend? With some glow-in-the-dark paint, red food coloring, black light bulbs, latex gloves, and other simple and cheap Halloween props, you can transform your non-scary living space into a ghoulish setting for the perfect Halloween-themed bash.
How To: Feng Shui 101 for Your Living Space
Do you have a lot of stagnant energy in your life right now? Maybe all you need to do is check to make sure the drains are working properly in your kitchen and bathroom. Or place a small fish tank somewhere in your home to attract more wealth and prosperity.
How To: 12 Painting Hacks for Your Next Home Painting Project
Raw onions are commonly associated with bad breath, but when it comes to wet paint, instead of creating toxic smells they help remove them. If you just painted inside your home, slice a few raw onions in half and place them alongside the walls to absorb noxious fumes. Just make sure to discard onions afterwards, as they would be poisonous.