Do I need a Box Spring for my Mattress? This question comes up at least once during bed shopping for 90% of all people. And for good reason. Box Springs are a multi-million dollar, multi-million tree chopping industry. So in light of the green revolution (r-eco-lution?) these days, one can only wonder: is there really a reason for all the senseless killing of defenseless trees just to have an extra foot of wood, fabric, and air underneath your fully functional mattress? As it turns out, the answer is both a resounding no with a hint of yes. The real kicker here is that most modern box springs don’t actually have “springs” in them, which basically leaves just the “box” part as a truth. And this is exactly what they are, a wood-framed box covered with fabric. All of the bells, whistles, and 21st century technology go into the mattress part of the bed, which, if you were a well-informed bed shopper, could take on all sorts of exotic construction from innerspring, foam, visco-elastic (memory) foam, flotation (water), or air.

Example of a Firm Box Spring

Since most box springs are hard, mattresses are designed to work perfectly well on just about any firm, hard surface. The floor is one. I’ve slept on a mattress on the floor for a good 8 years, and I can personally vouch for the undiminished comfort of such a setup. If there is one key argument for box springs, it is that certain touted mattress manufacturers will claim that a box spring can extend the life of a mattress. This statement is true only to the extent of the box spring providing additional spring cushioning, absorbing some of the wear that is normally exhibited onto the mattress itself. These manufacturers typically provide a box spring with their mattress, one that they say is specifically designed to be used with that mattress.

Realistically, from all of the research I have done on this (and with a girlfriend that constantly debates this point with me, I’ve done my share of research), I have concluded that box springs only do two things well, and that is 1. increase the overall height of the bed, and 2. soften the overall firmness of the bed (given that the box spring is not extremely firm). Helping the mattress last longer is a distant, distant, and arguable third. As a person who neither cares for a tall bed, nor a soft bed, I found that platform beds are the most stylishly modern, environmentally-friendly pieces of furniture to complement my mattress. You simply don’t need a box spring for your mattress/bed.

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In the furniture industry? Looking to learn more about sustainable furniture? Or just want to get to know furniture better?  Follow these active and top experts on twitter:

@JuliaRosien
@tkpleslie
@UrbanDecorSue
@MagdaYFL
@shiraabel
I’ve learned a lot from all of them and I hope all of you will too! 
@visiondecor_evl

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When you saw Frank Lloyd Wright, you probably thought, “Ooooh, his designs.”  Yes, we are all familiar with his designs and legacy of interiors.

Tragic Irony

Just some Trivia
But here’s a fact for you.  Maybe good for those of you that would some day be on Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire, heehee.  But this is relevant to furniture and home design, so I’d figure this may interest some of you.

The affair and  murder
I did some research and found that a handful of sites talk about the murder.  Apparently, Frank Lloyd Wright eloped with a client’s wife to Europe and subsequently returned to live in a prairie house in Wisconsin.  Shortly thereafter in 1914, headlines wrote “”Murderer of Seven: Sets Fire to Country Home of Frank Lloyd Wright Near Spring Green”.  When Frank Lloyd Wright was at work one day, a staff member at the Taliesin locked up his 2nd wife, set fire to the house and hacked 7 people, including his 2nd wife, to death.

Tragic Irony
An ironic tragedy was that Wright had a design principal of “one door for all purposes”.  So as his house was set on fire, the murderer stood at the door when the victims tried to escape and hacked everyone to death.  I apologize to those of you that didn’t think this post wasn’t as upbeat as you thought, but just some interesting trivia for those of you that are the curious type.

For more reading:
http://www.ds.arch.tue.nl/education/students/MultiMedia/FallingWater/FLW.HTM
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/21/the-frank-lloyd-wrig.html
http://www.socyberty.com/History/Frank-Lloyd-Wright-Murder-At-The-Taliesin.69478

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I love visiting model homes and being inside such beautifully furnished interiors.  During the housing boom, I remember people getting into lines just to see a model home offering in the LA area.  I miss those days as not that many good and quality model homes are being offered anymore.

a model home desire…
So to bring back some good memories I was scavenging the internet to quench my thirst for model home images.  I finally came across IDM Solutions, a full service design firm that includes model home merchandising serving the PA area.  And I’d have to say I miss browsing stylish interiors and immaculate kitchens.

A Model Condo

Dining rooms are my second favorite room to peruse while looking at models, can you guess which room is my favorite?

A Model Single Family Residence

The Kitchen.  Yup, I love to cook!  So the kitchen is my most favorite room to look at when browsing models.  The industry grade appliances and marble counter tops, mmmmmmmm.

Townhouse Model Kitchen – Here’s another kitchen, I just couldn’t resist.

These model home pictures bring back good memories when I used to go model home crashing almost every weekend.  But model homes a quite pricey in the LA area still, so maybe I should just consider getting a nice fixer-upper in a good neighborhood?  Anyways, hope you enjoyed the model interior inspirations, you can visit the IDM Solutions website if you want to see more, link here.

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Can Google steal your Ideas?

Claim #1: I’ve seen my share of business ideas, business plans, and cool inventions.

Claim #2: One thing that I’ve been skeptical about is the legitimacy of super powerhouse search engines. 

I know what you’re thinking, “What do those two claims have to do with each other?”  Well here is my conspiracy theory in a nutshell:  Say for example, I come up with a great business idea or invention, and I want to do research about that specific industry, sector, and product.  I begin to Google my ideas and see what’s out there.  I then start partnering up with a couple of people about this remarkable new invention and we start collaborating on obtaining the necessary resources.  We start logging hour’s and hour’s worth of research and data extraction, and one of our sources is Google (the great omnipotent search engine powerhouse).   After a few months of research and development, we realize that it’s too late because Google just fully developed the idea and plans for a full launch. 

Who’s not to say that Google has a department specifically aimed at researching online market trends and popular searches, in order to see what is the “next big thing” or the “next great idea”?  They already have all the data trends of what people need information about.

Why is this monumental?  Well, it’s monumental because it shows Google’s twofold capability:

·  �
By utilizing its search statistics, Google can analyze what society begins to aim towards even before it’s caught on by the general public or media (It is a variation of insider information).

·   �
Through its informational database, Google can capitalize on great inventions in its early stages (prior to the step of trademark, copyright, etc).

Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power,” so just be careful who you’re giving your knowledge to.  Big brother is only a keystroke away… watching, hovering, and analyzing your every search.

Little Brother,
Samuel K

Visiondecor
Guest Blogger

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I should be going back to sleep right now, but instead, I’m here writing this in the wee hours of the morning out of fear.  You see, I knew I was going to get Sleep Paralysis this morning, because I know what it feels like, and as I was trying to fall asleep, I could feel it starting.  My eyes popped open, and it stopped.  As soon as I dozed again, I could feel it starting, so I opened my eyes again.  It’s scary.  And I’m a grown man.  But it’s a generally unpleasant experience that anyone would try to avoid, especially someone who knows exactly what it is and when they get it.

The thing is, I know Sleep Paralysis, and apparently it knows me.  That’s a big difference that separates me from a lot of people who experience it.  And a lot of people, often more than those who realize it, have experienced it.  Think about this for a moment: You’re laying there on the bed, either about to fall asleep or about to wake up, and suddenly you notice something.  It’s a feeling of panic, and the inability to move.  Maybe there’s also a feeling of a presence in the room, could be anywhere, but often it’s either right next to you or right behind you.  There’s a noise of some sort, like maybe a buzzing sound (like a dentist drill or electrical device), or maybe other sounds that are vaguely familiar, like faint talking or clanking of keys.  While you can observe these things, you simply can’t move a muscle.  You feel a crushing weight on your body, as if you’re being sucked into the bed, and you’re biggest concern is to move something, anything, even a finger.  You feel the need to turn your head so you can see better, but 9 times out of 10 you really don’t see anything.  And the presence?  It’s evil.  Totally evil.  You can feel it doing evil things, like observing you, drawing nearer, and somehow being responsible for your inability to move.

You are officially in Sleep Paralysis.

Now not everyone experience this to its full potential.  Some people just find that they can’t move, and their heart might be racing or they feel strange and nervous.  Some people can barely tell what’s going on, and before they know it, they are back asleep.  Long before science had an answer, the condition existed around the world in folk stories, the majority of cultures depicting sleep paralysis as “a ghost pinning you down”, “a demon that visits you in the night”, or an “old hag or witch” of some sort.  The ideas are generally evil, as a result of the strange feeling that something is malevolent during the experience.  In actuality, research has found that most of sleep paralysis is simply a function of the body to prevent movement during REM sleep.  WebMD goes further into the details of sleep paralysis. 

My own story is a bit different.  You see, I love the thrill of researching strange things both paranormal and normal.  I like hearing about ghosts, aliens, strange creatures, and I also like to scare people with my own stories.  I’ve known about Sleep Paralysis for a long time, but I’ve never experienced it until recently.  As a result, when I finally was experiencing it for the first time, I was excited and tried to test out all my theories about what I could move, and just generally taking in the feelings and observations.  That first time, I recall being able to look around the room and see the clock, which stated that it was 10:16am.  I remember slowly being able to lift my arm, as if it was extremely heavy.  After a while, I felt a sense of panic, and that there was something behind me (I was sleeping on my side) just out of view, that I simply must turn my head to check on.  The rest of my paralysis was experienced in this dreaded state, with me attempting to turn my head, but being unable to, yet convinced that there was something behind me just out of view.  Finally, I was able to wake up, and I noticed the room looked slightly different, the clock said 10:08am, and of course when I turned, there was nothing behind me.  Since that first time, I’ve experienced sleep paralysis on 4 other occasions, and due to the uncomfortable nature of the experience, I always find myself trying to get out of it.  I’ve never really felt a presence again, but I’ve felt the state of panic at my inability to move.

My Theory on Sleep Paralysis
After these events, I was able to stop my sleep paralysis.  Here’s how.  When I started experiencing sleep paralysis, it was because I had recently changed my sleep schedule to one where I woke up early in the morning, around 7:30am, to do about 1 hour worth of work that was required to be completed before 9:00am.  I would then go to sleep after doing this work, for only about 1 hour, before waking up again to head out for the office.  It was during this new schedule that I experienced sleep paralysis multiple times.  And I would always get it during that last hour of napping that I tried to force in after doing my work.  My theory is that due to the normal sleep cycle, where you go into REM sleep more frequently toward morning, you increase your chances to get sleep paralysis.  It’s the same reason why people remember dreams well if they happen in the morning.  Sleep Paralysis is scientifically defined as the paralyzed state of being in REM, yet being conscious.  In the morning, my brain was still in the morning stages of frequent REM cycles, yet also ready to “wake up” to a state of consciousness due to a full night’s sleep.  That is why I got sleep paralysis during those times.

I found a thread where someone was asking as to methods on inducing sleep paralysis.  I’m not sure why anyone would want to do that, but I have a good idea that waking up quite early in the morning for a few minutes of activity, and then trying to go back to sleep will probably cause sleep paralysis.

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Have you ever forgot your cell phone or your wallet at home?  Have you ever left an important document at home sitting on your desk or night stand because you were reviewing it before the next day?  Or have you ever left your lunch in the fridge because you were late and rushed out of the house?

What if I told you that with a few basic tips you would NEVER forget anything?  Don’t laugh, until you try it. 

It takes practice, but you can learn how to keep yourself from forgetting anything.  So long as you have some basic disciplines to keep in mind, you won’t ever forget something and regret it for the day.

When I say ‘disciplines’, I mean the minute you remember that you need to do something you should be active and prepare yourself to remember.  You should discipline yourself to act the minute you remember you need to do something.

Here are my tips in remembering things:

• The Unusual Indicator:  Often we forget things because as we are rushing out of the house we lose sight of important things because those things tend to blend in with your everyday clutter.  Try and use something out of the ordinary as a ‘marker’ that you are forgetting something.  Sometimes, I use a coat hanger or a roll of toilet paper and put it on top of my wallet so that I try to figure out what I am forgetting before I leave.
• Duplicates:  If you can, you should try and have TWO of everything.  I had to buy another laptop charger and a cell phone charger because I was tired of bringing my one charger in and out of the house.  I would forget about them as I left the house and I would have to carefully use my laptop so that it would last the entire day.  Or, try printing out another copy of that document you need tomorrow.  It won’t hurt if you had two, and it might help you more if you did something other than forget it at home.
• Do it when you remember!  This is key.  If you even THINK about forgetting something important, you should do something RIGHT at that moment that will help you remember.  This is the key to not forgetting, is doing something for yourself the minute you remember, rather than trying to remember to remember later.
• Things you don’t forget, you won’t forget.  Since we are creatures of routine, try and put all your important things together.  If you have a place to put your house keys, wallet, and cell phone then you won’t have trouble putting all your important things in the same area of your important things.  For example, if you need to use a certain key to open up the door before you leave every morning, try and place the things you forget next to those keys.
• Pack!  This is for guys (because girls already have/use one).  Invest in a briefcase or a messenger bag.  You can throw all your stuff in there and you won’t forget them.  If it’s big enough, you can put your important thing in there too.
• Scan.  This is your last resort.  It is the easiest thing to do, but it can be as hard as remembering to not forget.  Before you leave the house, take an additional 30 seconds and scan a few rooms before you leave.  This will help you remember to close a window, lock the door, feed the dog, and look for things you might have forgotten.

Well, I am sorry I couldn’t be more elaborate in the way I explain my methodologies when I try not to forget things, but I’ll remind myself to do a follow up post.

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One of the most overlooked, yet most promising forms of potential alternative energy is ocean wave power.  When you consider that currents and waves in the ocean are very constant, far more so than solar or wind, there are few reasons not to harness it.

The key reason why wave power is difficult to harness is the potential harshness of rough weather and storms.  At any given time, a storm could damage devices that harness wave power.

Alan Burns, and his CETO system looks to fix this problem by placing low-cost balloon pump devices on the sea floor.  By positioning the device on the sea floor, arranged in “wave farms” where hundreds of balloons can bob in unison to the current, CETO is protected by the surface storms that have hampered the development of wave power.  And since the device will not have to be built to survive storms, it can be built at a lesser cost.

Burns envisioned large wave farms with potentially hundreds or even thousands of CETO balloon pumps offshore, where the seabed is vast and not crowded.  The wave farm will systematically pump seawater towards shore under high pressure, where it can be used in desalinization plants, or pumped through turbines in a power plant, generating electricity.  The design is brilliantly simple, and answers virtually all the problems that plagued wave power in the past.  Here’s a rundown of the roadblocks that CETO has solved:

1. Storms – The turbulence from potential storms is nearly non-existent at the sea floor, when compared to the ocean surface.
2. Durability – All materials that will be used in constructing CETO are proven for decades of use on existing oil rigs already.  Expensive and delicate devices are kept on dry land, as the wave farms only work to pump sea water toward the surface.
3. Production – The simple balloon and piston design allows CETO pumps to be manufactured in one factory, and shipped (deflated) to anywhere in the world, with less manufacturing costs overall.
4. Aesthetics – By being placed on the sea floor, CETO wave farms will not cause public criticisms over use of space, unlike wind and solar power.  Nobody will even know the farms are there.

The first major wave farm is slated to be off the coast of Albany, Austrailia.  It will have 300 balloons and produce approx. 50 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 30,000 homes.  And this energy will come from the Earth, in the limitless fashion of wave power.

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My first generation Macbook Pro (MBP) battery has been dead for well over a year.  After it wasn’t able to hold a charge for a minute, I threw it in my ‘drawer of despair’ and left it for dead. 

As a result, I purchased a new non-Apple licensed battery that was suppose to hold 6 hours + battery life.  And for the first two weeks, it did a great job!  However, if you don’t cycle through the battery a few times, the battery charge won’t be as substantial as when you first received it.  So, my second battery is about to die, and I am very hesitant in purchasing a new $100 battery.  There has GOT to be cheap way to revive my dead and dying batteries.

Google: dead battery, laptop, fix.

Ding!

Okay, here is the point to my article.  I was looking up ways to bring back to life my battery.  And I found a number of articles talking about ‘freezing laptop battery’ and how it ‘won’t’ hurt if you battery is already dead.  So, here is my how to article that brought my battery back to life…

(*Please note that if you have a decently working battery, don’t try this out.  My battery was completely dead.  It only could hold battery life for about 5 minutes)

1. Find your dead battery, wrap it in some newspaper, and then a freezer bag so that it doesn’t have too much condensation.
2. Put your battery in the freezer for 4 days or so.
3. After the fourth day, remove the entire package and allow it to come to room temperature in the newspaper and freezer bag.
4. After about one to two hours, you can take it out of the packaging and wipe away any extra condensation or debris.
5. Plug into you turned off laptop and proceed to charge.
6. Charge for a 24 hour period.
7. Be patient.

At this point, if you battery holds a charge you can get anywhere from 30 minutes to one hours worth of battery.  Which, for my situation, is great!

You should try to cycle your battery once or twice (cycling, is letting the laptop turn off because your battery is about to lose all of the energy and then charging it until full before you use it) so that you can start using it normally.

Good luck!  Let me know if it works for you.

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