Tips for Creating the Outdoor Shower of Your Dreams

An outdoor shower can be both fun and practical. If you don’t want kids, pets and other adults tracking dirt through your house, an outdoor shower is a great way to keep the great outdoors where it belongs: outdoors. Below are some of the biggest trends in outdoor showers, along with tips from experts on how to incorporate them into your outdoor space.

Turn a boring backyard into a relaxing retreat with an outdoor shower. Image: Pearl Remodeling

Tips for installing your outdoor shower

“Outdoor showers are a nice feature for pool owners or beachfront homes,” says Jarret Acevedo, a master plumber and owner of Jarret Acevedo Plumbing and Heating. However, depending on how low your temperatures drop in the winter, you’ll need to take precautions with your shower. “Care is definitely needed to plumb it properly to protect from freezing if it’s an area with frigid temperatures,” Acevedo warns.

Placing your shower strategically kills two birds with one stone. “Depending on your layout, you can punch through the shower wall and build a shower that opens up to another rain shower outside,” says Jonathan Self, a real estate broker for Center Coast Realty.

Cleaning and maintenance for outdoor showers

Even if you don’t have a pool, an outdoor shower can still make a backyard area feel like a private retreat. When constructing your outdoor shower, keep in mind the materials used. “Using materials like smooth river rock helps to hide dirt and sand and keeps the area looking clean so you’re not constantly cleaning after every shower,” Self says.

While outdoor showers aren’t terribly hard to build, Self warns that it’s easy to get them wrong. “Make sure the water from your shower is being drained away from your house,” he recommends. “You’ll also want to make sure the water isn’t collecting when you’re done, as you don’t want the shower to become a mosquito trap.”

Environmentally-conscious outdoor shower construction

That water runoff also has potentially negative environmental consequences, so keep in mind the products you use. Melissa Rappaport Schifman, editor and sustainability thought leader at Rise, recommends soaps and shampoos that are made from all-natural, biodegradable ingredients, particularly if your shower water soaks into the ground. It’s worth checking that your plans adhere to your local municipal codes.

It’s also important to choose an efficient showerhead. “A low-flow showerhead will help reduce the amount of water used without sacrificing comfort,” Schifman says. A standard showerhead uses 2.5 gallons of water per minute, whereas one with the EPA’s WaterSense Label uses two gallons per minute — or less.

In addition to a water-saving showerhead, Schifman recommends using a solar hot water heater in order to save money. “It can be as simple as a suspended bag that absorbs the sun’s heat (good for camping), to a simple outdoor tank, painted black, to more complex systems with solar tube collectors.”

Check out some of the hottest trends in outdoor showers:

This poolside shower is ideal for entertaining outdoors. Image: CG&S Design Build

Make your outdoor shower feel integrated by matching exterior wood designs. Image: Coast View Construction Inc

A concrete shower offers total privacy and is one of the easiest to clean. Image: Rockefeller Kempel Architects

This tropical pavilion shower has a cut-out for soap and other essentials. Image: Maxa Constructions

Consider adding areas to store objects so they can remain dry. Image: David Rolston Landscape Architects

When communing with nature, be a thoughtful guest and choose all-natural products. Image: BE Landscape Design

A shower on the porch (and next to the laundry room) prevents mess throughout the house. Image: Rethink Design Studio

These double doors create a seamless transition from the luxurious drop-in bathtub to the dual outdoor showers. Image: GM Construction, Inc.

Did any of the above outdoor shower ideas inspire you?

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GOLDEN Delivers an Organic, Sensory-Focused Yoga Studio for Warrior One

If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you know just how important it is to have a calm and inviting feel to the space. Considering just that, Warrior One yoga studio in bayside Melbourne hired GOLDEN design studio to create a space that offered an “organic, sensory experience for guests.” The new studio reflects their focus on holistic health by introducing guests to a peaceful place as soon as they enter.

A large storage cabinet is made of warm walnut veneer and cleverly hides away student’s personal belongings while in class. Dark sisal rugs span the ceiling for added warmth and texture, while cozy seating rounds out the space.

The white counter was custom designed by Melbourne stonemason and artist Den Holm and it takes on a sculptural in the lobby.

Two yoga classrooms offer minimalist surroundings for deeper concentration.

A wooden platform in one of the classrooms marks an elevated spot for the instructor to teach for better viewing, while also housing equipment for classes.

The bathrooms go bold with pink marble, wood countertops and brass fixtures.

Photography by Sharyn Cairns.

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10 Clever Ways to Use Ladders in Decor

Over the years, ladders have slowly but surely crept into home decor. They’ve been built into furniture and welcomed into our yards as plant stands. Recently, though, we’ve been noticing more stand-alone ladders leaning against the walls of some of the trendiest homes and apartments. Should all of us be using ladders in decor?

The answer could be yes. While it’s tempting to jump on any decor trend that’s as easy to integrate as this one, using ladders in decor makes practical sense. The slim profile and openness of a ladder makes it extremely useful in a number of contexts. Ladders are a great, small-footprint way to add storage to a room without making it feel closed-in or cluttered. They’re especially helpful in smaller rooms – like bathrooms – where square footage is limited but you need space to hang or store items. Using a ladder instead of hooks is a great solution for renters, too, because it means fewer holes in the wall.

Whether you want to work with ladders because you’re excited about finally being able to reach the top cabinet or you just want a low-investment way to freshen up your space, we’ve got you covered. To get your wheels turning, here are 10 photos of creative ways to use a ladder in your home or apartment.

Check out these pictures of ladders in decor for inspiration

This ladder does double duty. It’s an ideal towel drying rack while helping draw the eye upward. Image: Signature Hardware

A ladder is a convenient place to store magazines and smaller, fun reads. Simply sling them over the ladder rungs. When placed carefully, the rung can even act as a bookmark. Image: Peti Lau Inc.

A ladder is a great way to add bathroom shelving while keeping the space light and airy. Image: Anna Burles

While a bookshelf would have blocked a big portion of the living room wall, making it feel cluttered, the openness of a ladder helps the room breathe even as you add storage. Image: Global Source Lighting

If you’re really ready to jump into the ladders in decor trend, a two-tone piece is just the thing. Image: SF Design Build

This ladder waits for towels but, in the meantime, adds texture and height to the bathroom. Image: Lane Lamerson Interiors

A ladder can offer critical storage while taking up minimal square footage, helping rooms feel more open. Image: Alex Findlater

You won’t be afraid to fill the top shelves of your bookcases when you have a ladder at the ready. Image: Martin Horn

If you’re tired of clambering up onto your counter to reach your upper cabinets, blending a ladder into your existing decor is a perfect solution. Image: Murphy & Co.

If you’re looking for more storage without the extra blockiness that often comes with chests and dressers, a ladder is ideal. Image: Wickenden Hutley

What do you think of this decor trend? Will its usefulness keep it here for the long haul, or is this a fleeting fad? Would you add a ladder to your home decor? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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Anglepoise Goes Tiny with the 90 Mini Mini Desk Lamp

British lighting brand Anglepoise® has been creating their iconic desk lamp since the 1930s and in that time they’ve gone big and unveiled special designer editions. Never resting on their laurels, they continue to up their game with new designs and reimagining older ones, like their latest release where they go tiny with their bestselling Model 90 lamp. The 90 Mini Mini lamp offers all the features that make Anglepoise lamps so coveted all while shrinking it to its new tiny form.

The 90 Mini Mini stands at half the size of a standard desk lamp making it work in just about any spot you need extra light. While its size is ridiculously cute, it still packs an unbeatable punch with a long-life, dimmable, low-energy LED module that’s integrated into the shade and will last for up to 20,000 hours of usage. If you end up burning it out, you can replace the shade for a new one.

The lamp is conveniently powered by USB allowing for greater flexibility.

The shades fully rotate and tilt up and down, while the entire lamp can spin 360 degrees on its base.

90 Mini Mini launches this week exclusively in Northern America at the MoMA Design Store and online at anglepoise.com and store.moma.org. It’s available in Carbon Black with Black, Steel Blue with Grey, and Warm Silver with Blush for $150.

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Jaguar’s “Most Beautiful Car in the World” Goes Fully Electric

The general rule is it’s considered uncouth to upstage the bride and groom at their own wedding. But when it’s the iconic Jaguar E-Type we’re talking about, even royalty can make an exception. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s electrified matrimonial Jaguar E-Type Zero sparked such great interest with its appearance at the conclusion of the Royal Wedding this past May, the British luxury automotive manufacturer decided to turn a one-off fairytale into the reality of a production vehicle.

The Jaguar E-type Zero concept held court at Monterey Car Week’s The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, showing off its orange clad block of batteries underneath a tastefully painted Bespoke Bronze hood.

Though our own interest in the royal wedding itself was admittedly tepid at best, word of their one-of-kind electrified rendition of the iconic monocoque 1968 British sports car being duplicated for production definitely ignited an audible amount of approval and wide-eyed interest with its announcement and appearance at the exclusive The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering during this past week’s Monterey Car Week.

Here again was the epitome of the brand’s embodiment of “grace, space, and pace” philosophy, this time graced in Bespoke Bronze finish and fitted with an electric powertrain with single-speed reduction gear capable of moving the elegant bullet from 0-62mph in just 5.5 seconds and with a range in “excess of 170 miles”. Jaguar seems to have found a commendable balance of respecting the past by leaving the exterior perceptibly unchanged, while tastefully updating the interior with carbon fiber detailing and digital instrumentation/infotainment.

Though we weren’t afforded an opportunity to drive this sole iteration of the electrified E-Type, we were given ample time to drive its modern kin, Jaguar’s all-electric I-PACE SUV, the first production all-electric vehicle from Jaguar Land Rover. The E-type Zero shares many components with the I-PACE, most notably the snap back thrill of instant acceleration produced by an electric powertrain powered by a 40-kilowatt-hour battery. Expect the ride and handling to be even more thrilling in an E-type Zero incarnation.

Besides LED headlights, the Jaguar E-type Zero looks almost identical to its historical predecessor from the exterior. Peer into its aluminum clad interior, and driver and passenger are offered a modernized instrumentation and fascia with touchscreen infotainment controls clearly indicating the vehicle’s v. 2.0 upgrades.

The E-Type requires between six to seven hours to recharge its a 170+ miles range battery.

Tesla Motors Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen described the original Jaguar E-Type as a “cat that was kind of launching in attack mode…a car [that] still demands a presence on the road today.”

The Jaguar E-Type has long carried bona fides as “the most beautiful car in the world” (attributed to Enzo Ferrari from a 1964 interview with Classic Car Review), one of only six automotive designs deemed worthy of inclusion in New York’s Museum of Modern Art permanent collection. The decision to integrate zero-emissions tech while leaving the model’s sleek feline silhouette untouched seems prudent considering the risks associating with messing with such an iconic design. Jaguar assures us this updated roadster will “drive, handle, ride and brake like the original E-type, with its front-rear weight distribution unchanged”, a symbolic spearhead designed to acknowledge the past, while point toward the luxury manufacturers plans for an electric powered future.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/jaguar-most-beautiful-electric-car/

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Articolo Adds Three New Ranges of Lighting Designs to Its Collection

Melbourne-based studio Articolo continues to explore new forms and pairings of elegant materials in lighting design by adding three new ranges to its collection.

Inspired by the sunlight streaming across the horizon at dawn, the Glimpse pendant features a horizontal, mouth-blown glass shade that seems to suspend in mid air thanks to the two slender brass rods. The Glimpse comes in two versions: a clear glass shade that reveals the elongated light source within and an opaque finish that casts a more subtle glow.

The Trilogy pendant, named for its trio of mouth-blown glass orbs, is a softly-illuminated fixture that highlights the glass material. It’s supported by three solid brass rods with a central cuff detail, a solid example of Articolo’s sophisticated engineering and exploration of form.

Last but not least, Float is a collection of fixtures defined by its use of the cylindrical form. It is now also available in a ‘Capped’ iteration with a bronze cap and an intricate leather detail that acts as a bridge between the shade and the wall.

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Friday Five with Cara Judd of CARA \ DAVIDE

Hailing from South Africa, designer Cara Judd now calls Milan home. Before landing in Milan, Judd graduated with an interior design degree from Design Time in Cape Town and then went to work for Conran and Partners in London. She decided to head back to school, this time in Milan, to study Industrial Design at IED Milano where she graduated in 2011. During her studies, she met Italian designer Davide Gramatica, who like herself, went on to work at various design studios post-schooling. In 2016, the pair chose to join forces and set out on their own co-founding design studio CARA \ DAVIDE. Her works have been exhibited in Italy at SaloneSatellite, MACEF, and FuoriSalone, in London at London Design Festival, in Germany at Ambiente, in Canada at SIDIM, and in South Afrida at Design Indaba International Exibition. Along with producing solo and studio work for companies like TVS, Uniqka, and Mingardo Design Group, Judd also teaches at her alma mater IED Milano and curates and organizes design events around the world. Below she shares a beautifully curated selection of people, places, and things, in this Friday Five.

Photo by Zack Seckler

1. Botswana
Neighbouring my home country, Botswana is a place I’d love to visit for so many reasons and I hope to make a trip there in the near future. I’m taken aback by these breathtaking aerial views of the salt pans and wildlife by Zack Seckler.

Photo by Lorenzo Morandi

2. Fondazione Prada by Rem Koolhaas
A space full of light, reflection, texture, colour, tradition, subtle renovations and new materials. Great exhibitions, too!

Atang Tshikare – Field of View \\ Photo courtesy of ZAM

3. Atang Tshikare
A young South African multidisciplinary artist and designer with a fresh approach to his many and varied arrays of works.

4. Putrella by Enzo Mari for Danese
The more I consider this piece the more I love it. Architectural, strong and iconic, this piece is transformed with a seemingly simple fold and then takes on a whole new use completely out of its original context.

Photo by Malcolm Dare of The Pixel Foundry

5. Protea
One of my favourite things, its both a flower and an object in itself with its robust structure and velvety touch. It’s like the archetype of flowers and it’s just as beautiful dried.

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5 Easy Projects You Can Tackle Over the Labor Day Weekend

Preventive maintenance this Labor Day weekend can ensure your home and family are ready for winter. Image: Ward Young Architecture and Planning

Labor Day weekend signals the end of summer, so it’s the perfect time to take care of a few chores around your home. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Gary Findley, CEO of Restoration 1 and Bluefrog Plumbing + Drain, describes five relatively simple and inexpensive home maintenance projects that you can complete over the Labor Day weekend.

Clogged gutters can damage your home. Image: Gutter Helmet of MN

Clean out the gutters

“The gutters on your home can be filled with leaves, sticks and other debris. Over time, if not cleaned regularly, that debris can prevent the gutters from doing their job – ending with potential water damage to the interior or exterior your home,” says Findley. “Clogged gutters can also lead to mold and provide a home for unwanted pests and rodents.” He recommends cleaning your gutters every four months, depending on where you live and how many trees are in your yard.

A working smoke alarm could save your life. Image: First Alert/BRK Brands

Check the smoke alarms

“Checking your smoke alarm can be as simple as just changing the batteries to make sure the alarm is ready for any heated situation – and be sure to test it,” Findley says. According to the National Fire Protection Association, there’s a home structure fire every 90 seconds. Also, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that two-thirds of home fire deaths occur in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. “Fires can occur in a variety of ways in any room in your home. A smoke alarm is critical for the early detection of a fire,” Findley says. “Smoke alarms should be installed on every floor of the home, outside sleeping areas, and inside bedrooms.”

Keep your preparedness kit close at hand. Image: The Organized Home

Put together a storm emergency kit

“With hurricane season upon us, now is the perfect time to set aside important resources and put together a preparedness kit in the case of any natural disaster,” Findley says. “Your preparedness kit should consist of basic supplies like water, non-perishable food, a flashlight, a first aid kit, personal documents, etc.” However, he says you should also consider what your family members might need, like games for the kids and pet supplies.

Even small leaks can be expensive. Image: Carey’s Custom Woodworking

Inspect the household appliances

“A leaking appliance can cause a serious amount of water damage to your home. Take the time to look over your appliances to make sure they’re in tip-top shape,” Findley advises. This includes your refrigerator, AC unit, water heater, etc. “According to Dome Home Automation, the average water damage claim is $6,965. And that’s not hard to believe if you consider that around 250 gallons of water can be lost in a single day from a 1/8-inch crack in a pipe.” Findley recommends making regular inspections, replacing hoses and shutting off the water when you notice a leak. “You should also teach everyone in your household how shut off the water in case of an emergency,” he advises.

Water pressure can be too low or too high. Image: Walls and Floors

Check the water pressure

If the water pressure is too high, Findley says the water can damage your pipes over a period of time. “Most people only think to check the pressure if it seems low, but high water pressure can harm your water heater, faucets, appliances and even your washing machine hoses – and that can result in flooding your home.” He says you can test your water pressure by using a pressure gauge. “If it’s too high, you can install a water pressure regulator on the water main to make sure the maximum flow is 75 psi.” If it’s too low, he says you can either inspect the regulator to make adjustments or install a water pressure booster, which will improve the water flow.

Are there any other projects you’d like to complete over Labor Day weekend?

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Wait ‘Til You See the Amazing Furniture Deals You Can Get on Bed Bath & Beyond

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Shopping online at Bed Bath & Beyond just got real. Forget the endless selection of towels, bedding and bathroom stuff. It’s selling furniture that’s high quality and rivals the prices of some of your favorite retailers (like Amazon).

A sampling of Bed Bath & Beyond’s new furniture collection.

On the site, you’ll find a huge selection of furnishings like outdoor furniture, writing desks, kitchen tables, beds and more. And it’s added its very own membership program similar to Amazon Prime. For the $30 membership fee, you get 20 percent off everything you buy (except Dyson or Staub products). And even if you don’t go with the membership, you can find good deals, like those on the items below. Photography by Bed Bath & Beyond.

Coffee and side tables

Seating

Entry/console tables

TV cabinets

Bedroom

Home office

Dining and kitchen

Accent furniture

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