boomers and builders disagree over new home priorities

A recent survey showed age-resistant baby boomers and eager-for-the-recession-to-be-over home builders may not be on the same page in terms of which aging issues should take priority in new homes.

With growing talk recently about universal design (designing for the less able-bodied as a good way to design for everyone), builders have begun to add basic universal design features to their new seniors communities… including levers rather than door knobs, wider doors and halls (for wheelchair access) and a full bath on the main floor.  But some of those features, it seems, are lost on consumers who want some other features a little more.

Surveyed baby boomers ranked non-slip floors, larger medicine cabinets (!), lower kitchen cabinets and emergency call buttons as more relevant, most of which are not widely available in new homes.

On other issues, however, builders and consumers are on the same page. Consumers ranked  nearness to community resources like shopping and medical services, single story-homes and high-speed Interent access as big priorities for their later years.

Survey by National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the MetLife Mature Market Institute. August ’09, Qualified Remodeler.

mattresses rated by quality of sleep

So who’s getting the best sleep these days? Well, acccording to a research study by Furntiure/Today and HGTV, it’s likely to have a lot to do with which type of mattress they’re sleeping on!

Since shopping for a new mattresses isn’t the easiest thing you’ll ever do…   some consumer feedback might be helpful. Here’s what we know!

Innerspring mattresses and innerspring core with specialty foam are the most common mattresses currently being slept on. Here’s the breakdown of how many consumers are sleeping on which type of mattresses:

Innerspring – 59%
Innerspring core with specialty foam – 23%
Memory foam – 8%
Air mattress – 5%
Latex foam mattress – 3%

Air bed mattresses and memory foam mattresses ranked highest among consumers for an “excellent” or “good” night’s sleep. When asked about the quality of night’s sleep they were getting:

74% sleeping on AIR BED mattresses said excellent (37%) or good (37%)
71% sleeping on MEMORY FOAM mattresses said excellent (34%) or good (37%)
67% sleeping on LATEX mattresses said excellent (32%) or good (35%)
56% sleeping on INNERSPRING W/ SPECIAL FOAM mattresses said excellent (15%) or good (41%)
36% sleeping on INNERSPRING mattresses said excellent (6%) or good (30%).

The age of a mattress is directly related to the quality of sleep. When those who claimed an “excellent” or “good” quality of sleep were asked when they’d purchased their mattress:

60% said in 2008 
58% said between 2005 and 2007
44% said between 2002 and 2004
38% said between 2001 and 2000
29% said in 1999 or earlier

Memory foam mattresses are slightly preferred by younger consumers. Of those ranking memory foam mattresses as the ”most comfortable” mattress:

46% were under age 35
45% were age 35-44
30% were age 45-54
26% were age 55-64
30% were age 65 or older

Innerspring mattresses with a specialty foam are preferred my middle age consumers. Of those ranking innerspring mattresses with specialty foam as the “most comfortabe” mattress:

35% were under 35
32% were age 35-44
41% were age 45-54
40% were age 55-64
35% were age 65 or older 

Bottom line… mattress preferences are very personal, and it’s important to take the time you need to choose the right one. But you do tend to get what you pay for. Mattress engineering has come a long way the past 5-10 years and spending a little more money on a quality mattress can make a big difference to your quality of life, not just sleep!

spaghetti scrubbers are more than fun to look at

Product:  Original Spaghetti Scrub
Supplier:  Goodbye Detergent

If you’re tired of smelly, moldy or rusty scrubbing pads, a new line of kitchen scrubbers should come as good news.

The curly, abrasive strips that make up these spagetti-like creatures inspires their name  ”Spaghetti Scrub”, part of a “Goodbye Detergent” line of environmentally friendly products for home.

Made of corncobs and peach pits(!), these unique scrubs are a green alternative to synthetic scrubbers.

With their naturally abrasive texture, it’s actually possible to clean up without using toxin and chemical-ridden detergents.  You don’t need to use any soap with these scrubs (though a really small dab of soap helps for really greasy jobs – a lot of soap will go a long way). They’re pliabile too, which helps for trickier cleaning jobs like cleaning faucets. They dry quickly which helps inhibit growth of bacteria. You can also throw them in the microwave for about 10 seconds after use.

The coarse scrubs (made with corn cobs) are ideal for cleaning metal cookware, kettles, sinks, grills. They also work for peeling vegetables. The gentle scrubs (made with peach pits), are meant for cleaning wood, plastic, and any other materials that are prone to dull or scratch. Just a note: these scrubs aren’t intended for glass, lacquer or for non-stick coatings.

Based on normal use, these resuable scrubs should last 3 to 6 months. Each recyled box contains 2 scrubs. Expect to pay about $9.

Made in Japan (designed by Hiroki Hayashi), these innovative scrubs have won the Design Plus Award 2009 in Europe, the Good Design Award 2008 in Asia, and the Wallpaper Best Sinkside Award 2008 in the UK.

how to combat greenwashing

Despite growing interest in a greener world, it’s not hard to be confused by all the product claims out there from companies that want to get on the green bandwagon.

Greenwashing, a new word in the dictionary (or at least on the short list), describes the trend by some marketers to overstate how green a product really is. Like whitewashing, it deliberately hides, overstates or hazes over real green practices and limit consumers’ ability to validate or evaluate a product’s claims.

How can you avoid greenwashing? Acording to John Wagner, award-winning author and Green Editor for Qualified Remodeler magazine: ignore it.

Easier said than done? Not really. Wagner outlines the 5 basic tenets of any green product. “No matter what a product claims”, he asserts, “a product is green only if  it’s in accordance with these principles.”

These 5 green principles are actually more like questions you should ask about any product to evaluate its green quotient. Here they are… they’re really quite simple.

Does the product -

1. improve air quality?
2. use recycled or recyclable materials?
3. reduce water consumption?
4. use sustainably harvested materials?
5. reduce fuel consumption (carbon footprint) during its manufacture, delivery, installation or use? 

The good news is that most of these claims can be proven, or at least put in simple terms we can understand! And more third party rating agencies are sprouting up to verify and document the claims we can’t.

Simply put, the more of these 5 questions you can answer yes to, the greener the product is.

55+ inspire big home remodeling trend

More of us are planning for the future, not just financially, but physically. Seems we’re thinking more about what life will be like when we, or the people who visit our home regularly, are older.

Universal design, a fancy term used to describe home design features that respond to aging or physical disability, is catching on. According to the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders), 70% of surveyed remodelers reported making home modifications based on aging, up from 60% in 2006.

The trend is driven by age 55+ homeowners who want to stay put, or age-in-place, over the years. But universal design features are also being considered by younger folk with concerns about older parents who visit, or may even live with them now or in the future. 

Which features are most popular among remodelers? According to the NAHB survey:

78% are adding grab bars
71% are installing higher toilets
60% are upgrading to a curb-less shower
57% are widening doorways
45% are constructing ramps or lower entry thresholds
45% are enhancing overall and task lighting

Source: Qualified Remodeler Magazine, May ’09

counter-top washing machine offers unique benefits

I recently came across an interesting new product that may change the way you think about (and do!) your laundry.

The WonderWash is will do up to 5 lbs of laundry with not a lot of detergent or water. You fill the machine with water (hose included), hand spin the large lever for 2-3 minutes, drain and refill the water, and you’re done.

I haven’t personally tried this product (…and it sounds like more physical exercise than I currently get in a day), but current users (from consumer reviews on their site) seem seem happy that it…

* uses no electricity
* uses 90% less detergent and 90%  less water
* leaves less soapy residue in your clothing
* is handy for small, frequent loads such as diapers and hand-washing 
* saves on dry cleaning bills ( ideal for delicates, woolens, silks, knitted dresses and cashmere)
* convenient for homes without laundry facilities, dorm rooms and camping

For more information:o www.laundry-alternative.com.

therapeutic chairs for the living room?

With all of our growing stress… and baby boomers’ continuing issues with back and neck pain, headaches, injuries, arthritis and repetitive strains… therapeutic chairs are selling well in a tough economy.

But until recently, very few of us were likely to put these medical-looking chairs  anywhere but in a room off the beaten (or at less public) track… often in the basement.

Not only are these chairs looking better these days (…they’re almost living-room worthy!), they’re also going beyond simple massage mechanisms of the past, and including all kind of great Shiatsu, Swedish and chiropractor features.

Want more good news? They’re also coming down in price! With the loss of higher-priced Sharper Images and Linens ‘n Things in 2008, massage chair suppliers are now looking for new places to sell these chairs, including furniture and consumer electronics stores that work at lower price points and profit margins.

Check out just a few of the more streamlined, less bulky looks above.  On the right, Panasonic’s first chair priced under $2,000 (right). On the left, a therapeutic chair at Costco for $1388.

If you’ve tried one of these chairs, you’ll probably agree with that they seem like a worthy splurge at a time like this… maybe in place of those vacations we’re not taking this year!

sleep and work need to work together

What do sleep and work have to do with each other? A lot, it appears, and the two biggest ways we spend our day have always had a close connection… one relying on the other to restore our bodies.  Unfortunately that relationship has changed over the recent past. With more stress at work and too little exercise, work and sleep now often work against each other. 

“Physical strain at work tends to create physical fatigue and leads to restorative sleep. But psychological strain has the opposite effect, making it more difficult for people to sleep,” says Sarah Burgard, author of a study of 2,300 American adults whose sleep patterns were monitored for more than a decade.  The study found that people who frequently felt upset or stressed at work, or had ongoing conflicts with bosses or coworkers were nearly twice as likely to experience sleep apnea or other sleep disorders.

Interestingly, the study didn’t find evidence of a link between poor sleep and working long hours, nights or weekends.  Hmmm.

So if over-working doesn’t put strain on our sleep, but working with conflict does, it sounds like we might need to get back to some old-fashioned physical fatigue to improve our sleep? In other words, if we can’t reinvent our boss or vaporize the difficult people at the office, we might have to rely on tiring our physical bodies to counteract stress in our head.  We’ve all heard that phyiscal activity strengthens our heart muscles, keeps our weight down and gives our mind a break. Research now confirms that it will help us sleep better too!

Some experts warn against too much activity or exercise right before sleep, but few would warn against walks, house-cleaning, playing outside with the kids or any other vigorous activity everyday that will fatigue our body physically (rather than just mentally) so we can avoid sleep disorders and doze off like a baby (…or a bike courier).

cleaning the kitchen is the most rewarding

If you’ve got to spend time cleaning today, cleaning the kitchen will likely be more satisfying than cleaning elsewhere.

This according to research by the the Soap and Laundry Detergent Association (yes, there’s an association for soap and laundry detergent) indicating that when it comes to housekeeping, Americans rank cleaning the kitchen as their No. 1 most rewarding task.

save on heating bills with ‘zone’ heat

If your heating bills are a looming expense every winter, made worse only by an uncertain income and inflation, there’s a way to reduce them, potentially saving yourself hundreds of dollars every year.

According to the Hearth, Patio and Barbeque Assocation, we use less than 40% of our home on a regular basis. In other words, we’re heating empty rooms nearly half the time.

A great solution is zone heating. In other words, heat the rooms you use the most OR where you’re least active (living rooms, family rooms)… and reduce the heat in rooms you use the least OR where you’re most active (bathrooms, kitchens, hallways, bedrooms). 

With the exception of sleeping, we tend to want to feel warmest in rooms where we’re least active.  ”When you’re active and moving around the house, your body doesn’t feel the need for heat as it does when relaxing in the family room,” says David Coulson with Napoleon Fireplaces & Grills. 

Family rooms and bedrooms used frequently during the day or evening can be heated with an alternate zone heating source … a fireplace, space heater, electrical fireplace or a stove or fireplace insert… rather than a central furnace that heats every room equally. 

Here’s a few other ways to save money on heating bills without catching a cold in your own home! 

* turn down the heat at night. We sleep better when we’re cooler (and when we know we’re saving money!)

* when using the fireplace, turn down the thermostat

* use heavy, insulating drapes in rooms you use the most,  even if it means changing them in the summer to something lighter.