LED Lighting Brightens Our Workshop

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Philips Lighting. All opinions are 100% mine.

In the past we’ve been resistant to any form of lighting that isn’t incandescent. CFLs had the worst color, and they weren’t dimmable, and early LED light bulbs were just flat out too expensive. But, Philips Lighting has introduced a new LED light bulb that has become our go-to around-the-house lighting solution. It is available in two different shades of light to fit your needs and taste, and a pack of four is under $10!

(Philips Lighting has been a pioneer in LED lighting for years, and we’ve raved about its Hue connected lighting system.)

We first installed the Philips Classic Glass LED light bulb – Daylight version in our garage/workshop. With 800 lumens, the light bulbs illuminate our garage and work area much better than the CFLs that they replaced. We do a lot of woodworking after dark, so we rely heavily on our interior work lights. We’ve taken great care to arrange our overhead lighting to prevent any type of shadows while standing over projects, and the Philips LED bulbs have proven to be bright enough to properly illuminate our workspace, but not glaringly bright that we have to deal with harsh reflections.

If you prefer a softer color, the Philips Classic Glass LED light bulb – Soft White version is a great choice and might be preferable in a bedroom or living room.

Our garage lights are on a motion-sensing switch, but it’s nice to know they are only costing us pennies each year (about $0.84 cents). The energy savings is dramatic as the light bulbs only draw 7-watts compared to a 60-watt equivalent. Philips LED light bulbs also last up to 15,000 hours, which works out to about 13.7 years of use!  

In addition to lighting your workshop, if you’ve got hard to reach lighting, with bulbs that are tough to replace, Philips LED light bulbs are the way to go.

from http://bit.ly/2rkLyG0

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Boys’ Bedroom Progress & New Yogabed Mattresses

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Yogabed. All opinions are my own.

I’ve been on a mini blogging hiatus for a couple of weeks, and I owe you an update on the boys’ bedroom makeover. We ran into a snag with the lighting which pushed everything back a bit, but I’ll tell you more about that later. We did finally get the chandelier hung and added a new rug, but still have lots of work to do. Today I am so excited to tell you all about our boys’ new Yogabed mattresses!

A couple of years ago, I won a Yogabed mattress at the Haven Conference here in Atlanta. I got a king sized one for our bedroom, and I kid you not, it is the most comfortable mattress I have ever slept on. We absolutely love it. When we started making over our boys’ bedroom, we knew they really needed new mattresses too. Jake had an old hand-me-down, and Aiden had a cheap one from IKEA which I actually felt guilty about because it was so uncomfortable. I immediately thought about Yogabed since we love ours so much, and considering a mattress can be quite an investment, I figured we might as well go with what we already know is a quality product.

Yogabed is a luxury foam mattress and is specifically designed to support the body by dispersing weight evenly and reducing pressure points which can cause tossing and turning. It has a fully-ventilated design infused with a layer of YogaGel technology to help keep things cool. It also comes with a machine washable zip-off cover (a must, especially for kids!).

We got two twin-sized mattresses, one for each of the boys, and they each came with a memory foam pillow. (Yogabed offers free shipping and free financing too!)

So how does it work? It shows up on your doorstep compressed inside a box. Within minutes of removing it from the plastic and unrolling it, it expands into a regular mattress. It’s actually really cool to watch! Below is a quick video of the whole process. (Ignore the mess! And we obviously need new bed skirts too.)

Here’s the other one!

The pillows come compressed as flat as a pancake, and when you open their plastic packaging, they expand too. The boys loved watching that. They are our favorite pillows too. Chris and I have had ours for about 2 years now and they are so comfortable.

The final verdict? The boys love their new mattresses. They were amazed by the comfort (especially after the mattresses they had before), and are so happy with their cozy new beds.

You can find out more about Yogabed online, or connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information.

I’ll be sharing more about the boys’ room very soon! Here’s what’s still on the to do list:

• Hang window treatments
• Hang art
• Get new dresser and night stand
• Paint desk
• Get desk chair
• Paint Bookshelf and address storage needs
• New white sheets & bedskirts

We’re getting there, slowly but surely.

Disclosure: Yogabed generously provided the mattresses for our boys’ room. All opinions are 100% my own.

You can also connect with me here:

Thanks for visiting!

-Erin

The post Boys’ Bedroom Progress & New Yogabed Mattresses appeared first on Erin Spain.

from http://bit.ly/2qyknXi

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The Door Thief – bathroom progress

Installing doors is one of my least favorite jobs.  It’s difficult.  I know it’s not difficult or loathed by everyone.  But I LOATHE it.  But, there are four doors I need to install in this bathroom at some time. I’ve put it off as long as possible but it seems that time has finally arrived. […]

The post The Door Thief – bathroom progress appeared first on Sawdust Girl®.

from http://bit.ly/2qzJic1

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Wardrobe Cabinets for Bedroom 2

The wardrobe cabinets for Guest Bedroom 2 are each 32″ wide and 9′ tall.  It’s not a ton of space but these two bedrooms are small.  The new closet sizes are more proportionate to the bedrooms now.  They are both guest rooms for us.  Smaller closets and a larger bathroom is the perfect situation for guests.  We’re […]

The post Wardrobe Cabinets for Bedroom 2 appeared first on Sawdust Girl®.

from http://bit.ly/2pZk0c0

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Winning Workshops: The Brighton Woodshop

We guarantee this Winning Workshop would make Norm Abram jealous! From John Lewis’ old-time woodshop in Brighton, CO, he teaches hand-made chair making and builds furniture in the primitive style from reclaimed materials.

The shop is located in a partially renovated 1800’s barn. Renovations consisted mainly of the addition of an 1890’s base burner stove, some insulation, and patching enough holes to keep the sparrows out.

John uses authentic tools whenever practical. He has a great collection of 1800s to early 1900s spoke shaves, hand drills, block planes, lathe tools, etc. When it isn’t appropriate to use an authentic tool (because of it’s fragility, value or rarity) he tries to use tools made by craftspeople like himself who make hand-made wood working tools in the traditional style. The only power tools in the shop are his lathe and the table saw, which is only used for breaking down large pieces of material so they can be managed.

While there is no internet available at the shop, there are a lot of books about classic Windsor chair making, primitive woodworking, etc. to browse through. The shop is designed not only as a functional woodshop, but also as a relaxing place to be. It is funny how going out to the shop and working on a cradle for a friend’s new child for 10 hours can be more relaxing to the soul than any fancy spa or entertainment system.

We often romanticize the “good old days” more than is warranted, and shops like this make it easy. While life in the late 1800s was far from paradise, we can at least look to the parts that maybe we shouldn’t have forgotten, the parts that our culture misses without realizing why.

His friend Sam Ley who took these photos calls his workshop “A very calming place, especially in the winter with the old 1800’s stove burning”. Visit John’s website for more details.

If you think you’ve got a Winning Workshop – send it over!
photos courtesy of Sam Ley

from http://bit.ly/2rjHcRT

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How to Setup a Crossfit Home Gym

With the cost of gym memberships rising and the time it takes to travel too and from a gym, we’ve been inspired to setup our own Crossfit home gym. Crossfit is a core strength and conditioning system that aims to keep workouts constantly varied, high intensity and with functional movement.

Crossfit makes a lot of sense to gym rats and athletes who become bored with traditional weight lifting and cardio exercises. Crossfit posts daily workouts on their website with benchmarks to achieve and they inject some competition into it.

It’s now how much you can bench but how many burpees can you do? Crossfit gyms have some of the most traditional equipment such as barbells for power cleans and jerks but they have also introduced training with oversize tires, rings, kettle bells and ropes.

We recommend training with a qualified Crossfit instructor before attempting any exercises at home and on your own. It takes hours of practice to build the muscle memory to properly do some of the Crossfit exercises but there are some that you can probably jump right into if you are fit such as burpees.

To setup your Crossfit home gym you can do as little or as much as you want with the space and budget that you have. We started with a oversize tractor tire that can be used for plyo jumps, sledgehammer swings and tire flipping. We also use a jump rope to get warmed up as well as to push the cardio.

If you have space a pullup bar is the next logical choice and can be placed anywhere as long as you have ample space around it and make sure it’s got a solid hold.

Weight sets are easy to setup but can be costly. Search Craigslist for used Olympic sized bars and weights and opt for the rubber covered weights. You should also invest in the proper flooring.

For rings you need a bit more room but they are great for training.

A sledge and weighted ropes are also great but not totally necessary to get a full workout.

Start building your gym slowly and master some of the movements and before you know it you’ll have a kick ass Crossfit home gym.

photo: fitnesstown

from http://bit.ly/2rhgkSU

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The Best Trucks and Rigs at Overland Expo

Overland Expo West is a three-day off-road extravaganza. Over 10,000 attendees converge near Flagstaff, Arizona to celebrate heading off into the unknown. Whether you are traveling by 4-wheel drive truck or dual sport motorcycle, or any other type of motorized vehicle, you’ll find enthusiasts who share the same passion for adventure that you do. 

We traveled to Overland Expo in our 1989 FJ62 and camped in the new Yakima Skyrise rooftop tent. It worked out great for three nights and we loved how easy it was to deploy and comfortable it was to sleep in. We stayed powered up all weekend with our Ecoflow River portable power station and our Milwaukee Tool lights.

Overland Expo – Education

There are over 200 classes offered that can teach newbies as well as experienced drivers how to navigate a trip as well as how to identify the most technical and sound line. Land Rover, BMW, and BF Goodrich were there in full-force and were offering test drives in an off-road track for anyone who was interested. 

Overland Expo is about the Trucks

The big show at Overland Expo are the trucks and rigs of all types. From vintage Land Rovers, Jeeps, and FJ40 Land Cruisers to new full-size trucks including the new Titan XD Project Basecamp and the Ram Power Wagon. They are all loaded up with everything you need to survive and thrive away from civilization for days, weeks, or even months. The $500,00 Earth Roamers and decked out Sportsmobiles and Sprinter vans are always fun to see and our favorite Land Rover Defender 110s are beautiful. We can’t wait for the next Overland Expo and we’d love to take a run at Overland Expo East in Asheville, NC later this summer.

from http://bit.ly/2rfWQxK

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