Love West Elm decor but don’t love the prices?
We’ve curated a list of trendy, budget-friendly, similar to West Elm decor finds for less! Your mid-century modern heart is about to be so happy with all the money you’ll be saving when giving your home its next fashion-forward refresh!
Here are some awesome decor finds that are giving us West Elm vibes:
(Keep in mind that actual prices may vary slightly based on current sales and promotions. For the most part, you can expect the competitor store prices to be MUCH lower than the prices at West Elm.)
West Elm offers stunning handcrafted tribal and Moroccan rugs, but the competitive prices offered by Rugs USA and their endless amount of identical rugs won us over! Despite a higher regular price, we know that historically you can always snag a great deal from this alternative retailer.
Hip Tip: Want a washable rug that will change your life? Read why we love Ruggable and score the best price on one!
My Hip sidekick, Lina, recently purchased this mid-century modern bed from…The Home Depot! Since her teen son needed a new bed frame and his room doubles as a guest room, they wanted to have a sophisticated bed to update the space. Despite being about $1,000 less (not including delivery fees and tax), you won’t even be compromising on quality because the one at The Home Depot is also made of 100% solid wood. As a bonus, it even comes in two other colors. 🤩
“We almost purchased the mid-century bed frame from West Elm as I adore this style bed so much, but I wanted to wait and see if it went on sale. To my surprise, I found this identical bed at The Home Depot and even a coordinating nightstand! We purchased both the bed and nightstand for under $500 shipped since we had a 15% off coupon from the mail! I’m so impressed with the quality of the wood and has exactly the West Elm vibe I was after. The wood even smells great too! Considering we spent about a third of the amount, I’m totally in love with this purchase!” – Lina, Hip sidekick
Love the bedding Lina has on her West Elm-inspired bed?
Her zip closure duvet set is available on Amazon in numerous colors and the prices start under $40! 😱 She raved about them so much I just bought two sets in the charcoal-checked pattern for my boy’s room. 🤩
Modern mid-century storage solutions don’t have to break the bank. We love this Wayfair find for over $400 less than the cost of the West Elm furniture piece and it even comes in five different colors. Better yet, our identical dresser is still made of solid wood and has much more storage space with a wider silhouette.
These gold standing planters will add a chic and fun vibe to any modern, eclectic, or boho home. It’s over 50% less than West Elm’s most popular medium size and if you’re looking for something slightly bigger, they even have another similar gold planter for less than $45.
Look at this happy plant baby! 🤩
Now all you have to decide is which plants you’ll add to your gorgeous new piece. 😉 This plant above is a Tradescantia plant species in case you’re looking to replicate the whole look. 🥰
If these aren’t the most identical poufs you’ve ever seen, I’m not sure what they are! Scoop up one of these gorgeous Moroccan leather poufs available in brown, white, blue, pink, silver, black, or red for a fraction of the cost of the West Elm option!
These stunners are sure to make any room feel grander and we love how there are different ways you can hang or lean this Home Depot find. They sure are nailing home decor lately, aren’t they? Dare we say we love the Home Depot mirror even more? 😏🤩
For about $300 less, you can score this identical wood-dipped stool on Etsy and support a small business while you’re at it. It will make the perfect stand for a plant baby or for your morning coffee.
Even better, they have 3 different styles and 3 different sizes to choose from. 🤩
Get stocked and ready to get this party started! We could totally envision either of these cute, gold bar carts at our next gathering (but we’re loving that Overstock price tag vs the West Elm decor cost)!
Your morning coffee shouldn’t feel mundane, which is why we think you need one of these fun mugs in your life! As a bonus, you’ll get free shipping at Etsy when you buy two of these mugs and we love the more contrasting colors even more than West Elm’s. 😍
Giftable and multifuctional with beautiful box its a brilliant gift idea Suitable for hot and cold drinks Perfect foam maker for coffee latte cappuccino hot chocolate matcha frappe milkshake beverages eggs etc Easy to use clean smart 1touch button design allows you to switch low speed and high speed and to turn onoff milk blender You can detach the whisk to clean after each use spin briefly into running water or put into dishwasher so the electric motor would not get wet Usb rechargeable doitsipo handheld milk frother can be fully charged in 15 hours No extra cost for batteries Portable size and storage tube allow you enjoy drinks in your home office picnic camping or travel
High quality the whole body of doitsipo mini foam maker is made of food grade 304 stainless steel as well as the whisks The powerful and whisperingquiet motor can keep your morning calm and peaceful 2speed adjustable milk frother with 2 speeds can make foamed milk and create froth in 20 seconds or less 2 stainless coil whiskes 1 single whisk and 1 double whisk can meet your different requirements
Designed for coffee loversthe milk frother gives that professional finishing touch to your latte cappuccino macchiato or hot chocolate Make delicious foamy creamer for your drinks at home without a trip to starbucks with your own milk frother Powerful handheld milk frother this coffee frother can be used for more than foaming milkwhich named drink mixer for milkYou can use it to whisk eggs for omelets and scrambled eggs The high speed whisk will blend protein shakes and other powdered drinksOr make the best matcha hot chocolate and espressobased drinks such as a latte cappuccino macchiato and more in the comfort of your home Ultrafast frothing electric coffee stirrereelectric foam maker is made by highquality stainless steel that is bpa free rustresistant and highly durable This milkcoffee foamer will create a fine velvety foam in seconds thanks to its 30 rings and a highspeed torque motor Powered by 2 aaa batteries not included
Excellent quality electric whisk bright milk frother handheld is finished in smooth stainless steel adding style to any kitchen This powerful coffee gadget is a portable drink mixer and travel frother
Clean in a few seconds to clean just put the whisk in hot running water and briefly turn it onYoull be amazed at how cleaning this sleek and elegant handheld frother for coffee tool only requires a few seconds
Usb rechargeable milk frother the handheld milk frother is powered by the builtin 1200mah rechargeable lithium battery without battery replacement ecofriendly and saving your money It also comes with a android usb cable a fully charged takes 6 hours convenient in daily use 3 speeds adjustable coffee frotherpress the onoff switch to make the coffee frother work with blue light Continue to press the onoff button the speed will switch between low speed medium speed and high speed You could choose different speeds to achieve ideal frother effect Note please to use it in a tall bottle or deeper container to avoid splattered coffee or milk because of frothers strong motor
High quality milk frotherthe detachable whisking head is made of food grade premium stainless steel easy to clean The frother wand is made of food grade abs with easy and comfortable grip The builtin powerful lownoise motor brings strengthened speed rotation without disturbing your families and gives you a calm and tranquil morning
We support best servicedallfoll milk frother offer one year warranty and 24h friendly customer service If there are ever any issues about the product please do free to contact us and we will give you a free replacement or full refund
Professional kitchen barista toolthere are 2 replaceable versatile whisks available Choose the spring whisking head to make the perfect milk foam for your morning afternoon coffee And the ballon whisking head help you beat eggs fluffy whipped cream
Milk frother can creates a frothy rich foam for topping delectable hot or cold beverages in 60 seconds or less without electricity or batteries Easy and convenient to operate add milk into pitcher place plunger inside and secure the lid pump the knob up and down about 4060seconds until the bubble and milk blend then pour out Economical more economical than battery powered frothers and expensive espresso machines toprack dishwasher safe for easy cleanup perfect for coffee shop home use and coffee lovers
Durable to use made from stainless steel lid had builtin doublemesh aerator and easygrip handle durable and versatile heatresistant handle14ounce capacity Widely used create frothed whole milk skim goat milk hemp milk almond milk soy or cashew milk and other non dairy milk
Versatile featuring a powerful and robust batteryoperated motor 19000 rpm our handheld milk frother will froth your desired foam in as fast as 15 seconds Baristaapproved transport yourself to your favorite café every morning with bean envys mini milk foamer that will always deliver a rich creamy froth just like professional baristas Gift no matter the occasion our coffee mixer wand makes the perfect gift for the coffee enthusiast in your life Great for travel camping entertainment weddings and anniversaries
Multipurpose this versatile coffee frother expertly whisks a variety of hot and cold beverages including protein shakes cappuccinos matcha lattes macchiatos and powder drinks It can even whisk your eggs Quality with its ergonomic silicone rubber handle and stainlesssteel wand this hand frother is built to last When youre done frothing rest your frother whisk on its sleek and sturdy stainlesssteel stand
Easy to clean and store the durable convenient metal stand gives easy access for foamy goodness in seconds Cleanup for this matcha wisk frother is even faster To clean just put the whisk in hot running water and briefly turn it on instantly clean When stored on counter or table it sits nicely next other coffee accessories Our powerful and durable handheld milk frother is powered by two aa batteries not included with a compact electric design that easily fits in a drawer Proven and trusted quality we use only premium materials The construction will last backed by our zulay guarantee to not rust or break ever Our small and efficient frother works on all types of milk half and half creamer soy almond cashew hazelnut whole milk and other dairy such as butter or cream
Matcha whisking coffee more works better than a manual matcha whisk for making matcha tea and works far better than fork or whisk for coffee It works very well to mix nutritious protein powder drinks with no extra container blender or bottle shaker to wash Use our mini mixer for your whisking and mixing needs give healthy shakes and smoothies a kick by adding powder or egg nog flavor and mixing
No hassle zulay guarantee we love and take pride in our milk frother and we back this up with a lifetime guarantee Have the confidence that this frother will last if there are ever any issues just contact us and we will make it right Order now and be assured that this product will live up to your expectations guaranteed
Make rich creamy froth in seconds we coffee lovers are serious when it comes to our coffee The milk boss frother gives that professional finishing touch to your latte cappuccino macchiato or hot chocolate Make delicious foamy creamer for your drinks at home without a trip to starbucks with your own milk frother The benefits of having your own electric drink whisk mixer are endless you can make your own best latte you know your tastes best
Durable to use made from stainless steel lid had builtin doublemesh aerator and easygrip handle durable and versatile heatresistant handle14ounce capacity Milk frother can creates a frothy rich foam for topping delectable hot or cold beverages in 60 seconds or less without electricity or batteries Economical more economical than battery powered frothers and expensive espresso machines toprack dishwasher safe for easy cleanup perfect for coffee shop home use and coffee lovers
Widely used create frothed whole milk skim goat milk hemp milk almond milk soy or cashew milk and other non dairy milk Easy and convenient to operate add milk into pitcher place plunger inside and secure the lid pump the knob up and down about 4060seconds until the bubble and milk blend then pour out
The best design for using and washing by pressing one big button on the top of the milk foamer it will start to make milk foam right away The detachable design will help you wash the whisk faster and easier than other designs After washing simply put it upside down and stand on the table as the button is designed to be big and flat in order to support the standing The best product guarantee we are confident of this milk frother and know you will love it just in case you are not satisfied with the product you are allowed to return it for a 100 refund of your money for 3 month So what are you waiting for Order it today And we will send you a free milk frothing pitcher 12 oz 350 ml and electronic coffee recipes will be sent via message center as gift Lets start to enjoy delicious creamy foam drinks with basecent milk frother
The most professional milk frother basecent battery operated milk frother create rich creamy froth just like the professional baristas Whether you invite family or friends froth foam for your coffee or send as a gift to your friends we guarantee our milk frother will be the best maker of thick creamy and delicious froth
The fastest handheld coffee foamer this mini battery operated frother is portable for traveling home and office With the double steel whisk and the super motor 21000 rpm this coffee frother machine can froth foam in as fast as 12 seconds Besides it also can be used as stirrer for hot or cold drinks as well as frappe and as small blender for cocktail milkshake hot chocolate soup or even as eggs whisker beater
The most durable and safest coffee frother the whole body of basecent battery operated handheld coffee frother is made of food grade stainless steel as well as the double steel whisk The stainless steel design will also keep the coffee frother clean
Coolstylish designthe coffee milk frother is beautiful style comes in a classic black and silver combination stylish modern design perfectly fit with any occasion It is a great gift for your friends and family Easy to use cleansimple onetouch switch all you have to do is pressing the power button once at the beginning or end It can be used to whisks a variety of hot and cold beverages including milk protein shakes cappuccinos matcha lattes macchiatos and powder drinks Professional creamy froththis handheld milk frother has a powerful motor that gives you 14000 rpm and the whisking head is made of food grade premium stainless steel is perfect for make rich creamy froth within 15s
Durableportablethis portable handheld frother net weight only 28 oz and powered by 2 aa batteries not including aa battery can reused by replacing the battery and accumulative work more than 1000 times which is convenient for you to use in your home office picnic camping or travel What will you get1x milk frother 1x user manual We provide a 12month warranty and 30day money back ensure if you have any issue about our item please contact us we will solve your problems within 12 hours
For those who are traditional craftsmen use the manual foamer swing up and down evenly the speed should not be too fast can produce super delicate milk foam which is more artistic and unique than the automatic foamer Capacity 14 oz 400ml overall size 7536 inch Perfect size for frothing milk for 23 cups of coffee Froth milk easily put the milk into the pitcher place plunger inside and lid it then please pump the handle up and down 2030 timeswithin 30 seconds until foam has desired consistency
Economy and environmental protection this is a traditional manual way the simplest and most efficient way with no need of electricity or batteries More economical than battery powered frothers and expensive electric milk frother Top quality materials antirust stainless steel frother builtin filter antiscald thickening handle and ergonomic plunger All together let it be a good milk frother
Quality assurance the milk frother is so handy and useful that you can gift it to your friends and family too Let them enjoy the convenience of making chocolate or cappuccino at home We are confident of our product and know you will like it If there are ever any issues just contact us and we will promise to provide the correct solution to the problem Get creamy froth quickly high speed rotation stainlesssteel whisk and bpa free shaft our handheld milk frother is perfect for creating cramy foam within 1520s for bulletproof coffee latte milk shake hot chocolates as well as a good egg beaterMake delicious foamy milk froth for your drinks at home without a trip to the coffee shop the benefits for having your own handheld frother are endless
Easy to clean and store stainless steel spring coil froths milk in seconds also great for mixing salad dressings cleanup for this matcha wisk frother is even faster To clean just put the whisk in hot running water and briefly turn it on instantly clean
Easy to use simple onetouch switch with a powerful motor but low noise level Just put it into a container with liquid food up to approx 13 to frothMake rich creamy froth in seconds handheld milk frother brings you its portable for frothed milk Battery operated and 2 aa batteries included So you dont have to worry about cords and finding sockets
Ergonomic portable design lightweight hand milk frother with an ergonomic handle makes frothing and creating delicate foam easily Protable size is convenient to carry makes sure you can enjoy your morining coffee although in traveling Milk frother with you wherever you go and countless milk frother uses
Enjoy your life with our frotherif you enjoy the frothering milk we believe youll love our rechargeable electric stirrer You will get 1rechargeable milk frother 1 usb charger2whisks1manual 112 month service card Simple to use easy to cleanthe onepress button on the top is easy to use Heat the milk and immerse the whisk into a cup you will lather more froth and foam with this milk frother Do not worry about the cleaning put the whisk into dishwasher or just simple rinse the frother with clean water Rechargeable for home travelunlike other battery operated frotherour new version usb rechargeable milk frother build in with lithium batteries no need to replace batteries frequently It designed with a storage tube to keep the whisks clean Putting the mini frother into your handbag or suitcase takes up no space It is a magnificent gift for your friends Get this drink mixer for your personal party and camping Our milk frother will let you have a fantastic and fabulous experience
2 speed food grade materialour durable handheld mixer is made of sturdy foodapproved 304 stainless steel and environmental abs plastic for extended service life Never rust never break Low noise high efficiencyIt that has two speeds with smart onetouch button operation
High speed get cream fastour powerful portable milk frother handheld can make foamed milk and create froth in 15 seconds or less This rechargeable milk foamer is ideal for coffee latte cappuccino matcha hot chocolate The drink mixer also works well with both hot and cold drinks or protein shakesThe ergonomically designed handle gives you more soft touch
large capacity simple operation the large capacity of milk frother can save time for you to make 2 or more cups of coffee foam Allow you to add up to 150ml507oz milk for frothing and up to 300ml1014oz milk to heat at one time The operation of milk steamer is simple after installing the frothing paddle firstly press function secondly select the mode you want and finally press onoff Note please dont fill milk over the max limit of every function 4 settings frothing heating otwen electric milk frother can create hot thick thin milk froth warm milk and cold milk froth It is ideal milk steamer for coffee lovers You know your taste best with our milk foamer frother you can make luscious foam for your iced americano cappuccino matcha at home anytime without going out With otwen milk warmer make coffee for yourself or heat milk for family and enjoy a new day
Quick foaming delicate froth 150w milk frother electric can complete the delicate milk froth in 12 minutes and heat the milk in 3 minutes Just press the button to make luscious foam for hot macchiato hot chocolate or ice coffee at any time at home and share the deliciousness and leisure with familyfriends Note please use whole milk Fat content3
Quiet secure temperature control otwen milk frother steamer is etllisted and adopt temperature control system it will automatically shut off when the milk foam is done which is very safe Free your hands no need to wait by side The milk frother runs very quietly no annoying sounds to disturb family Note the rated voltage is 120 v
Nonstick interior effortless cleaning the inside of the milk frother is made of highquality nonstick layer material there will be no dirt on the bottom even if it is used frequently It can be cleaned in a few seconds effortlessly rinse with water wipe it with a towel and it will be as perfect as new Highquality otwen stainless steel milk frother is durable and antirust which ensures it is long lasting
Make rich creamy froth in seconds we coffee lovers are serious when it comes to our coffee The milk boss frother gives that professional finishing touch to your latte cappuccino macchiato or hot chocolate Make delicious foamy creamer for your drinks at home with your own milk frother The benefits of having your own electric drink whisk mixer are endless you can make your own best latte you know yours tastes the best Matcha whisking coffee more works better than a manual matcha whisk for making matcha tea and works far better than fork or whisk for coffee It works very well to mix nutritious protein powder drinks with no extra container blender or bottle shaker to wash Use our mini mixer for your whisking and mixing needs give healthy shakes and smoothies a kick by adding powder or egg nog flavor and mixing
No hassle zulay guarantee we love and take pride in our milk frother and we back this up with a lifetime guarantee Have the confidence that this frother will last if there are ever any issues just contact us and we will make it right Order now and be assured that this product will live up to your expectations guaranteed If it does not make your foam exactly how you want it we got you covered Happy frothing
Enjoy proven and trusted quality we use only premium materials The construction will last backed by our zulay guarantee to not rust or break ever Our small and efficient frother works on all types of milk creamer soy almond cashew hazelnut whole milk and other dairy such as butter or cream
Easy to clean and store cleanup for this matcha wisk frother is even faster To clean just put the whisk in hot running water and briefly turn it on instantly clean When stored on counter or table it sits nicely next other coffee accessories Our powerful and durable handheld milk frother is powered by two aa batteries not included with a compact electric design that easily fits in a drawer
Effortless cleaning convenient storagethe whisk of the milk frother can be disassembled and cleaned separately easy to maintain and clean A support stainless steel stand is also specially designed which can be temporarily placed on the stand even when it is in half of the operation With the help of the stand the frother can be stored safely and the whisk does not get bent or broken Portable versatile usewith this cordless and small designed handheld electric milk frother its portable for you to carry out when you are on business or travel enjoy your special taste of milk foam for lattes matcha and hot chocolate Spice up your coffee routine with milk foam furthermore you can also use it to mix soups fruit drinks milkshakes and other liquids
Get creamy froth quietfast powered by 2 aa batteries not included the motor of this electric milk frother provides 19000 rpm which able to create creamy milk foam in about 30 seconds Although with highspeed rotation it operates quietly without causing any unpleasant noise Get you rich milk foam within 1 minute in the busy morning
Onepress buttonthe switch button is on the top of the handheld milk frother and easy to operate It does not need to be held after pressing it once for frothing Relax your hand and enjoy the foaming process By controlling the switch button you can froth the milk to a different level of consistency at your most convenience and desired
Durable food grade whiskthe handle of milk frother is made of abs with an easy and comfortable grip It is very easy to handle and is very lightweight The frothing whisk is made of foodgraded 304 stainless steel so it is resistant to rust which ensures its durability You can purchase this item with peace of mind
Convenient huawas milk mixer is powered by builtin battery you dont need to worry about cords and plugging into sockets it can be easily turned upside down like an electric toothbrush It can be neatly stored away Make creamy froth quickly if you love your morning coffee filled with froth and foam the portable handheld milk frother can create a creamy cup within 15 to 30 seconds Multifunctional not only creates milk foam for coffees cappuccinos and macchiatos but is also suitable for making hot and cold chocolate milkshakes matcha tea mixed drinks and even for whisking egg and sauces
High quality our frothing whisk is made of 304 durable stainless steel so it is completely resistant to rust the lightweight plastic handle is ergonomically designed for comfortable operation Easy to use one simple press for creamy froth just press the power button once to start frothing with no need to hold the button down relax your hand enjoy the foaming process and whip the milk to your desired consistency
Get creamy froth quickly powerlix brings you its small portable handheld milk frother for frothed milk If you love your morning coffee with lots of froth and foam then you certainly want to have powerlix frothing wand at home or your café style cappuccino Works great as an egg beater It comes with a stand for easy storage and can be kept on the countertop 100 returnreplacement warranty the milk frother with the cup is so handy and useful that you can gift it to your friends and family too Let them enjoy the convenience of making chocolate or cappuccino at home We are confident of our product and know you will like it This is why we back up our product with our noquestionsasked warranty Order now and start to create thick and creamy foam for your homemade drinks
Beautifully styled with versatility the machine is beautifully styled in red color to fit into any modern kitchen It is lightweight and has ergonomically designed soft touch handle It is easy to use and easy to clean It can be used to froth other liquids besides hot milk Use it to make milkshakes for your kids or cocktails for your friends It will work well with both hot and cold liquids
Battery operated for perfect froth in no time the mixer is battery powered so you dont have to worry about cords and finding sockets Heat up the milk immerse the espresso maker into the cup and turn it on The milk foamer will start creating creamy froth on the milk instantly Within 15 20 seconds you have a cup filled with creamy froth and ready to go into your coffee latte
Quality you can trust our milk whisk frappe maker is made of the best quality stainless steel It has a powerful motor that gives you 19000 rpm and the dual spring durable long 1810 food safe material stainless steel spiral whisk that wont rust or break over the time delivers double the power of other frothers and professional espresso makers available The power button on top makes it easy to use The low noise motor barely makes a sound
Make rich creamy froth in seconds enjoy delicious caféquality drinks at home in no time Make milk froth for latté cappuccino keto coffeemct oil coffee hot chocolate chocolate milk matcha protein drinks and more Durable construction the powerful 19000 rpm motor in the modena kitchen milk frother is designed to whip beverages for years The whisking wand is constructed of high quality 304l stainless steel for durability and easy cleaning The rubberized softgrip handle gives you confident grasp while in use The included plated steel stand saves space and keeps your kitchen tidy Lifetime warranty were so confident youll love your new modena kitchen milk frother we stand behind it with our 100 lifetime guarantee If for any reason you are not completely satisfied please contact us for return or replacement
Easy to use easy to clean with easy onebutton activation and ergonomic softgrip handle our lightweight electric milk frother will have you whipping up your favorite drinks in seconds Cleanup is a breezejust rinse the stainless steel whisk under the tap and replace in the included stand Portable quiet powered by 2 aa batteries not included use the modena kitchen handheld mixer at home or on the go without worrying about plugs or cords Unlike noisy steam wands or blenders our handheld mixer has quiet operation so you can enjoy beverages anytime without distracting noise or disturbing others
]]>Lift heavy foods with confidence these heavy duty tongs turner are lightweight yet super sturdy and strong Means you can grasp a thick steak roasted chicken or barbecue ribs securely without fear of them bending or warping Buy with confidence we are committed to provide best products and services for you Any questions please contact us if you are not fully satisfied with your spatula tongs purchase Amazing locking design for easy storage the smooth ring pull locking mechanism allows you to close tongs for easy storage and prevents them jamming in your utensil drawer when you go to grab themor hang them for convenient airdrying when not in use making storage easier
Safe and easy to clean our kitchen tongs are made from corrosion resistant stainless steel and bpa free food grade silicone Tongs are safe to use with all your nonstick pans or grill grates hygienic dishwasher safe and wont absorb odors or flavors Let you enjoy your food without worrying about the health effects
Heat resistant the silicone tips are heat resistant up to 450 degrees fahrenheit and are safe to use on all cookware including nonstick
Upgraded design unique 2 solid built in stand on each side of handle to ensure the absolute hygiene of food and the stability of quality keep the table clean Great design for food serving tongs with stand Safety material the geekhom 9 12 inch cooking tong set are made of silicone and stainless steel Nonstick nonslip durable heatresistant and freezer safe from 140 to 482 60 to 250 and also dishwasher safe Lifetime warranty we believed our product so geekhom provide a full lifetime warranty for the bbq tongs If youre not completely satisfied with your grill tongs purchase simply let us know and youll be offered a full refund or replacement Not including artificial damage
Silicone head the nonstick silicone on the tip of the food tongs protect your cookware from damage so the tong set is perfect for your nonstick pan wok steamer Can also be used for outdoor barbecue grilling indoor cooking frying flipping and gripping hot foods Aslo safe to be used as bottle tongs
Locking mechanism hanging loops you can easily pull the ring to lock and push to unlock And hanging on any kind of hooks and holder by the large rings You can store these salad tongs by using minimum space
Locking mechanism our kitchen tongs are designed with a locking mechanism to prevent your tongs from opening and closing accidentally Just pull the lock ring to lock and press to unlock High quality stainless steel the kitchenware clamp kit is made of highquality 304 stainless steel with unparalleled strength and highquality structure enhanced corrosion resistance and rust resistance and light weight Note if there is any problem with the product please contact us in time we will deal with your problem within 24 hours Perfect sizecomes with 3 regular 12 inch tongs including 2 basic food serving tongs and 1 pasta clip Good enough for basic cooking and frying Make it easier to turn foods such as steaks pork chops chicken etc When baking or frying or air frying them They are also great for moving strained noodles to plates for serving
Innovative design ergonomic and firm griping design handle nonslip rubber coated stainless steel handle provides a sure firm grip and controleasy control and pick things allow one hand useperfect for all your needs
Safety and health food grade silicone will not scratch your kitchen utensils It passed the safety test 100 bpa free heat resistance up to 230 c Easy to clean and dishwasher safe
Cutlerypro locking tong with silicone blades for securely gripping lifting turning and draining cooking liquids from foods for messfree serving Made from 188 stainless steel with nonscratch silicone blades sturdy and durable tongs lock closed when not in use for easy compact storage Perfect for use in the kitchen and at party buffets easy to clean proposition 65 compliant dishwasher safe
Scalloped grips hold foods securely and drains liquids for messfree serving spring action keeps tongs open and ready pull tab locks them closed Nonslip silicone handles for a secure grip scratchfree silicone blades are safe for nonstick cookware pull ring to lock tongs closed for storage
Solide 1 piece never concern tips may come off Heat resistantce metal tip is for grilling steak hamburger or bacon Manual lockable design locking mechanism keeps your grilling tongs easy open and close allows you to easily control tongs opening and closing at any time when using it Food grade material composed of durable brushed stainless steel sturdy spring mechanism with nonstick silicone tip ends Super tough metal corrosion resistantNever worry rust and bend
Easy to clean non stick and bpa free Easily wipe off your barbecue tongs after use to keep them clean Dishwasher safe and the manual lock with a ring hanging saving space Professional grill tong extra long keeps hand at a safe distance out of fire when grilling Non slip grooved thumb rest red silicone handle is more comfortable and prevents heat from bbq stove reaching your hands
Hotec Stainless Steel Kitchen Tongs Set of 2 – 9″ and 12″, Locking Metal Food Tongs Non-Slip Grip
Food level stainless steel the heavy duty hotec kitchen tongs built with stainless steel sturdy heat resistance antirust anticorrosion light weight easy to handle like new forever This tongs for cooking comes with a set of 2 standard 9 serving tongs and large sized 12 bbq grill tongs Pull ring lock and unlock and hanging loop this kitchen tongs set has locking mechanism pull the ring for lock and push for unlock super easy operation Hang them with the hanging loop after use or put in the drawer by pulling the ring to lock it space saving
Engineering for safety new design pattern for the handle better protects your hands from cutting by the edge when you grip the handle Easy to control the handle and to eliminate wobbling any risk of burning your hands
Ergonomic handle design and heat resistant the handle is cushioned with silicon good for thumb rest and ensures good grip and control The metal tong head is super heat resistant Easy to rinse dishwasher safe Multiple applications basic kitchen utensil perfect for indoor or outdoor use great for daily kitchen tasks grilling corn flipping burgersfish cutting roast meat or used as bbq turner or salad server and much more
Included in the breading tray 3 set is a stainless steel tong with silicone tip and it has a locking mechanism to lock and unlock when using Transform your breading station with this 3 set breading tray and reduce having a messy table while breading coating marinating your meat panko schnitzel or vegetable Overlap each tray rim to interlock the trays allowing you to move your meats from flour tray to egg tray then to the crumb tray easily Easy to clean the breading pan is dishwasher safe for cleaning and also can be hand wash with warm water soap It can be stacked together for easy storage
High quality the 3 piece breading trays set is made with durable high quality stainless steel Each tray measures 86 x 59 x 12 inches 219 x 149 x 3 cm and it has 3 tray set for egg flour breadcrumbs to fit your meats fish for breading An innovative design for breading this stainless steel breading tray set have an overlapping rim that connects the trays together it is designed to work together and separately
Multiple applications basic kitchen utensil perfect for basic kitchen tasks indoor or outdoor use great for grilling corn flipping burgers serving salad cutting roast meat or used as bbq turners and much more Top quality hotec kitchen tongs are constructed with high quality stainless steel sturdy heat resistance antirust anticorrosion light weight easy to handle like new forever This tongs for cooking comes with 2 sizes 9 inch and 12 inch Easy to use the handle is cushioned with silicon good for thumb rest and ensures good grip and control The silicon tong tip is heat resistance and less prone to scratch the pan Easy to rinse dishwasher safe
Engineering for safety updated new design pattern for the handle better protects your hands from cutting by the edge when you grip the handle Easy to control the handle and to eliminate wobbling any risk of burning your hands Easy to store these kitchen tongs have locking mechanism pull the ring for lock and push for unlock super easy operation Hang them with the hanging loop after use or put in the drawer by pulling the ring to lock it space saving
Locking mechanism designed together with hanging loop good for usage and storageLocks in closed position for easy store Easy to use clean and store dishwasher safe Ideal for griping hot or frozen foods good for camping baking baking cooking or bbq cooking use 9 inches long meaning that you can easily lift or flip hot food at a safe distance from your hands with little risk of burns
High quality brushed stainless blade and rubber nonslip heads Quality is the best standard you will see
DCI Heart Tongs – Silicone Tips Heart Shaped Kitchen Tongs with Locking Design For Easy Storage
Silicone tips the heart shaped tips are silicone for nonstickheat resistant and dishwasher safe use The heart tips also have grooves for a nonslip grip for noodles salads and more The body is made of stainless steel A fun spin on a kitchen essential a cute and fun take on a classic kitchen essential Everyone needs tongs in their kitchen show some love with these heart shaped ones Makes a great add on stocking stuffer housewarming hostess for the cooking enthusiast in your life Give some love show your love this season with these pink and red heart shaped tongs
Locking mechanism features a pulltolock mechanism for easy storage Can also be hung for display with the locking loop Dimensions 212 x 12 perfect for serving salads and cooking
Nonslip surface design offer you the best control on food Hygienic silicone tongs bpafree Heat resistant up to 500 degrees f Premium 304 stainless steel construction with locking clip Nonstick corrosion resistant and odor resistant
RSVP International Endurance Kitchen Collection Locking Tongs, 6-1/2-inch, Stainless Steel
Convenient design features a lockshut feature for compact and easy storage Care instructions dishwasher safe Quality construction made of durable stainless steel Perfect size measures 612inches by 1inch by 1inch A kitchen necessity prepare and serve food in style with this pair of locking tongs perfect for pasta salad barbecue and more
All-Clad T112 Stainless Steel 12-Inch Locking Tongs Kitchen Tool, 12-Inch, Silver
Dishwasher safe Laser etched allclad logo on the handle Highly polished 1810 stainless steel Ergonically designed to achieve ideal balance weight and feel
100 satisfaction guaranteed no satisfaction 100 refund or exchange We go out of our way to make sure every customer is happy and satisfied with our tongs and service Premium materialhygienic silicone tongs bpa free heat resistant up to 446 degrees f Nonstick corrosion resistant and odor resistant Food grade and premium stainless steel kitchen tongs polished surface to prevent oxidation Versatile tongscooking tongs to turn hot food or cold food with ease while keeping your hands away from oil splatter and fire A perfect match almost all kitchen tasks Available in 9inch and 12inch lengths
Ergonomical designunique silicone tongs claw design can hold the food you want more firmly and less prone to scratch the pan Nonslip grip design eliminate wobbling burning your hands Stainless steel tongs lock closed for simple operation storage Multiple applicationskitchen tongs great for daily kitchen tasks grilling corn flipping burgersfish cutting roast meat or used as bbq or salad tongs for indoor or outdoor use Onepiece molding easy to clean dishwasher safe
Seki Japan Heat Resistant Locking Stainless Steel Kitchen Tongs, Nylon Cat Paw Tongs, Yellow
The nylon tongs are excellent in heat residence up to 220ž Size 180 x 83 x 33 mm The inside of the tongs has the catpadshaped projections which provide enhanced grip and prevents dropping food Cute cat paw kitchen tongs are very popular especially among kids and women The cute design will gain attention at home parties and making sweets settings Handle stainless steel gripping edges nylon66 with glass fiberheat resistant 220 ž
]]>In my home this week, I am trying again.
Pilar brought me a lovely red sweater for holiday wear, and it came in a cute Christmas shopping bag. The front of the bag was a checklist: Nice/Naughty/I Tried My Best. It was the last that was checked. I laughed, a rueful laugh for sure, but a laugh, nonetheless. I feel like I've done nothing but 'Try My Best' all year long and I'm uncertain I've done a thing right or well. John has a saying, "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." And we all know that in either one, you lose.
But I keep trying. "E" for effort, right?
Going back over my past week's goals and the week itself, I think I accomplished one thing: I booked our tickets for next weekend's big Christmas show at the church. Ta da!
I stopped going to the guest bath and started using our big garden tub as my bathing spot. John's still making the trek. I checked the issue with the drain best I could and darned if I can see anything wrong with it but he swears it's shifting about so...
The hot water as suddenly began working as it stopped working properly. So, for the moment it's resolved itself.
The refrigerator is still making a horrific noise. Caleb said it was a dinosaur. Indeed, it does sound a bit like a roar of some sort. John has chosen to ignore it.
I haven't had two minutes when I wasn't half worn out to even consider looking at finances, thinking of Christmas plans, doing Christmas shopping, etc. I did get the checkbook register set up for this month.
Christmas decor is just a matter for deep sighs. No one is encouraging me in putting it up and that's fact.
Work:
This morning I took the Christmas cards from the drawer so that I can begin working on them. I just happened to find them because frankly I had no idea where they were. Now I know and I can physically see them which will be reminder enough that it's time to get them squared away.
I took time this past week, after December rolled around on the calendar to clean the kitchen really well. This week if I have spare moments, I'd like to get the coating of dust off the living furnishings. Two weeks ago, we vacuumed all the edges of the room and moved furniture etc. That was just after Thanksgiving? Just before? Recently enough I don't see the need of repeating just yet. I think we should vacuum the crevices of the furnishings though.
Small bites decorating? If I have time to get out to the shed, I'll see what I have and what I might use to decorate the mantel and buffet, perhaps make a centerpiece for the dining table. Hang wreaths on the doors? I don't know, but I'll try to do something if any time is mine to claim. I'm having a difficult season where time is concerned. But I'm going to try.
Keep up with routine housework.
Kitchen:
I got all the Thanksgiving leftovers dealt with. No waste there. Biggest hit this week was using the Green Bean Casserole leftovers as a Tater Tot Casserole. Lots of compliments on that. Even the leftovers earned lots of praise. I guess Tater Tot Casserole just might go on the menu now and then.
The weekly clearing out of the fridge is very necessary if we are to avoid wasting foods. So that will definitely get done, likely tomorrow after lunch. That's my usual time for attending to it. At that point I'll have to determine how we'll be using anything in the fridge, but we'll need lunches and there's almost a space in the freezer for them...
Make something sweet. I think I'd like to make some caramel corn. It's been a long time since I made that.
I'll need to make bagels this week.
Meals:
Pepperoni Pizza, Salad, maybe some breadsticks with Marinara sauce? We'll see.
Gramma's Fried Chicken, Potato Salad, Mac n cheese (kids), Squash Casserole, Stuffing
Red Beans and Rice, Coleslaw, Corn Bread OR Black Beans and Rice, as that is what John counter suggested. In which case I'd skip the coleslaw and likely make a Green Salad and Pico De Gallo
Almond Chicken over Rice, Steamed Broccoli (Chinese wasn't possible this past week...I'm glad I can make my own)
Swiss Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Peas
Spaghetti Di Ablo, Garlic Toast, Green Beans
Pigs in Blankets, Tater Tots, Coleslaw. Coleslaw will be fresh if I have Black Beans. If I have red beans, then I'll double up. Pigs in blankets were never eaten last week. Caleb actually requested burgers for supper, and since he seldom asks specifically for anything it was easy enough to switch menu plans.
Leisure/Personal:
Uplifting music every morning.
Read
Journal
Rest.
Amazon Associate Affiliate Link:
However, I'm happy to report that I finished everything I had planned, which was good!
I sent Zoom links to everyone who wanted to sign up for the EQ8, mySewnet embroidery software and digital cutter discussions for TOMORROW. If you have yet to receive an e-mail, let me know. Some people put everything in the same e-mail, and it's hard to catch everything. I'm NOT printing anything anymore, and I work strictly with the computer and extensively use the filing systems. But when ONE item needs to be filed in MANY places, that becomes a challenge.
So if you think you are saving me time by putting everything in one e-mail, you are NOT! And most of you are very good at placing the topic in the subject or at least in the e-mail. I get some e-mails that say "block 3". For what??
My e-mail if you need to get in touch is elainetheriault@gmail.com.
The discussions tomorrow are NOT the actual class sign-up, as they are strictly a discussion -- the official sign-up will be again put on the blog shortly. I put all the links at the end of this post.
So what happened yesterday? Well, there was good news and bad news, and the good news is that another giant customer quilt is done.
This one was very wide!
That's a big quilt |
Customer quilt - DONE |
Oopsy! |
NO seam allowance |
What? The program closed down! |
What the screen should have looked like |
A storage spot! |
The selvage of my fabric design |
Acetates for creating the screen |
My fabric design |
The yardage that I designed and printed |
T-shirts to be cut up |
Kimberbell embellishment kit |
Underneath the long arm |
A bar under the table |
Durable to use our cob corn stripper are made of quality stainless steel and plastic material durable and strong in construction rust and corrosion resistant not easy to deform or break lightweight and portable to use can serve you for long time Simple and effortless peeling you just push the corn cob through the stripping tool and twist it to get the delicious corn kernels you can add these corn kernels to any meal vegetable salad tortillas or cakes for better food presentation Amount of package the package provides you 3 pieces of cob corn peelers and 20 pieces of stainless steel corn holders in total reasonable combination and sufficient quantity to meet your daily corn peeling needs facilitate your food preparation process
Applicable scenarios the cob corn stripper and corn holders can help you easily get fresh corn kernels suitable for preparing family dinners barbecues parties camping picnics beach party and other outdoor activities enable you to eat fresh and rich corns without waste
Reasonable size the diameter of this corn peeling tool is about 3 cm and the length is approx 75 cm 3 inches suitable for most common sizes of fresh corn the corn holders length is approx 6 cm236 inch can help you easily hold hot corns
Great valuethe corn peeler tools are ergonomic nonslip handle design suitable for home kitchen and restaurant to peel corn cob and other fruit or veggies Convenient for you to hand made all kinds of delicious corn kernels and so on Wide applicationthe corn cob remover tools kit is suitable for family dinners barbecues parties camping picnics beach party and other outdoor activities to easily get fresh corn kernelsMeanwhile widely applied on veggies fruits and so on Quality materialthe corn peeler tools are made of quality abs plastic and stainless steel materialOdorless safety durable and sturdy rust proof and corrosion resistance Worthy of family ownership
Package detailsthere is including 2 pieces corn cob stripper knife 1 piece yellow cob corn remover zipper 1 piece blue corn silk remover 10 pieces corn holder pinsComplete kitchen tools kit can fit your various usages Simple operationthe corn peeler tools set can help you easy to deal with not only corn cob but also the peel of fruits and vegetables in daily life which can make you life convenient and efficient
Practical design peeling corns is no longer timeconsuming if you get this corn peeler in your kitchenThe blade is design as curved shape to fit to the cob kernel Enjoy corn recipe with this corn stripperyou can easily make delicious corn recipe like fresh creamed corn corn pudding fritterscorn salad etc Food grade material the curved blade is make of premium 420 stainless steelwhich is sharp and durableThe nonslip and ergonomic handle is comfortable for gripping and durable because of the pp and tpr plastic material
Convenient safe it is easy to clean the peeler and you can flush it with tap water The corn peeler come with a blade cover which can protect fingers from being cut after use Effective tools corn is healthy foodbut peeling the corn kernel is always a hard work and stop many corn loversIt will be a great gift if you have some friends suffering from the same pain
Manual fast corn thresher peeling corn crusher shaver corn shaver thresher peeling machine 1pcs not limited to corn size adjustablethe corn cutting machine can use the drill bit with the drill bit to pass through the corn cob and then the chiang corn is aimed at the corn machine which can easily harvest thousands of corn a dayThis shop does not include electric drills and drill bits How to use align the corn cob with the corn cob rotate left and right squeeze from one side to the other peel off multiple corn in one minute and collect the nuts in a 12 cup container the stripper was placed longitudinally into the ear of corn and the beans were quickly cut and collected in the body
Corn stripping tool these corn cob tools are the easiest way to remove corn kernels from fresh corn just push the corn through the device stainless steel blades can be used as a corn zipper
Suitable for picnics barbecues and various kitchen corn missions Suitable for cooking and outdoor use The metal blade is designed to fit the corn contour perfectly Material abs metal size aperture 4×25 cm total size 27x5x25cm packing 1pc corn peeling machine except retail packaging
Corn Stripper Home Kitchen Tool Corn Cob Cutter Corn Peeler (1pc)
It is safe and will not be cut by sharp knives The inner core is contained in the cylinder to prevent the corn juice from splashing Containers are safe hygienic and easy to clean Push rod design for easy removal of corn cob 100 brand new and high quality Suitable for corn lovers holiday barbecue gifts harvest fresh corn and freeze for later use saving time
The corn cob peeler cuts the kernels quickly and cleanly save your time in the kitchen It is easy to clean suitable for dishwasher These corn peeler has a ergonomic hightech polished stainless steel handle that makes for a nice gripThe serrated blade is super sharp but not dangerous and there is a hole in handle for convenient hanging storage You only need to scrape lightly with our corncob peeler to get multiple rows of corn kernels at once saving you time in the kitchen And it is easy to clean it can be washed in a dishwasher or directly with clean water
The corn peeler can help you easily get fresh corn kernels and the corn kernels obtained are relatively complete thus avoiding waste These corn peeler are mainly made of food grade 304 stainless steel safe and health which is durable and sturdy to use wearresistant and corrosion resistance not easy to bend or break
Novel design the magic corn peeler is easy to clean after use and the handle has a hook and loop for easy storage Kitchen gadgets corn on the cob thresher is suitable for kitchens restaurants and outdoor gatherings Easy to use the corn peeler has a smooth handle which can be easily held and the fresh corn can be taken out by gently pushing Good quality the corn stripper is made of sturdy 304 food grade stainless steel which is safe and hygienic
Worry free we promise unconditional refund and replacement please feel free to buy it Safe blade cover protects blade and hands when not in use Material corn peeler head is made of foodgrade stainless steel and abs plastic The handle is made of soft rubber safe no toxic Antirust sturdy and durable Size 17 x 4cm 67 x 16inchlwstripper blades width is 12in height is 02in suit for most of the corn quickly separate corn kernels
Easy to use removes close to 5 rows off the cob at one timeserrated vertical blade is ergonomic and easy to use
The easiest cleanest way to butter corn Just slice scoop and evenly spread butter from the stick straight on hot ears of corn while rotating the corn in your hand or on your plate then enjoy No more greasy fingers or mutilated sticks of butter Just cut the portion of butter you need and cover the kernels instead of putting a whole bar in a dispenser or rotating cobs on top of the stick Strip an entire ear in seconds Separating corn from the cob has never been easier or cleaner than with this peeler Manually run the whole cob through the tool and let the knife blade do the work
Efficient sizes do not take up kitchen storage space The thin low profile designs lets you store these in any drawer or cupboard without taking up lots of valuable room for your other tools and gadgets Dishwasher safe for easy cleaning Just toss both items in the washer with your other flatware and dishes before running and they will be good as new for next time
Durable high qualitythese corn peeler has a ergonomic hightech polished stainless steel handle that makes for a nice gripThe serrated blade is super sharp but not dangerous and there is a hole in handle for convenient hanging storage Kitchen helpersuitable for home restaurant and more occasions Easy to use cleanthe corn cob peeler cuts the kernels quickly and cleanly save your time in the kitchen It is easy to clean suitable for dishwasher
Reliable and durablethese corn peeler are mainly made of food grade 304 stainless steel safe and health which is durable and sturdy to use wearresistant and corrosion resistance not easy to bend or break Extensive applications the corn peeler can help you easily get fresh corn kernels and the corn kernels obtained are relatively complete thus avoiding waste
Wide applicationthe corn cob remover tools kit is suitable for family dinners barbecues parties camping picnics beach party and other outdoor activities to easily get fresh corn kernelsMeanwhile widely applied on veggies fruits and so on Simple operationthe corn peeler tools set can help you easy to deal with not only corn cob but also the peel of fruits and vegetables in daily life which can make you life convenient and efficient Package detailsthere is including 1 piece corn cob stripper knife 1 piece stainless stripper knife 1 piece blue corn silk remover Suitable for most common sizes of fresh cornComplete kitchen tools kit can fit your various usages
Great valuethe corn peeler tools are ergonomic nonslip handle design suitable for home kitchen and restaurant to peel corn cob and other fruits or vegetables Convenient for you to hand made all kinds of delicious corn kernels and so on Quality materialthe corn peeler tools are made of quality abs plastic and stainless steel materialOdorless safety durable and sturdy to use rust proof and corrosion resistance Worthy of family ownership
Easy to operate put the corn on the cob on this tool easily remove the corn kernels from the corn by quickly pushing so that you can peel the whole corn on the cob in a few secondsAnd maintain the perfect internal organs will not affect the taste of corn The other can grind ginger garlic etc There is a storage bowl at the bottom no longer worry about the messy surface the storage is simple convenient and practical
Design ergonomic handle nonslip easy to handle sharp blade the outer circle is hand guard it is safe to use Material this kitchen tool is made of stainless steel and plastic safe and environmentally friendly materials healthy and practicalNo bpa
Easy to clean the product can be washed in the dishwasher or rinsed directly with clean water then wiped clean to continue use next timeThis corn stripper is great gift idea for corn lover holidays barbecue
No electricity no noise this kitchen kit with space saving design is also ideal to use for a bbq at the park beach or camping site No need to search for a power outlet or batteries 4in1 stripper peeler grater bowl the corn stripper is designed to remove the kernels from the cob with great ease It can also be used to peel the skin from potatoes The measuring bowl captures the corn kernels potato peels and keeps everything nice and clean Serve it up fresh Nothing tastes better than fresh food Get creative in the outdoor kitchen and surprise your friends and loved ones with delicious salads soups oven dishes desserts etc
Nonslip bottom dishwasher safe the nonslip silicone ring at the bottom keeps the bowl in place Perfectly safe to put the entire kit in the dishwasher when you are finished Grater for fruit vegetables cheese chocolate the grater can be used for a wide variety of ingredients such as cheese apples melons bananas carrots potatoes beets ginger chocolate ice cubes and much more
Material premium service stainless steel corn peeling tool is made of 500ml transparent plastic cup ps material and yellow plastic pp material planer is made of food grade 304 corn planer and 430 grinderCorn peeler is a good helper for kitchenIf anything goes wrong with the product or you have any questionsplease feel free to contact uswe will reply within 12 hours and do our best to solve your problems quickly 4in1 multifunctional corn thresherpeelergraterbowlpractical kitchen utensilskitchen gadgetsgarlic flakercan be peeledgrindedstoredloaded with food materialsone set in handwith many functions
Antiskid durable corn peeling machine corn peeling tool cup bottom is the whole circle antiskid designenhance the friction with the desktopreduce the probability of slidingsolid and durable food grade materialstainless steel 304 material pp material plastic and thickened transparent bowl ps materialbowl high transparency designthickened more durable Onepieceseamlessmore solid corn peeler household corn thresher stainless steel peeling machine 4 in 1 corn shucker tool adopt onepieceseamlessmore solidanti splash and no mess
Multipurpose the peeler machine can be used as corn peeling machinefruitpotatogingercarrotvegetable slicing machinethickened bowl can hold food ingredientsA good helper for the kitchenone set in handwith many functions
Easy to storagethis corn cob peeler with a hole in the handle for easy hanging and storage Perfect designthe corn cutter adopts an ergonomic handle that makes for a nice grip and save effort when peel off the delicious kernels Magic kitchen toolquickly add corn to any meal make salads tortillas stirfried corn desserts or any dishes A great gift for mum chefs or cooking lovers Easy to usesimply scrape with this corn cutter to peel off multiple rows of corn kernels and the corn kernels obtained are relatively complete prevent wastageIts very easy and efficient to remove corn kernels with ziermo corn peeler
Stainless steel corn peelerthe corn cutter made of food grade 304 stainless steel heavy duty and last a long life without any corrosion easy to use and clean
]]>In November, Reddit user ThatSportsGameGuy made a post on the platform, asking hotel cleaners, "What is the weirdest thing you have found in a [guest's] room?" and the replies came flying in. From bees to false teeth, continue scrolling to check out the ones that raise the most questions.
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]]>I came across the Milwaukee 48-22-1513 utility knife this week and thought to myself – ooh that’s new and different.
Looking deeper, this is a fixed blade knife with metal body, tool-free blade change, lanyard hole, overmold grip, and internal storage for up to 5 spare blades.
This looks interesting, right?
But then I noticed the blade doesn’t retract – this is a fixed blade knife. OH. Fixed blade, as in non-retracting, as opposed to non-folding.
I took a quick look in my inbox and found the press release; it seems Milwaukee launched this utility knife a full 3 years ago, in November 2019.
Oops.
I own a single fixed blade knife, a silver-bodied Stanley that I equipped with an incredibly hard-to-find plastic scoring blade. I’m not sure where it is right now, as I started using other scoring tools a few years ago.
I would feel about missing the existence of this style of knife, but my local Home Depot stores don’t carry it either. I can find all of the different types of Milwaukee’s FastBack folding utility knives at local stores, plus their non-folding retractable knife, but not this one.
That leads me to wonder – have you seen this Milwaukee utility knife before? How likely are you to buy a fixed utility knife?
For me, the exposed blade is a no-go. I could easily store it in a drawer, but I am so accustomed to closing and carrying all manners or retractable and folding blades; I simply wouldn’t know how to work with a fixed knife like this.
Am I missing out?
Price: $8-10 (regularly $10, on sale at the time of this posting for $8)
]]>The season to find unique and practical gifts for loved ones is upon us. Why not give organization themed holiday gifts this year? As a Professional Organizer I always cringe a little at this time of year because I know there may be a flood of impractical items entering my home. The fun side of me loves those moments of joy when opening a funny or thoughtful gift. But the reality is most gifts are something that we do not need and probably will not use. That’s why I like to give practical gifts that are useful and have a purpose in our homes for stocking stuffers, hostess gifts and more.
This list represents some items I love for keeping life organized throughout the year. If your family member or friend likes order this list may be for them. If you are craving order yourself, this as a great reference guide for products I find really useful. Please note this post contains affiliate links.
This versatile turn table can be used in cabinets to quickly reach oil and vinegars, see canned goods or spices. You can also put it on a table top with craft supplies in jars and have a fun area for kids to unleash their creativity.
Most showers do not contain enough storage cubbies to hold soaps and shampoos for the whole family. This easy to install tension tower will quickly corral all of your items in a neat and organized way. No more bottles on the side of the tub or on the floor of the shower.
If you are looking for a great alternative to higher priced brands for storing food, these airtight storage containers are a great option. Decanting, or emptying, your boxes of pasta, crackers etc. into this type of storage saves room in your pantry. It also saves money in your pocket because you can see how much is left in a container before you buy or open a new food product. Plus, it helps your food last longer.
These shopping bags are extremely portable and easy to wash. If you are looking to create less waste for the environment or avoid being charged for plastic bags in the store, I highly recommend these reusable bags. They are so compact they fit in my purse or glove compartment so they are always handy.
Take it a step further with these reusable produce bags. I store them with my reusable shopping bags. They are light-weight, easy to clean and much easier to fill than the plastic produce bags at the grocery store.
Utility totes are so versatile. I use them in so many ways. Trunk organizer, laundry basket, toting around kid’s toys, beach tote, bringing gifts to family on the holidays and more. Use it as a gift basket to add your other gifts and your recipient will have a practical reusable gift bag this season.
Mason Jars are one of my favorite organizing tools as well as food storage products. We use them to store spices, dry beans and nuts in our kitchen. In our toy room they store markers, pens, pencils and rulers. I love these reusable plastic lids to convert them to an easy to open storage container. We like to use dry erase markers on the lids to label the contents.
Nothing makes a drawer look more upgraded than with wooden drawer dividers. They are a classic organizing tool for drawers in your bathroom, kitchen or junk drawer. With so many sizes and styles to choose from you can make any drawer look custom.
I love this rack for storing my frying pans. They easily slide on and off, maximize the vertical space in a cabinet and you do not have to worry about any of them nesting and scratching. Having a dedicated spot for each pan also makes them easy to put away and neatly store.
Having a few plastic dividers in your fridge can be a great way to organize shelving and help you find food faster. They come in various sizes. I like to group like items together, such as all my smoothie supplies, so I can grab the container quickly in the morning with out fumbling through the fridge to find everything.
If you know a person who carries a lot of keys they will love this simple key holder. Very compact and sturdy. You can fill it with 10 keys and attach a key fob on the end. It is a great way to get rid of the large jingling key chain in your pocket or purse.
If you know someone who loses their keys or wallet often, or you need to keep track of a kid in an amusement park, the Tile offers a great way to track the things you care about. Simply connect it to your phone and turn it on. Place the Tile on a key chain or in a pocket and you can track where the item is located.
If you know someone struggling to keep track of paperwork and important numbers this is a great gift. You will get a reusable, editable, PDF file of over 60 page templates to organize bank accounts, insurance, and finances. There are sections for tracking medical records, child records, and important documents, as well household organization tools for meal planning, cleaning schedules and more.
This practical hamper not only helps you sort clothes into three separate bins (i.e. dark, whites, hand washable) but it also contains a surface for ironing. So if you hate taking out the ironing board all of the time, combine your laundry basket into an ironing board solution.
Did you know you can use a regular file organizer like this one to file your baking trays? I love using these on shelves or in cabinets to avoid having to stack baking trays. It keeps them separate and easy to see and grab.
Shelf liners are an inexpensive and easy way to keep your cabinetry or shelving from getting damaged by dishes, spills or pots and pans. It works great in kitchens, pantries, bathroom drawers and linen closets. With so many patterns to choose from it is like wallpaper for your drawers and a fun surprise when you open them.
Filing is always more fun with color and pattern. Here are some great folder finds that can make a great gift or your file drawers more streamlined looking.
This is a classic organizing book I still refer to after almost 20 years in the business. It is inspiring, practical and has easy to remember tips.
If you are ready to get rid of the paper in your life, having a high speed scanner can really make it easy to maintain good digital files. It is a splurge but the speed and accuracy of this scanner makes it a must have tool if you are looking to digitize files. It also does an incredible job scanning photographs to digitize and share your print collection with family and friends.
While Instant Pots may be a trend from a few years back, I still love mine. With busy days and dinner time popping up quicker than I want during the work week, this kitchen tool helps me get hot dishes on the table quickly when I do not have a lot of time. Throw in a great instant pot cookbook and you have a great gift for a busy family.
Capturing your child’s memories even easier with the Complete Kids Memorabilia Printable Filing System. This digital PDF file allows you to instantly print the pages and file tabs to document, journal and store those precious memories in your own DIY Memory Box Kit. The memory keeper features a colorful gender neutral theme that can be printed on any home printer.
Document your son or daughters childhood from Pregnancy to Senior Year of College with printable hanging file tabs. Pages include prompts to help you journal your child’s feelings on the first day, document teachers, schools attended, skills learned, summary of the year, friends, sports memories, extracurricular activities, interests, favorites and more. Great gift for a new mom or mom to be.
I love reading real paper books, but I love my Kindle just as much because it is light, easy to carry and can store hundreds of books without taking up space on my bookshelves. I also love that I can download free books from my library without leaving the house. If you are looking to downsize your book collection, switching to a Kindle may be a good idea. Throw in a Kindle Unlimited membership as a gift for even more free books to download.
If you want a space saving dish rack, I love this find. The rack can be dismantled and washed in your dishwasher and is small to store under the sink when not in use. I like using the washable mats for the drain pad because I can quickly change them out, put them in the laundry and store them with my dish towels.
This is one of my favorite drying racks because it can fold up really easily and hang on a shower rod. If you have a lot of hand washables or sweaters to dry flat each month you will love how nicely this tiered mat works.
If you have a friend or family member constantly wanting to get organized, this printable PDF workbook (created by me) is a great way to get them motivated to organize this year. It is a step-by-step guide filled with templates and assignments to deal with the emotional and physical clutter in your life. It addresses your goals, home declutter, office declutter, relationships, mind and body, cleaning routines, setting up a tag sale and creating a maintenance plan. The best part is you can edit online and print out the templates as many times as you need them.
If you have a Lazy Susan cabinet in your kitchen these containers are a great addition to keep order. They divide the circular area into sections so you can categorize what you store in there more easily. And you can grab the container to pull out and see everything in it clearly.
For those who hate making kids lunches everyday this is one of my favorite solutions. These are sturdy lunch boxes with dividers that are easy to clean each day. I like that there are many compartments which forces me to pick a variety of healthy and fun lunch options for the kids. It takes the thinking out of making sure you have good portions and a variety of items. And, it is only one container to clean each day when they come home.
This is another organizing classic organizing book in my mind. There are many great concepts to help prioritize your most important goals, balance work and family and manage your time effectively.
If you are not handy and you do not have a second lower rod in your closet, this item is a great way to double your hanging space. Often we waste a lot of vertical space in closets by not using the bottom under the clothes. This rod is great for hanging skirts, folded pants or an extra row of shirts and takes less than five minutes to install.
I love when this magazine arrives in my mailbox each month. There are always great ideas on a variety of topics related to life balance, finances, storage and organization as well as inspirational stories. This makes a great year long gift to anyone who loves getting organizational inspiration.
I hope you found some inspiration from my list of organization themed holiday gifts and get a few more gifts checked off your list this holiday season.
Happy Organizing!
Kristin
Kristin Vander Wiede is a Professional Organizer and owner of Livable Solutions Professional Organizing and Life’s Lists printable organizing labels, systems and activities.
The post 30 Practical Organization Themed Holiday Gifts for An Organized 2023 appeared first on Livable Solutions.
]]>I’m sending a big thanks to Alec Couros for inviting me to present a one hour introduction to H5P, zooming in, to the University of Regina Centre for Teaching and Learning.
As promised in my intro, #IDontDoSlides, so they got my Branching Scenario style show, talking about H5P by using H5P. Everything is there for anyone else to branch into (or out of).
Yes, this was a remixed/remixed version of one I did this summer for some folks in Texas, and itself a derivative of the first one I did a year ago for the Midwestern Higher Education Compact. Remix is a lot of what this is about, right?
My setup is to use the H5P Branching Scenario for the Not a Slide Presentation, and let them know there is much much more in there I will not cover, and I provide a wack sack of resources in the Accordion below (If I had more time I would have loved to try Oliver Tacke’s new Tabs content type).
I’ve added a new slew of references and examples, including:
For a guide to tool/content type picking (along with my non trademarked You Don’t Start Cooking By Reaching into the Utensil Drawer) I really liked again from JR Dingwall, Which H5P Content Type is Right For You, and I was going to thank him for a new resource, until I saw I had previously commented on it.
Some quick notes before they leak from my brain
I hope it went well- there were some lingering folks. And the way I set it up is that next week I return for a drop in session to see what other questions people have, or to try things hands on. I left them the self paced workshop I did last summer, I think that still stands as a good series of activities.
Thanks again Alec, I appreciate the opportunity to do stuff at University of Regina (I am just down the road!
Featured Image: Mine! Taken while driving through here in 2011…
[Media Description] A highway sign listing Findlater (2) above Regina (77) – yes real town names in Saskatchewan!
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If you’ve ever been in a long-term relationship, you know that they have their ups and downs.
There are times when you feel nothing but love and happiness with your partner and there are times when you feel nothing but frustration and irritation. It’s normal — part of life.
But what if you could be so content in your relationship that when the inevitable hard things do happen, it doesn’t shake you as a couple? That when you do go through times of intense frustration or hardship, your partner doesn’t contribute to it?
Is that even possible?
We’re all human, after all. Nobody’s perfect.
But practice does make perfect, and while you might never get to the point where your partner doesn’t irritate or frustrate you at all, you can get to the point where the irritation and frustration are minimal.
You can get to the point where instead of suffering through hard times alone, you get through them with your partner. Where they can be your support and your strength; a rock for you to lean on when you need it.
And you can be the same for them.
Achieving this is not always easy, and definitely takes a lot of practice, but if you are truly dedicated to your partner and want the most out of your relationship, these 5 tips will help you get there.
This doesn’t mean you need to drop everything every time they ask you to do something for them. You don’t need to put their needs above yours or agree with everything they do.
It does, however, mean that you see them, their needs and wants, as important. You don’t dismiss what’s important to them because you don’t understand it — you try.
You take their needs and wants into consideration — then make an effort to make them happy. If they aren’t a morning person, you wait till the afternoon to have long talks. If it’s important to them to eat meals together at night, you try your best to accommodate.
You see them — their needs, their desires, their happiness — as important as your own.
People aren’t always obvious with their feelings. Sometimes you have to look for subtle clues that someone else is pleased — through smiles, body language, etc.
You might think making a book about the things you love about your partner is incredibly romantic and special, but when you give it to them and they briefly flip through it before putting it in their drawer, never to be opened again, does it mean they don’t love you?
No. It just means that that particular token of love, while important to you, doesn’t hold special meaning to them.
Yet, if one day you have some extra time in the morning and decide to make them lunch to take to work and they tear up in gratitude — bingo. You’ve just found what’s important to them.
And many times, what’s important to the one you love will surprise you, if for no other reason than the fact that it’s not how you feel loved.
Let’s be real, we all like to have things our way, but isn’t compromise just another part of life?
After all, compromising is something you do in every relationship — not just romantic ones. You compromise with your family members, your co-workers, etc. Figuring out how to live and work together when every person has different ideas and opinions is something done every single day.
But have you ever seen a relationship where this didn’t happen? Where one member decided that their opinions were more important and better than their partners?
I’ve seen this many times, and one thing’s for sure, the person being dismissed in those relationships sure isn’t happy.
So if you don’t agree with your partner — compromise. Talk it out with them and find a solution that will work for both of you, not just one of you. Not only will your partner be happier; you’ll be happier too.
This goes along with the other point about compromising. If you try your best to see things from your partner’s point of view, it’s much easier to talk things out calmly and respectfully.
It’s human nature to immediately reject things we don’t agree with or understand, but if you’re committed to your partner and want to have a good relationship — nothing is more important than rejecting your natural tendencies and making an effort to hear them out.
Maybe they feel the way they do because of things that have happened to them in the past. Maybe they see things a certain way because it’s just how they grew up — how they were taught to see the world.
Taking the time to see the reasons behind what they’re saying and doing not only gives you more compassion and understanding, it prevents you from getting angry and dismissive.
It strengthens your relationship.
Just because you’re in a relationship doesn’t mean that you don’t notice other people who are attractive.
However, you can choose if you’re going to do more than notice them. You decide who you give your attention to, and even if you feel that giving attention to someone else is harmless, you’re making that choice.
So if that harmless bit of attention you’re giving to someone else develops into something more, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Every relationship has lulls, times when you might not feel “in love” as much as others. Because of this, many people chase that feeling of being newly in love instead of waiting out the lull.
But if you’re happy with your partner and you two have (or have had) a great relationship, isn’t that worth fighting for?
If you’re going through one of those lulls right now, try paying more attention to your partner, not less.
Do the things you did when you first were together, when you felt so much love for them you thought you would burst. Have eyes for them and only them, and before you know it, that lull will be nothing but a distant memory.
Every relationship has its ups and downs. Every person does too.
If you want to have a relationship so strong that those ups and downs can’t shake it, you’re going to have to work for it. It won’t just happen by itself.
But it can happen. And if your relationship is important to you?
You’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism | Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box | The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men |
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Photo credit: iStockPhoto.com
The post 5 Tips to Help Improve Your Relationship With Your Partner appeared first on The Good Men Project.
]]>A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents by Mary-Alice DanielA poetic coming-of-age memoir that probes the legacies and myths of family, race, and religion — from Nigeria to England to America Mary-Alice Daniel’s family moved from West Africa to England when she was a very young girl, leaving behind the vivid culture of her native land in the Nigerian savanna. They arrived to a blanched, cold world of prim suburbs and unfamiliar customs. So began her family’s series of travels across three continents in search of places of belonging. A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing ventures through the physical and mythical landscapes of Daniel’s upbringing. Against the backdrop of a migratory adolescence, she reckons with race, religious conflict, culture clash, and a multiplicity of possible identities. Daniel lays bare the lives and legends of her parents and past generations, unearthing the tribal mythologies that shaped her kin and her own way of being in the world. The impossible question of which tribe to claim as her own is one she has long struggled with: the Nigerian government recognizes her as Longuda, her father’s tribe; according to matrilineal tradition, Daniel belongs to her mother’s tribe, the nomadic Fulani; and the language she grew up speaking is that of the Hausa tribe. But her strongest emotional connection is to her adopted home: California, the final place she reveals to readers through its spellbinding history. Daniel’s approach is deeply personal: in order to reclaim her legacies, she revisits her unsettled childhood and navigates the traditions of her ancestors. Her layered narratives invoke the contrasting spiritualities of her tribes: Islam, Christianity, and magic. A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing is a powerful cultural distillation of mythos and ethos, mapping the far-flung corners of the Black diaspora that Daniel inherits and inhabits. Through lyrical observation and deep introspection, she probes the bonds and boundaries of Blackness, from bygone colonial empires to her present home in America. Reasons to read it: Memoirs by poets are always a safe bet, and with this one, Daniel shows the cost of assimilation — how with each new place she had to change another piece of herself. Though this, as a memoir, is obviously deeply personal, there’s researched history that’s shared — like the origins of names — that provides nice context. |
We Deserve Monuments by Jas HammondsFamily secrets, a swoon-worthy romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in We Deserve Monuments, a YA debut from Jas Hammonds that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations. What’s more important? Knowing the truth or keeping the peace? Seventeen year old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she’s uprooted from her life in D.C. and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two. While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family — whose mother’s murder remains unsolved. As the three girls grow closer — Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance — the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty’s health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she’s built in Bardell — or if some things are better left buried. Reasons to read it: Generational trauma, race/class, and sexuality are front and center in this book, and the mystery of what’s happened in the small town is revealed in a way that will keep you engaged. There’s also a nice romance that develops. |
A Quiet Life by Ethan JoellaFrom the author of A Little Hope — a Read with Jenna Bonus Pick —comes an enormously powerful and life-affirming novel about three individuals whose lives intersect in unforeseen ways. Set in a close-knit Pennsylvania suburb in the grip of winter, A Quiet Life follows three people grappling with loss and finding a tender wisdom in their grief. Chuck Ayers used to look forward to nothing so much as his annual trip to Hilton Head with his wife, Cat — that yearly taste of relaxation they’d become accustomed to in retirement, after a lifetime of working and raising two children. Now, just months after Cat’s death, Chuck finds that he can’t let go of her things — her favorite towel, the sketchbooks in her desk drawer — as he struggles to pack for a trip he can’t imagine taking without her. Ella Burke delivers morning newspapers and works at a bridal shop to fill her days while she anxiously awaits news — any piece of information — about her missing daughter. Ella adjusts to life in a new apartment and answers every call on her phone, hoping her daughter will reach out one day. After the sudden death of her father, Kirsten Bonato set aside her veterinary school aspirations, finding comfort in the steady routine of working at an animal shelter. But as time passes, old dreams and new romantic interests begin to surface — and Kirsten finds herself at another crossroads. In this beautifully crafted and profoundly moving novel, three parallel narratives converge in poignant and unexpected ways, as each character bravely presses onward, trying to recover something they have lost. Emotionally riveting and infused with hope, A Quiet Life celebrates humanity in the midst of uncertainty. Reasons to read it: The stories of the characters in this book are touching, and despite their grief, the overall tone of this book is comforting. This is one to pick up if you want to be soothed. |
Eat Your Mind: The Radical Life and Work of Kathy Acker by Jason McBrideThe first full-scale authorized biography of the pioneering experimental novelist Kathy Acker, one of the most original and controversial figures in 20th century American literature. Kathy Acker (1947–1997) was a rare and almost inconceivable thing: a celebrity experimental writer. Twenty-five years after her death, she remains one of the most original, shocking, and controversial artists of her era. The author of visionary, transgressive novels like Blood and Guts in High School; Empire of the Senseless; and Pussy, King of Pirates, Acker wrote obsessively about the treachery of love, the limitations of language, and the possibility of revolution. She was notorious for her methods — collaging together texts stolen from other writers with her own diaries, sexual fantasies, and blunt political critiques — as well as her appearance. With her punkish hairstyles, tattoos, and couture outfits she looked like no other writer before or after. Her work was exceptionally prescient, taking up complicated conversations about gender, sex, capitalism, and colonialism that continue today. Acker’s life was as unruly and radical as her writing. Raised in a privileged but oppressive Upper East Side Jewish family, she turned her back on that world as soon as she could, seeking a life of romantic and intellectual adventure that led her to, and through, many of the most thrilling avant-garde and countercultural moments in America: the births of conceptual art and experimental music; the poetry wars of the ’60s and ’70s; the mainstreaming of hardcore porn; No Wave cinema and New Narrative writing; Riot grrls, biker chicks, cyberpunks. As this definitive biography shows, Acker was not just a singular writer, she was also a titanic cultural force who tied together disparate movements in literature, art, music, theatre, and film. A feat of literary biography, Eat Your Mind is the first full-scale, authorized life of Acker. Drawing on exclusive interviews with hundreds of Acker’s intimates as well as her private journals, correspondence, and early drafts of her work, acclaimed journalist and critic Jason McBride offers a thrilling account and a long overdue reassessment of a misunderstood genius and revolutionary artist. Reasons to read it: This is Journalist Jason McBride’s first book, and what a person he’s chosen to write about! McBride lays out Acker’s momentous life — from her writing eight hours a day to sex work — alongside relevant cultural context. This is a well-written, well-researched biography on an immensely interesting literary figure. |
Winterland by Rae MeadowsPerfection has a cost… Reminiscent of Maggie Shipstead’s Astonish Me and Julia Phillips’s Disappearing Earth, Winterland tells the story of a previous era, shockingly pertinent today, shaped by glory and loss and finding light where none exists. In the Soviet Union in 1973, there is perhaps no greater honor for a young girl than to be chosen to be part of the famed USSR gymnastics program. So when 8 year old Anya is tapped, her family is thrilled. What is left of her family, that is. Years ago her mother disappeared. Anya’s only confidant is her neighbor, an older woman who survived unspeakable horrors during her 10 years in a Gulag camp ― and who, unbeknownst to Anya, was also her mother’s confidant and might hold the key to her disappearance. As Anya moves up the ranks of competitive gymnastics, and as other girls move down, Anya soon comes to realize that there is very little margin of error for anyone. Reasons to read it: Meadows establishes a great sense of place, allowing you to feel fully immersed in Soviet Russia and the grueling life of a female gymnast — from Anya’s first hopes that gymnastics will be her ticket out to the fall of the Soviet Union. |
The Personal Assistant by Kimberly BelleUSA Today bestselling author Kimberly Belle returns with a deeply addictive thriller exploring the dark side of the digital world when a mommy-blogger’s assistant goes missing. When Alex first began posting unscripted family moments and motivational messages online, she had no intention of becoming an influencer. Overnight it seemed she’d amassed a huge following, and her hobby became a full-time job — one that was impossible to manage without her sharp-as-a-tack personal assistant, AC. But all the good-will of her followers turns toxic when one controversial post goes viral in the worst possible way. Alex reaches out to AC for damage control, but her assistant has gone silent. This young woman Alex trusted with all her secrets, who had access to her personal information and front row seats to the pressure points in her marriage and family life, is now missing and the police are looking to Alex and her husband for answers. As Alex digs into AC’s identity — and a woman is found murdered — she’ll find the greatest threat isn’t online, but in her own living room. Written in alternating perspectives between Alex, her husband, and the mysterious AC, this juicy cat and mouse story will keep you guessing till the very end. Reasons to read it: Alternating perspectives in mysteries and thrillers makes the build up to the final reveal all the more suspenseful. And in this fast-paced domestic thriller, they lead to an ending you probably won’t see coming. |
For its 50th birthday, Carnival Cruise Line gave itself a celebration — specifically, the just-unveiled Carnival Celebration, the second ship in the line’s Excel class. And it’s clear that Celebration isn’t your mother’s, or grandmother’s, Carnival cruise ship, taking the company into its next half-century with a more modern, updated version of Carnival’s “Fun Ship” style. Carnival referenced this evolution when it chose Cassidy Gifford, daughter of Carnival’s original spokeswoman Kathie Lee Gifford, as godmother of the ship, closing the books on the old era and welcoming in the new.
To be fair, most of Carnival Celebration’s modern updates were debuted on sister vessel Mardi Gras, which launched in 2021. Carnival Celebration is now the second ship in the fleet to be powered by liquefied natural gas. It’s also the biggest ship Carnival has ever sailed, along with Mardi Gras, carrying 5,282 passengers at double occupancy.
Gone is the line’s iconic soaring atrium, replaced by the three-deck-high Celebration Central with panoramic windows looking out to sea. Guy Fieri is no longer the only celebrity chef in town; he’s joined by Shaquille O’Neal and Emeril Lagasse. Carnival’s thrilling water parks now have to make room for a top-deck roller coaster, and the RedFrog Pub has been replaced by the indoor hangout in the Summer Landing zone.
The ship is also the second Carnival vessel to bear the Celebration name. The first, known simply as Celebration, set sail for the line in 1987. It left the fleet in 2008 before ending up with Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line as Grand Celebration, which was scrapped during the industry’s pandemic pause in 2021. Now, Carnival Celebration resurrects the name to offer more fun to more people.
TPG was on board Carnival Celebration’s second sailing and the first from its Miami home port to the Caribbean. Here, I’ll outline what’s new, what we loved and what could use some tweaks.
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Carnival Celebration is divided into six themed zones, three of which are different from the zones on Mardi Gras. Some zones feel more distinct and self-contained than others. The zones are:
Celebration Central incorporates the atrium/performance area of the same name, JavaBlue Cafe, Bonsai Sushi, Bonsai Teppanyaki, Piano Bar 88 and the Punchliner Comedy Club. You’ll also find the new Aquaria Bar, featuring two-deck glass murals rescued from Carnival Victory, and the Tropicale Bar on Deck 6, named after former ship Tropicale, which was the first ship in Carnival’s fleet to have the brand’s well-known whale-tail funnel. Look for the vintage blue 1934 Rolls-Royce, brought over from Carnival Ecstasy before that ship was scrapped, and the Golden Jubilee Bar, named in honor of the line’s 50th anniversary and decorated with pieces formerly found on past Carnival ships.
Related: Why I’m sad Carnival is retiring its oldest ship
A nod to the address where Carnival Cruise Line was born 50 years ago, Carnival Celebration’s 820 Biscayne zone is designed with a purposeful Miami vibe. Located on Deck 8 midship, this new area is a dining mecca, featuring Rudi’s Seagrill (seafood), Cucina del Capitano (Italian), Miami Slice (pizza) and Deco Deli (Latin-inspired sandwiches). The area also includes Bar 820, serving Cuban-inspired coffee drinks and cocktails.
The new travel-inspired neighborhood The Gateway on decks 6 and 7 midship is most noticeable for its LED “windows” that display scenes from countries around the world, depending on the evening’s theme. The new train station-inspired Latitudes Bar and returning Emeril’s Bistro 1397 anchor this area, with the popular pharmacy-themed Alchemy Bar above. Emeril’s serves Louisiana-style breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as three evening specials based on the day’s international theme.
Related: The 5 best destinations you can visit on a Carnival ship
Also in this area are the Carnivale Restaurant and Festivale Restaurant, main dining rooms that pay homage to the second and third ships to sail for the brand, as well as the Limelight Lounge nightclub, Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse and Carnival Kitchen (a demo kitchen for cooking classes).
Aft of 820 Biscayne, Summer Landing makes a comeback on Carnival Celebration. This area is your living room and backyard. Inside, the Heroes Tribute Bar, with its comfy couches and giant TV, spills into Guy Fieri’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse | Brewhouse; you’ll find soft-serve machines in a military truck, a game room for foosball and table shuffleboard and a stage for live music. Outside, a small pool, two hot tubs and the Watering Hole provide an inviting spot to hang out on a hot day.
Thrill chasers will flock to the Ultimate Playground to get their hearts pounding. Here, the Bolt roller coaster, the second in the fleet, zooms over the mini-golf course and around the water park and ship’s funnel. A packed basketball course and an elevated ropes course keep the fun going; foosball, pingpong and bean bag toss offer an easier form of competition. A jogging track encircles the entire Deck 18 playground.
For all other outdoor pursuits, the Lido is your go-to spot. The midship pool brings back Dive-In Movies on a giant LED screen and is surrounded by a two-deck RedFrog Tiki Bar, Street Eats, BlueIguana Cantina, Seafood Shack and, one deck up, Guy’s Burger Joint. Aft of the Lido Marketplace buffet is another pool, plus Shaq’s Big Chicken. All the way forward on Deck 18 is the adults-only Serenity Deck, with a pool, two hot tubs and the Fresh Creations custom salad bar. Above is the Loft 19 sun deck exclusive to suite guests.
I’ve seen ships from other lines where the top-deck attractions take up so much space, the pools and lounging space get short shrift. Carnival Celebration manages to pack a lot into the Deck 18 playground, leaving plenty of real estate for the sun worshippers. The Bolt roller coaster is a worthy thrill ride — my only complaint is that for $15, it could be a bit longer. The ropes course manages to be both scary and completely manageable; you might feel like you’ll fall, but the obstacles are easier than they appear. Definitely try the short zip line and “walk the plank” over the edge of the ship.
Related: The 8 types of Carnival ships, explained
The water park has three different slides to suit all tastes plus a splash park, and the mini-golf course is a fun time and actually tricky. I saw everyone from little kids to adults enjoying the basketball court, and Carnival lost the ridiculous outdoor exercise equipment from its Vista-class ships and kept only the games cruisers actually play.
One of my favorite things about Carnival is that the line’s ships offer a diversity of casual, included dining venues. Carnival Celebration continues this tradition. New with the Excel class is Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken venue serving variations on the fried-chicken-and-biscuit theme from breakfast through the late afternoon. The slightly spicy tenders are delicious. Carnival’s pizza is some of the best in the biz, and the customizable tacos and burritos at BlueIguana offer something for everyone.
However, I’ve been on older Carnival ships where all the casual venues are on the lido deck, and the area gets incredibly busy at lunchtime. Too many people crowd into the same spaces, lines snake around corners and bumps and spills are unavoidable.
The Excel-class ships solve that problem by spreading out the casual venues across multiple decks. Guy’s Burger Joint is up on Deck 17 instead of by the midship pool; Big Chicken is outside the Lido Marketplace at the very back of Deck 16. Each is accompanied by a duo of soft-serve machines that get heavy use.
Related: The ultimate guide to Carnival cruising
The deli, pizza and Guy’s barbecue eateries are all on Deck 8, with a third ice cream outlet in the Heroes Tribute Bar. The only issue with this arrangement is that neither of these spots are big on vegetables; you can no longer get a salad at the pizza venue. If you want some greens with your pizza or turkey sandwich, you have to travel seven decks to the Lido Marketplace.
If you’ve never sailed with Carnival, you might be surprised to discover that it has some of the best sit-down dining among the big-ship lines. I have always enjoyed the main dining room, and Carnival Celebration continued the tradition of expansive breakfast menus, delicious Indian food, daring appetizers (where else can you order frog legs?) and the best molten chocolate cake on the high seas.
We sampled a few of Celebration’s specialty restaurants, and they also impressed. Rudi’s Seagrill delivered an enormous cioppino and a Dover sole that was soft and moist. Emeril’s Bistro 1397 wowed my husband with a flavorful ceviche, while I enjoyed hot-from-the-oven beignets. We dined at Chibang! twice to try both its Asian and Mexican specialties. Both were delicious but we agreed that the Mexican menu stole the show. My kids slurped up pasta at Cucina del Capitano at lunch, and I heard others rave that the steakhouse was as good as I remember from other ships.
Carnival’s Excel-class ships offer more cabin types than ever before, with family cabins, Havana cabins with patio swings, and all kinds of suites. I stayed in a standard balcony cabin with my family of four and was impressed by how well designed the room was to accommodate four people in a small space.
I’m always talking about cabin storage and Carnival nailed it. Its four-section closet had it all: tall and short hanging spaces, shelves and three pullout drawers. The desk area has two deep drawers and one shallow drawer, two shelves and an ottoman stool with storage inside. I had to ask for extra hangers (quickly delivered), but all our stuff found a home.
Related: Everything to know about Carnival cabins and suites
The bathroom was also impressive. I’m not sure two people could stand next to each other without someone stepping into the shower, but the shower itself is roomy for a bathroom that small. I never banged my elbows or kicked open the door in an attempt to pick a bottle off the floor. Plus, it has an adjustable shower head with a removable wand and a shave bar in one corner — thoughtful touches.
As a professional traveler, it’s not a huge surprise that one of my favorite public areas on the ship is the travel-themed The Gateway. The Latitudes Bar called my name with its seatbacks decorated with faux passport stamps and split-flap departure board signage. My husband and I spent an enjoyable hour trying a couple of the bar-specific cocktails, inspired by countries around the world. For a photogenic and tasty tipple, order the Sakura, which comes with a surprise presentation.
And as a cruise buff, I also loved the new Golden Jubilee Bar, decorated with doors, glass, tabletops and other pieces from previous Carnival ships. It serves classic cocktails and takes up its own space, rather than spanning a public thoroughfare. It’s the perfect place for a drink before a meal in the Carnivale main dining room next door.
The Summer Landing zone on Carnival Celebration is the ship’s living room, and my family found ourselves there often. My son was a big fan of the foosball and table shuffleboard, and my daughter loved the aft pool, with its loungers in the shallows. Both loved the easy-access soft-serve machine. We swung by Guy’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse | Brewhouse for breakfast and barbecue dinner, played trivia, sampled beers brewed right on board and watched other people watch sports at the Heroes Tribute Bar. I was bummed that I never got to hear the band that played here after-hours because the setting is perfect for kicking back with a drink and listening to live music.
The area takes the place of the RedFrog Pub, a venue I’ve loved on other Carnival ships. The decor here is a little darker, but the expanded size and proximity to a pool, hot tubs and outdoor seating are a definite plus.
Unlike their fleetmates, Carnival Celebration and Mardi Gras both skip the soaring, multi-deck-high central atrium and replace it with a three-deck-high ocean-facing atrium along the ship’s starboard (right-hand) side. The area was revamped and renamed Celebration Central area on this ship, decorated with color-changing lights designed to look like confetti. Guest services and shore excursions have been moved out of this central area to a more out-of-the-way spot on Deck 8 aft.
By day, panoramic windows offer port and ocean views to guests enjoying coffee and a snack from the JavaBlue Cafe across from Celebration Central’s lower level. At night, video screens come down to serve as the high-tech animated backdrop for musical production shows featuring multiple aerialists and performers who dance in and out of passengers sitting closest to the stage.
Related: How to make the most of Carnival’s loyalty program
I loved how the atrium area is now more incorporated into the daily flow of the ship, rather than an area you pass by to get somewhere else. The shows are stunning, with the action extending beyond the stage, including into the air. They make full use of the high-tech capabilities of the performance space.
However, the area lacks seating with full sightlines of both the stagebound singers and the aerialists. My family arrived at a show 40 minutes early and only by luck found close-up seats with obstructed views. At another show I attended solo, I found a lone seat in the stadium-style section of banquettes between decks 7 and 8. Even in this area clearly meant for show watching, I could not see all the action, and the noise from passengers wandering around Deck 8 and coming in and out of Bonsai Sushi was loud and distracting.
The hotel director assures me his team will find ways to schedule shows so fewer people show up, but I’m not convinced that enough seats in Celebration Central have full sight of the stage or that putting a theater in a public space is the best idea for focusing on a show.
I appreciate what Carnival has tried to do on this ship to make flexible dining more accessible. In addition to the main dining room, passengers who have selected the Anytime Dining plan can enjoy dinner at Cucina del Capitano or Chibang! where they can choose dishes from the restaurant’s menu or the always-available options from the main dining room menu.
You can request a table at a specific venue or choose the first available among all three.
The problem is that guests on the early or late assigned dining plan cannot access those restaurants before 7:45 p.m. We were assigned early dining, so the night we wanted to try Chibang! we requested a table exactly at 7:45 p.m — but there was a 50-to-60-minute wait, which led to a very late dinner for our kids.
And that wasn’t the only restaurant with a wait. You can’t request a table in advance for Bonsai Sushi, but when my husband and son came for dinner at 8:20 p.m., the hostess wasn’t sure she could get them a table until close to 10 p.m.
It’s likely that many of these dining issues are startup problems. The hotel director told me that it takes around six months for a new ship to be running like clockwork. So if you’re on an early sailing, my advice is to dine early or request tables half an hour to an hour before you want to eat. If you like to try out different restaurants for dinner, choose the flexible dining option so you get earlier access to Chibang! and Cucina del Capitano for dinner.
Carnival Celebration, like Mardi Gras, takes the Carnival Fun Ship concept to the next level with a bigger ship and an updated layout that still hold true to the line’s core values of dining variety, plentiful bars, entertainment for all interests and a focus on fun. Loyalists will find many of their favorite places and spaces and come to develop new beloved hangouts, while first-timers will be wowed by the nonstop options, livable cabins across all price points and the always-friendly and helpful crew members.
Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:
All you need in this case is a few single modules and office clips. Another bonus is that it is completely up to you what it finally will look like.
The final things looks spectacular. Personally, I would love to have it in my living room.
A foldable ladder also has got some bookcase potential. Unfold it in a desired spot, add wooden shelves and that’s it!
If you really want to impress your guests, that’s the one you have been looking for. It’s all about a few hinges that in the end are hidden behind the books.
If you prefer some unusual solutions, you are going to like this one. Each bookshelf can be covered with some wrapping paper or wallpaper.
All of a sudden your room will be so colorful.
This original combination is the answer to the question whether watching TV really kills reading books. Resourceful and so practical!
All you need to do is to cover the bottom of an old drawer and fix it to the wall. And an amazing bookcase is ready to store!
Of course thanks to our plumbers there are so many possible combinations that this one here is just a tip of the iceberg.
Another design which in fact is really easy to make. As long as you have 2 wooden shelves, 4 wheels and 2 wire mesh baskets
This is another proof that you don’t really need much to create something original and good-looking. In this case that means white wooden boards and a thick rope.
This is what I like the most. One object with two functions. What is more, to make it you only need to find an old wooden cable spool. A perfect match!
Just like in the case of old drawers, you only have to decorate the bottom and fix it to the wall.
In just a moment an old file divider was given a new life.
Using a curtain rail and some nice fabric you can make a really interesting object that will soon be the pride of your apartment.
Because you never get enough book space!
Put one bench on another and an original bookshelf is ready!
Once again you can make use of your resourcefulness and create something exceptional.
The post You Will Never Buy a Bookshelf or a Bookcase Anymore. These 17 DIY Ideas Will Simply Enchant You appeared first on Handimania.
]]> Kohl’s | Big One 3-Drawer Rolling Storage Tower ONLY $25 (Reg $80) |
Some people reading this have owned a house for 50 years. Others might've just moved into their first starter home. In either case, every homeowner has one thing in common: you'll accumulate so many tools. What you might not realize is that some of the best tools on Amazon are multi-use tools that can replace so many things.
Accumulating tools doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, of course. But what happens when you can't remember where you store something you need? What happens when you need something?
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It's okay to admit that you've re-purchased the same tool on more than one occasion because you couldn't find something. It has definitely happened to me before. But it's less common these days because I finally decided to do something about all that clutter.
Instead of buying all your tools piecemeal over the years, smart homeowners might buy tool sets and multi-use tools that handle multiple tasks.
And perhaps the best part is the fact that these do-it-all sets actually end up saving you a fortune. Why? Because there are so many affordable options available on Amazon.
The BGR Deals team dug through the deepest depths of Amazon's Tools & Home Improvement department to find five tool sets in particular that will cover pretty much every single one of the common bases you want to cover.
It all starts out with two simple screwdriver sets, the first being the Nanch 22-in-1 Precision Screwdriver Set for all your small jobs. It launched at $37.99, but then the retail price dropped to $30. Right now, it's on sale for just $23.99.
Then you have the awesome $37 HORUSDY 44-Piece Magnetic Screwdriver Set that handles pretty much everything else, which is down to $29.90 right now. The former is easy to store in a drawer to it's always accessible. And the latter can go on your workbench or wherever you have your main workspace set up.
The RoverTac 14-in-1 Multitool is also a must-have item, and it costs just $22.07 while it's discounted. This little gizmo comes in handy all the time!
Last but certainly not least, we've got two tool sets that cost a little more money. But they both have so many essentials that would cost literally hundreds of dollars to buy separately. The Hi-Spec Tools 67 Piece Auto Mechanics Tool Kit is designed for auto mechanics, but it has everything you need for a million different tasks.
Then there's the jar-owl Power Tool Set with 16.8V Cordless Drill, which is an awesome combo kit with a drill, bits, hammer, saw, pliers, wrenches, and so much more. All that for just $62.49 while it's on sale!
Several of these awesome Amazon finds are on sale with discounts right now. That said, there's no telling how long these deals will last. In other words, hurry up or you might miss out on some of the best tools on Amazon.
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The post 5 multi-use tools that can replace almost everything in your toolbox appeared first on BGR.
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5 multi-use tools that can replace almost everything in your toolbox originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 9 Aug 2022 at 07:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
]]>Functional versatile the perfect solution for organizing a multitude of items hats scarves video games laundry needs craft supplies and more use in bathroom bedroom closet laundry room utility room garage hobby and craft room home office mudroom and entryways perfect for homes apartments condos dorm rooms rvs and campers Thoughtfully sized each measures 12 x 9 x 6 high
Instant organization this bin keeps kitchen clutter under control by storing all of your essentials store and organize pasta packets extra supplies of salt dressing and vinegars macaroni and cheese boxes water bottles soda pop cans juice boxes snacks granola bars pouches onions apples baking supplies and condiments perfect for extra supplies of foil plastic wrap waxed paper and plastic sandwich bags generously sized you will find many uses for these storage bins set of 8 Portable easygrip builtin side handles make it convenient to pull this tote off the shelf out of cabinets or wherever you store them the integrated handles make these perfect for upper shelves you can use the handles to pull them down use multiple bins together to create a customized organization system that works for you keep items organized and easy to find with this vintageinspired modern wire bins
Quality construction made of sturdy steel wire with a durable rustresistant finish easy care wipe clean with a soft damp cloth
Creates a colorcoded system create a colorcoded system to conveniently cleanup or organize your kitchen and pantry area effectively maximizes the storage space in your refrigerator freezer cupboard or cabinet shelves Our multicolored stackable storage bins are commonly used to hold vegetables fruits bottles cans toys books etc Semi open front mesh basket stackable baskets that are built with sturdy plastic and mesh design offer improved ventilation to keep your things fresh and dry and for easy identification of whats inside the bins The semiopen front provides easyaccess to quickly remove and store items without needing to move the top basket
Ideal for home organization stackable plastic storage bins include a total of 4 color styles blue green pink and khakicolored basket for storing and organizing the goods at any place in your home single basket dimension 1476l 1043w 73h
Assorted color baskets each storage basket is made of premium quality plastic bear heavyweight very durable anti decay not trap dust It also provides colorcoded organization one color for each thing Stackable design these stacking storage bins fit practically anywhere and offer plenty of room in your pantry lobby bathroom bedroom or closet You can easily stack them high and low for maximum space utilization
Quality construction made of durable bpa and chlorine free shatterresistant plastic food safe easy care clean with mild soap and water do not place in dishwasher Storage made simple these large capacity bins are great for creating a clean and organized kitchen cabinet or pantry great for storing dry goods canned goods soups food packets seasonings baking supplies snack bags boxed foods soda pop bottles sports and energy drinks use side by side and combine with other mdesign bins to create the storage solution that works best for you the square format is great for cube storage shelving and furniture units set of 2 Functional versatile the perfect for cabinet and pantry shelves these versatile bins can also be used in other rooms of the home use them in craft rooms laundryutility rooms bedrooms bathrooms offices garages toy rooms and playrooms mdesign tip create a storage spot in the mudroom or entryway for outdoor accessories like baseball hats caps gloves and scarves versatile light weight and easy to transport these are great in apartments condos dorm rooms rvs and campers
Easyreach open front large opening dips down in front making it simple to grab what you need quickly and easily the perfect storage and organizing solution for modern kitchens and hectic households that are on the go organize all of your kitchen essentials and create handy goto supply baskets to make organizing and everyday living a little easier great for busy families and professional organizers these bins help you to get organized and stay that way
Thoughtfully sized tapered design inside bottom 92 x 92 top 10 x 10 x 775 high
Quality construction made of durable shatterresistant plastic easy care clean with soap and water do not place in the dishwasher Smart storage this storage organizer fits boxed foods condiments spices baking supplies dry goods and many other kitchen essentials use in the fridge to keep fruits and vegetables organized and ready to go perfect for wellness items store vitamin bottles medicine aspirin adhesive bandages first aid essentials works in refrigerator and freezer organize all of your kitchen essentials set of 8 Thoughtfully sized tapered design inside bottom 92 x 52 top of box 10 x 65 x 75 high
Functional versatile these versatile bins are the perfect solution for organizing a multitude of household items such as video games toys lotions bath soaps shampoos conditioners linens towels laundry needs craft supplies school supplies files and more the options are endless great for college dorm rooms apartments condos rvs and campers too use this multipurpose basket anywhere you need to add storage and get organized ideal for home and professional organizers Portable bins feature easycarry handles to make it simple to transport goods from pantry to shelf to table just grab and go the perfect storage and organizing solution for modern kitchens and pantries open tops make it easy to see what is inside and quickly grab what you need try these in the cabinet or cupboard under your sink for cleaning or dishwashing supplies or for storing boxes of kitchen liners and large garbage bags
Easy visibility transparent durable plastic walls allow you to easily view box contents Portable design easily move your items from place to place with the integrated handles Versatile easily store food kitchen utensils craft supplies and other home necessities Plastic food storage bin great for creating a clean and organized refrigerator or pantry Ideal for yogurts food packets cheese meat drink boxes baby food juices boxed foods fruits and veggies Great for storing dry goods in the pantry Maximize storage space in refrigerator freezer cabinets cupboards or pantry shelves
Set of 2 each bin measures 12 x 4 x 145 to fit in any space
Clutterfree organization organizers offer plentiful space to fit different types of food items while keeping your refrigerator looking coordinated the sturdy egg lid allows multiple to be stacked or other items placed on top complements most refrigerator sizes Refrigerator organizer set ideally sized to fit fruits vegetables and other food items in the fridge freezer or pantry all drawers feature a builtin handle for easy pullout and transport
6 piece set includes 2 wide drawers ideally sized to fit fruits vegetables and other larger sized food items 2 narrow drawers ideally sized to fit snacks condiments and other slimmer sized items 1 can dispenser drawer holds 10 standard size 12oz cans small sized food cans juice boxes and other types of drinks 1 egg drawer stackable organizer holds 14 eggs Clear view with easy access always see and know what you have and need while making delicious meals easy access pullout container also saves time and hassle of looking through the refrigerator for your favorite foods now you can carry out bbq essentials in one trip quickly dispense favorite drink keep snacks in one place easily grab eggs and separate fruits and veggies
Durable sleek design all fridge and freezer drawer organizers are completely bpa free clean by hand with mild detergent and water do not place in dishwasher approximate measurements wide drawer 14 5 l x 8 5 w x 4 h narrow drawer 14 75 l x 4 25 w x 4 h can drawer 13 25 l x 5 5 w x 4 h egg drawer 14 50 l x 4 37 w x 3 12 h
Stackable design and clear view practical stackable design to help maximize your space the transparent design makes the search process easier as you can find the required product without a hassle Each bin measures approx 10 l 6 w 3 h set of 6 Storage made easy keep your refrigerator freezer countertops kitchen cabinet or pantry clean and neatly organized with the 6 stackable fridge organizer pantry storage bins Functional versatile these storage bins can be used widely use them in craft rooms laundry rooms bedrooms bathrooms kitchens offices garages toy room playroomclosets more light weight and easy to transport these are great in apartments condos dorm rooms rvs and campers
High quality made of durable high quality 100 food safe bpa free shatterresistant plastic Designed with practical carry handles and interior non slip texture Clean with warm soapy waterdo not place in dishwasher
Widely used ideal for storing your box drinks fruit vegetables yogurts food packets canned foods baby foods boxed foods condiments etc Also good for storing dry goods in the pantry
High quality Made of abs plastic which is food safe durable for long time use Good for storage salad lettuce carrot cucumber tomato celery onions pepper and so on Multipurpose Food storage container with lid keeps product fresher longer Organize your food drinks small parts Perfect for refrigerator freezer table desk cabinet etc Package include You will get 2 pack stackable refrigerator organizers with 2 lids and handle And there are 6 removable small bins in the package
Stackable design Each refrigerator organizer is stackable so that you can place them individually or stacked in refrigerator Saving space when not use Size The dimension of large storage bin is 105 x 514 x 6 inches capacity 5 l 22cup Size of 6 small bins is 518 x 35 x 514 inches top 45 x 278 inchesbottom capacity of each small bin 12 l
Great for storing dry goods in the pantry such as soups food packets flavors baking supplies snack bags boxed foods canned goods Potatoes onions and more Use it as a refrigerator organizer to store fruits vegetables yogurts cheese or meat in your fridge or freezer Practical design to help maximize your space Use them side by side to keep items organized and easy to find
Made of durable high quality 100 food safe bpa free shatterresistant plastic Clean with warm soapy water Do not place in dishwasher Each bin measures approx 11 l 8 w 6 h Keep your kitchen cabinet or pantry neatly organized with these deep pantry organizer storage bins
Ideal for kitchens countertops pantry shelves refrigerators freezers cabinets great for closets bedrooms bathrooms laundry rooms craft rooms mudrooms offices play rooms garages or any room of your home apartment condo dorm room rv or camper
Functional versatile these versatile storage bins can be used in any room of the home great for keeping small items organized and easy to find use them in the bedroom nursery laundryutility room kitchen home office craft room playroom kids rooms garage and more the compact size and stacking feature also makes them great for apartments condos college dorm rooms rvs campers and boats these bins help you to get organized and stay that way Instant organization the perfect depth for upper cabinets and pantry shelves great for squeeze bottles and pouches store your salad dressings apple sauce packets energy drinks chia vitality snacks health foods dry goods and other perishable items perfect for storing dry goods in the pantry store kitchen essentials towels candles baking supplies straws and skewers maximize storage space in refrigerator freezer cabinets cupboards pantry shelves or drawers set of 4
Thoughtfully sized each measures 10 x 6 x 3 high
Quality construction made of durable shatterresistant plastic easy care clean with soap and water do not place in the dishwasher Portable stackable builtin easygrip side handles make it easy to transport from shelf to table or island organize all of your kitchen essentials and create handy goto supply baskets to make organizing and everyday living a little easier stack or use sidebyside to create the best storage solution for your home maximize storage space in refrigerator freezer cabinets cupboards pantry shelves or drawers great for busy families and professional organizers
Help organize your kitchen and pantryimagine every time walking to your kitchen or pantry found everything is neatly organized No longer messy you can get everything you want very quickly With the stackable and spacesaving design these containers will make more efficient use of every inch of your kitchen pantry cabinets 4 size combinations fit your needsour kitchen storage containers set comes in 4 different sizes Includes 1 tall container 25quart28 liters 4 large containers 18quart20 liters 6 medium containers 15quart16 liters 4 small containers 07quart08 liters Perfect for storing spaghetti baking supplies cereal flour sugar oats pasta rice coffee tea snacks nuts and other dry goods
Airtight containers keep food freshthe sidelocking lids with silicone gasket make these storage containers airtight and the top flips open easily Airtight storage system will always keep your food dry and fresh All have the same lids make it easy to wash dry and reuse with ease
24 reusable labels except 15pcs dry food storage containers you will also receive 24pcs labels They are reusable you can switch contents whenever you need Just wipe clean with a damp cloth to change what you have written peel and restick
Bpa free and food grade materialvtopmart pantry storage containers are made of durable plastic bpa free which have a longer life than many other brands plastic containers Clear containers make it convenient to see whats inside you can easily get what you want without opening every container
Ideal for storing dry goods in the pantry such as cereal flour sugar coffee rice grain beans nuts snacks pet food baking supplies more Keep your food dry and safe with these stackable plastic food storage container set Airtight 4 side locking lid to protect your food from pests moisture and air oxidization Practical stackable design to help maximize your space and keep items organized and easy to find Great for countertops pantry shelves refrigerators freezers cabinets closets cupboard And more
Made of durable high quality 100 food safe bpa free shatterresistant plastic Easy to clean extremely user friendly and keeps your kitchen cabinet or pantry neatly organized Set included 6 xlarge containers 1183 cups 28 liters 6 large containers 845 cups 20 liters 6 medium containers 592 cups 14 liter 6 small containers 338 cups 08 liters Free bonus labels with chalk marker measuring spoon set
Quality construction made of durable shatterresistant plastic easy care clean with mild soap and water do not place in dishwasher Smart storage this storage organizer fits boxed foods condiments spices baking supplies dry goods and many other kitchen essentials use in the fridge to keep fruits and vegetables organized and ready to go perfect for wellness items store vitamin bottles medicine aspirin first aid essentials works in refrigerator and freezer organize all of your kitchen essentials set of 2 Thoughtfully sized each measure 8 x 12 x 6 high
Stackable the pullout drawer opens easily making it simple to grab what you need quickly the bins clear construction lets you see whats inside so you can easily find what youre looking for the stackable design lets you maximize space by creating vertical storage use individually or together to create a custom storage system that works for you keep kitchen items contained organized and dustfree mdesign tip stack them vertically to maximize your storage potential stack and store Versatile compact these versatile storage bins can be used in any room of the home great for keeping small items organized and easy to find ideal for accessories scarves belts and hat storage use to store toys dolls puzzles games and books use them in the bedroom bathroom laundryutility room kitchen craft room kids rooms playroom garage and more the compact size and stacking feature also makes them great for apartments condos college dorm rooms rvs campers and boats
Large capacity the size of the pet food bucket is 78713781378 inches which can hold 3307 pounds of meters which is enough to meet the needs of the family very convenient and practical Material the rice bucket is made of high quality pp which is sturdy and durable can be used for a long time safe and reliable you can safely store your food Airtight design the plastic rice bucket with 6 locks and sealing rings can keep the food dry ensure the freshness of rice and other grains and prolong the food storage time
Intimate design flip cover design fully transparent cover store food at a glance easy to take food and replenish food in time bottom pulley design easy to move Multipurpose grain rice bucket is not only suitable for storing rice flour oatmeal or other grains but also for pet food such as dog food fish food bird food cat food etc Can be placed in the kitchen pantry or countertop
Small compact08 gallons 3 liter 8 inch55 inch4 inch The mini trash can doesnt take up too much countertop space Fits on a countertop under the sink or in the pantry and works well for small living spaces like dorm rooms apartments condos rvs cabins and campers Light sturdylalastar kitchen trash can with lid is made up with high quality plastic The sturdy handle makes it easy to carry the filled bin Perfect for everyday countertop use
Works as compost bin its orderblocking Say goodbye to the smelly decomposing waste Our waste basket comes with a lid You can let the fruit scraps vegetable peelings and other compostable materials build up for several days without worrying about attracting flies or terrible smells into your kitchen Works as desktop wastebasket the mini countertop trash can is perfect for makeup tables vanities office desktops countertops inside cabinets and more It can be used throughout the house in the bathroom laundry room home office craft room kids room and more
Hangable mountablethe small trash can with lid can be easily hung on the doors of kitchen cabinets office lockers or bedroom drawers Moreover this food waste caddy can also be wallmounted to your cupboard kitchen wall or bathroom wall with adhesive pad
Ideal size widely be usedeach clear storage bins measures 135 l 67 w4 h larger than others in the markets With the enough length and depth this plastic organizer bins can ideal for fruits vegetables yogurts canned goods meat milk salad dressing condiments dry goods cleaning supplies bath products makeup and more Suitable for kitchens refrigerators freezers cabinets laundry room utility room bathroom office Super durable food grade materialsthe freezer organizer made of high quality crystal clear durable bpafree shatterresistant plastic these pantry storage bins are 100 foodsafe and designed to last
Stackable fridge organizerthis pantry organizers and storage with raised feet on the bottom it can be stackable to use or use them side by side to keep items organized and easy to find The fridge organizer stackable is designed with builtin handles and nonslip basesThe fridge organizer bins provide the appropriate space for proper allocation of commodities for better grocery management New design stackable storage bins with silicone sealing lidthis refrigerator organizer bins designed with leak proof sealing lid and practical carry handles protect the contents of orgianizer bins from crushed prevent moisture and dust for keeping food fresh longer also can avoid the odor spreading Stackable with lids can save your space and bring more convenience to you
Noticedont place the plastic storage bins in dishwasher if food goes bad or spices leak just need to wash with hands using mild detergent and water temperature range 20 degree to 50 degree Contact us if you have any problem we will solve it for you within 24 hours
Wallmountedcabinet storage optional wall mounted design easily mount to the wall with included hardware Moreover you can use it to store items anywhere like dorms bathrooms bedrooms closets under the bed in the garage or in the pantry Dimensioncare each set of 4 metal wire baskets contains one of each size 12 l x 9 w x 6 h Fold size 12 l x 9 w x 07 handle size 41 l x 15 w To clean wipe with a damp cloth and towel dry Patent number us d901180s Foldablebuiltin handles xcosrack metal wire basket features builtin handles that make it easy to carry and very convenient to lift the basket down the shelf and cabinet Foldble design when not use it just fold down for sleek storage on a shelf or desk
Perfect storage solution xcosrack metal wire basket provides a great storage solution for any room in the home Organize lotions in your bathroom containers in your pantry office supplies mails in your office fruitvegetablespices in your kitchen accessories and toys in your closet
Open design open design lets you easily view everything in the basket Also very convenient for you to put in and take out the items
Large capacity the bin with wheels is 287x133x295 730x340x750 mm in dimensions It is big enough with 21 gallons of large capacity Also able to hold 110 lbs flour and 141 lbs rice Special design the clear sliding lid allows for quick access of grains and immediate observation of foods a foodgrade scoop is included the internal scoop hanger for food Easy to move with four caster wheels on the bottom for easy movement They can easily carry heavy loads saving time and effort
Wide application the storage bin with wheels is ideal for mobile storage in the kitchen Suitable for storing rice flour corn soybeans grain and other dry goods Highquality pp material the bin on wheels adopts highquality and pp material With a lightweight and strong sealing easy to store food
Designed with practical 4 divided generously sized sections made of durable high quality 100 food safe bpa free shatterresistant plastic Clean with warm soapy water Do not place in dishwasher Keep your kitchen cabinet or pantry neatly organized with these stackable plastic pantry storage bins Practical stackable design to help maximize your space Stack or use them side by side to keep items organized and easy to find Each bin measures 105 l x 6 w x35 h
Great for snacks packets pouches tea bags creamers sugar salt pepper packets sweeteners instant coffee or tea packets water flavorings medicine packets vitamin packets and more Ideal for kitchens countertops pantry shelves refrigerators freezers cabinets or as drawer organizers Great for closets bedrooms bathrooms laundry rooms craft rooms mudrooms offices play rooms garages or any room of your home apartment condo dorm room rv or camper
Indoor compost bucket measures 69 x 83 x 96 high 13 gallon 5liter capacity Made of sturdy and nontoxic plastic the hanging trash can is durable and easy to clean with soap and water Wall mountunder sink trash can trash bin easy to install hanging mount accessory included Small and perfect fit for most cabinet doors pantry doors cupboard under sinks and countertop No fruit flies compost bucket our indoor compost bin designed specifically as a hidden non smelling fruit fly free with super easy access for load and unload No charcoal filter costs no need no odors no fruit flies
Multiple uses garbage bin our small trash can work great with reusable grocery bags Suitable for kitchen bathroom rv laundry etc Space saving and environmentally friendly garbage can Countertop compost container sturdy stylish and sleek design complements any decor so that this small kitchen compost bin can sit conveniently on your countertop or wherever you need it
Practical stackable design to help maximize your space Stack or use them side by side to keep items organized and easy to find Each bin measures approx 145 l 85 w 38 h Ideal sized to fit fruits vegetables yogurts canned goods food packets cheese meat also good for storing dry goods in the pantry Made of durable high quality 100 food safe bpa free shatterresistant plastic
Keep your refrigerator freezer pantry or countertops neatly organized with these fridge organizer storage bins
Quality construction made of durable bpa and chlorine free shatterresistant plastic food safe easy care clean with mild soap and water do not place in dishwasher Portable stackable builtin easygrip side handles make it easy to transport from shelf to table or island organize all of your kitchen essentials and create handy goto supply baskets to make organizing and everyday living a little easier stack or use side by side to create the best storage solution for your home maximize storage space in refrigerator freezer cabinets cupboards pantry shelves or drawers great for busy families and professional organizers Functional versatile use more than one to maximize storage space base feet allow more than one bin to be neatly stacked without shifting use in any room of the home they are great for storing and organizing kids toys laundry utility supplies crafting items and office accessories versatile light weight and easy to transport these are great in apartments condos college dorm rooms rvs and campers these bins help you to get organized and stay that way
Thoughtfully sized each measures 10 x 4 x 3 high
Smart storage perfect for stacking and creating vertical storage great for yogurt tubs and squeeze packets apple sauce cheese sticks snacks small ketchup and mustard packets cheeses and perishable items that you keep in the fridge perfect for storing dry goods in the pantry store kitchen essentials towels candles baking supplies straws and skewers set of 2
Stainlesssteel handle with 1 gallon capacity Linerretaining hole inside keeps liner tidy Easyaccess fliptop lid Ventilated design reduces moisture and odors Replaceable odor filter in lid
]]>We’ve had our Frame TV for about 2.5 years now, so I feel like I can give a really honest and thorough review of what we think about it!
We have a 55″ Frame TV in our bedroom, and a 65″ Frame TV in our living room above our electric fireplace. We originally purchased the one in our room for the living room, but as soon as we hung it up we knew it was too small. So, we bought the bigger one and decided to just keep the smaller one too!
A Samsung Frame TV is a television that’s really thoughtfully designed to look like a piece of art. When it’s on, it’s a high-quality, 4K QLED television with a top-notch viewing experience. But, with a press of a button, it transforms into wall art and becomes a piece of your home decor. It’s the perfect solution for someone who wants a great TV but doesn’t want it to look like a TV. Instead, it looks like custom art!
It’s not just a smart TV that displays art, though. A lot of televisions can do that. Here’s a rundown of the other features that make the Frame TV unique:
I think it’s important to note that YES, you can turn art mode off and have the TV go completely black! Otherwise, it would drive us nutty in our bedroom all night!
If you want to turn the TV to art mode, you press the power button once. If you want it to turn off you just have to hold the power button down for about 3 seconds, and it will go to a black screen.
When you open your Frame TV box, you’ll find:
So, what’s the One Connect Box? It’s what houses all of the technology for the television. It functions as a cable box and is the hub for all of your connections to the television, like the USB ports and other input options. It’s where you’ll connect any components like video game systems, Fire Sticks, Apple TV, etc.
Of course, the television itself is a smart television, so it can run apps like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, and more without adding anything additional!
The invisible connection wire is translucent and just over 16 feet long. So, you can put it just about anywhere and it will be fully out of sight!
We chose to run our wire through the fireplace in our living room, and our One Connect Box in there sits underneath the drawer in our fireplace hearth.
In our bedroom, the wire runs through the wall and the One Connect Box sits on the floor underneath our dresser, fully out of sight! The One Connect Box can easily fit under or inside of just about any piece of furniture that you have near your TV!
Yes.
100%. It looks like art.
Without fail, almost every single person who has visited my home for the first time has thought we didn’t have a television in our living room. It’s the most fun party trick – when you turn the TV on, everyone is completely shocked!
I cannot tell you how many people have asked me about the art above our mantel, or casually commented that they can’t imagine not keeping a television downstairs. I’ve had people straight up not believe me when I tell them it’s not actually art.
It’s very convincing. Especially if you take the time to adjust the warmth and brightness to realistic settings! I find that it’s best to keep it a little warmer and a little darker than might be your instinct. The glow of the TV is what’ll give you away, so keeping it dark is wise!
I’ll also note that while Samsung only offers the same frame in different colors (a very minimal, modern frame), you can get other frame styles from third party sellers! Places like Deco TV Frames have tons of options, but they’re much pricier than the Samsung ones.
Of course, the best part about the Samsung The Frame TV is that you can make it look like a canvas hanging on your wall! So, how do you actually put the finishing touch on the whole setup and add art to your television?
Here’s a quick rundown of your options.
Samsung has an Art Store where you can download free art, or purchase art, for your television. There is a limited number of options that you can add to your television for free, along with a much bigger selection of art you can add with a subscription. They have lots of classic art pieces, along with some exclusive options that you can’t find anywhere else.
The Samsung Art Store subscription is $4.99 a month and allows you access to their full library of art. You can change it as often as you want, and there are thousands of options.
I had a subscription to the Art Store for a little while, because I liked how easy it was to swap out my art. But, I quickly learned that it wasn’t really worth it for me overall. I don’t change my art that much, and I’d rather grab something from somewhere else that I can pay for once and leave up a long time!
This is what I generally do! I love to pick out art for my television, and I usually change it up seasonally. But, I’m not changing the art often enough that I need a subscription!
My favorite place to get art for my Frame TV is from Etsy. You can find tons of options (most of them well under $5) that you can easily upload to your television.
Here’s a quick list of all the places I like to shop for art for my Frame TV from:
And, here’s a quick roundup of a few of my current favorite pieces – just to give you an idea of the sort of thing you can put on your Frame TV!
Once you’ve downloaded art, it’s time to get it onto the TV!
It’s important to note, this process doesn’t just apply to art you’ve downloaded. You can create your own art or even upload photographs from your phone directly onto your television. Here’s a rundown of how it works:
In theory, it’s a very simple process. But, for full transparency, I’ll note that the app is my one complaint about the television. I find it to be incredibly glitchy. My television often won’t show up without a bunch of finagling, and when it does, my photos often won’t shop up in the app for some reason. I find I have to put the photos into a folder on my phone, then go to that folder. I have no idea why. I’ve heard lots of other people complain about the functionality of the app, so I know it’s not just me.
Maybe that’s why I don’t change my art very often? Hah!
But, dealing with a glitchy and annoying app is something I’m more than willing to do in order to have a television that it’s just a black screen above my fireplace all the time. So, I’m not complaining!
Many smart televisions these days have options that can display art. However, most of them do it as a “screensaver” and it turns off automatically after a certain amount of time. The beauty of a Frame TV is that the art mode turns on automatiically when you turn the TV off, and stays on as long as you’re in the room.
The television also has a motion sensor that will turn it fully off when there isn’t movement in the room for a certain amount of time (you can adjust this). Because of these features, I really don’t think there’s a direct alternative to the Frame TV on the market right now!
But, if you just don’t have the budget, lots of people have made beautiful frames for their televisions to make it look like a Frame TV. It just requires a little creativity!
Obviously the price depends on the size of television you get. The televisions go up to 85-inch, and can be found at most major retailers that have TVs!
I’ve found that the best place to get a good price is either eBay or Amazon. I’d recommend keeping an eye on it for a bit before purchasing to get a good idea of the costs and find the best discounts. As I write this a new 55″ Frame TV is about $1,400 on both sites.
In my humble opinion? Absolutely YES!
We adore our Samsung Frame televisions and would buy them over and over again. The TV quality is fantastic, we don’t need an external speaker (the built-in ones are great!), and it really does look like a real work of art when it’s not in TV mode.
I would say that there’s no doubt in my mind that a Frame TV is worth it. I hope this post helps answer any questions you have about potentially getting one!
The post Is the Samsung Frame TV Worth It? Like, REALLY? appeared first on Love & Renovations.
]]>Decluttering can sometimes feel like the last thing we want to do, but wouldn’t it be great if it didn’t feel like a chore?
Dorothy Parker once said that she hated writing but loved having written, and that perfectly sums up how I feel about housework. I don’t love decluttering and cleaning, but I do love how my home looks and feels when it’s finally done.
You don’t have to be a born organized personality to enjoy decluttering. I’m proof of that. With these 14 easy and inexpensive tips and ideas, I can actually say I do enjoy the decluttering process now, and I think everything’s better when it’s fun.
Having something you can listen to in the background is a great way to have fun while decluttering.
I personally work best when I’m listening to great music. Good tunes are my favorite way to keep myself energized and moving. You can create a special decluttering playlist of your favorite songs or turn on a radio station you love and listen to whatever will make you want to sing and dance so you can be entertained while working.
If music’s not your thing, you can also have your favorite tv show or movie playing in the background, listen to a podcast or audiobook, or watch your favorite YouTube channel. Just try to choose something that won’t distract you too much so you’re still able to work.
Dark rooms make me want to curl up and read or binge-watch something so when I want to do some serious decluttering or cleaning, I need to set the mood. I like to turn on all the lights, light a candle or get my essential oil diffuser going, and open the windows for some fresh air. That tells my brain it’s time to get moving and get stuff done.
What kind of environment inspires you to get up and work? I’d love to know! Please
One of my favorite ways to make decluttering fun is to turn it into a game.
A few years ago, I created a Decluttering Bingo game, and people LOVED it! We’ve played it multiple times since, and they still get excited about it and rave about how fun and motivating it is to cross off all the squares and see what they can accomplish. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a lot more fun than just putting something in a box or trash bag.
If bingo’s not your thing or you’re just looking for a change to spice things up, you can try creating a scavenger hunt, drawing items or rooms to declutter at random or put a decluttering spin on your favorite game.
Best of all, the special kid in your life might get so into the game they don’t even realize they’re working around the house. Turning unpleasant tasks into games just might be my favorite life hack.
If you’re competitive, another great way to make decluttering fun is to play beat the clock. Set a timer and see how much you can accomplish before it goes off.
This is a great technique because it helps you focus more on speed and action so you don’t fall into the trap of overthinking every object you own.
Setting a timer is also a great way of seeing how long projects really take.
I have a bad habit of putting things off because I think they’ll take too long to complete. However, once I started timing myself doing things, I realized how much can be accomplished in a short time.
I like to set my timer for 30-minute increments and give myself regular breaks, but you can set it for however long you choose. I encourage people to start with short bursts of time and work up from there.
Trying to declutter can be an isolating experience. A lot of people who have clutter feel guilt and shame, which leads to embarrassment and loneliness. That’s no way to live!
The truth is there are millions of people who are struggling with clutter so you definitely aren’t alone. Joining a decluttering challenge can be a fun and motivating way of working with a group of people towards a common goal.
I host a popular decluttering challenge called Toss Like a Boss multiple times a year. During the challenge, we play decluttering bingo and make lots of wonderful progress in our homes over a short period of time. I even choose a winner from the decluttering bingo players and give away prizes. It’s a lot of fun! If you’d like to join us next time it’s offered, click here to join the waitlist.
You can also try the 40 Day Decluttering Challenge 40 Bags in 40 Days or the 30-Day Minimalism Game created by the Minimalists where you declutter the same number of things each day as the day of month. For example, one thing on the first, two things on the second, etc.
Having a support system is an important and helpful part of the decluttering process. Sometimes a little accountability is all we need to get us out of a funk and making progress.
You can invite a friend over and work together or schedule a Zoom date or just chat on the phone and work on your own homes at the same time.
Thanks to the internet, it’s really easy to find new friends who want to declutter too. I started the Declutterathon group on Facebook years ago so people could connect and support one another. Members routinely tell us it’s their favorite online group and the most supportive community they’ve ever been a part of. If you’re looking to connect with others and get some great ideas, support, and encouragement in the process, we’d love for you to join us!
If you’ve lived with clutter for a while, you might be clutter blind.
What is clutter blindness? It’s when we get so accustomed to living in a cluttered environment that we don’t even see the clutter anymore. It’s why our homes can feel fine one minute and a disaster the next when the doorbell rings unexpectedly. It’s why our family members and roommates can walk by piles of things like they don’t even see them. They really might not see it anymore!
One of the best ways to cure clutter blindness and see how much progress you’re making is to take before and after pictures. Taking pictures of the spaces in your home is a magical way of finally seeing the things our eyes regularly miss.
Pictures can also show us the progress we’re making! Nothing’s worse than working for a while and feeling like you have nothing to show for it later. Pictures solve this problem. When you can see and compare what your space used to look like to what it looks like now, you’ll feel so much more accomplished and proud even if you aren’t completely done yet.
You can, of course, keep the pictures to yourself and even delete them when you’re done, but sharing them can feel pretty great too. We love seeing before and after pictures in the Declutterathon group so please feel free to join us there and share away!
Make decluttering fun by turning it into a friendly competition with friends, family, or just yourself. You can see who can find a certain number of items the fastest or clear a space the quickest. If you really want to up the ante, the winner could get to choose the next family activity or what you have for dinner.
Seeing money pile up from the things you’re decluttering can be very rewarding. You can do this by setting aside all the money you find while you’re decluttering and selling items you no longer need.
You can sell your unwanted things:
Then use all the money you’ve collected to make your life better! You can spend it on practical things like paying bills or fun things like treating yourself to those craft supplies you’ve been wanting, a relaxing day out, or a fun family vacation.
Another great way to make decluttering fun is to pay it forward. Nothing is more fulfilling than helping others, and I promise you the stuff that’s sitting unused around your home could be a huge blessing to someone else.
Just wait until you see the smile you’re able to create on the face of someone else simply by giving them something you no longer need. Best feeling ever!
One of the best ways to get yourself out of a decluttering rut and set yourself up for success is to start with easy, small tasks first.
I always tell people they should start with SUE: small, unemotional, easy spaces.
Trying to tackle a big job all at once can quickly become overwhelming to the point that you want to quit. By starting with SUE, you’ll be able to accumulate a bunch of wins quickly, feel excited, and give yourself a boost to keep going. This is the best strategy for eliminating decluttering overwhelm and burnout.
Need some ideas about where to start? Try:
If you’re still not sure where to start, take the Where Should I Start Decluttering Quiz.
When it comes to making progress, I truly believe everything should be celebrated.
Decluttering can be hard sometimes so all wins, both big and small, deserve to be celebrated and enjoyed along the way.
You don’t have to wait until a room or your whole house is organized to give yourself a pat on the back. That’ll just leave you feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and like you aren’t making any progress. That’s no fun so instead, celebrate your wins when they happen! It’s a great way to get your decluttering snowball rolling and make progress even faster.
Having a decluttered and organized home is a huge reward on its own, but I like to celebrate my decluttering efforts by giving myself other rewards too… as long as they don’t end up becoming more clutter.
Some of my favorite rewards are experience rewards, in other words, fun things I get to do when I achieve certain milestones like going to a movie, getting a massage, or buying more art supplies. (Art supplies are never clutter in my book! My husband might think otherwise.)
You could also get tickets to a concert, go to a comedy club, or just have a picnic at a local park.
Another option is to focus on consumable rewards like going to a fancy restaurant, buying ice cream, or making cookies.
Rewards are a fun way to take a break from decluttering and celebrate the transformation happening within your home.
The most important part of the decluttering process and the only thing that can truly turn decluttering from a task you dread into something you actually enjoy is having a positive mindset because the things you think while you’re decluttering can make or break your experience.
If you’re constantly beating yourself up for having a messy home, your clutter will feel like an even bigger source of stress, and you’ll probably be miserable.
If, on the other hand, you give yourself the grace, understanding, and empathy you’d give to a loved one or friend, you’ll be more able to appreciate your effort and celebrate the results of your hard work.
Having a clutter-free home doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. You can clear the chaos quickly by creating a plan of attack and putting these tips to work in your home on a regular basis.
The truth is there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to where to start decluttering, but certain areas will be easier than others based on your home and personality.
The best way to figure out where to start is to take this quiz.
My favorite thing to declutter first is always trash. It’s a no-brainer decision that won’t contribute to decision fatigue and helps to save your brain power for later in the decluttering process when you’ll really need it. Gather trash and emptying trash cans also gives you more space to work in and an empty container to gather the trash you’ll come across while actually decluttering.
The first thing to think about is why do you want to declutter? What’s your goal?
Keeping your goal in the forefront of your mind will help you stay excited and on track so you can eventually achieve your goal of having a clutter-free, organized, and peaceful home.
If just thinking about your goal isn’t enough motivation, you can create a vision board of what your home and life will look like once you’ve completely decluttered and take that with you around your home as you work. When you start to feel a little overwhelmed, glance at your vision board and remind yourself what you’re really working towards.
Overwhelm is usually the result of thinking we need to do everything in our home or on our to-do list at once. That’s a very overwhelming idea!
Instead of looking at your home as one big project, break it down into tiny tasks you can complete in just a few minutes at a time. By approaching your home as a series of small, bite-sized tasks, and acknowledging your progress along the way, you’ll be reminded that you’ve come a long way even if you still have work to do. Don’t forget to give yourself a small reward here and there too.
The post 14 Easy and Inexpensive Ways to Make Decluttering Fun appeared first on Happy Organized Life.
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Vendor: Kitchenergy
Type: Food Wrap Dispensers
Price:
32.95
This dispenser is attractive and easy to use. It not only can cut plastic film but also can cut aluminum foil. You can interchange both of them on this dispenser. Smoothly to cut. It will help you prep or clean up in a kitchen quickly and efficiently. Perfectly even cuts 99% of the time. Besides, it fits easily in a kitchen drawer; the 16 suction cups on the bottom of this dispenser work very well-they can fix the kitchen counter, smooth desktop, refrigerator, etc.
Specifications:
Material: ABS
Size: 300*62*78mm / 11.81*2.44*3.07in
What's in The Box:
1x Wall-Mounted Adjustable Plastic Wrap Dispenser
Who knows what to call them anymore, and I say this as someone who’s designed hundreds of IKEA mudrooms. The name “mudroom” really isn’t in tune with today’s needs. Originally they were intended for large homes in cold climates as a place to put muddy boots, heavy jackets and other gear. Today they’re a must-have not just for what they do but for what they let you do. These are places to drop your sports gear or the kids to put their school bags. It’s a place to make your daily routine more efficient and stress-free without cluttering up other rooms— all while meeting your unique needs. Who doesn’t need that? So maybe we should call them “Indoor-Outdoor Changing Stations,” or “All-Purpose Transition Areas.” It’s hard to pin down one name since mudrooms do so much. Let’s just use “mudroom” until my suggestions catch on (sigh).
“IKEA mudrooms provide a unique, affordable opportunity to customize smaller spaces [and] IKEA cabinet hacks make that happen. These are high-traffic areas. Whether it’s for a family with a busy schedule; part of a larger remodel with other rooms; or designed for extra storage, we’re seeing a lot of different mudroom uses,” says IKD designer Richard.
Let’s look at three IKEA mudrooms which share these qualities. They all feature IKEA’s SEKTION kitchen system with white IKEA cabinet doors and have bench areas in spaces less than 8′ wide. But that’s where the similarities end. There’s the mudroom in a small (59″ wide) recess area for Adewale from Pittsburgh, PA which features IKEA’s AXSTAD Matte White cabinets for a built-in style; the recessed IKEA mudroom designed for Srijana from Redwood, CA which was part of a larger remodel project; and the custom mudroom/laundry room designed for Judith from Fairfax, VA, which features Semihandmade Supermatte Shaker – Light Gray doors for extra storage options.
These mudroom projects were all completed for less than $3,000 (for the IKEA cabinets and Extra Items List specifically). So any IKEA customer looking for budget-friendly ways to add custom and practical touches to their project will appreciate this information.
Let’s take a look!
Our IKEA Mudroom Design Package is everything you need to complete your new mudroom with confidence.
GET STARTED TODAYThe IKEA mudroom designed for Adewale was done with cabinet hacks.
“The mudroom was meant for a small area near the back door of our home. But I really didn’t want it to look like an afterthought. So it was important to make it unique and incorporate custom options and a built-in look. I preferred open cubbies instead of wall cabinets because the recess made it impossible to open doors fully. The cabinet modifications done by our designer were a great solution!” Adewale says.
Working with IKD designer Merari he selected IKEA’s AXSTAD door style in Matte White paired with chrome-plated IKEA ENRYDA knobs. He wanted six cabinets below the bench units which include three open slots for small, flat objects and three other drawers underneath.
Establishing space with IKEA MAXIMERA bottom drawers for shoe storage was the first order of business. So Merari modified the height of three 18″(w) x24″(d)x30″(h) IKEA AXSTAD base cabinets to 15″(h).These were modified (read: “hacked”) to have the drawer at the bottom 10″(h) and extend 5″ upwards to support the bench seating (featuring the IKEA MOLLEKULLA countertops in oak/veneer as the bench). This created the open storage for foldable items such as towels.
Adewale also wanted the back wall paneled with additional AXSTAD door fronts.
“I wanted six door fronts at the wall to add to the built-in style and make the area easy to clean. IKD designer Merari did a great job in making this happen,” he says.
The walls were paneled by modifying 36″ (w) x96″ (h) tall unit side panels. Three 18″ (w) x 30″(h) doors along with three 18″ (w) x 15″ (h) doors were placed over the paneled wall to provide dedicated space for hanging jackets and hats.
Two rows of three 18″ (w) x 15″ (h) wall cabinets without doors were then added at the top to create open cubbies. This is ideal for storing baskets and other decorative items. A 15″ (h) x 90″ (w) panel was then used to cover the bottom row. Other products in the mudroom include: IKEA UTRUSTA hinges; IKEA FORBATTRA toekicks and cover panels, and IKEA VARIERA cover plates.
Project Numbers
$552 | IKEA Cabinet Cost |
$991 | Extra Items Cost |
$1,543 | Total Project Cost |
Srijana’s mudroom is there when she needs it.
“This project was a remodel of a small area (23 sq. ft.) in between our garage and kitchen. We incorporated the space behind the media center. Since we’re a two-person household it was okay for minimum storage but we wanted a spot to hang our coats and some extra storage for cleaning supplies,” she says.
Working with IKD designer Frank she selected IKEA’s VOXTORP cabinet doors in Matte White along with IKEA MAXIMERA drawers and IKEA KARLBY walnut countertops. In total the space features eight cabinets and eight panels, including wall cabinets that nearly reach the 12′ ceiling.
The design also called for a 15″ deep tall cabinet instead of the standard 24″which were not available.This required a creative design solution. So Frank suggested a 30” (w) x 24”(d) x 90″ (h) IKEA VOXTORP unit modified to 15″ (d). Frank also designed a 30″IKEA MAXIMERA drawer at the bottom of a 30″ (w) x 15″ (d) x 15″ (w) wall cabinet to establish accessible storage beneath the bench. IKEA FORBATTRA cover panels were added to the sides and back to keep the cabinet walls from getting banged up at the open bench area.
The final hack required designing an open wall cabinet above the recessed hanging area. Frank designed a 30″ (w) x 15″ (h) wall cabinet without doors and added more IKEA FORBATTRA panels to finish the top and bottom.Completing the mudroom product lineup: IKEA UTRUSTA hinges; IKEA FOBATTRA rounded deco strips; and IKEA SEKTION suspension rails.
Project Numbers
$927 | IKEA Cabinet and Door Cost |
$806 | Extra Items Cost |
$1,733 | Total Project Cost |
Judith’s IKEA mudroom performs multiple functions — which is just how she wanted it.
“We have a small home with three adults and a baby. I was looking for function and storage for taller items, like our vacuum. The bench area is so useful when getting the baby ready for the stroller. It’s also very convenient having [the mudroom] opposite the laundry area. Now we can fold clothes and put them away easily. We also wanted a ‘Drop Zone’ and storage for coats and shoes,” she says.
Judith selected Light Gray Supermatte Shaker doors from Semihandmade along with IKEA MAXIMERA drawers. Overall the 93 sq. ft.mudroom features 12 cabinets and 11 panels. The upper cabinets provide storage for seasonal clothes and reach the tall 120″ ceiling. This is key as Judith specifically requested 24″deep cabinets running close to the ceiling — which left 25″ from the top of the tall cabinets below the ceiling.It was IKD designer Javier’s challenge to make this work.
“With this IKEA cabinet hack we modified the height of the 30″ (h) base cabinets to just 20″ (h). So these cabinets were now 24″ (d) x 24″ (w) x 20″ (h). With this done we continued the design and sizing of the tall cabinets below,” he says.
The next hack called for creating an open wall cabinet above the recessed hanging area. This is ideal for a large basket to hold hats and gloves. Javier designed a 36″ (w) x 20″ (h) x 24″ (d) wall cabinet without doors and added panels to finish the top and bottoms. The featured bead board panel was bought and painted by Judith.
Extra storage space beneath the bench was established with a third cabinet hack. This required Javier to modify a 36″ (w) x 24″ (d) x 15″ (h) wall cabinet which provides space for blankets, a diaper bag and extra hats and jackets. The tall cabinets store the vacuum and brooms which makes cleanup easier. The product lineup also includes: IKEA BAGGANAS brass knobs and hooks; IKEA UTRUSTA hinges; IKEA FORBATTRA toekick; IKEA VARIERA cover cap and IKEA UTRUSTA shelving.
Project Numbers
$1,648 | IKEA Cabinet and Door Cost |
$296 | Extra Items Cost |
$1,944 | Total Project Cost |
These remodel projects really highlight how IKEA mudrooms can be customized to customer’s needs.
Work with our certified designers to get a personalized mudroom designed around your needs and vision. If you’re interested in learning more about our service, make sure to check out our IKEA Mudroom Design Services.
Butterflies flitting through sun-drenched purple lavender fields, delicate but vibrant ruby coloured poppies waving their heads in the breeze, landscapes in all shades of the rainbow, and markets full of delicious aromas… Provence is a land that connects you with all your senses. And if you would like a little bit of Provence at home, then pop on to the website of L’Auguste Provence for meaningful hand-crafted gifts featuring a gorgeous selection of exclusive artwork and the prettiest Provence lavender bags…
Friends Stephanie, Laure and Caroline who live in Provence, pooled their skills to create gorgeous arts and crafts products that bring a little bit of Provence to you wherever you are.
Organic lavender fills the prettiest little bags and cushions, which feature their exclusive water colour designs. “The scent of lavender is uplifting, calming and inspiring” Stephanie says. “People never seem to have enough time these days to recharge their batteries. So, keep an organic lavender scented sachet in your bag, desk drawer, under your pillow or somewhere close to hand. The scent isn’t just lovely, it has other benefits too, when you breathe in the aroma of lavender – it has a calming, relaxing and de-stressing affect on the nervous system, .”
Bags, pouches cushions and well-being products all make the perfect gifts – and even treats for you. The company is named after Stephanie’s grandfather August, a skilled craftsman of Provence. Laure is the artist who creates the unique watercolours that feature on all of L’Auguste Provence’s products. Inspired by the colourful landscape of Provence she mixes the vibrant hues of the countryside and the day to day scenes with contemporary patterns. And all of the products are entirely bespoke, hand-made and 100% Provence.
At the heart of L’Auguste Provence’s ethos is a passion for well-being. It’s why they use organic lavender and the best materials in their products in their atelier in Provence. “It’s the little details that make a difference” says Stephanie. And it’s those details that show in everything they make from the pretty travel kits to the silk eye masks, tote bags, pouches and cushions. They also make bespoke gifts that are perfect for wedding guests, anniversaries, birthday parties and more.
L’Auguste Provence products can be delivered everywhere – a little bit of Provence, wherever you are…
Find out more and see their gorgeous range of products: L’AugusteProvence.com
The post Gorgeous gifts from Provence appeared first on The Good Life France.
]]>If you scan the notification panel on your Samsung Galaxy smartphone daily, all those red circles with numbers that litter the apps on your home screen and app drawer can feel like persistent nagging and unnecessary clutter rather than friendly reminders to check your app alerts — but you can do something about it. To rid yourself of those anxiety-inducing constant reminders that you're failing to give your apps the attention they crave, you can simply hide all notification counts or disable the red dots entirely. Since Android 8 (Oreo) with Samsung Experience, we've been able to change how... more
]]>This Strawberry Whipped Cream is simple to use with many desserts and drinks + more with this week's Home and Decor Encore.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something using one of my links, I may earn a small commission from the retailer costing you nothing more. You can read more on my disclosure page. YOU WILL FIND A SHOP THE LOOK FOR OUR HOME AT THE BOTTOM!
Welcome to this week's edition of Home & Decor Encore! Each week, I team up with my blogging friends to bring you the best of our archives! You'll find a little something for everyone from decorating to recipes, gardening, and more!
This strawberry whipped cream recipe can really make your store-bought desserts like pound cake look and taste amazing!
It also makes a great fruit dip and topping for milkshakes, ice cream, and frozen cocktails!
HYMNS AND VERSES | HOW I UPDATED MY ANTIQUE CORNER CABINET
THE STONYBROOK HOUSE | HOW TO REPLACE A FAUCET
REMODELACASA | DIY INDUSTRIAL DESK
OUR SOUTHERN HOME | HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY WHIPPED CREAM
A STROLL THRU LIFE | DIY FAUX PLANT POTS
DIY BEAUTIFY | HOW TO MAKE NUMBERED BASKETS
Have a great weekend! XO, Christy
The post Strawberry Whipped Cream + Home and Decor Encore appeared first on Our Southern Home.
]]>Soft warm velvet fabric touch shelf liner peel and stick easy to apply Packed in a roll it may has some creasesbut the creases will be disappear after applying Multi use worked on any clean flat surfaces such as lining jewelry boxes dresser drawers display boxdecoration background etc Peel and stick velvet felt shelf drawer liner roll size 177×98
Peel and stick black velvet liner furniture paper wallpaper roll
Satisfaction guaranteecustomer satisfaction is our highest priorityCall or email us any time for support if you have any problem with our product Adhesive liner papereasy to useSelf adhesive backing designjust peel and stick no extra glue needed stick well and nonslip This adhesive paper is very easy to cut or remove Aluminum foil stickercan be used as wall papershelf liners etc This decorative liners are perfect for kitchen cabinet shelf liners dresser drawer craft projects nightstand bookcase door wardrobe cupboardbacksplash
Kitchen backsplash stickerantioil antidust and waterproof resistant to heat and moisture Its very easy to clean Size and materialmake of high quality pvc material24 inch wide by 1968 inch long61cm500cm 1 rollThis decorative contact paper can be cut to fit your spacemeasure before buying
Smart design quality all smart design products undergo stringent quality assurance and control Dimensions 18 inches wide x 20 feet long Shelf liners with amazing color and design add style to freshen up your shelves drawers and closets 247 usa support contact us online or phone for product questions concerns and warranty info Features protects shelves drawers and flat surfaces from everyday wear and tear Adhesive on contact wipes clean cutable and removable material easy peel design
Measures 177 inch wide x 118 inch long 45x300cm Material adhesivebackeasy to peel stick to dry flat surface Can be used as wallpaperwall decorative stickerdoor stickerdrawer paper mattable place matshelf liner and so on You can tailor it in your own way scene pictures are just for reference Because of different batchs tiny color difference please buy enough rolls at a time
Amao Vintage Newspaper Decorative Paper Vinyl Self Adhesive Shelf Drawer Liner Home Decor 17.7”x79”
This drawer liner is easy to cut and apply with measure and cut grid on the backing paper This shelf liner gives any objects a much more appealing look and is ideal for people who doesnt want to invest a lot of money but upgrade the old furniture in a easy and fast way The decals can be applied on all smooth surfacessuch as walls doors windows closets plastic metal tiles etc
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Sticks to any smooth flat surface perfect for diy projects ideal for rental or home decorating Peel and stick vinyl plaid wallpaper roll size 177×98 inches Peel and stick plaid shelf and drawer liner paper removable and waterproof Self adhesive vinyl plaid furniture sticker wall paper wallpaper for walls cabinets dresser drawer furniture crafts etc decal This self adhesive vinyl film is easy to apply and works great as shelf liner wall paper for creating new finishes and effects on furniture accent wall surfaces
100 refund warrantyfor any questions please contact with glow4u customer service we will immediately refund your purchase price no question will be asked Sizethe roll of self adhesive floral contact paper size is 177 in x 78 in for each roll please purchase enough rolls at onetime to avoid color differenceAs different batch of wallpaper may has color difference Patternit is peel and stick faux floral pattern contact paper shelf drawer liner roll has multi uses in bathroom kitchens closets laundry rooms school projects workshops office craft projects furniture
Peel and stick decorative floral design contact paper wallpaper roll self adhesive removablewaterproof no damage to surfacesperfect for covering for kitchen cabinets countertop shelves drawer dresser furniturewall diy arts and craft projects Easy to usethis decorative floral shelf liner contact paper is easy to cutwipes clean with a damp cloth instant peel and apply to any flatclean surfaces
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]]>For the last 2.5 years, I’ve worked to restore Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and more recently, Star Trek: Voyager. I’ve written about those efforts on multiple occasions, but today’s story is a bit different, and it casts a much broader net. Instead of focusing on Star Trek, this article is a comprehensive overview of what AI upscaling software does well, where it falls short, and how to improve your final upscale quality. In some scenarios, a properly processed, upscaled DVD can rival or even surpass an official studio Blu-ray release.
I know that last is an eyebrow-raising claim. It’s one of the topics we’ll be discussing today. You can see the evidence below.
I have tested multiple AI upscaling applications, both paid and free, using everything from old VHS-equivalent footage to native 720p HD content. This article is also a guide to maximizing your output quality while avoiding some of the pitfalls that can wreck your video. There is some Star Trek footage here, but it’s only one type of content among many.
The question I get most often is “Can AI upscaling improve a video?” Here’s one of my answers to that. If you like what you see, keep reading.
Based on what I’ve heard from readers, there’s a lot of confusion about when AI upscaling is useful, how much improvement can be achieved, and whether paid products like AVCLabs Video Enhancer, DVDFab Video Enhancer AI, or Topaz Video Enhance AI are worth the money. My goal is to help you answer these questions and give you a feel for what’s possible, no matter what your project is.
It is also possible to train your own AI models at home if you have a sufficiently powerful GPU and a training data set, but that’s a separate topic from the question of whether any currently available paid or free AI products are worth using. This article does not address the relative merits of training one’s own model versus using already-available products. This story also does not consider online services, as these are not suitable for large-scale image processing.
I’ve never had to write a section telling people how to read one of my stories, but I’ve also never written a story that was 16,000 words long with 50 or so videos across eight pages.
This is an omnibus article that deals with three distinct topics. The text on this page discusses what AI upscalers can and can’t do, with example images and videos embedded throughout. There’s also a section on advanced AI upscaling tips for those looking to get more out of these applications, and a specific demonstration of how an upscaled version of Stargate SG-1 based on a DVD source can beat the quality of MGM’s official Blu-ray release.
The links in the table of contents below allow you to jump to any section of the article while the video links point to a dedicated page for each clip. These supplemental pages contain additional encodes and side-by-side comparisons for interested readers. At the end of each section, you’ll see two small links labeled “Contents” and “Video.” Those links will return you to the table of contents and the list of video appendices, respectively. I’ve also written a separate page for anyone who wants advanced tips on maximizing upscale quality. All of the supplemental appendices will be linked again at the bottom of the page for easy navigation, so you don’t have to jump back up to the top to access them.
If you have questions about what AI upscaling is, what it can do for you, and how to achieve the highest possible quality, you’ll want to keep reading this page. If you want to know more about advanced methods for improving upscale quality, grab the “Master Class” link. If you want to see the DVD v. Blu-ray discussion, specifically, it’s the last link in the video list below.
I opted to split the story up this way after realizing there was no practical way to discuss both the software and the video it creates in detail in a single-page article. The video-specific pages at the bottom of this article document every step of the workflow. Every appendix contains multiple encodes and comparisons, but I created over 20 videos for Final Fantasy X, specifically. If you want a one-page comparison of how different AI upscalers and non-AI methods for improving content compare against each other, check there.
The Blu-ray v. DVD claim is addressed on the last page with a comparison between the Blu-ray release of Stargate SG-1 versus an upscaled version of the same episodes from DVD. All of the videos shown in this story were resized to 4K for upload to minimize the impact of YouTube’s bad low-resolution video encoding.
You will want to set YouTube for 4K or as high as your monitor supports, in all cases. You can use the “<” and “>” keys to navigate frame-by-frame in a YouTube video. When you see a label like “Original Video” in a comparison, that means you are seeing the original, unaltered footage or an upscaled version of that footage with no other processing applied. I deinterlaced / detelecined these clips if necessary but changed nothing else. Terms like “filtered” and “processed” means the video was edited in a different application before I upscaled it.
These sample videos were of all different sizes, from 320×240 to 1280×720. The level of baked-in damage and baseline quality varied widely. Each of the individual video pages show the footage at every stage of processing, from the initial video through to the final upscale. This will help you track where improvements come from and how each stage in processing changes the final output.
You may not like every output I created. You may not like any output I created. That’s fine. The goal is to show you the breadth and depth of what’s possible with various settings and applications, not to sell you on my own work as the crème de la crème of upscaling.
Before we get started, a few quick terms: “Original source” means “The original video file created by the authoring device.” In the context of a DVD, original source might be an .m2v or set of VOB files. “Native” refers to the original resolution of a file. A video can still be in its native resolution without being original source. I will also sometimes refer to a 200 percent upscale as a 2x upscale and a 400 percent upscale as a 4x upscale. These terms are equivalent.
Upscaling — with or without artificial intelligence — is the process of converting a video or image from a lower resolution to a higher one. When you resize an image from 640×480 to 1280×960 in a program like Photoshop or Paint.net you are also upscaling the image, just not with AI. Some video and image-editing applications allow the end-user to choose a specific image resizing algorithm, including options like Lanczos, Bicubic, Bilinear, and Nearest Neighbor.
The image below shows how different image resizing algorithms interpret the same source image. By using a different algorithm, you can change how your newly-resized image looks whether you are making it smaller or larger than before. It isn’t very easy to compare all the filtering patterns, so I cropped the Bilinear, Lanczos, None, Spline36, and Spline16 samples and uploaded them to imgsli if you’d like to see a close-up comparison. Use the slider to check differences and the drop-down menu to select different images. The little square icon will maximize the comparison.
AI upscalers also process and resize images/video, but they don’t rely on the same scaling algorithms. AI upscalers use models trained with machine learning to process video and increase its apparent quality and/or display resolution. Developers can choose to train the same base model on different types of content to create similar models with different specializations, or they can use new training sets for each model. Similar models with different specializations are often said to belong to the same model family. One model in a family might be tuned only to remove noise, while another might also sharpen the picture. Run the same video through two different AI models, and you’ll get two different-looking outputs.
The example below compares original frame 85,020 from the original Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Way of the Warrior” with the same frame after upscaling with different models in Topaz Video Enhance AI. Included are examples from the Dione Robust, Artemis High Quality (AHQ), and Proteus models as rendered in TVEAI 2.6.4, as well as AHQ from the just-released Topaz 3.0 Beta. The color tweaks between the OG source and the three upscaled frames from TVEAI 2.6.4 was intentional on my part. The 3.0 Beta shifted color a bit in its own direction, however.
The model you choose determines what your output will look like, no matter what AI upscaling application you use. Run live-action content through an AI designed to upscale animation, and you’ll get results that could charitably be described as “odd.” Pick a model that includes heavy denoising when your video doesn’t need it, and your output video may be over-smoothed. Choosing an AI model to resize content is conceptually similar to choosing a specific resizing algorithm in an image editing application, even though the mechanism of action is very different. In both cases, you are selecting a particular processing method that will impact how your resized image looks.
There are a variety of AI upscaling applications you can download, both paid and free. Out of all of them, there are two clear leaders: Topaz Video Enhance AI and Cupscale. Topaz Video Enhance AI is easily the best paid product you can purchase, but at $200, it’s not cheap. Cupscale is a free alternative worth investigating if you don’t have the cash, though there are some tradeoffs we’ll discuss in this section.
Initially, I had planned to include multiple paid applications across this entire article, but I ran into serious problems with both AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI and DVDFab’s Video Enhancer. DVDFab’s problem is that it produces generally low-quality output that doesn’t qualify as “improved” in any meaningful sense of the word. AVCLabs had a similar problems and often broke at scene boundaries by pulling information from the next scene backward into the current. I have included results for both AVCLabs and DVDFab in the Final Fantasy X appendix but did not run extensive tests with these applications.
In this comparison, AVCLabs Broken 1 is blurry and destroys detail while Broken 2 causes certain items of clothing to pop out of the scene. Both cause unintended color shifts. DVDFab Broken 1 is full of odd vertical bars, Broken 2 flattens everything and has a lovely error on the bottom-right-side of the frame, and Broken 3 gives up on upscaling in favor of smearing Vaseline on your display. The Video 2x and Cupscale outputs all have color shifts, but they do not cause damage like AVCLabs or DVDFab.
As of this writing, neither AVCLabs nor DVDFab has built a video upscaler worth spending money on. If you decide to spend money on an upscaler after reading this article, Topaz Video Enhance AI is the one to buy. If you don’t think TVEAI is worth spending money on, there is no other paid application I’m aware of that remotely compares. The content samples provided throughout this article and in the appendices should help you make that decision.
There is another free application that I also tested: Video2x. It produced some reasonable results in Final Fantasy X that I’ve included on that video’s supplemental page, but it’s a bit tougher to use than Cupscale and somewhat less flexible. Overall, I think Cupscale gives a better sense of what modern AI can accomplish, but Video2x is also worth a look.
Note: This article focuses on Topaz Video Enhance AI 2.6.4 and Cupscale 1.390f1 with some specific sample videos for AVCLabs (paid), DVDFab (paid), and Video2x (free). Because I’ve also made some intentional color changes during upscaling, I’ll also note where I intended for those to happen.
Cupscale and TVEAI are aimed at rather different audiences. Topaz VEAI very much wants to be an easy, one-click solution for improving videos. Unfortunately, the app cannot automagically determine which of models and settings would give the best results in your specific video. As a result, the end-user must experiment to discover which model(s) produce the best results. The application has a preview function that’s quite useful for this.
Model choice isn’t the only thing that impacts your final output. Users also need to test the difference between 200 percent and 400 percent upscales. 400 percent upscales are not just bigger versions of 200 percent upscales. The subjective difference between 200 percent and 400 percent can be just as large as the difference between two different model families. I recommend testing 200 percent upscales before 400 percent because the 400 percent models are not as flexible at dealing with a wide range of content as the 200 percent models and they also take much longer to process.
Topaz Video Enhance AI’s 200 percent models tend to maintain detail better and sometimes render more accurately than its 400 percent models. 400 percent models are sometimes better at smoothing and noise-removal. They also require less VRAM and render more quickly. This is not always the case with Cupscale, where individual model processing times sometimes vary to the point that a fast 4x model might outperform a slow 2x or even 1x model. If you’ve read earlier stories I’ve written you may recall that I used to recommend TVEAI 400 percent models over 200 percent, but I’ve changed my approach as Topaz’s video upscaler has matured. I suggest starting with 200 percent models and testing 400 percent models as needed. Final resolution is much less important when upscaling than people think (the ‘Master Class‘ page has more details on this).
The video below compares an unmodified clip of Battlestar Galactica with a clip I upscaled 200 percent in TVEAI using the Artemis High Quality (AHQ) preset. Longtime special effects artist Adam “Mojo” Leibowitz created updated VFX for this clip back in 2010 to show what a modern remaster of the show might look like. This video and a number of other comparisons are posted on the BSG dedicated page.
The comparison above represents the beginning of the improvements Topaz Video Enhance AI can deliver, not the end. The next video shows a Cupscale-created video rendered with the 4xUniscaleRestore model and using a version of this clip that was preprocessed in Hybrid with VapourSynth.
Topaz VEAI includes features Cupscale lacks, including the option to only upscale a specific subset of frames within a larger video. It supports at least one file type (.mov) that Cupscale doesn’t. TVEAI’s models create color shifts less often and the degree of change is typically smaller. Topaz Video Enhance AI’s user interface is also a bit easier to navigate, in my opinion.
Cupscale’s base installation includes several AI models, but the real strength of the application is its ability to run a plethora of user-created models available from pages like this one and scattered around the web. You can experiment with a much larger total range of models in Cupscale than you can in TVEAI, and installing them is as simple as copying them to the appropriate subdirectory. There are Cupscale-compatible models that can improve a video just as much as any paid application I’ve seen, including Topaz’s. The output below is color-shifted, but the overall level of detail improvement is reasonable for a single pass on the original video.
I had to install Python 3.9 to enable the Python AI network model; the included embedded version did not work with my GPU. If you follow this set of instructions closely you should be able to get it up and running. Python proved faster than NCNN, but not always dramatically. I did not test Cupscale on AMD or Intel GPUs, but both are supported through Vulkan.
I really like Cupscale — some of the videos in this article are TVEAI + Cupscale hybrids — but the application also has some downsides that being free doesn’t fix.
First, Cupscale is slower than Topaz Video Enhance AI. This is true whether you use the ESRGAN (Pytorch) network or the ESRGAN (NCNN) option. My understanding is that Pytorch is Nvidia-only and that AMD GPUs need to use Vulkan. I tested both options on an RTX 3080 and found Pytorch to be 1x – 3x faster than Vulkan, depending on the model. My RTX 3080 was able to upscale Final Fantasy X’s “The Dance” CGI scene at roughly 41.5 frames per minute when using the ESRGAN (NCNN) AI network and the 2x_KemonoScale_v2 model. The fastest absolute performance in any clip I saw when using Pytorch was ~90 fpm. Unfortunately, even 90 fpm does not compare to Topaz. Topaz Video Enhance AI is anywhere from 4x – 10x faster than Cupscale. The performance gap is large enough to meaningfully improve your ability to check samples and proof content.
The difference between Cupscale and Topaz Video Enhance AI isn’t just a matter of speed. Topaz Video Enhance AI’s models collectively do a much better job dealing with content. I refer to a model’s ability to produce good results in a wide range of samples as flexibility. A model is flexible if you can apply it to many different kinds of video with reasonably good results and inflexible if it is limited to specific types of content.
Inflexibility is not automatically a bad thing. A number of TVEAI models are designed to deal with problems like haloing, and they don’t yield great results if applied to all content across the board. Unfortunately, many of the Cupscale-compatible models you find online aren’t very flexible.
A rather public example of inflexibility went viral earlier this year after the Oscars. After Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, a rumor made the rounds that Chris had been wearing a flesh-colored patch. He wasn’t. The rumor got started when someone fed a photo of the event into an upscaling service, which generated this:
Technically, this is an example of the AI “hallucinating” detail that isn’t there, but it’s also an example of what I mean when I say a model is inflexible. An inflexible model might work well for space combat or special effects shots, but break when asked to handle humans. Alternatively, it might work beautifully with live-action up-close shots but create errors in backgrounds, as shown in the image below.
This critique really only applies to models that are designed for general use cases. A model designed for animation might not handle live-action very well because it isn’t intended to. Inflexibility in this case would be an animation model that can only handle one specific show. Even then, that might not be a problem; I know several people working on show-specific AI models. Inflexibility is not always a bad thing, but it limits the scenarios in which a model can be used and may require the end-user to test more models to find one that works.
Topaz Video Enhance AI’s models sometimes break, but they break much less than any other application I have tested. The errors TVEAI occasionally introduces can almost always be reduced or fixed completely through the use of other software, provided two things are true: 1). Your video’s quality is high enough for it to upscale well, and 2). You’re willing to put some effort into fixing the problem.
As for Cupscale, the user-created AI models you can download and run are more likely to introduce or magnify the following effects, based on my testing:
Cupscale also occasionally has a problem with skipping and will periodically jump forward in a video and begin upscaling a new scene. Frames 0-750 might be followed by frames 11235 – 12570. I couldn’t figure out the reason behind this behavior, but decompressing video files first and telling the app to upscale images seems to prevent the problem.
After investigating some 16 Cupscale models I’d recommend 4x-UniRestore for live action. I also had good results with the Kemono family in Final Fantasy X and live-action both, apart from some significant and unexpected color shifts, as shown below.
After extensive testing, I’ve found Cupscale is more likely than TVEAI to crash if you launch another GPU-accelerated application while already upscaling a video. In some cases, just launching a hardware-accelerated application can trigger a crash. Topaz Video Enhance AI used to have this problem but it’s much better behaved than it once was.
The fact that Cupscale models are more likely to break and cause a wider range of problems does not mean that no Cupscale-compatible model is capable of matching or even beating Topaz Video Enhance AI’s quality. I’ve been genuinely impressed with the 4x-UniRestore and Kemono models. The UniScale_CartoonRestore_Lite model is shown below, this time run on a video that had been preprocessed in AviSynth. Don’t worry if that sentence doesn’t make sense to you — we’ll discuss what AviSynth is a little farther on.
Unfortunately, Cupscale’s slower rendering speed and the relative inflexibility of its models means you’ll spend more time waiting for clips to render so you can check to see if the output is useful or not. Individual frames can be found in the “frames-out” subdirectory if you want to check mid-run output, but certain problems may not be visible until you see the clip in motion. Run enough video through enough models and you’ll develop a better sense of whether any given model will work for a piece of content… eventually. The same learning process happens more quickly in Topaz VEAI.
Topaz Video AI 2.6.4 is not perfect. It occasionally misunderstands aspect ratios or introduces small contrast changes. Despite these lingering growing pains, the application has matured since I last wrote about it and now supports Intel, AMD, and Nvidia GPUs, as well as both x86 and Apple Silicon Macs. The company has continued to improve its AI upscaling models and has added new frame rate interpolation models over the past year.
Here’s how I would summarize the comparison between TVEAI and Cupscale:
Cupscale is a lot of fun if you are an enthusiast who likes testing various models or you think you want to build your own someday. I said from the beginning that I wanted my Deep Space Nine project to be based on free software, and while Cupscale isn’t fast enough to handle a job that size quite yet, you can squint and see the day coming. Cupscale is worth testing as an adjunct or additional option for upscaling content, especially if TVEAI isn’t yielding good results. The fact that the app is as flexible, powerful, and stable as it is says nothing but good things about its authors.
The clip below is a 50/50 blend between two Cupscale models. I discuss blending in more detail on the “Master Class” page, but it’s a great way to minimize errors while capturing the benefits upscaling can provide.
Topaz Video AI is the application to use if you have a project of any significant size, you need somewhat predictable results, and/or if you care about performance. TVEAI also requires experimentation, but it renders much more quickly and its models are less likely to break.
Now that we’ve discussed what AI upscaling is and some of the differences between the upscalers themselves, I’d like to switch gears a bit and talk about two important applications: AviSynth and VapourSynth. These applications are not upscalers themselves, but they often play a large role in determining an upscale’s final quality.
Topaz Video Enhance AI is an application focused on one task: Upscaling video content. Unfortunately, a lot of older videos need more than just a trip through an AI upscaler to look their best. While the Dione model family offers deinterlacing and the Proteus model features user-adjustable denoising, deringing, and sharpening options, deinterlacing and other general video editing tasks are not what Topaz VEAI or Cupscale are designed to do.
AviSynth (technically AviSynth+) and VapourSynth are frameservers with extensive video editing capabilities. Both applications can deinterlace and detelecine video, convert content between the NTSC and PAL standards (or vice-versa), shift video from one container format and/or codec to another, and offer a wide range of repair and modification functions for virtually every type of content. There are filters for antialiasing, sharpening, smoothing, denoising, degraining, line darkening, line thinning, rainbow removal, fixing chroma errors, and more. A lot more. Below, I’ve embedded a video demonstrating the same BSG clip as earlier, only this time post-filtering.
Experiment with filters and you’ll often find a combination that results in a net improvement in your final upscale. For example, both AviSynth and VapourSynth can inject grain and noise in ways that improve TVEAI’s output. Cupscale models are also affected by adding grain and noise, but not in the same way. I am not certain the technique is as helpful when working with Cupscale, though the benefit would always be model-dependent. Readers should be aware that grain and noise injection do not always improve detail and some experimentation may be needed to find the right filter. QTGMC’s GrainRestore and NoiseRestore functions are a great place to start.
Here’s a still from Battlestar Galactica. It can be difficult to see the difference between processed and unprocessed in rapid motion, so this mirrored comparison should make it easier. Pull the slider right and left and you’ll see the images swap as you cross the center line. Processing the video first removes rainbowing and overall detail.
The video below shows the difference between upscaling the original Final Fantasy X clip with no processing in AviSynth versus upscaling it after AviSynth processing. The Final Fantasy X appendix page shows two different methods if processing this video in AviSynth and the different output it produces. This is the second method.
VapourSynth is a port of AviSynth that’s been rewritten to use Python. AviSynth scripting is said to be simpler if you aren’t a programmer; VapourSynth is more flexible but requires the end-user to learn more programming syntax. There are GUI front-ends that make using either an easier task. I use StaxRip as a front-end for AviSynth and Hybrid as a front-end for VapourSynth.
Again, you can typically use AviSynth or VapourSynth to process your video. I came across Hybrid after I had a workflow established in StaxRip, and I like the application, so I’ve kept using it. AviSynth is older than VapourSynth and so has more filters, but many common AVS filters have been ported to VS. There’s also a handy encyclopedia devoted to AviSynth if you want to know more.
For simplicity, I will sometimes refer to both applications as AVS/VS, but you probably don’t need to use both unless a specific filter is only available for one of them. I refer to running AVS/VS as “pre-processing” in this context because the video is being processed in preparation for upscaling rather than ordinary viewing.
If you want access to all the models TVEAI offers and/or you have telecined content that you want to revert back to a 23.976 fps progressive frame rate, you’ll need to use a third-party application. AviSynth and/or VapourSynth is typically the best way to go, but there’s definitely a learning curve associated with these programs. Handbrake is another option, and while it’s not my favorite app personally, it sometimes does a reasonable job. As far as paid applications, TMPGEnc 7 did a good job detelcining shows like Deep Space Nine and Voyager when I tested it earlier this year. AviSynth and VapourSynth are both free, as is Handbrake. TMPGenc 7 is a paid application, but it does have a 30-day free trial.
It is sometimes possible to use AviSynth and/or VapourSynth to repair a non-viable video to the point that it can benefit from upscaling, but this must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. It may take longer to repair a video than you care to spend. In some cases, the filter choices you’d make to achieve a high-quality upscale are not the same as what you’d choose if you were planning to watch the video sans upscaling. Topaz often creates more detailed output if additional noise and grain are injected into the video, as shown below:
I originally showed these frames in a Star Trek article earlier this year to show off the impact of injecting extra grain and noise. I altered the color in these images to make the effect easier to see, and I applied more grain and noise than you’d probably want to use. You don’t have to inject this much grain and noise to see a benefit. This is important, as not all these changes are beneficial ones.
Proper footage treatment can yield dramatic differences in final image quality. Both of the frames below were upscaled using the same Proteus settings in TVEAI. The only difference is how I pre-processed the footage. The settings I recommend testing in the appendices will not produce this strong an effect.
The relationship between AviSynth, VapourSynth, and Topaz Video Enhance AI is best understood as complementary. It is often better to perform deinterlacing using the QTGMC filter in AviSynth or VapourSynth as opposed to using one of the Dione models in Topaz Video Enhance AI. Similarly, injecting grain and noise via the QTGMC filter often improves TVEAI’s final output.
Because an upscaler will enthusiastically enhance errors as well as desired detail, the only way to upscale some footage and wind up with a net improvement is to fix what’s broken first. Proper pre-processing is pivotal to the process.
Now that we’ve discussed the basic capabilities and differences of AI upscalers and their supporting applications, let’s talk about how to evaluate a video. Although the only way to know for certain how a video will look is to feed it through the upscaler, there are broad guidelines that can help you determine if your video is a good candidate. Videos that tend to upscale well are videos that:
Here’s what this means, in practical terms:
It is much easier to upscale footage of a sunny outdoor birthday party shot on a Samsung Galaxy S5 than it is to upscale footage of a sunny outdoor birthday party shot back in 1991 on a camcorder. A good outcome is fairly likely in the first case and highly unlikely in the second. The lower quality the source video, the less likely you are to get a satisfactory result, at all times, in all cases.
The video below was shot on a 72op camera back in July 2010 on a Nikon 300S by professional photographer and colleague David Cardinal. As you can see, it cleans up pretty well.
There is a certain minimum quality threshold that a video needs to meet before an upscaler can improve it. If the video is below that threshold, it will require additional processing (at minimum) before it can benefit from upscaling. Sufficiently low-quality videos do not benefit from current common upscaling tools, no matter how they are processed first. Upscaling may make such footage look worse.
The last few questions have nothing to do with your video quality, but they’re arguably the most important when it comes to evaluating your chances of success:
There are no wrong answers to these questions, but you need to consider them. I suggest taking advantage of Topaz Video Enhance AI’s free trial before buying the program. Test it on the actual content you want to upscale, if possible. The old joke about “Enhance” being able to extract infinite levels of detail from a fuzzy 32×32 pixel image is much closer to reality than it used to be, but we still don’t have anything like a push-button solution. Repairing damaged video to prep it for upscaling is often a fair bit of work.
Upscaling is not well-loved in certain corners of the video editing community. The reasons vary depending on the individual. Some people dislike Topaz Video Enhance AI specifically, some dislike the entire concept of AI upscaling, and some people are fine with the concept but unhappy with the way current products are marketed and/or what they can achieve.
The big picture problem is that a lot of AI upscaler output isn’t always very good. Sometimes, it’s downright bad. It’s possible for 38 minutes of a 43-minute video to upscale beautifully, while five minutes of it look as if they’ve been scraped through an MPEG-1 decoder and left out in the rain for a week. Final upscale quality can vary considerably, even within the same professionally-produced episode of television. It doesn’t help that the entire field is new and people are still figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
Here’s an example of a video that doesn’t upscale very well if you just toss the original clip through Topaz Video Enhance AI:
What’s clear is that the back and forth online has left readers confused. I’ve heard from at least a half-dozen people who weren’t sure what to think about AI upscaling because my previous articles and sample clips showcasing Deep Space Nine and Voyager argued in favor of one conclusion, while knowledgeable video editors in online forums had made very different arguments.
Instead of arguing over theory, I launched this project to explore the facts. I did not cherry-pick my sources for this story. I was asked to restore the Dick Tracy and BSG clips by their respective owners, the 320×240 Jack Russell video is one of the oldest and lowest-resolution videos I had sitting around, and I chose the Final Fantasy X video on a whim after seeing another restoration project on YouTube. I asked David Cardinal for an older video that would let me test upscaling on 720p content, but he picked the video to share.
Take the same video clip above and put it through several AI models as well as different processing workflows and the end result is different. While the degree of improvement is not enormous, the upscaler no longer causes damage and can even be said to improve the content somewhat.
The general video editing community is well aware of the myriad ways AI upscaling can go wrong, but there’s less awareness of the ways that AI upscaling can be nudged into going right, even if it wasn’t headed that way to start with.
This is a difficult question to answer. What people want to hear is something specific, like: “Easily upscale DVDs to 1080p HD quality!” Some companies make claims like this in their marketing literature. They shouldn’t. This is a rare situation in which speaking literally can leave people with the wrong impression. When I say that improving DVD footage to the point that it looks like native 720p is difficult, I do not mean the literal shift from 720×480 to 1280×960. I mean the difficulty of raising a DVD’s perceived quality high enough that it could be mistaken for a native 720p source.
Those who wish to try and fully bridge the gap between SD and HD will find themselves on the hook for more than a quick single pass through any video-editing application, including Topaz Video Enhance AI or Cupscale. One reason I’ve included so many samples in this article is to illustrate not just how much video can be improved, but where those improvements come from and how much work it takes to get them.
As far as a rough guide is concerned, here’s what I can offer:
Imagine a quality scale with notches at the usual points – VHS, DVD, 720p, 1080p, 4K. Now, add four notches between each standard. VHS —*—*—*—*—DVD. These points represent dimensionless intermediate improvements in image quality that are large enough for you to notice, but not large enough to declare that your video looks like it was shot in a later standard. Four is an arbitrary number I chose to make my example math work. An upscaled DVD that improved by three points would look like an excellent DVD, but it wouldn’t quite fool a knowledgeable viewer into thinking they were watching 720p or 1080p-native source. This four-point scale works best for VHS -> DVD or DVD -> 720p. There would probably only be 2-3 points of “quality” between 720p and 1080p.
If you ask Topaz Video Enhance AI to upscale the equivalent of a high-quality DVD source file with no pre-processing, you might reasonably expect a gain of 1-2 points. If your source is of middling quality, you might get 0.5 – 1. Low-quality source, and you’ll get anywhere from -3 to +1 points at most. I went negative here to acknowledge that upscaling poor-quality footage can reduce its quality.
The point of pre-processing, model blending, and other application workflows I discuss in the “Master Class” section is to increase the quality of your final upscale. Put your footage through AviSynth or VapourSynth first, and you might step up 1.25 – 2.5 points instead of 1-2. Are you willing to blend multiple upscaling models? Add another 0.5 – 1 points, depending on the condition of your source and the quality of your pre-processing. Are you willing to experiment with various different pre-processing methods, different filters in other utilities in addition to AVS/VS, and experiment with blending all of the video together, possibly with more than one trip through more than one upscaler? If you do, and your source footage is of sufficiently high quality, you may be able to gain enough perceived visual quality to pass as a native source of the next-highest standard. Even then, your video probably won’t maintain this illusion perfectly in every scene and the overall quality will still dip in wide shots with a lot of people in them. Your chances of achieving this level of improvement are better if you know how to color grade.
An example of my own work that I would argue meets the “could pass for native 720p” threshold is below. While I did not cherry pick this episode or this scene, I would say that Trials and Tribble-ations is one of the better-looking episodes of Deep Space Nine to start with.
I suggest focusing less on whether or not your upscale would pass as native HD and more on whether or not you like the output. Some TV shows never received high-quality releases and it is very difficult to compensate for a low-quality source. Raising the perceived visual quality of an upscale gets easier the higher your base resolution and overall quality. 720p is easier to convert to 1080p than DVD to 720p. DVD to ~720p is easier than boosting VHS to DVD-equivalent quality.
There is no consumer AI upscaling application that can take DVD footage and transform it into 4K-equivalent. 1080p-equivalent might be possible with literally ideal footage and a master video editor + color grader who knew every aspect of every application in their workflow. Anyone who claims they can upscale Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or any other late 1990s DVD-based show to 4K is misrepresenting the scope of what’s achievable by pretending a literal 4K resolution will deliver 4K-equivalent quality.
Right now, the only paid application worth considering is Topaz Video Enhance AI. None of the other paid apps we tested were fast enough and they all produced broken output. TVEAI is far more capable, but readers should be aware that older, lower-quality footage is much harder to improve. A lot of professionally produced DVD footage from the mid-1990s is still marginal and requires extra work to bring it to best quality.
Cupscale’s speed is good enough for small clips but a bit painful for professional use. At its best, its quality can rival or even surpass Topaz Video Enhance AI, but finding the right models is a slower affair and the app does not play nice with other GPU applications. If you do not have the money to spend on Topaz but you want to experiment with AI, I highly recommend Cupscale. I would’ve been thrilled to see an app this good two years ago, and I expect it will continue to improve over time.
Neither TVEAI nor Cupscale are not magic. They don’t – and can’t – replace the Mark I Human Eyeball or the need for some good old-fashioned experimentation. Neither application can ingest a DVD and magically spit out a native 4K-equivalent video. That doesn’t mean upscaling can’t work wonders – it just means reality continues to demand a troublesome amount of actual work and expertise that science-fiction TV shows often manage to skip.
Personally? I find the level of achievable improvement astonishing. The DVD release of SG-1 can be repaired and improved to the point that it rivals or surpasses the Blu-ray. Under ideal circumstances, shows like Deep Space Nine and Voyager can be enormously improved over their current states. Proper handling allows more marginal videos to be recovered. Upscaling is not the right tool for every job, but it shares that distinction with every video filter and application ever created.
If you’ve looked through the results I’ve shared and don’t find them particularly interesting, check back in two years and see how things have changed. I’ve watched upscalers become far more capable in just the past two years and I don’t see any reason to think improvements are going to stall. GPUs from AMD and Nvidia continue to improve at a rapid clip. AMD and Intel will continue to improve on-chip AI performance through some combination of SIMD instruction support, integrated GPU capabilities, and specialized, on-chip accelerators. If your favorite TV show is languishing on a mediocre DVD transfer, that’s a static workload that isn’t going anywhere while software and hardware continue improving at a rapid pace. In 5 years we ought to have real-time application-level AI acceleration that delivers better quality than Cupscale and TVEAI do today. By then, the performance of non-real-time applications will have leaped ahead as well.
When I started this project in 2020, top-end performance was ~0.44s per frame. 2.5 years later, top-end performance is more like 0.09s/frame for the same DVD source material. Real-time at 23.976 fps requires ~0.04s/frame with a little room for overhead. It’s not crazy to think GPUs might be able to deliver this kind of uplift in the not-so-distant future, given how quickly performance has improved thus far.
If you would like to see more samples from the videos above, you can use the links below to access some video-specific pages. There are additional samples and footage, plus more information on how each video was processed. If you’d like to read more about advanced AI processing and how to squeeze very last detail out of your video, click here.
Now Read:
If you’re here, I’m assuming it’s because you are looking for some additional ideas to improve your own upscale quality. I touched on some of this on the first page of the article but didn’t go into much detail.
The key to improving your upscale quality is thinking about video a bit differently. Most people instinctively think of AI upscaling as a process in which you take one (1) video, drop it into one program, choose one model, and get one output. The video processing methods that I’ve developed for the Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Voyager Upscale Project go well beyond this. They are designed to avoid the visual problems and errata that leave people with a bad opinion of upscaling. Pre-processing helps, as previously discussed, but pre-processing a video is just one tactic for improving overall quality. Blending multiple outputs together to create a new composite video is the next step.
Blending is the process of upscaling a video multiple times using different models, then combining those outputs together in an application like DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere. This process creates a new composite video with the blended characteristics of its contributing sources.
The image above shows this creation process in DaVinci Resolve. By varying the opacity of each layer, I can change the characteristics of the final video. The opacity of each layer affects the visibility of the layers underneath. Blending videos together like this is a great way to improve the overall consistency of your upscale quality across scene boundaries and in any footage with a mixture of distance and close-up shots. Blending does not always improve your top-drawer quality. It’s more reliably useful as a way of lifting the bottom of the barrel. It’s always a balancing act between how hard you can push your best-looking scenes without breaking the footage that doesn’t upscale as well. This next comparison shows the impact of filtering the Deep Space Nine episode “Way of the Warrior” in Cupscale instead of AviSynth:
No current single model in any application can be trusted to perform optimally across 20-40 minutes of footage. This is not to say that every model will create visual errors, but if you check scene by scene, you’d likely find some where you’d prefer model A, and some where you would prefer Model B. Blending various outputs together helps avoid this problem, provided you choose your models well. I have advocated for future versions of TVEAI to offer blended output options by default, so users do not have to perform this step manually with the aid of a third-party application. For now, however+, this remains a manual process.
While blending outputs can make good-looking scenes even better, I primarily use it to improve low-quality scenes, not to extract higher and higher levels of detail from already good ones. It works because two things are true:
1). Different models treat the same content differently.
2). By pre-processing video differently, you can change what any given AI model sees and emphasizes.
You can take advantage of these two facts to create virtually any kind of output you like. Here’s a set of four frames upscaled from two different sources in both Cupscale and TVEAI. Note that both Cupscale and TVEAI are impacted by pre-processing the video, as we’ve previously stated. What’s fascinating is that the two outputs are affected very differently. Cupscale’s Kemono_ScaleLite_v1_Kiwami model treats pre-processing in Hybrid as a reason to create a much smoother video with less noise and weaker lines. Topaz doesn’t do nearly as much additional denoising when given the filtered file, but it does apply an entirely different level of sharpening across the scene. Preprocessing strengthens line detail in Artemis High Quality and weakens it in v1_Kiwami.
With blending, you can take advantage of these differences to precision-target how you want your final videos to look. Is your final upscale too strong? Drop the original video back on top at 15-25 percent opacity. Is it over-sharpened in a few places beyond what the original video can help you diminish? Spin up a custom set of filters in AVS/VS to deliberately smooth and soften your source file. Upscale this new version of your video and drop it on top of the stack.
Detelecine/deinterlace in either AviSynth or VapourSynth, not Topaz VEAI. The QTGMC filter available in both AviSynth and VapourSynth is a great deinterlacer and image processor. Generally speaking, older videos often deinterlace / detelecine better in AviSynth and VapourSynth than in paid applications like DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere. AviSynth and VapourSynth are also better at handling DVD footage from television shows that mixed both 23.976 fps and 29.97 fps content — which is pretty much all late-90s sci-fi and fantasy TV.
I also recommend allowing TVEAI to handle sharpening in most cases; you’ll get less ringing that way. If you use QTGMC, I recommend experimenting with the NoiseRestore and GrainRestore functions at settings of 0.25 – 1.25, depending on your content. TVEAI tends to perform better when grain and noise are injected, and it likes QTGMC’s injected grain and noise better than filters like GrainFactory or AddGrainC. EZGrain can also be useful.
The blending method I’ve discussed so far starts with one video and creates multiple upscaled outputs in a single application. These outputs are then blended according to user preference in a video editing application like Resolve or Premiere. This is the most straightforward way to blend, but it’s not the only way. There are three other methods I’d like to briefly touch on. These other types of blending can be used in conjunction with the method I’ve already described, provided you are careful about keeping motion and aspect ratios synchronized between applications.
Test different AviSynth or VapourSynth filters to find pleasing options that emphasize different desirable characteristics of your video. Imagine you’ve got two videos you’ve already put through AVS/VS. Video A emphasizes noise and grain by adding both via QTGMC. Video B applies antialiasing and derainbowing filters. Assume you’ve tested and found that creating a new composite video from two or more differently-tuned outputs results in a better final upscale than applying the same set of filters against a single clip. This isn’t a hypothetical — I’ve seen it happen.
You might choose to run Video A through a smoothing model like Artemis Medium Quality or Artemis Low Quality, while Video B is upscaled with Artemis High Quality. Alternately, you might combine Video A and Video B using DaVinci Resolve before even touching an upscaler. Then, you’d test your new Video AB in various Cupscale or TVEAI to see which upscaling models you preferred. In some cases, blending pre-processed inputs together can lessen/avoid the need to upscale in multiple models later on. This may be an option you prefer if you have a strong CPU but a relatively weak GPU, since it emphasizes blending lower resolution video and puts less strain on the graphics card. You will still have the option to upscale the video in multiple models and perform a second blending step if you wish to do so.
If you choose to test this method I recommend using an intermediate codec like DNXHR, ProRes, or Cineform when you blend your AviSynth / VapourSynth outputs together. Your video will retain more data and your upscale is likely to be slightly higher quality. Note: If you go this route I strongly suggest not changing anything in your deinterlacing or detelecine filter calls without testing the change first to see if it creates motion errors.
Upscale your video once in Topaz and once in Cupscale before combining the outputs together instead of relying solely on one or the other. Be advised that this may not work seamlessly with every video — AI upscalers do not always treat aspect ratios properly — but it can yield good results.
Process your video in entirely different video editing applications prior to upscaling. As an example: You might process one version of your video in AviSynth or VapourSynth and one in an application like TMPGenc, Resolve, Premiere, Handbrake, or any other video editing app with a specific set of features you presumably wish to take advantage of.
This is the trickiest method of blending, with the highest chance of failure. Different applications make different default assumptions about how the same piece of content should be (re)sized at import. While it’s often possible to harmonize settings between applications to ensure identical crops and aspect ratios across non-identical workflows, it may take some additional experimenting to find the right settings. It might seem like this is a simple thing, easily controlled for. It is not. Seasoned video editors may have little trouble, but new folks — and I was brand-new at the start of this — will need to do some experimenting to figure out how different applications treat the same video.
The advantage of blending multiple videos from different workflows is that it gives you the highest chance of finding an idealized source file for maximum quality when upscaling a single source in Topaz Video Enhance AI. The disadvantage is that you are deliberately creating a fragile, prone-to-break workflow and gambling that you can deal with any issues related aspect ratios, color shifts, flickering, or other problems introduced by differences in filters and/or upscaling applications. You are also betting that merging multiple AVS/VS-processed files will not cause motion errors and that you can eyeball the various model-blending options to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. While I’ve used this strategy successfully, there are usually other ways to improve image quality that don’t require going to such lengths.
Don’t be afraid to test running content through TVEAI more than once, especially if you are starting from a low resolution. You may also want to experiment with running Topaz Video Enhance AI in 100 percent output mode. In this mode, the model applies certain effects to the video but does not resize it. If you run a video through TVEAI more than once, I recommend experimenting with different models rather than sticking to the same one. This trick can also work in Cupscale, but the effects are even harder to predict.
Another option worth exploring is running videos through Cupscale after you’ve run them through TVEAI (or vice-versa). Model output can change dramatically if your source has already been through an upscaler. My own favorite FFX video output is a combination of TVEAI and Cupscale output.
Mixing videos created from different pre-processed versions of your source becomes riskier the farther apart the video workflows diverge. Sometimes different versions of a video processed with different AVS/VS filter settings will have perfectly aligned motion through 99 percent of the clip, but a specific rapid-movement sequence will come out slightly differently in one video versus the other. Either output might be fine on its own, but blending them together creates an ugly, ghosted scene. This is more likely to occur if you are experimenting with different deinterlacers, different deinterlacing settings within the same filter, or testing the various “InputType” settings in QTGMC. (Input 0 will double your frame rate and is intended for interlaced content, Inputs 1, 2, and 3 are used for progressive content. More details available here).
Similarly, attempting to combine the output of two different upscalers can run into problems if one of them changes the content aspect ratio and/or crop and the other upscaler doesn’t. It is trivial to keep the aspect ratio and crop of two videos identical if they began the process at identical resolutions and have both been through the exact same workflow. Change the applications, output codecs, and processing steps you use, and all bets are off. Sometimes, things will come together perfectly. Sometimes, they very much won’t.
There is one more way of improving your upscale quality that I haven’t yet mentioned. Instead of mucking around with rendering the same video 2-5x and combining all the outputs together, you could instead choose to upscale Frames 0 – 150 with Artemis High Quality, Frames 151 – 467 with Artemis Low Quality, 468 – 751 with Proteus v3, and so on and so on. The reason I don’t recommend this method is that it requires you to test scene-by-scene to find the best model. It also assumes that there is a best single model.
If you only need to upscale a few thousand frames, you might not mind checking and testing a different model for each scene, but the idea of doing this for 14 seasons of TV across two shows left me wanting to die, so I opted for blending. Both blending and scene-by-scene model-checking require a lot more time, but if I’m rendering out the same video in multiple models, I can leave the PC to do the work.
Mixing applications, models, and filter settings allow the end-user to target virtually any desired “look” for a video, provided that the clip meets the necessary quality requirements. When choosing models, I pick them depending on the characteristics of the input. I often lean on Gaia HQ for noise and grain and 1-2 of the Artemis models. Dione Robust (the non-frame doubling version) can also be a good choice. The Artemis model family is often best if you want a single-model upscales without going to the trouble of blending output. The Dehaloing models have more specialized uses. They often look good in specific scenes but they will cause heavy blurring in others.
Proteus at default settings can be used as a stand-in for Gaia HQ if you want a similar output with slightly different characteristics. Proteus at settings like 40-40-0-0-0-20 (200% upscale) will often clarify and denoise content in a pleasing way, but the effect may be too strong when used as a single model. Test it before assuming. If you don’t like 40-40-0-0-20, try using -20 instead.
Ultimately, I pick my models based on the characteristics I want the final video to possess. Sometimes I’ll encode a noisier and grainier version of a video, because I know I’m going to use a model with strong denoising and injecting the additional grain and noise beforehand improves final output quality. In some cases, I’ve poured in noise by the bucket and achieved very pleasing results, even though this isn’t a normal way to process video intended for human viewing.
I might choose a noisy, grainy output, a clear, sharper output (provided this does not introduce ringing) and a smooth, slightly blurred output. To accomplish this, I’d try the following models first:
For Noise/Grain: GaiaHQ, followed by Proteus (all 0’s) or sometimes whatever Proteus’ defaults are for a given clip. GaiaHQ almost always leaves clips noisier than they were before processing.
For Clarity / Sharpness: Proteus v3, at settings similar to 40-40-0-0-0-20 @ 200%. Proteus is my go-to here, but every now and then Dione Robust or AHQ will surprise me.
For Smoothness and Repair: Honestly, you’ve got a lot of options here. Artemis Medium Quality, Artemis Low Quality, Artemis DeHalo, and Artemis Strong Dehalo all apply various levels of smoothing and noise removal. I typically check the Artemis models first unless I know I need one of the others. Artemis Anti-Aliasing and Moire is the mildest of the Artemis filters and usually makes the fewest changes to the video while upscaling it. It can provide a nice polish on top of a blended video.
I chose these three characteristics to show how each video can compensate for weaknesses in the other two. Did you end up with more noise than you wanted? Lean on the sharp, clear model. Is your output a little too sharp or does it have some damage poking through? Add a dash of your chosen smoothing model. Does the final blended video look a little too over-processed? Drop the original source video on top of your stack at 10-20 percent opacity, as previously mentioned. While many of these options must be deployed judiciously, careful testing of what you blend and how you blend it can yield surprising improvements.
By the time I create a final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Star Trek: Voyager, I’ve rendered it out at multiple resolutions and with a mix of models. To avoid data loss, tell Topaz Video Enhance AI to output as either a TIF or a PNG. If you are using Resolve, be advised that codecs like DNXHR and Cineform will create much higher-quality intermediate files than using Resolve’s native H.264 encoder. You do not need to use these options if you are only upscaling footage once, but if you intend to run it through TVEAI multiple times I recommend using intermediate codecs to do it.
There are a few final ways you can increase performance and upscale quality when working with applications like Cupscale or TVEAI. Let’s turn our attention to them.
If you are seeing slow performance in Topaz Video Enhance AI, open the Preferences menu and try allocating more VRAM to the application. This will reduce available VRAM for other tasks, but it may improve TVEAI performance. This is especially true if you are attempting to upscale anything with a base resolution of 720p or above.
For best performance, run multiple instances of Topaz Video Enhance AI at the same time. This may not work if your GPU is VRAM-limited (4GB or below), but if you are upscaling native 480p footage and have at least 6GB of VRAM you might be able to run at least two application instances. Larger GPUs with more VRAM can run more (I’ve successfully used up to four simultaneously with a net speed gain compared to three).
This is obviously helpful when you are planning to blend output, but it’s also helpful when you are targeting single-blends as well, provided you don’t mind outputting to image. Assign Instance #1 to Frames 0 – 15,000, Instance 2 to Frames 15,001 – 30,000 and so on and so forth, until you’ve evenly split the workload across your GPU. If you have sufficient VRAM, Topaz Video Enhance AI runs two instances nearly as quickly as it runs one, and I’ve seen net performance improvements up to four instances total. This trick does not seem to work as well for Cupscale. While it is possible to run multiple application instances, Cupscale performance does not appear to improve from running in parallel.
Do not assume that larger files = better output or that higher resolution is automatically better. This is a tricky point because we all grow up thinking that higher resolution = better files. This is not the case when upscaling. Because 200 percent and 400 percent models produce different outputs and 200 percent models are typically better, targeting 400 percent instead 0f 200 percent may result in a 2560×1920 upscale that looks much worse than a 1280×960 version of the same content. You may be better off targeting a 2x upscaling and then resizing in a conventional video editor if you want 4K output (or whatever your target resolution is).
Experiment with codec settings when exporting output, whether in AviSynth and VapourSynth or in an application like Resolve. Topaz responds differently to different codecs. Also, be aware that GPU codecs typically produce worse outputs than CPU codecs because GPUs are designed for speed and CPUs are not. In some cases, you may be able to obviate these differences by adjusting codec output options, but some applications offer limited control over your output quality.
Test sharpening and adding grain and noise in other applications, not just AviSynth or VapourSynth via QTGMC. Testing has demonstrated that how you manipulate footage in other applications can increase or decrease final upscale quality. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
I recommend telling Topaz to output images rather than videos. If you choose to output to video, do not attempt to retain existing audio. Audio can be re-attached in other applications, including programs like MKVToolnix and DaVinci Resolve. If you do want to output to video, Apple ProRes is a good choice for maintaining high quality. Future versions of Topaz will support GPU-assisted encoding but you may need to change the default codec settings to avoid a quality loss compared to lossless image output or a codec like ProRes.
It can also be useful to reduce your video resolution when running a video through TVEAI multiple times, though this does not always yield good results. If you wind up with over-processed footage, drop your source video back on top at 15-25 percent opacity.
If you use Cupscale and Resolve, be advised that Resolve 17 often seems to dislike how other applications attach audio and will sometimes crash rather than deal with it. Removing the audio from these files will solve the problem.
Applications that run on your graphics card are often bad at sharing the card with other programs. Even when applications are well-behaved and do not crash, closing Photoshop can meaningfully improve Resolve’s performance and vice-versa. GPU-accelerated applications often run faster if they are the only GPU-utilizing application running, even if the other apps are sitting idle in the background. Applications that rely on GPU hardware acceleration are not always well-behaved. The more VRAM your GPU has, the easier time you’ll have running multiple image and video processing applications simultaneously. Try shutting down other GPU-using applications if you are having performance problems.
While I do not present formal benchmark figures in this article, my tests on an AMD RX 6800 XT suggest this GPU is roughly as fast as the RTX 3080 while offering an additional 6GB of VRAM. The one downside to the AMD GPU that I could find is that it will reboot your system if you attempt to run multiple application instances while simultaneously upscaling in Gaia-HQ. If you don’t use Gaia-HQ, you can run 3-4 instances of TVEAI simultaneously without a problem. This is an excellent way to boost performance, provided you are writing to an SSD and not an HDD. Hard drives may struggle to keep up.
The last point I want to leave you with is this: Despite everything I’ve said about improving final output, there are scenes that resist improvement. Some frames look bad no matter what, and putting them through an upscaler results in nothing but more-noticeable damage. Upscaling can greatly improve perceived image quality under the right circumstances, but there are limits to how much improvement applications like TVEAI can offer. Close-up shots sourced from DVD footage clean up beautifully. Distance shots? Not so much.
The problem here is straightforward. A DVD frame doesn’t contain much information to start with, but in a close-up where someone’s face takes up 60 percent of the frame, that’s ~203,000 pixels worth of data for an upscaler to use. In a wide-angle shot of an entire room, each individual might be represented by a few thousand or even just a few hundred pixels. That’s not much information to start with.
Most TV shows are a mixture of wide-angle and close facial shots, and that means occasionally ping-ponging between frames that could rival a Blu-ray restoration and frames that look as if someone scraped them out of a smoker’s moldering VCR.
I have spent years developing techniques for minimizing bad output from upscaling, but there are still frames and scenes that do not look great. Deep Space Nine Seasons 1 & 2 are in much worse shape than Seasons 4-7, particularly the special effects. Sometimes, leaving some blur in a video is the right way to minimize damage that upscaling makes painfully visible.
I would not have spent so much time on Deep Space Nine and Voyager if I felt the quality uplift wasn’t worth the effort, but it’s important to be realistic about just how much improvement can be extracted from DVD-quality frames. There are visible problems and even some motion errors baked into certain episodes. Some of those problems can’t truly be fixed, only ameliorated, and some repair techniques have side effects that the viewer may not like.
Even well-processed content sometimes looks better at TV viewing distance (5-7 feet) as opposed to typical PC viewing distance (24 – 36 inches).
Source History: This is a video of a Jack Russell terrier I once owned playing in / declaring war against a small stream of water that ran outside my apartment after it rained. This dog would lie about needing to go to the bathroom after it precipitated to get his paws into that stream.
Original Resolution: 320×240
Output Resolution: 1280×960
Included Outputs:
I processed this file by upscaling both the original version of the video and a version I created using VapourSynth (via Hybrid). Upscales based on both outputs were then blended into a single new video. This new video – “Gen 1” in my parlance – went through four more processing cycles. I increment the generation counter every time I use Resolve Studio to create a new blended output.
Although I typically blend the videos of each generation together, I will occasionally grab either a specific model from a previous generation, up to and including the original output. In this case, I also blended the VapourSynth-created output back into the upscales at several points. This video is nine seconds long, so it didn’t actually take much time to upscale on an RTX 3080, but I did wrangle 16 different versions of the clip across five generations to create the final output.
One thing I want to specifically draw attention to is the final quality of the output video. While a definite improvement from the original, it scarcely looks HD. At best, I’d argue the quality has gone from “Bad VCR tape” to “Much nicer-looking VCR tape.”
Although I typically blend the videos of each generation together, I will occasionally grab either a specific model from a previous generation, up to and including the original output. In this case, I also blended the VapourSynth-created output back into the upscales at several points.
I am wary of recommending TVEAI or any AI upscaler for repairing content that starts off this low quality. The lower quality the source file, the less total improvement you’ll achieve. In some cases, no improvement will be achievable. If this happens, don’t give up. Applications like AviSynth and VapourSynth can sometimes fix problems that AI upscaling currently doesn’t deal with very well.
I chose this video for two reasons. First, my dog Chance was a ridiculously aggressive about attacking running water. Had he ever glimpsed Niagara Falls I suspect he would’ve died of fury on the spot. I don’t mind sharing the chuckle. Second, it gives me a good way to demonstrate what happens when a single-model upscale goes wrong. The result is ugly, error-filled content that looks worse than the original video.
Even after careful tuning, it’s not clear that the upscaled video is much better than the non-upscaled video. It would’ve been a better use of time to lean on AviSynth alone.
Source History: I extracted this video source from the original PS2 disc.
Original Resolution: 582×416
Upscaled Resolutions: 1162×864 / 3840×2160 (Resized)
Included Outputs: I wanted at least one sample that was pre-processed and upscaled in as many different methods as was practically possible. I have created so many versions of FFX: The Dance, specifically, that I need to actually subdivide them to make it easier to parse what’s here. A lot of people like using upscaling for animation, so I spent a lot of time to create different versions of animated content, specifically. All of these clips were resized for 4K to make certain YT would encode them in reasonable quality.
If you want to see the difference between the various upscales and filtering methods, I recommend pausing 17 – 25 seconds in. The close-up on Yuna’s face makes it easier to compare.
There are six “versus” videos below that showcase two different outputs side-by-side. These are intended to make it easier to compare various outputs, and I’ve created several of them. There are too many to reasonably embed, so I’ve provided text links below.
1). OG video vs. AviSynth processing (Method 2) (embedded above)
2). Original video vs. Original video (2x AHQ)
3). AviSynth Method 2 (Not Upscaled) versus Maybe Better (2x AHQ)
4). OG 2x AHQ vs. AviSynth 2x AHQ
5). Cupscale Kenomo v. Maybe Better (Not Upscaled)
6). Cupscale UniRestore v. Video2x
20). OG v. Best Upscale
The first video shows the impact of running AviSynth or not-running AviSynth with no upscaling involved at all. The second video shows the impact of upscaling, but only with one run through TVEAI using Artemis High Quality at 200 percent. Video #3 repeats this comparison, but uses the pre-processed AviSynth source instead of the original, unprocessed source. Video #4 shows how the original video looks upscaled compared to the AviSynth-processed version.
Comparison #5 shows a single-model Cupscale encode against AviSynth with no upscaling at all, to emphasize how well the application can improve video without relying on upscaling.
Beyond these videos, I’ve also uploaded the following outputs.
7). Original video.
8). Original video after AviSynth processing (Method 1)
9). Original video after AviSynth processing (Method 2)
I’ve included the original video, plus three different methods of processing this clip in AviSynth to show how filter settings change final output. When I talk about blending different outputs together to create a blended, multi-source pre-processed file before you ever use TVEAI, this is where you might use that kind of strategy to create your desired balance of smoothness and noise in the underwater sections of the video.
10). Original video after one upscale pass in TVEAI (AHQ, no pre-processing)
11). Original video after one upscale pass in TVEAI (AHQ, pre-processed with AviSynth Method 1)
12). Original video after one upscale pass in TVEAI (AHQ, pre-processed with Method 2)
13). Original video after one pass through Cupscale (2x Kemeno_Kiwami, no pre-processing) (embedded above)
14). AviSynth Method 2 video after one pass through Cupscale (2x Uniscale_Cartoon)
These video sequences showcase how upscaling output depends on pre-processing method. In some cases, the differences between two videos will be magnified when the video is upscaled. Even though these videos have only been through TVEAI or Cupscale once, each is distinctly different from the other. As I said in the main body of the article, AI upscaling is not one “thing” and you can target a wide range of sharpness levels, color adjustments, and denoising for your video, depending on what you think it should look like.
15). Original video after one blend (AHQ + 4x Prot)
16). Original video after one blend (Cupscale + Cupscale) (embedded above)
17). Multi-Model Blend (TVEAI)
18). Multi-Model Blend (TVEAI + Cupscale) (embedded at top of page)
19). Multi-Model Blend (Cupscale)
The multi-model upscale lists show off the improvements from using more than one model and blending the output together in increasingly sophisticated ways. #17 shows the impact of blending just two videos together, #18 showcases the same effect in Cupscale (note the dramatic color shift in this case), #19 illustrates what can be achieved in a multi-model, multi-generational video with several trips through the upscaler, #20 shows how TVEAI and Cupscale look when outputs are combined, and #21 is a multi-model blend of Cupscale alone.
Cupscale models can also benefit from multiple passes through the application, but they don’t see the boost that TVEAI does. In some cases, the uplift is marginal or counteracted by color shifts. The video embedded at the top of this section benefits from a second pass through the model but it comes at a high cost to color accuracy.
DVDFab Output 1
DVDFab Output 2
AVCLabs Output 1
AVCLabs Output 2
While there’s a lot of output here, the big picture trends break down pretty readily. First, the two different AviSynth processing methods show that this content can be cleaned up in multiple ways with varying impacts on the final output. The Cupscale outputs aren’t nearly as strong as the TVEAI outputs, but I found a way to use that to my advantage in #18, where I was able to blend both TVEAI output and Cupscale output together. The darker color in #18 is my own doing.
I decided to work on Final Fantasy X’s iconic “The Dance” video after seeing a video someone else had created. One thing I think this video illustrates is how different approaches and processing methods can yield very different results. All of the Final Fantasy X results on this page are different from one another, very much including the upscaled videos. The “right” version, ultimately, is the one that feels right to you and that reflects the vision of the video you had in your mind’s eye when you set out to create it.
The trickiest part of improving this video is not wrecking the underwater scenes. The flowers have a slight oil painting look to them at several points, and there isn’t always enough detail in the distant shots of Yuna dancing for the video to upscale cleanly.
Oftentimes when upscaling, the trick is to clean up the bad-looking frames more so than to improve the frames that come out well. I took a variety of approaches to this video. Video #17 was created entirely from Topaz Video Enhance AI blending, Video #18 is a blend of TVEAI and Cupscale, and Video #19 is Cupscale alone.
A lot of upscaling work is focused on animation and I wanted to include an animated source. Taking on a clip from the PS2 era was a fun challenge. I’m really pleased with how this output came out and I feel like it showcases some of the strengths of AI upscaling.
Source History: The original source for this video was created by Adam “Mojo” Liebowitz. He asked if I’d take a shot at upscaling the video, to show his own remastering work on the series at higher quality.
Original Resolution: 720×400
Output Resolution: 2880×1600
Included Outputs:
Original video (as provided)
Original video upscaled in TVEAI, 2x AHQ-only, no pre-processing.
Multi-Model Upscale #1
Multi-Model Upscale #2
Cupscale 4xUniScale_Restore
Cupscale 4xUniScale_Restore v. 2x AHQ
There is a slight color difference between the single-model video and the multi-model video. This was the result of other processing decisions I made, not something introduced directly by TVEAI. TVEAI can cause small color shifts, but it did not cause this one.
The impact of pre-processing is particularly clear in this video, as shown in the following image comparisons. First, here’s a comparison between the pre-processed and original version of the file with no upscaling applied at all. Next up, here’s the same set of image comparisons, only this time both videos have been upscaled using Artemis High Quality. Sometimes, the difference between two different encodes is small until both videos are upscaled, at which point it becomes larger. That’s not really the case for this video. Running VapourSynth via Hybrid makes a major difference, even before the video is upscaled.
Finally, here’s a frame-by-frame comparison of a single-model AHQ upscale against my multi-model, multi-generational technique. To see the difference in either the Frame 118 or Frame 167 comparison particularly well, hit the + button and look at the letters spelling out “Galactica.”
This was an interesting opportunity to visit an iconic show. Mojo’s remastered CGI effects already fit flawlessly into the episode, but it wasn’t clear if TVEAI would handle both sets of footage equally well. In this case, it did. This BSG video also shows the impact of pre-processing quite well. The gap between the single-model upscale and the blended model is real, but smaller than the gap between pre-processing and not pre-processing the footage.
Source History: This video was shot by professional photographer and ET author David Cardinal. He provided it when I asked for an example of a video he’d shot on older equipment, to test what kind of improvements were possible. A great deal of content has been shot on 720p or 1080p equipment over the last 20 years. This video is our representative test for this type of content.
Original Resolution: 1280×720
Output Resolution: 2560×1440
Included Outputs:
Original Video
Upscaled Video Comparison (Cupscale v. TVEAI, Single Model)
Upscaled Video (Single Model, Cupscale)
In this case, I got a quote from David directly to get his opinion on the upscale.
“I set up a dual-monitor system with a 1080p and a 4K monitor, and played both the original 720p version and Joel’s upscaled version on each of them side-by-side — alternating. The original version looks okay at 1080p, but really shows its age on a 4K display. That said, the 4K version on the 1080p monitor still looked much more clear than the original version did on either monitor. Lots of cool detail that typically wouldn’t be possible without actually capturing in native 4K. Hat’s off!”
This video cleaned up nicely. I didn’t actually use AviSynth or VapourSynth on this output, they weren’t necessary. The gap between the single-model AHQ and the multi-model blend is not very large here.
I chose this video to illustrate how Topaz Video Enhance AI would perform when tested against relatively modern, professionally shot footage. Skipping the pre-processing steps saves some time, though working with 1280×720 video also takes a fair bit longer than 720×480 or below.
This is a short interview/interest piece on two of the lead makeup artists behind Dick Tracy. Doug Drexler and John Caglione. The pair won an Academy Award for Best Makeup on the 1990 movie. This clip is narrated by the inimitable Don LaFontaine.
Source History: MediaInfo claims the authoring application was an iPhone XS Max. Clearly, this is not the original source, since the video was shot ~1990. I have no information on the video’s journey from then to now.
Original Resolution: 568×320
Upscaled Resolutions: 1136×640 / 2272×1280
Included Outputs:
The original video
The original video filtered in AviSynth
Filtered, Upscaled Version (Method #1)
I included this video to showcase how TVEAI would perform with older, low-quality content and the limits of the software, even when it is able to improve final quality. None of this output looks particularly good, but the footage that’s been through Resolve and TVEAI looks better than the footage that’s only been through Resolve, or only through TVEAI.
These video and images also show how blending multiple outputs together can avoid the damage caused by using a single model.
I am not kidding or exaggerating when I say that it’s possible for an upscaled DVD to beat an official Blu-ray release from a Hollywood studio, but there is a reason why this is the case. The reason it’s possible to upscale an SG-1 DVD to the point that it beats the Blu-ray like a rented mule is because the Blu-ray release of Stargate SG-1 sucks. Sometimes, quality is a subjective thing. Sometimes, it isn’t. The official Blu-ray release of Stargate SG-1 is egregiously damaged in some places. The first examples I’m going to show you are from the Season 7 episode “Inauguration.”
I don’t know what VFX company and/or national zoo was responsible for transferring these episodes from DVD to Blu-ray, but it’s difficult to believe a human was involved. Compare how the same uniform looks on an upscaled version of the DVD (left) versus the officially restored Blu-ray (right).
The upscaled DVD is on the left, native Blu-ray on the right. Here’s the full shot, with the native Blu-ray first. You can click on either image to open it in a new window.
One of the major themes of this article is how easy it is to tune upscaling output for whatever characteristics you’d like it to have as far as smoothness, sharpness, and noise/grain. You don’t have to love my own choices in the frames above to recognize three facts:
1). There is objectively more detail preserved in the upscale.
2). The Blu-ray is stretched out of its original aspect ratio while the DVD preserves it.
3). The general’s uniform in the native Blu-ray is damaged in ways the DVD is not.
These are not one-time errors; the entire episode is shot full of similar problems. There’s an odd checkerboard pattern on the edges of many objects in virtually every scene of the episode, including articles of clothing, flags, cups, and patches. It appears on people’s faces and it shimmers in motion in an extremely distracting way. I made multiple attempts to fix it with various AviSynth and VapourSynth utilities. While there are some filters that can “remove” damage of this sort, they also destroy detail. Less damaging methods did not fix the problem.
This checkerboard doesn’t appear in every episode of the show — I haven’t done a full enough sweep of the discs to say how common it is — but one thing I can say is the quality of this “Blu-ray” release is deeply disappointing. The video has been effectively sandblasted to remove any trace of noise or grain. That’s on top of the checkerboard damage and the retained interlacing damage.
I can tell why the people who created this video stretched it out of aspect ratio — it’s because the corners of the video are damaged and have distinct lines visible on the sides. It would have been vastly preferable to leave tiny black bars on either side than to do what’s been done here. Part of the reason the picture quality is poor — even in episodes that lack checkerboard damage — is because the video has been stretched out of true, possibly by a machine of similar vintage to those used during SG-1’s run.
Not every episode looks this bad. The Season 7 finale “Lost City” doesn’t show the same weird checkerboard pattern and the overall quality seems higher, but there’s still scarcely any additional detail to be had over the DVD, especially once you run the DVD through AviSynth.
If you’re curious to see what these files look like when upscaled, I’ve got that output as well. The Blu-ray footage actually upscales much less well than the DVD. AHQ-Hybrid and AHQ-AviSynth show two different grain and noise injection patterns, one stronger than the other.
I wanted to create the same kind of comparison video for Lost City as I did for Inauguration, but Lost City appears to have actually been edited compared to its DVD version. Unlike Inauguration, where the Blu-ray and the DVD align frame-for-frame, Lost City does not. There are specific clips where the output will be synchronized and then later clips where it is not.
My clip from Lost City is shorter due to time, but I’ve included the upscaled DVD footage here. Apologies for the somewhat muddled audio, but the video is what I suspect you’re here for.
The Blu-ray version of “Lost City” may lack for checkerboard damage, but it’s damaged in other ways. There’s a scene at the climax of the episode where Earth’s only functional starship, the Prometheus, is making a doomed run on Anubis’ flagship. Here’s how that looks on the native Blu-ray versus the DVD. You may need to click on the image to see the difference between the backgrounds on the left versus the right.
Whatever denoising method the “restoration” team used managed to denoise the stars right out of the sky. I didn’t insert new stars in my upscale and I didn’t make any special effort to preserve or expand the number of stars already there. I am aware that VFX houses often work in very challenging conditions on tight deadlines, but if the best output I could create with Topaz Video Enhance AI looked like the above, I would have never written my first article. I’d sooner quit a job than ask fans of a TV show to buy garbage that looks like this. MGM ought to be ashamed of itself for the way it’s treated Stargate: SG-1.
Not all Blu-ray releases look like this. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s Star Trek: The Next Generation, which got a full film remaster, recolor, and new special effects. I spent some serious time earlier this year working to see how close I could even potentially get to matching TNG’s quality with nothing but a DVD. Spoiler — not very close. But Stargate: SG-1‘s Blu-ray release is on store shelves just as validly as TNG. This is the product MGM has put its imprimatur upon and brought to market — and that product isn’t very good.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if the reason an upscaled DVD can beat a Blu-ray is that some Blu-ray releases suck. If I was an SG-1 fan considering which version of the show to buy, I’d buy the DVD collection and upscale it before I’d pay a dime for the Blu-ray. I only had a few days to spend on this project in total before I had to write it up for this article. I am confident I can further improve on these results given time. The difference between the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the show is that upscalers are still getting better. Over time, the upscaled version of the DVD will improve. The Blu-ray is stuck with itself.
If you stopped off here at the beginning of the story because you wanted to see the DVD v. Blu-ray comparison, here’s a link to get you back to the rest of the article. If you hit this page after looking through the others, I appreciate your truly impressive stamina, and thank you for taking the time to look through all this content.
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The best handgun safes don’t just protect your firearms — they also keep them away from inexperienced hands.
A handgun safe offers many of the same benefits and limitations as the personal weapons they hold. Most of these small safes can be easily carried, so they are usually limited to securing one or two weapons. A full-size firearm safe can hold both handguns and multiple long guns, but they aren’t as portable or easy to hide as their smaller counterparts. A handgun safe can hide at your bedside, unlike the larger gun lockups that require much more space.
If you’re the owner of a single gun and not a collector, or if you keep a handgun from your collection nearby for self-defense or target practice, finding the best handgun safe is necessary. The product you choose is as personal a decision as your Second Amendment-protected weapon of choice. To help you find the proper secure storage, we’ve put together our picks for the best biometric handgun safes. These come in various shapes, sizes and technology levels so that every gun owner can find the right fit for their weapons and space.
Read More: The Best Handgun Holsters You Can Buy on Amazon
The best safes will have plenty of features. Here’s what you should be considering:
Owning a handgun comes with a huge responsibility, and one of the most responsible things you can do is get a quality handgun or biometric handgun safe to keep it secure. Storing your firearm and ammunition in a safe keeps your weapon from others during a potential break-in and keeps it out of the reach of children.
Keeping your handgun safe and secure is essential for your safety and others. With that in mind, we’ve picked the best handgun safes with the most reliable and secure features to keep your handgun and ammunition ready for when you need it and safely stowed away when you don’t.
The aweSafe Gun Safe carries some of the more advanced engineering in this collection. It’s got the capacity for two standard handguns, one larger pistol, and some extra ammunition. You can lock or unlock it via key code or thumbprint, and it uses familiar solid steel compression and a pry-resistant door to stay closed. It adds a gas strut for silent opening if you need to access the gun inside without indicating its hiding place or location, and it’s compact and lightweight, which makes it portable. The interior also includes soft blue LED lighting to allow clear sight into the box without disturbing the surrounding darkness.
Why We Chose It as Best Overall: The aweSafe Gun Safe has proven to be extremely popular among SPY readers, and it offers all of the features we look for in the best gun safe at an extremely attractive price.
Buy: Awesafe Gun Safe $129.00 (orig. $159.00) 19% OFF
We wrote about the new Wyze Gun Safe when it was first released in March 2022, and it offers some smart features you won’t find anywhere else. Depending on how you feel about cybersecurity, a gun safe with a Bluetooth connection for remote opening can be a pro or a con, but it’s a unique innovation that could really come in handy in an emergency. Even without this feature enabled, this is a seriously impressive gun safe, and it unlocks in two blinks of an eye (literally — 0.8 seconds, versus 0.4 for a blink). It has 195 cubic inches of space, enough for two handguns, ammunition, and other accessories. Like the best gun safes of 2022, it also has a biometric fingerprint scanner, a traditional keypad, and a physical key, giving you plenty of access options. The biometric scanner can store up to 20 fingerprints so other family members can access its contents.
The safe itself is built to withstand tampering and prying. The 12-gauge steel frame has been third-party-certified to meet California DOJ impact and tool-attack standards. Despite all of these features, the WYZE Gun Safe is also competitively priced at an abundantly reasonable $154.99.
Why We Chose It as Runner Up: Ultimately, we think the awesafe Gun Safe is still the best gun safe for most people, as not everyone will appreciate the smart features available with WYZE.
Buy: WYZE Gun Safe $169.00
Buy: WYZE Gun Safe at WYZE $154.99
The RPNB Mounted Gun Safe is one of the no. 1 best-selling gun safes on Amazon, and it’s an affordable and discreet tool for gun owners. While most other handgun safes here are built for tabletop or bedside use — or designed to travel safely with the gun owner — the RPNB Mounted Gun Safe is designed for on-wall construction. It reduces clutter while offering a clever brand of “quick-draw” design as the case opens to release the gun handle first. Like the other entries here, you still get the steel construction and multiple means of access, from key code to standard key lock.
Buy: RPNB Mounted Gun Safe $109.99
While every handgun safe in this collection will do the job of protecting your weapon, few of them have much of an aesthetic sense. Biometric gun safes are essentially black boxes built purely for function. The VAULTEK LifePod 2.0 takes on that function, but the compact size offers a little more visual flair. Employing steel construction, the LifePod locks on closure and unlocks via either a touch-activated keypad or a physical key. It’s sleek and compact but highly secure, making it one of the best handgun safes for safer storage.
Buy: VAULTEK LifePod 2.0 $189.99
Buy: VAULTEK LifePod 2.0 at Walmart $159.99
This full-size pistol safe has plenty of features that you’ll appreciate. The biometric pad allows for quick entry for starters, and the door opens automatically. The backlit keypad helps you see when you need to gain access in a dark area. There is a built-in light inside the safe when it’s open to help you see the contents inside. Want more? You can also see a history of openings, manage fingerprints, check the battery life and unlock your safe with the Bluetooth app. It’s one of the only handgun safes that must be charged, but 2.5 hours plugged in provides three months of battery life.
Buy: VAULTEK VTi Full-Size Biometric Handgun Bluetooth Smart Safe $419.99
The SentrySafe QAP1BE is a quiet, compact handgun safe for your nightstand or drawer. It can easily fit one standard handgun and two ammunition clips inside. You can program up to four different fingerprints, and when it opens, the gas strut opens the case for you without making a sound, allowing for silent and quick entry. Beyond the fingerprint-scanner entry are a keypad and a key override if the batteries die. It’s pry-proof, made of steel and Department of Justice (DOJ) certified.
Buy: SentrySafe QAP1BE Gun Safe $209.99
While some of the entries on this list offer multiple ways to lock and unlock your handgun safe, the RPNB Portable Security Safe provides a simple four-key access system. If someone tries the wrong code, or should a thief pick up and make off with the safe, an onboard alarm alerts the gun owner. You get an emergency access hard copy key if you somehow forget your four-digit PIN.
Buy: RPNB Portable Security Safe $69.99
Resembling the kind of familiar safe you might find in a hotel room, the Reliancer Electronic Gun Safe offers the kind of door access you might find in a P.O. Box or a safety deposit setup. More substantial than most entries here, there’s plenty of room inside for multiple handguns and other small valuables. Powered by a rechargeable battery, the key code lock can also step aside for standard key access. Once unlocked, the door pops open for quick, silent access.
Buy: Reliancer Electronic Gun Safe $54.85 (orig. $59.85) 8% OFF
With a bit of shelf built inside the safe, you can safely place your pistol, ammo, and other items you want to keep safe, like a passport. The biometric reader can store and read up to 32 different fingerprints, or you can use the keypad to gain entry into the safe. When you open the safe, an LED light illuminates the inside of the safe, which is convenient, especially if you keep your safe in a dark closet.
Buy: Viking Security Safe $169.97
Made from 18-gauge steel, the RPNB is a durable, lightweight and compact handgun safe. It provides three-point access: a biometric fingerprint scanner, keypad and traditional lock-and-key. The safe’s biometric scanner allows for quick and immediate access, as the door will open automatically once access is granted. The keypad is also convenient because the buttons beep when pressed, eliminating silent entry. Inside the safe is a padded floor to keep your belongings protected if you move the safe.
Buy: RPNB Gun Security Safe $125.99
This gun safe from Dalmbox is incredibly portable, lightweight, and easy to carry. It’s smaller than the other gun safes on this list, making it perfect if you’ve got a smaller pistol you’d like to transport in a car safely. It’s made of strong and durable premium steel and comes with a heavy-duty cable encased in black sheathing that can lock the safe to a seat, in the trunk or wherever you see fit. It’s also multipurpose and would be great for locking up cash, jewelry or other valuables while you’re on the road.
Buy: Dalmbox Small Car Gun Safe $22.99
There’s a lot to like about this handgun safe. For starters, it has an FBI-certified fingerprint scanner that can store up to 40 prints for protection and quick access to the safe. And if someone tries to get into the safe without your authorization, it keeps a timestamped history of all tampering, including failed attempts, use of backup keys and reset attempts. The only downside is that it’s pricey compared to other options, but the extra security features are well worth it.
Buy: Verifi Smart.Safe Biometric Gun Safe $394.99
Being affordable doesn’t mean it’s not packed with features. You can use the fingerprint scanner to gain access, keypad or key. It also has an app that keeps a history log, lets you manage fingerprints and provides wireless access to the safe. It has a silent entry to quietly access the safe and a LED light to light up the inside. On top of all that valuable security, it’s also affordable.
Buy: Billconch Biometric Gun Safe $99.99 (orig. $119.99) 17% OFF
Another solid option for a handgun safe is this high-capacity, fingerprint-enabled biometric gun safe from Top-Secure. The brand is California DOJ-certified for its safety and security. Their safes come equipped with three optional access points: a biometric fingerprint, a backlit keypad for a code and a manual key entry. It’s got enough space for up to five handguns and other valuables, and it features a pry-resistant door, dual-layer steel housing and a welded pry-proof steel body for break-in protection. The door automatically opens upon being unlocked for fast, discreet and quiet access.
Buy: Top-Secure Safe Store Biometric Gun Safe $95.99
This biometric handgun safe uses advanced biometric technology, so you need a fingerprint for access, making it much more secure than a lock and key or keycode design. A fingerprint access design also means you can access and open the safe with one hand, which may be necessary for certain critical situations. It’s got an anti-corrosion steel construction that’s super durable and protective. The lid is pry-resistant, and the inside has enough capacity to hold two standard-size frame pistols or a higher number of smaller items. It’s portable and built to store compactly and discretely underneath your bed, in a closet, in your car or under your desk.
Buy: ONNAIS Biometric Handgun Safe $89.99 (orig. $139.99) 36% OFF
This handgun safe from Langger V comes ready to mount to the wall if you’d rather store your guns that way and efficiently take up vertical space. It’s made of durable reinforced steel and comes equipped with a quick fingerprint scan for fast access. It’s got a large capacity and foam padding on the inside to keep guns safe and has an option for silent opening if you need to get to your firearms discreetly.
Buy: Langger V Biometric Gun Safe $199.95
Big enough to hold a single, small handgun, the Younion Pistol Safe runs the gun owner only about $25. The three-number code lock is a simple way to open or seal the small safe, and you can use the case to hide cash or a passport if not holding a handgun. The RPNB Pistol Safe offers a way for the gun owner to carry a concealed yet safely encased gun. It allows for the personal transport of a weapon on one’s person without offering immediate access to any random person.
Buy: RPNB Pistol Safe at Walmart $24.99
Updates: This article was updated last on August 2, 2022, when the pricing was updated for all of the items. At that time, we removed the Barska AX11556 Biometric Gun Safe, which is no longer available. We also added the WYZE Gun Safe as our new “Runner Up” selection. Finally, a more recent Billconch model, the Billconch Gun Safe for Pistols, replaced an older model as our “Value Pick”. Previously, we removed the Amazon Basics Gun Safe, which is no longer available.
There’s a lot of talk these days about working from home, returning to the office, and the hybrid work model, where employees split their time between the two locations. Each scenario presents its own set of challenges and benefits.
But what about folks who have no fixed workspace? This includes pharmaceutical and other outside sales reps, locum tenens and others who work in multiple locations, construction workers, and even professional organizers who serve clients in their home or workplace. These mobile workers don’t have the option of keeping everything they need in a desk drawer or cabinet. Instead, they need to develop efficient ways to manage their work tools and schedule.
As an organizing or productivity consultant, you’ve probably got some great ideas to share, so why not blog about them? You can then submit your post to this month’s Productivity & Organizing Blog Carnival for added exposure at no cost. If you’ve already blogged about this topic, your work is nearly done!
Share your blog posts with Tips for Mobile Workers in the next Productivity & Organizing Blog Carnival!Click To TweetParticipating in the Blog Carnival is a great way to generate traffic to your blog and it only takes a minute. To see how it works, take a look at some past editions.
Not convinced? Read Productivity & Organizing Blog Carnival Star Blogger Tracy Hoth’s post on The Benefits of Blog Carnivals.
Do you offer a product or service that would interest professional organizers, productivity consultants, or their clients? It’s not too late to maximize your exposure by sponsoring this edition (or a future one) of the Productivity & Organizing Blog Carnival!
Please read the following Guidelines before you make your submission.
The Blog Carnival will be published on Wednesday, August 17, 2022.
Please use this form to submit your post. I’m looking forward to reading it, and to helping you get free exposure for your blog!
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