Springwise - Homes & Housing

High-end home swapping

2010-07-19T05:20:57Z

The march of the hotel alternatives continues, this time with the arrival of a home-swapping service aimed squarely at the upper echelon of homes. Luxe Home Swap allows people with high-end dwellings to swap accommodation with others all over the world.

“Luxe” homes don't necessarily have to be luxurious, UK-based Luxe Home Swap stresses; rather, they simply need an attractive location and home feel. Examples currently on the site include a 5-bedroom, 5-bath home in Sri Lanka, for example, as well as a 2-bedroom apartment in Gothenburg, Sweden. To use the service, homeowners simply pay a GBP 99 annual membership fee and begin browsing the homes listed on the site. Once they find one they'd like to swap with, they contact the owner to discuss the details via secure messaging and sign a digital contract. Members can make as many swaps as they'd like over the course of a year; Luxe Home Swap even offers a second year of membership free for those who didn't succeed to find a good swap in their first.

Trust is a big part of the success of any home exchange, and we've seen that addressed by focusing on homeowners who work in the same industry or are connected on Facebook. By focusing on wealthier clients, Luxe Home Swap achieves a similar end. (Related: Holiday sublet service offers hotel style amenities — Cutting-edge architectural dwellings for holiday rent — Hotel rooms scattered across the city of Linz.)

Website: www.luxehomeswap.com
Contact: info@luxehomeswap.com

Spotted by: Sunday Times via Sara Al Mulla

Online room-makeover service offers nine 'designs-in-a-box'

2010-07-16T08:09:12Z

Not everyone has an eye for interior design—or the budget to hire a full-fledged, custom service. Enter California-based Avenue Interior Design, which recently launched an online offering that aims to give consumers a lower-cost way to get a professional look for their home.

Consumers begin by choosing the room or rooms they want to make over. They then browse through Avenue's I Heart Design site, which offers nine very different looks chosen by its designers. Each is represented by a door with a corresponding style; when clicked, users can see inside for a closer look. Once they find a look they like, users tell I Heart Design about their goals for the room and any special considerations, such as pets with a penchant for muddy pawprints. Measuring the room comes next, followed by uploading a few photos including any furniture that will be reused. For a fee of USD 3.50 per square foot, I Heart Design will then send out a custom box including two space plan options for each room; a spec card for each piece of furniture the designers selected; a paint card with recommended colours; a window treatment card with recommended styles; and a tape measure and other small tools. I Heart Design chooses items from a mix of flea markets, national retailers and trade-specific vendors, according to a report on Daily Candy. Consumers can buy those they like directly from their personal online design board on the site.

This fall, I Heart Design by Avenue will launch a similar offering aimed at hospitality providers. One to try out on your own hotel or restaurant—or emulate in another part of the world? (Related: 3-D tool helps students decorate (and shop for) dorm rooms — Home enhancement service focuses on senior citizens — Social shopping meets interior design.)

Website: www.iheartdesignbyavenue.com
Contact: service@iheartdesignbyavenue.com

Spotted by: Heidi Heifetz

More peer-to-peer garden sharing

2010-07-01T10:43:43Z

A full 40 percent of North Americans do not have their own yard space; those who do, meanwhile, often leave it underused. Aiming to match the haves with the have-nots anywhere there's a similar inequity, Sharing Backyards partners with local community organizations to create land-sharing programs in diverse regions around the world.

Similar in many ways to UK-based Landshare, Sharing Backyards is a project of LifeCycles, a Canadian nonprofit dedicated to cultivating awareness and initiating action around food, health and urban sustainability in the Greater Victoria, B.C., community. To help maximize land use in communities far and wide, Sharing Backyards actively seeks out local partners and gives them administration of their own, local Sharing Backyards Program. That includes not just promotional materials but also a forum for interaction with other local partners. Consumers, then, begin by browsing the free site's list of programs already in existence. To find or share land in their area, they can scan an interactive local map for current listings and use the program's internal messaging system to make a connection. Sharing Backyards is working on a downloadable contract to spell out agreements between landowners and gardeners.

With programs up and running in more than 30 communities in North America and New Zealand, Sharing Backyards is seeking volunteers as well as advertisers and sponsors. Gardening-related businesses around the globe: who will be first in your community to stake this highly targeted claim...? (Related: Online gardening service sends seeds when it's time to plant — Gardens for rent by the season, with vegetables pre-planted — Five new business ideas for urban gardening.)

Website: www.sharingbackyards.com
Contact: info@sharingbackyards.com

Online gardening service sends seeds when it's time to plant

2010-06-16T11:54:35Z

There's no end in sight to the gardening innovations popping up each week all around the globe. The latest spotting? SproutRobot, a San Diego-based web service that offers regionally optimized gardening plans and sends seeds when it's time to plant.

Aspiring gardeners begin by telling SproutRobot their ZIP code, and the site generates a personalized planting calendar for that area based on historical weather data. From there, users choose whether they want to buy their own seeds and simply receive planting reminders from the site—that service is free—or whether they want to receive certified organic heirloom seeds and instructions whenever it's time to plant. Pricing on the latter option ranges from USD 19.99 per year for a “Patio Garden” service including up to three varieties and a few small harvests per year to USD 59.99 per year for the “Family Garden” service with up to 10 varieties and veggies several times each week for a family. Whichever paid option they choose, SproutRobot then asks them to select which fruits and/or vegetables they want to grow. Once those choices are made, SproutRobot hand-checks the user's planting calendar and sends out the right seeds at just the right time.

Now in beta, SproutRobot currently serves only U.S. users, but it's aiming to expand, according to one of the company's recent tweets. One to partner with or emulate for aspiring gardeners in other parts of the world? (Related: Gardens for rent by the season, with vegetables pre-planted — Remote-controlled farming for city dwellers — Homegrown vegetables, no green thumb needed — More homegrown veggies without the sweat — Five new business ideas for urban gardening — Matching would-be vegetable gardeners with arable land.)

Website:www.sproutrobot.com
Contact: info@sproutrobot.com

Spotted by: R. Steinberg

Five new business ideas for urban gardening

2010-05-21T13:30:00Z

More than half of humanity now lives in cities, according to the United Nations Population Fund. This rapid and ongoing change presents a raft of new challenges, many of which create opportunities for resourceful entrepreneurs. Here are five concepts that target consumers' increasing interest in growing their own food in the city:

1. REEL GARDENING — Simplifying the process of starting a domestic garden, South Africa's Reel Gardening provides a strip of biodegradable paper carrying correctly spaced, pre-fertilised seeds. The strips are colour coded (e.g. red for tomatoes, purple for beetroot) and carry instructions for how deep they should be planted in your soil. Just add water!

2. THE WIKI GARDEN — Urban gardeners who haven't even got a bed of soil may be interested in the Wiki Garden from Hawaii. It's a metre-long "growing medium" (i.e. sack) containing compost, worm castings, bat guano and more, plus a built-in irrigation system with a hose attachment. The bags can be connected, allowing for an easily scalable system.

3. CLICK AND GROW — Another alternative is to do without soil at all. Estonia's Click and Grow is a hi-tech growing system deploying aeroponics: the plant's lower stem and roots are contained in an air or mist environment, regulated by sensors and electronics to ensure the plant is fed and watered correctly. The pots even feature a USB port to upload new growing instructions.

4. WINDOWFARMS — Rather than selling a particular product, the Window Farms project in New York promotes the production of hydroponic food gardens in homes and offices, using recycled or locally-sourced materials. The founders aim to build a community to share ideas and engender a DIY approach to solving environmental problems.

5. OOOOBY — Based in New Zealand, Ooooby, short for Out Of Our Own Back Yard, is a social networking community dedicated to connecting local food producers and consumers for trade, networking, and sharing ideas. Ooooby also organises stalls at farmers' markets and other locations through which people can buy, sell and barter local produce and small-scale farming supplies.

Spotters: Catherine Corry, Liz Stone, Kristoff Everaerts, Louisa Redshaw

Eco-minded canopy can cool any bed

2010-05-18T17:58:47Z

When we wrote about the Evening Breeze bed almost a year ago, it was sold as an integrated four-poster unit with built-in sustainable cooling. Aiming to give buyers more flexibility, Evening Breeze now offers a stand-alone canopy that can be used to cool any bed.

Launched last fall, the Evening Breeze Canopi features an integrated ventilation system that gently directs sustainably cooled air over any bed without any noise or draft. As with the Evening Breeze original, the Canopi's climate system uses the environmentally friendly R-410A refrigerant; it also uses at least 60 percent less energy than traditional air conditioning systems. Not only that, but a room's windows can even be left open for freshness since the cooling is focused so directly on the sleeper.

Whereas the Evening Breeze original was aimed primarily at tropical hoteliers, the Canopi is available to consumers as well through select retailers in the Netherlands Antilles, Belgium and the Netherlands. Pricing is (a rather steep) EUR 3,599, including installation. Hoteliers and retailers alike: time to help cool off green-minded consumers in your part of the overheated world...?

Website: www.evening-breeze.com
Contact: info@evening-breeze.com

This post is sponsored by PG&E (the Pacific Gas and Electric Company) as part of their wider focus on fighting climate change. As always, Springwise is adamant about maintaining editorial objectivity—PG&E asked us to write about energy conservation, but had no further involvement in the content of this or other posts.

Check out PG&E's We Can Do This website for more, including a feature on the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., a sustainable brewery.

Leasing agency helps tenants connect, online and off

2010-05-17T09:04:38Z

We've seen myriad sites recently that aim to help neighbours connect, whether targeting tenants and landlords, office workers in the same vicinity, or community members with stuff to share. Now, UK-based Yourshack offers leasing and house-share services with a focus on community socialization.

Yourshack aims to help people in its community find the right property, give them the option to share, and offer the chance to join a vibrant social scene in and around Manchester. With a track record that includes managing more than 1,000 tenancies over the past 12 years, Yourshack is well-equipped to help clients find the best properties in the Manchester city centre for rent or share. More interesting, though, are Yourshack's social efforts, including a free social membership program for clients, city discounts, a regular events guide and a rapidly growing Facebook group. Parties, activities and adventure weekends are all part of what Yourshack offers its tenants along with discounts throughout the city of Manchester via the Yourshack City Card. The result, according to the company, is to enable landlords to differentiate their properties, helping to fill them more quickly, reduce the need for price bargaining and encourage the likelihood of extended rental periods.

Website: www.yourshack.co.uk
Contact: www.yourshack.co.uk/contact.php

Compost service for urbanites, with soil in return

2010-05-12T06:55:55Z

Composting may be the right thing to do for the environment, but it can be hard to get around the smell and the mess—particularly for urbanites without expansive yards. Much like the Daily Dump in India—which, by the way, looks to be thriving since our 2007 coverage—Compost Cab is a new service about to launch in Washington, DC, that can be called upon to handle all the dirty details.

DC-area consumers begin by signing up online. Once it launches, Compost Cab will then provide them with a standardized bin equipped with a sturdy, compostable bag liner. Each day clients will fill the bin with their organic material, and once a week—on a reliable, fuel-efficient schedule—Compost Cab will pick up the bag, leaving behind only a clean bin with a new liner. The cost is simply USD 8 per week per bin; no long-term commitments are required. Compost Cab's primary composting partner is Engaged Community Offshoots (ECO), a seed-stage urban farm in College Park, Md., that uses finished compost to grow natural, nutritious food for local kids.

At least as interesting is that clients who have been with Compost Cab for nine months or longer can claim some finished soil in return. Specifically, for every 50 pounds of organics the company collects from them, they can receive five pounds of fresh compost and one pound of worm castings in exchange. Those who choose not to claim their share, meanwhile, can ask Compost Cab to donate it on their behalf to ECO. Compost Cab is a production of Agricity LLC, a Washington, DC-based company focused on sustainability.

The average American family produces more than 500 pounds of leftover organic material every year; composting not only keeps that waste out of methane-generating landfills, it also produces nutrient-rich, fertile, natural soil. Looks like another win-win-win—for eco-minded consumers, the environment, and companies like Compost Cab that make it all happen. Time to make some of that eco-bounty your own...? (Related: Indoor composting made easy — Garbage into gold, via worm poop.)

Website: www.compostcab.com
Contact: info@compostcab.com

Spotted by: Candice J.

Geotextile bags for urban farming

2010-05-11T18:21:29Z

Urban farming is a trend we've been following for years, but between the recession and the recent focus on sustainability, it's showing no sign of slowing down. The latest spotting? French Bacsac, which offers a line of geotextile bags that can be used to transform any space into a growing, living garden.

The Bacsac is a lightweight and portable bag that can be used indoors or out, on terraces, balconies, rooftops and yards. Users simply fill the permeable bags with soil—there are versions in round pot shapes as well as divided squares for larger, modular gardens—and plant to their heart's content. The bags are made of double-walled and fully recyclable geotextile fabric that maintains the necessary balance between air, soil and water; it's also resistant to sun, frost and tears. Pot-sized Bacsacs range from 3- to 150-litre sizes, with hanging and window-box styles also available. Bacsquares range in size from two to 16 interior compartments. Custom sizes are also available. With prices starting at about EUR 15 for a 3-litre pot, Bacsac products are available at a variety of retailers worldwide.

Kitchen gardening, organic gardening, urban farming and container gardening are all among the top 10 global gardening trends for 2010, according to a recent report commissioned by Husqvarna. Gardening retailers around the world: Better stock up! (Related: Boosting suburban farming — More homegrown vegetables, without the sweat — Remote-controlled farming for city dwellers.)

Website: www.bacsac.fr
Contact: www.bacsac.fr/en/contact-3/

More furniture shopping with the crowds

2010-05-03T13:58:21Z

Back in 2008 we covered Myfab, the French company that lets consumers collectively tell furniture manufacturers what they want and then purchase those items direct at near-factory prices. Myfab is still going strong, it appears, and now a new contender is throwing its own weight behind the concept with a like-minded service in the UK.

London-based Made.com aims to bring original design to the masses by removing middlemen from the process and connecting consumers with furniture makers directly. Along the way, it strives to cut prices by 50 to 80 percent, it says. Consumers begin by browsing through the many items on Made.com's site; represented there are the works of a variety of young and seasoned designers, many of whom design for big-name brands as well. Consumer votes determine which items from the site's “Labs” section are put up for sale; when that happens, a timer indicates when orders should be placed for the lowest prices associated with batch production. All furniture is made to order in about four weeks and then shipped back to the UK over a like amount of time. Consumers can track their orders in real time along the way, however, so they always know not just who designed the furniture but also who's making it, what stage it's currently at and when it's due to ship. Delivery—available only in the UK—is confirmed via SMS, and customers have 14 days to evaluate the furniture; if they don't like it, they can return it free, no questions asked.

We here at Springwise always love to see good ideas spread, and this one is clearly doing just that. Who will be first to bring some fresh crowd clout and transparency to manufacturing and sales in *your* part of the world...?

Website: www.made.com
Contact: www.made.com/contact-us

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Broker creates local groups for collective solar purchasing

2010-04-29T12:52:58Z

When consumers band together, their collective 'crowd clout' makes for hefty purchasing power. An example that recently came to our attention is San Francisco-based One Block Off the Grid, or 1BOG, which facilitates the group purchase of residential solar installations.

How it works? 1BOG launches campaigns in various cities, each lasting a few months, during which they negotiate group discounts with carefully selected solar installers and offer local consumers access to the discounted rates via the 1BOG website. Homeowners can enter their address on the site, select their roof from an aerial view of Google maps and outline where they want the panels located. They can also view detailed information on costs, leasing options, local rebates and how long the panels will take to pay for themselves. On average, 1BOG saves customers around 15 percent, and receives referral fees from installers.

To date, 1BOG has signed up over 600 homeowners across 11 US cities. In February, the company secured a USD 5 million venture capital investment which will accelerate its nationwide expansion. Studies from the International Energy Agency indicate that market penetration for solar today is less than one percent in the US. As electricity becomes more expensive and solar becomes more affordable, the demand for solar is sure to rise worldwide. One to tap into! (Related: Farmers barter produce for solar panel funding — Neighbourhood approach to renewable energy — Group buying for new parents.)

Website: www.1bog.org
Contact: info@1bog.org

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Smart devices help households monitor their energy use

2010-04-13T12:30:49Z

Whether it's to shrink their carbon footprint or boost their bank balance, few consumers will dispute the need for decreased energy use. Some steps are relatively easy—switching off lights, or going easy on the climate control. But for real resource management, households need to know exactly how much they're using. To help them out, companies all over the world are launching smart energy monitoring devices and systems. A few examples we've spotted recently:

Promoting shorter showers, Efergy's Shower Time tracks how much water is used when showering. It comes with a calibration bag to determine how long a specific showerhead takes to run through one liter of water. That number is then saved in the timer's memory, along with the maximum amount of water someone would like to use. During a shower, the timer indicates how much water has been used so far, and sets off an alarm when it's time to turn off the tap.

Combining hard data with an appealing interface, the Tendril Vision is a one-stop dashboard for household energy management. It not only lets users review their own current and historical energy consumption, but also that of their neighbourhood. It displays real-time pricing information, alerts users of upcoming price changes, and helps automate routine tasks to circumvent peak load times. Designed by IDEO, the system presents all of this complex information through a simple and elegant interface on a touchscreen display, developed to make energy management part of a household's daily routine.

Getting kids in on the action, Tio is a light switch ghost that shows children how much energy they're using. Tio starts off green and happy, and becomes red and angry if lights are left on too long. Information from the light switch is sent to a computer program that allows children and watchful parents to track their lighting use over a period of time. Besides reminding kids to turn off lights, the device is also a playful way of making them aware of the need for energy conservation. The concept was created by Tim Holley, a British designer based in Germany.

Like the colour-changing ghost, the Power Aware cord relies on ambient visual cues to remind consumers of their energy consumption. Launched by Static!, an interactive design agency, the cord glows blue when turned on, lighting up more brightly as energy use increases.

From partnering with appliance manufacturers to distributing smart devices through utility companies, this area is rife with business opportunities. Time to increase energy awareness in your part of the world?

Check out PG&E's We Can Do This website for more, including a feature on the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., a sustainable brewery.

Furniture surface wirelessly charges mobile devices

2010-03-18T07:55:00Z

That mobile phone charging is a universal nuisance is underscored by all the many efforts we've seen to alleviate the pain, including harnessing the wind, the sun, bicycles, dancers and foot pumps to make it easier. With similar intentions, Finnish Powerkiss has developed an approach that imbues everyday furniture with wireless charging capabilities.

Powerkiss's technology consists of two parts: a charging transmitter that gets integrated into furniture, and a charging receiver that gets plugged into the electronic device. To charge a phone, users simply attach the small receiver stick to their phone and place it on the surface of the enabled object. The proximity allows the resonating coils in each of the two parts to work together to charge the phone. Powerkiss's charging packages have already been integrated into a meeting room table and a coffee table from Finnish Martela; the technology is also available for public use in Café Alvar A and the Via Lounge at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Though currently limited to mobile phone charging, laptops and other devices will eventually be supported as well, Powerkiss says.

Ultimately, Powerkiss hopes cellphone manufacturers will begin enabling their handsets with wireless charging capabilities, which would eliminate the need for the plug-in receiver. Towards that end, it seeks partners in the mobile technology world as well as those in interior architecture, vehicle design and—of course—furniture. Who will be the first on your block to release customers from the charging-cord shackles?

Website: www.powerkiss.fi
Contact: info@powerkiss.com

Spotted by: John Greene

Floating offices for two

2010-02-17T08:55:04Z

If stand-alone offices can be set up in people's gardens, then why not at the local marina? That, in fact, is exactly the concept behind WaterSpace, a Welsh company that offers self-contained floating office units designed to fit into a standard marina berth.

The H2Office is a purpose-built floating office that can comfortably accommodate one or two workers. In addition to a sun deck above, the H2Office comes equipped with a work area featuring wood-like flooring and an L-shaped desk and shelving unit across the beam. A carpeted L-shaped “break-out” area includes a pull-out berth for occasional overnight stays, while an included kitchenette features over and under storage cupboards. Optional extras include teak-effect flooring, kitchen appliances and solar panels. Pricing for a standard unit is GBP 59,950 plus VAT.

In addition to the possibilities for telecommuting office workers and waterfront retail or professional space, WaterSpace notes that its floating offices could also offer a way for marina operators to create an income-generating floating business park that makes use even of areas with water too shallow for most boating purposes. Then, too, there's the ocean—so to speak—of pop-up possibilities. Launched in December, the H2Office will be on display at the Ideal Home Show starting next month in London. One to check out, partner with or otherwise get involved in....? (Related: Pop-up cabins designed for stargazing — Foldable hotel rooms pop up as needed — In Malaysia, containers pop up as budget hotel rooms.)

Website: www.floating-offices.co.uk
Contact: enquiries@floating-offices.co.uk

Applying the speed dating model to roommates

2010-02-15T17:44:20Z

Speed dating has been around for a while in both the offline and online worlds, but it wasn't until recently that we saw it used to match up roommates. Sure enough, though, that's just what New Zealand-based Speedrenting does through weekly events at bars in Auckland and Wellington.

Users of Speedrenting's service begin by showing up at one of the firm's hour-long Wednesday events and signing up. The price is NZD 12, which includes a free beer or glass of wine as well as a Speedrenting Matchcard and PIN. Participants then scan the room for people with opposing Matchcards—those who have rooms to rent or are in need of rooms, whichever the case may be—and chat with them briefly, making sure also to collect those people's PINs. Then, any time within the next 24 hours participants send a text message to Speedrenting indicating the PINs of the matches they'd like to meet again; if both parties text about the same match, Speedrenting will provide their respective phone numbers for offline followup. Alternatively, if a participant doesn't text in about any match within that designated 24-hour period, their PIN and Matchcard remain good for another week.

Speedrenting aims to expand further across New Zealand; meanwhile, it looks like Flatmate Meetup offers something similar in Chicago while Easyroommate's FlatNightFever is already at work in the London area. One to bring to prospective roommates in your part of the world...? (Related: Mixers for moms & babysitters — More mixers for babysitters & moms.)

Website: www.speedrenting.co.nz
Contact: www.speedrenting.co.nz/contact-us

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann