Washing machine rubber door seals are one of the biggest hidden breeding grounds for mould in the home. They trap moisture, detergent residue and fabric fibres during and after washes, creating the perfect warm, damp environment for mould and bacteria to thrive.
Most water filter pitchers are made of BPA-free plastic. But as new research shows that bottled-water drinkers ingest tens of thousands of excess microplastic particles, wellness lovers have begun to look askance at water filters that are themselves made of plastic.
Your eyes don't deceive you. The use of polyester has ballooned with time, according to Henry Navarro Delgado, an associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University's school of fashion. It's partly because polyester can be quite useful, he said. It is a type of plastic made from petroleum compounds that are cooled and stretched into yarn, according to Michael Palladino, a fashion industry veteran and lecturer at Kingsborough Community College's business of fashion program in New York.
Using tablecloths as shelf covers or drawer liners allows you to cut away any unsightly spots and display the still-lovely stretches of fabric. And, of course, it's a smart way to protect kitchen cabinets, drawers, and shelves for the long haul. While tablecloths-turned-liners prevent scratches and any other damage, they also contribute some warmth. If you're embracing the cozy kitchen design trend, repurposing tablecloths this way instantly softens hard edges and brings in color and texture.
Any time I've felt like a room in my home was "missing something," it's almost always been a rug. They have a way of subtly tying the details of a space together and can enhance the aesthetic without you having to make much effort. In my opinion, the hardest part is picking one out - but knowing where to shop is a great place to start.
I'll be honest: Washing my actual pillows (not just the cases) used to be one of those chores I knew I should be doing, but rarely actually did. As long as my pillows were tucked inside clean pillowcases, I convinced myself they were fine. But that all changed after I came across this article on Apartment Therapy where three popular pillow-washing methods were put to the test.
This research-based design project by Laura Oliveira investigates discarded as a potential raw material for sustainable design applications. Human hair is produced continuously and in large quantities through everyday grooming practices, yet it is almost always treated as waste once separated from the body and typically disposed of in landfills. Despite its material properties, strength, flexibility, and durability as a keratin-based protein fiber, its remains uncommon within design and research contexts.
Using one in place of a cloth dinner napkin was unacceptable, and if I ever used more than a single perforated sheet to wipe up a spill then I'd expect to hear about it. It wasn't until I was a fully grown adult, responsible for stocking my own kitchen, that I understood why: Paper towels aren't cheap! They're also super wasteful, which is why I've made the switch to the more sustainable and budget-friendly Stasher Reusable Swedish Dishcloths - and I'm never going back.
Weighing only 26.5 ounces, it's the lightest steam iron Panasonic has ever made. It's also cordless, comes with a handy carrying case, and heats up in 50 seconds on the accompanying power base (that plugs into a standard electrical outlet). The power base features a built-in cord compartment to make setup and storage easy. So already it solves some of my biggest gripes with traditional irons.
The collaboration brings together Designtex's deep expertise in high-performance contract textiles and nanimarquina's poetic command of craft, tactility, and the beauty of the imperfect. For both teams, the partnership emerged from an immediate sense of kinship - a shared language of material integrity, color sensitivity, and a respect for heritage techniques reinterpreted for contemporary spaces. "We did that by using performance yarns and intentionally embedding imperfections into the weaving process."
When you lack the good fortune of having an in-unit washer and dryer like I do, you have to be extra judicious about how many times you wear clothes before tossing them in the hamper. Laundry piles up quickly, after all, and I refuse to go to the laundromat more often than necessary. The only issue with re-wearing clothing items is that they wrinkle - fast - and they don't always smell daisy-fresh, if you catch my drift.
My grandmother's refrigerator ran for forty years. The washing machine she bought in the 1970s? Still spinning when she passed away. Meanwhile, I'm on my third coffee maker in five years, and don't get me started on the laptop that mysteriously died two weeks after the warranty expired. This isn't just bad luck or nostalgia talking. There's something fundamentally different about how products are made today versus decades ago.
When it's dreary outside, I usually hunker down and do household chores - running the dishwasher, catching up on laundry, maybe even taking a long shower and shaving my legs. These days, though, I take the opposite approach: I never do chores that require water use when it's raining outside. That's because I recently learned that my city, Milwaukee, has a shared sewer system - which means rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater collect in the same pipes.
Even if you bring home as few bags as possible - using reusable bags, carrying purchases home with your own two hands - soft plastics sill accumulate. I certainly have a collection with one flimsy plastic sack filled with dozens or hundreds of others. I plan to do something with it... eventually. Unfortunately, there aren't a ton of options for what to do with those soft plastics, as most recycling facilities can't accept them.
Activewear that's made of sweat-wicking materials, like spandex or polyester, is great for pulling moisture away from your body so you feel dry and can continue on with your workout. But the problem with these types of fabrics is that although they pull sweat away from you, they still trap odors within the material itself. That's why thoroughly washing your workout clothes is so important, and I love using Persil's dedicated Activewear Clean Liquid Laundry Detergent to get activewear clean.
When I was growing up, shampoo options were limited, and Johnson's Baby Shampoo was a household staple. It lathered well, smelled clean, and was gentle enough to use every day. At some point, my mom realized that same gentleness made it effective on clothes, too. She believed in the product so completely that I never questioned it - and eventually, I adopted the same habit in my own home.