Often it’s after the fact that you realize where you need an electrical outlet on a work surface. Thomas & Betts has come up with a retrofit solution with their Carlon Retractable Work Surface Receptacle. The receptacle comes as a kit. It is pre-wired with a six foot cord to plug into an existing outlet and a hole saw that can be used with a standard drill to make the necessary cut. (See an installed picture at Galesburg Electric here.)
“Electronics and other powered devices, such as phone chargers, laptops and small appliances, are used mostly on work surfaces,” said Chad Smith, director, product management for Thomas & Betts. “Outlets, on the other hand, are typically located underneath. The Carlon® Retractable Work Surface Receptacle offers the convenience and safety of placing the outlet on the work surface.”
Caution: Care should be taken to plug the receptacle into a GFI protected circuit if the receptacle is to be installed in a potentially wet location.
I’ve never been a smoker, so I can’t speak from experience, but from what I’ve seen, quitting cigarettes is hard. I will always remember a conversation about cigarettes with my grandfather. He said, “I haven’t smoked in 30 years. I still get cravings for them. If I knew I was going to die in 6 months, I would start smoking again today…”
Lifeplex in Plymouth sent out a sign up program for a smoking cessation program. It is an 8 week program. The cost is only $40. As an additional carrot, the program included two free months of membership in Lifeplex.
I thought the Lifeplex program was a good one. One I was willing to promote with ECC employees, of which we had four smokers that I knew of. To sweeten the pot, I added the following incentives:
Tune in to WTCA “The Chief” 1050 AM
“What’s Your Opinion?”
Spotlight on Industry in Marshall County
9:45 a.m. Friday, March 8th
Featuring guests:
Don Coblentz, Director of Operations
Bremen, Indiana
Derek Spier, AICP, Economic Development Specialist
We are finishing up a kitchen renovation for a residence on Lake Maxinkuckee. The old kitchen was top of the line when the home was built, but it was looking dated and did not function the way a modern kitchen would. It lacked a working “kitchen triangle”, and it had a wall and galley door closing it off from the dining room. While there was a window over the sink looking west, the dining room had two walls of windows looking west and north.
We obtained options from two kitchen cabinet providers for new cabinets and countertops each suggesting different concepts. The one we chose included removing the door and cutting the wall between the kitchen and dining room to provide a bar top counter. This opened up the kitchen to a tremendous effect. There was an existing marble buffet shelf/sideboard in the dining room on the adjoining wall that we were able to re-purpose as a breakfast bar top. This provided some continuity for the owners and salvaged a unique piece that would have cost hundreds of dollars to duplicate. (Green that saves Green.) We were also fortunate that the wall between the kitchen and dining room was not load bearing, so we were able to remove it with little difficulty.
The original kitchen included a wrap around counter that served as a breakfast table, but its location was between the refrigerator and the sink and stove breaking up the workspace. When someone sat at the table, their chair conflicted with the galley door. This made for an intimate kitchen setting for a couple to have breakfast, but made for a difficult situation when the house was full on a summer weekend.
Aside from pulling the refrigerator back into the workspace, little was done to change the cabinet layout. Existing metal cabinets were replaced with wood cabinets with a finish that complimented the wood floors in the dining room, again pulling the two rooms together. Plastic laminate tops were used as an economical solution, but decorative edges were included to enhance the design.
The original kitchen had white cabinets on white walls. This helped brighten the space and gave it a clean look. The new kitchen is more of an extension of the dining room, so green tones were used in the countertops, walls and tile along with extending the wall color out into the dining room as an accent wall. These colors were chosen to play off the salvaged buffet shelf. These colors along with the wood tones of the cabinets helps to pull the two rooms together. Mike Fox of Talk to Tucker in Indianapolis has been helping us with color schemes and has done a great job of pulling things together.
I ran across this tip in American Profile. “Clayton Beggs of Kelseyville, California, pads his hand truck with foam pipe insulation to prevent damage to whatever he happens to be carting around.”
This is something we have done for years. It’s one of those things that seems obvious and makes you wonder why hand trucks don’t come this way… You can pick up pipe insulation in various sizes at your local plumbing supply store. (We actually have some here.) Select the size that will fit your hand truck rails. Slit it lengthwise with a packing knife and fit it around the rail. Generally it will stay in place on its own, but you can glue the joint back together with adhesive made for this or you can use a few zip ties to hold it in place. I wouldn’t recommend gluing it to the rails as you may want to replace it when it begins to wear.
You can read the American Profile article here.