When nature calls at home, most of us head into a room — devoid of nature. The typical bathroom is all tiles, paint and glass. But it needn’t be. Placing potted plants around your shower enclosure or a vase of flowers by your sink can add a touch of nature to almost any bathroom. Or, you could do something more extreme. Here’s a look at ten remodeling ideas for bringing nature to a bathroom. Or, in some cases, bringing a bathroom out into nature:
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Spot Cool Stuff adores glamping travel. Glamorous camping can get you out into a natural environment in the same way tent camping does. But it combines that with touches of luxury like you might find at a high-end hotel. After spending much of our youth backpacking on a rock-bottom budget, we think we’ve earned a bit of luxury.
Much of what we write about glamping on this travel blog concerns resorts that combine aspects of roughing it with aspects of being pampered. (Our review of these 5 especially wondering glamping spots is a good place to start reading about those). We also appreciate products that let travelers create their own glamping experience. Our favorite of those might be this:
The Dutchtub.
It’s like a personal hot-springs-to-go. If you have a tub-sized patch of flat ground, wood and 200 gallons (750 liters) worth of water or snow you can have your own spa virtually anywhere.
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The effect the lamp creates is stunning. Sadly, its price tag is stunning in an altogether different way.
Bringing lamps and lights outdoors after the sun goes down can bring a festive atmosphere to a dark patio and a touch of magic to hidden garden. Here’s our look at five outdoor lamps and lighten systems. Some are expensive and some are high value, but all of them, we think, are very cool looking.
Also, if you like these check out our new post on 5 more cool outdoor laps and lights.
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None of the four sleeping bags reviewed below are ones you’ll come across shopping the REI sleeping bag finder. Practical, portable, warm—these four sleeping bags have none of those qualities. But each does have a design that’s novel (to say the least) and a look that resembles something un-sleeping-bag-like:
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Covering a typical house recycles between 600 and 1,000 car and truck tires
Nearly any solid object could be used to construct a roof. Choosing roofing material that’s durable—and protects what’s underneath—is the tricky part. Here’s a review of three unusual objects that creative designers have used for their home roofs:
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Spot Cool Stuff has reviewed several transparent products in our time, not all of which have been optimally practical:
A transparent bathtub? Interesting, though perhaps kind of creepy in a voyeuristic way.
A transparent cell phone? Great looking but its transparency doesn’t serve any useful function.
A transparent airplane? Not so economically viable. And it makes for terrifying landings.
But a transparent canoe? That’s not only cool, but advantageous.
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Hammocks have come a long way since pre-Columbian natives in South America wove together sheets from the bark of a Hamack tree and strung them up between two poles. Hammocks today are stylishly designed, scientifically engineered and, we have to imagine, a whole lot more comfortable than lying on bark was. Here are three especially cool selections:
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