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How to Choose Cabinet Hardware

John W. Wagonis — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 00:47:00 GMT

How to Choose the Right Cabinet Hardware

Decorative cabinet hardware is the jewelry that completes your kitchen or bathroom. Often overthought yet highly effective, the correct knobs, pulls, and cabinet handles can enhance the beauty of your space by taking the cabinets from plain utility to a style element.

This guide will empower you with the knowledge to pick the perfect kitchen cabinet hardware, which will fulfill all the functions and please your sense of style.

Popular Cabinet Door Styles

Before we dive into the hardware details, let's brush up on some common cabinet door styles. Knowing these will help you make the right hardware choices:

Raised Panel Cabinet Doors: These are classic doors with a recessed center panel framed by a raised outer section. They give a very traditional, elegant feel and work beautifully in kitchens and bathrooms.
Flat Panel Cabinet Doors: The name suggests that the flat panel doors have a simple plane, un-ornamented surface. Such a minimalist style gives a clean and modern look.
Shaker Cabinet Doors: The Shaker-style door is another classic. It shows a recessed center panel with a flat or slightly raised frame. It shares tradition but with a blend, giving a modern impression.
Slab Cabinet Doors: Slab doors feature flat surfaces without panels or raised frames. Sleek and modern, this look is something these doors boast about.
Mullion Cabinet Doors: These more individualistic doors have numerous glass panes separated by decorative mullions, adding sophistication and showcasing beautiful dishware or glassware.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Cabinet Hardware

Now you're all set with cabinet door styles; let's get covering the essential items to consider when selecting hardware:

Consider the Style of Your Cabinets:

Traditional: Wear hardware finishes like brushed nickel, antique brass, or oil-rubbed bronze. Knobs with decorative details or cup pulls work pretty well with conventional raised panels or Shaker cabinets.
Modern: Sleek, clean-line designs feature minimal frills and detail. For flat panel or slab cabinets, think of long bar pulls in chrome, stainless steel, and matte black.
Transitional: This style can straddle the line between traditional and modern. Hardware with simple curves or soft square shapes in brushed nickel or brass finishes could mesh with Shaker or raised panel doors.

Material and Finish

Materials: These are typical hardware materials for such a product—brass, stainless steel, nickel, aluminum, and even wood or acrylic. Look for this item's durability, weight, and how the material complements your cabinetry style.
Finish: Hardware finishes range from polished and brushed metals to matte black, oil-rubbed bronze, and even painted finishes. The finish should match your cabinet color, appliances, and other fixtures.

Color Coordination

Match your hardware's color to the existing decor in your kitchen or bathroom for a cohesive look. Neutrals like black, white, or metallic finishes are always timeless and versatile. With Eclectic-ware's massive selection of bathroom cabinet hardware, you'll find finishes to match any room.

Functionality

Ease of use is paramount. Here's a breakdown of two common hardware types:

Knobs: Knobs Knock on wood are single-handedly easy to install and use. Suitable for small cabinet doors and drawers, the Century Hardware collection showcases beautiful knobs in various styles and finishes that add a touch of elegance to any cabinet.
Pulls/Handles: Pulls are suitable for oversized doors and drawers. They provide more leverage for effortless opening. Long bar cabinet pulls are popular for modern kitchens, while cup pulls work best for traditional kitchens.

Tips for Mixing and Matching Cabinet Hardware

Why stick to just one hardware style when you can mix and match? Consider adding different pulls to lower cabinet drawers and knobs on upper cabinet doors. This subtle distinction creates depth and interest while maintaining a sense of continuity.

You can even take it a step further: Classic cup pulls on lower raised panel cabinets, and sleek bar pulls on modern flat panel uppers. Mixed finishes can also add depth, but be careful not to go overboard.

Conclusion

Choosing the right cabinet hardware is about balancing style and functionality. By understanding your cabinet door styles, considering the materials and finishes, and ensuring color coordination, you can find hardware that enhances your kitchen or bathroom.

Remember, the right hardware is the finishing touch that turns your cabinets into a cohesive and stylish element of your home.

At Eclectic-ware, we have countless options in various styles, finishes, and materials to complement any kitchen or bathroom cabinets. So go ahead, explore your options, and let your creativity shine!

John W. Wagonis

Founder and owner/operator of Eclectic-ware since 2000, has a 20+ year background in kitchen and bathroom design and general remodeling. And greater expertise when it comes to our under cabinet lighting products, custom cabinet doors, and various installation knowledge of the product lines that Eclectic-ware offers.

It is not just about selling hardware, it is helping customers get the right hardware and to lend support in how to make that hardware work in your applications.

Budget Friendly Bathroom Makeover Tips

John W. Wagonis — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 00:22:00 GMT

Budget-Friendly Bathroom Makeover Tips That Won't Break the Bank!

Let's be honest, we all crave a luxurious bathroom oasis but major renovations can get pricey real quick. The good news is, you can totally refresh your bathroom with some updates. Here are some creative and affordable bathroom makeover tips to achieve the look you desire without emptying your wallet.

Declutter and Reorganize

Declutter the Unnecessary: The first step to any makeover should be purging everything unnecessary or not in use. You can recycle if possible but only keep the essentials. A place without unnecessary things and clutter has a sense of openness.
Smart Storage Ideas: Efficient storage is key to a tidy bathroom. Cost-effective storage solutions like baskets, shelves, and hooks not only organize essentials but also add decorative touches. Woven baskets offer a rustic feel, while sleek metallic shelves bring a modern look.
Maximize Space: Maximize your vertical space with tall shelves or hanging organizers. Make the most of the inches in your bathroom by installing functional, multifunctional furniture—for example, a built-in mirror with some storage.

Paint It Pretty

A fresh coat of paint works wonders without costing much. Light colors like soft blues, greens, or neutrals can make a small bathroom feel bigger and more inviting. For a bold touch, consider a deep navy or emerald accent wall.

Painting is an inexpensive way to breathe life back into your room and one of the best bathroom refresh tips. Before painting, prepare surfaces by cleaning, sanding, and applying a prime coat for paint adherence. For walls, use paint that resists humidity. Paint the cabinets or tiles for a new look.

Update Fixtures and Hardware

Faucets and Showerheads: This can immediately give your bathroom a complete facelift. Replace those old, outdated tap fixtures in the bathroom. High-end contemporary designs are available at budget-friendly prices. A new tap or a rainfall showerhead will instantly change your bathroom into a spa.
Cabinet Handles and Knobs: It's amazing how such tiny details like new cabinet handles and knobs can completely transform and personalize the space. Modern yet inexpensive hardware options like the Sietto decorative knobs and pulls collection can make a bold statement.
Lighting Fixtures: Proper lighting is so important too. Replace drab, old fixtures with an affordable Hera Lighting range for a much brighter, more appealing setup.

Affordable Decor and Accessories

Luxurious Towels and Bath Mats: Change your towels and bath mats to feel the luxury. After all, go for some that are soft, friction-friendly, and match your bathroom color schemes well. Look for sales or discount stores for quality at a lower cost.
Blend the Colors: If the colors of the towels, bath mats, and other accessories are coordinated, the bathroom will have the required harmonious and polished look. Use the same color palette for a harmonious and classy space.
Tile Accessories: Eclectic-ware offers Pro Series Tile Set Porcelain Bath Accessories. This fabulous handmade tile collection is functional and elegant. These highly desirable Porcelain accessories will fit easily in your bathroom without breaking your budget.

For more inspiration, check out "Top Bathroom Hardware Trends in 2024!" which highlights the latest styles and innovations for your bathroom.

DIY Your Way to a Fresh Bathroom

DIY Shelves: Build shelves in your space; it's one way to have storage around you without spending a dime. You can use reclaimed wood to make rustic ones or paint them to match any color in your bathroom. DIY bathroom improvements add a personal touch and can be very rewarding.
Upcycling Ideas: Repurpose old stuff to make a unique bathroom decor. Upcycle a ladder into a towel rack or use mason jars for a storage cabinet. Such creative and cheap bathroom remodeling ideas can undoubtedly transform a bathroom amazingly.

Conclusion

There you have it, a bunch of clever, inexpensive bathroom makeover tricks to revamp your space without going over budget. Get inspired to declutter, maximize smart storage, refresh with paint, and updated fixtures, and layer in affordable decor accents.

With these savvy tips, you can customize a stunning yet economical bathroom retreat with a huge impact from minor, affordable changes. Explore Eclectic-ware's bathroom hardware collections for stylish yet affordable products to enhance your bathroom, and enjoy your newly refreshed oasis!

John W. Wagonis

It is not just about selling hardware, it is helping customers get the right hardware and to lend support in how to make that hardware work in your applications.

What's Trending in Bathroom Hardware Design?

John W. Wagonis — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 00:14:00 GMT

Top Bathroom Hardware Trends in 2024!

Is your bathroom looking a bit drab and outdated? It's time to transform it into a sleek, modern sanctuary with stylish new bathroom hardware. This comprehensive guide will take you on a journey through the hottest design trends and provide expert tips on selecting the perfect fixtures to elevate your bathroom's form and function.

Get ready to be wowed by a range of sleek showerheads, minimalist cabinet knobs, and more – everything you need to achieve a sophisticated, cohesive look that blends eye-catching aesthetics with brilliant practicality.

What's Hot in Bathroom Hardware Design?

Minimalist, sleek lines are in demand for today's modern bathrooms. Popular finishes include brushed nickel, matte black, and satin brass for a warm yet clean aesthetic. Geometric shapes and unexpected textures like ceramic or wood accents add visual interest.

1. Creating a Cohesive Look with Matching Hardware Sets

For a pulled-together, designer look, match your faucets, towel bars, toilet paper holders, and other accessories in a coordinated set. Eclectic-ware offers stylish porcelain bathroom hardware like the classic oval shape collection with timeless oval accents. Or make a statement with their Lenape Pro Series set featuring square, angular tiles.

2. Faucet Designs for Modern Bathrooms

The right faucet can make or break any bathroom renovation. From stylish single-handle designs to comprehensive set models with individual handles, the options are endless. But wait, there's more! Touchless technology, improved water efficiency, and other high-tech conveniences bring heightened functionality and sustainability to your bathroom.

3. Showerhead Options for a Contemporary Look

When it comes to showerheads, the contemporary design trend leans toward minimalistic, sleek designs with a high sense of functionality. Changeable shower settings and water-saving technology add comfort and cost-saving benefits. If you're willing to incorporate these stylish and practical elements into your bathroom design, you'll be well on your way to a modern oasis.

4. Stylish Ceramic Toilet Paper Holders and Towel Bars

Now let's talk about the design elements that can truly captivate your bathroom: towel bars and ceramic toilet paper holders. Hardware choices like Carrousel ceramic clip-on towel bars or classic, oval-shaped porcelain (shown above) toilet paper holders combine utility and good looks, helping you develop a finished, integrated bathroom look.

5. Cabinet Hardware: Knobs and Pulls

Updating the bathroom design can be as simple as changing out the knobs and pulls on your vanity cabinet. Decorative cabinet pulls in finishes like chrome or brushed nickel can instantly update an outdated vanity, aligning with contemporary hardware designs and adding a fresh, clean look to the space.

6. Lighting Fixtures to Complement Hardware Choices

Proper lighting is essential in every bathroom, and your fixtures should complement your new hardware choices. Look for lighting that coordinates with the finish of your faucets and hardware to create a unified and stylish appearance. Modern bathroom hardware often complements simple, elegant lighting designs, enhancing the room's overall aesthetic without overwhelming it.

By integrating these trends and tips into your bathroom renovation, you can transform your space into a modern, sophisticated oasis. Whether you are updating faucets, showerheads, or cabinet knobs, the right hardware choices can make all the difference in achieving a cohesive and stylish look.

At Eclectic-ware, we offer a diverse range of high-quality bathroom and cabinet hardware supplies to give your home a modern look. Our collections include everything from elegant lighting fixtures to modern decorative cabinet knobs, available in various colors and sizes. You are sure to find the perfect pieces to enhance your bathroom's aesthetic.

John W. Wagonis

It is not just about selling hardware, it is helping customers get the right hardware and to lend support in how to make that hardware work in your applications.

What is Back in Black - Ceramic Black that is

John W. Wagonis — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 01:17:00 GMT

We had a fantastic blog post from 3-1/2 years ago. Showing the extensive selection of black ceramic bathroom hardware from AC Products. You can find it here: retro-black-vintage-ceramic-bathroom-accessories

BUT don't go there. Because, AC Products went out of business in November of 2022. And we have pretty much sold out of most of what was shown in that blog post. Some corner shelves and soap dishes remain, a tiny number of towel bars, a couple of shower caddies. Most of it has disappeared. And such a shame.

The good news is, here is what we can show you that is available from LENAPE. Yes, Lenape has stepped up and brought back the black!

What is this menagerie above?

It is a combination of the Lenape Pro Series, Carrousel Collection, and the revived AC Products recessed soap dish and TP holder.

Here's what happened. With AC Products going out of business, there was a greater need to find more ceramic bath hardware. Afterall, ACP's 700 series had about 40 items in it with most being available in 80 colors. A tough act to follow. Lenape stepped up to expand on this second most popular color.

Before we get too far, one quick mention. All the items in the above picture also are available in gloss white and gloss bone. Please keep that in mind. You will be able to view them and their pricing with the links we will add below.

Back to what Lenape did. In their Pro Series, a few years ago, they brought back the 1800-02 black 24" towel bar, the 1704-02 black large corner shelf, and the 1787-02 black tub soap dish with the cradle. The collection was fully available in white and bone, but limited in black. We, Eclectic-ware, emphasized to Lenape about how often requested black ceramic bath hardware is, and asked what they could do. And they did it. They brought back the 1803 vanity soap dish and 1883 matching toothbrush holder. The 1975 tub soap dish without the cradle, and the 1772 toilet paper holder. All of these items are thin-set mount. They have the protrusion on the back that is meant to set into tile, or a hole in sheetrock. The small corner shelf they refrained from adding back. The large works better. Thus the Pro Series expanded to include a great line of black accessories.

Lenape didn't stop there. When ACP closed up shop, Lenape acquired ACP's molds for the BR794 recessed soap dish and the BR796 recessed toilet paper holder. Thus, these are the same shape, size, contour as what AC Products had produced. Both available in white, bone, and ta da, BLACK. Shown in the upper right corner of the photo above.

And we did not stop there. The need for a clip on towel bar and TP holder existed too. We asked if they could bring back the 425-02 Carrousel black towel bar and 424-02 matching black TP holder. The posts are the same for each. They have that circle inside the square opening that lets a towel bar or the tiny nub TP roller to fit into them.

So black ceramic grew back into something worth talking about. And WE STOCK all the items shown above in Black, also in white and bone.

The picture tells it all, and we did post some links above so you can see our web pages featuring these items. You can order from our website, and even call in orders to us. As always, if you have any questions, please e-mail us too.

Home Improvements You Might Regret

John W. Wagonis — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:15:00 GMT

We came across this article a few days ago within Google News:

Seven Home Improvements You'll Almost Certainly Regret

It was a good read. Informative, and makes you think a little. It may help with your thinking before the reno.

Kitchen Islands

The things that caught my attention the most were kitchen islands and garage conversions. The article mentioned the "size" of kitchen islands and that bigger is not always better. We agree. Unless you have an unusually large amount of square feet in your open floor plan of the kitchen-dining-living rooms set up, do consider modest size islands. The size of the island that faces your dining or living area can and should serve as a breakfast bar. It does not need to be elevated. The same level across the whole island is becoming much more popular.

And from what we have observed in model homes and modern condos, the island generally contains the sink and dishwasher now. And why not, a centeralized sink with a lot of counter space to the left and right is awesome. Plenty of room for food prep and that after dinner clean up. You also gain some additional cabinet space, that is always a plus.

But back to size. If you island grows, say 12 feet wide by 5 to 7 feet deep, that encroachment needs to steal real estate from another room. It could force a dining room table to have to shove over. It may mean one or two pieces of furniture fit less asthetically pleasing in the living room. It may mean walking around it to get inside your kitchen takes more effort from the left or right. Again, if you have a wide kitchen, say over 30 feet, throw in a 12' wide island, why not. But most kitchens are not that big. And an 8 foot long island or even a little less is much more common. And most of the time just 4 to 4-1/2 feet deep. We agree, installing a bigger island because you think it will be great, think twice on it. Tape off the floor with blue painters tape to simulate the size of the island. Leave the tape on the floor for a week, walk around it, see if it really works for your kitchen.

Garage Conversions

I have a mixed feeling on this one. The author was good to point out pros and cons. The garage may not be placed in a user friendly section of the house for what you want to convert it into. Removing the overhead door and sealing it up (making a wall), might not look right in your neighborhood. And if it is important to garage park your car, then converting the garage is not even a consideration.

But, it is a far less expensive way to create more living space in your home because the walls, at least 3 of them, are already built. A garage conversion for a rec room or even a new guest room could be ideal. Even as a room for rent if you are considering that. But just how much converting are you doing? Are you adding a bathroom? That will really skyrocket the cost. Adding plumbing is one thing, adding drains for your plumbing will take a lot more work. You will need permitting, you will need professionals. Does your garage already have windows, or will you need to cut in at least one window. If converting to a bedroom, you may have to have a window by code. Some house designs construct the garage with windows in the front and sometimes you cannot tell it is a garage except for the driveway leading up to the side of it.

And, is your garage insulated. No matter where you are in the US now, insulation is almost mandatory to keep heat in, or to keep cool air in. Ventillation is an issue too. Can you run AC or heating ducts to the garage.

Jeff's comment too about garages add value to your home for a safe place to park your car instead of leaving it in the driveway, or worse, on the street, is very true. That secure feeling about knowing expensive possessions are more safe adds value and mental value to your home. And when the home one day goes up for sale, a real park my car in the garage kind of garage is important.

Closing

When I built my home, I designed the garage to be a work area. It is actually 26 x 41. It has two windows and two man doors, and then three overhead doors. My washer and dryer are in the garage, so plumbing is close. Converting some or near all of it into a big movie room or two extra bedrooms with another bathroom could happen. Won't happen for me, because I have reconsidered changing it. It can become a 2 or 3 parked car garage if some future owner wants it for that use. As for adding or not adding value, jury is still out on that one.

I also did not design the kitchen with an island. Wasn't thinking that way 22 years ago. I did build a 30" by 48" island to add to countertop space and added cabinet space. It free floats on the floor. That's good for now. But a kitchen reno sometime in the future could still happen.

Will My Toilet Paper Fit

John W. Wagonis — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 01:11:00 GMT

The Eclectic-ware website offers a lot of help and instruction pertaining to our products. On our ceramic bathroom hardware, we do list measurements on the pieces. But visual aids sometimes help even more. Thus the various ceramic TP holders form AC Products are going to put on a picture show here.

First, model 777 TP holder. Rectangular with rounded corners. Shown in this picture is the BC777-C3, this is the clip on version in the gloss bone color. Model 777 comes in 4 mounting methods: thin-set, flat back, clip on, and mud set. The front of the holder does not change with the mounting method, only the back changes. To view the various choices for model 777 TP holder, select that link.

Model 977 TP holder is the same holder, but in the 900 series. Thus the 7 changed to a 9 in the part number. Model 977 TP holder comes in 3 mounting methods: thin-set, clip on, and flat back.

The roll of POM toilet paper in this holder fits well, rolls well. The POM roll measures 4-5/8" in dia. and 4" in width. POM is a brand available from Sam's Club. It is a double roll, a normal double roll. The 3X Charmin, triple Northern, and other fat rolls are NOT going to fit on this TP holder.

Now, the same TP holder with a lager roll in it. This roll measure 4-15/16" in diameter and 4-1/4" wide. It is the Members Mark brand, also from Sam's Club. It fits, it is snug when a fresh roll, but not tight, it does spin. So for model 777 TP holder, we will say rolls up to 4-15/16" in dia do fit. And you can probably go up to 4-1/2" wide. The width and dia. work in conjunction with each other. We will elaborate more on that when we get up to the recessed TP holder.

This is model BA778, also from the Stylish 700 Series. Shown in color C1 gloss white. And shown with the bigger of the two TP rolls we are using for our pictures. Big brother to the 777, BUT, only comes in a thin-set mount. It has a 4x4 protrusion on its back and is meant to be laid in tile where you omit a tile. Can be mounted to sheetrock by cutting a 4x4 hole in the sheetrock or a 4x4 divot at least 5/16" deep. Can also be mounted on drywall or wood wall surfaces, but you need to cut a hole for the protrusion on the back to set into. Then there is plenty of adhesive surface on the right or left for the TP holder to adhere to your surface.

As you can see by this picture, the 4-15/16" dia roll still has room to spare. The arms on the BA778 protrude farther out. We believe rolls up to 6-3/4" dia. will work just fine on this TP holder. Model BA778 TP holder can be seen at that link.

Model BR796 Recessed TP holder. Popular in the fact that it doesn't stick out from the wall. You do need about 3-5/8" of wall depth for it to "recess" into. This is the true definition of a recessed TP holder. Thin-set mount is not recessed. True that thin-set will recess into the depth of the tile, but recessed means it goes a long way into the wall.

Here's where the dia. and width ratios start to limit your options. Our POM roll is shown in this picture. It spins freely with a new roll. So rolls 4-5/8" in dia. and 4" wide WORK in this holder. Thus if your roll is a spec less in width, it could be a spec more in dia. If it is a spec more in width, then it needs to be a spec less in dia. to roll freely. On the inside of the TP holder, the back starts to curve inward on the left and right, limiting the width of the roll that can fit.

Many more picutures for the BR796 TP holder can be seen at that link. We will show various angles, without the roll in the way, so you can see more. It is available in approx. 80 colors including the stoneware colors as model BR996.

This is our larger roll shown in the BR796. It fit in the holder, but it is tight. The paper will tear, it WILL NOT unroll easily with this large of a roll in it. So we can tell you, the Sam's Club POM rolls work in this holder, as will other brands of near same dimensions. Customer feedback has told us that the Costco brand TP paper does drag in this holder. We have not bought any, but obviously Costco makes larger rolls. So if you do choose to install the BR796 because you have less room in your bathroom, or you just want that recessed look, you may have to hunt for the PROPER size TP to use in it. If you like jumbo rolls, they are NOT going to work. Please keep that in mind. All of this applies to the BR996 too.

This is model 820 elliptical shape TP holder from the AC Products 800 Series. And we are showing it with the larger roll on it. There is still room to spare.

You can view it and many more pictures on the 800 Series page. This TP holder comes in approx. 14 colors, a few of them being the stoneware colors. So it is more limited on colors then the previous 3 TP holders on this blog page. It does come in three mounting methods: thin-set, clip on, and flat back. This picture is showing the C12 gloss sterling silver color.

The arms on this TP holder are longer, similar to the BA778 higher on this page. So you can fit larger rolls in it, probably up to 6-3/4" in dia. before they start to drag. And it is wider. So if your roll happens to be 5" in width or even a little more, this TP holder will hold it. The shape is different from the traditional rectangular style. There are other matching bath accessoies in that collection. Towel bars, soap dishes, robe hooks, toothbrush holders and corner shelves, all in the curved-like shapes.

And last, the CA577 shell shaped TP holder. From the Inspired 500 Series. Shown in C1 gloss white. Model CA577 come in only one mounting method: thin-set.

We do suggest going to the Inspired 500 Series web page to see many more pictures, dimensions, and the dimension for the thin-set inlay needed. This is a larger TP holder, over 6" x 6" in overall size.

We are showing it with our larger roll in it and you can see there is more room to spare. So it also will hold some larger rolls approx. up to 6-3/4" in dia. Maybe up to 7", but we do not have a roll to test in it.

The 500 Series is limited in its color choices, under a dozen colors. There is a complimenting soap dish to go with this TP holder, and a shell shaped towel bar too. Nice if this is the theme you are going for, or if you require larger items. For new construction or renovating.

This concludes our AC Products selections of ceramic TP holders. With one exception of the 600 Series TP holder which we forgot to include. But you can view that 2-piece TP holder on that web page. The 600 Series is nice for smaller bathrooms or when you need the tiny square 2-post TP holder. A matching towel bar is also available on that page.

Then, we also have the Lenape line of ceramic bath hardware. All of Lenape's collections have a TP holder choice: rectangular, oval, round, and the small square 2-piece holders. Go to our Lenape page to see their selections. Very limited on colors and mounting methods. This is why we promote AC Product because of the vast selections and colors.

Whenever you need our help with answers on our products, give us a call or write us an e-mail.

E-mail Confirmations and Other Communication

John W. Wagonis — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 01:51:00 GMT

Eclectic-ware, like other businesses, receives phone calls, e-mails, texts, and file transfers as various forms of communication. And of course the old fashioned way of talking face to face. Yet in our advanced digital world, e-mail and texts are taking over.

I prefer e-mail over texts. With e-mail, I can type with two full hands, not just one finger. I can hear the clicks of my keyboard and watch what I type on a nice 32" curved wide screen monitor. I can attach files. Texts are great for on the go, which half the world is on the go at least during some part of their day.

Contact Forms and Website Requests

When you use our Contact Us form or any of the various links on our web pages that basically say click this to send us a quick question for the product you are looking at, we will respond. The contact form or 'open an e-mail link' command allows you to talk to us. And we will get back to you. Same is true of our cabinet door quotation request forms. Data is collected and sent to us.

But not all the time.

What do we mean by that? The form is only as good as the data entered. We have seen e-mail addresses entered as myname@thisdomain.con. Yes, we did just type .con, not .com. That is a simple typo that any of us can do. And easy enough for us humans to figure out, change the n to an m, and then get back to you. But automated e-mail responses? They will just bounce back and say invalid e-mail address. Along with a bunch of other boring code.

When you open an e-mail link, that generally does not happen. Your e-mail program will automatically send your e-mail in the from field. Easy enough to get back to you, and we will. Sometimes it may take a day or two.

On-line Order Confirmations

When you order on-line, you are filling out one or more forms with your data. It may not look like a form, but any time there is a data field asking you to enter information, you are filling out a form. That is just how it is. Form results are collected by the domain via a form handler (one of those hidden little programs on a website that none of us fiddle with or are even aware of). The form handler sends the info entered as a file. Thus, if you enter your e-mail incorrectly, or your phone number incorrectly, how can a company respond to you? This is probably why many forms ask you to enter your e-mail address twice. Annoying, but it helps with communication.

Within our shopping cart, we do have the auto-response set up. To acknowledge to you that we received your data. And then an auto-response to confirm that your credit card information was submitted. This is just the robot saying thank you and keeping you from guessing if the order was sent in.

But when that e-mail address is wrong, the robot has no clue. We have seen many e-mails written as @comcast.com instead of comcast.net; as @hotmial.com instead of @hotmail.com; or as @verizon.com instead of @verizon.net. Typos happen, getting .com and .net backwards happens too. And a lot of those are easy to figure out. When an e-mail comes through as joe.barn@gmail.com, but the name on the submission was Joe Barns, if our auto-responder bounces that e-mail back as invalid, we can guess that the e-mail should be joe.barns@gmail.com. But we cannot always guess right. And sometimes we just cannot guess, especially with e-mail addresses with numerals in them. joe.barns90210@gmail.com, does he live in Los Angeles, or is his birthday 9-02-10, or does he just like 90's drama? If the number is even typed correctly.

Spam, what fun - Not!

Some of our e-mail confirmations, automated or not, can and do end up in spam. Responses to questions and order submissions. There is an e-mail subject line. Automated replies use the same subject lines over and over. Domains have their quirks that if they see a subject too often, they may flag it as spam. If it contains just one word they don't like, they flag it as spam. Who really knows what sets off the spam alarm, but it happens.

There are groups of related domains like sbcglobal.net, bellsouth.net, .rr.com, and others that create blacklists and stop e-mails from various domains for 30 day periods or for eternity. This can block a reply to an order submitted, or a question via e-mail. And it works both ways. You can e-mail us, we can't e-mail you. Or we can e-mail you and you can't e-mail us. It is so damn frustrating at times keeping up with it all.

Conclusion

We want all of our customers to know, we do not ignore anyone. We respond to e-mails, texts, and voicemails. Sometimes e-mails and texts do not make it to us. Sometimes voicemails are butt dials and make no sense. Many customers try texting our landline. That does not work. Some may forget the hyphen in EWsales@eclectic-ware.com. That is actually a live e-mail link if you care to send us a message. And on our order form, some customers may just mistype their e-mail, or their phone number. We have seen a lot of phone numbers come in missing one digit. We could guess at 10 different combinations, but what if we call 9 wrong people? That would be worse that political candidates asking for money.

When on any website placing an order or filling out a contact form, glance over how you entered your e-mail address or phone number. Communication is important. And desire to hear answers quickly is important. Let's be careful with our fumble fingers and keep the communication flowing....

And peek in your spam folders at regular intervals. Especially if you are expecting an e-mail.

The Best Projects You Can Do to Sell Your Home Faster

Patrick Young — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 17:48:00 GMT

Looking for top quality products for your home renovation projects? For cabinetry and related hardware and lighting, as well as for sound advice, connect with Eclectic-ware

The Best Projects You Can Do to Sell Your Home Faster

Trying to determine what buyers are looking for is an almost impossible task, especially when there’s so much at stake. And major renovations don’t always give you the best return on your investment compared to more minor projects. If you do have any serious repairs in mind, it’s usually a good idea to talk with your agent before diving in head-first. He or she can give you specific information about the types of renovations that have the most impact in your neighborhood. With that in mind, here are a few smaller projects that can help your home sell quicker.

Redo the Cabinets

Everyone knows that a great kitchen goes a long way in helping to sell a home. But for many sellers, a full kitchen remodel is a bit too much to take on all at once. Not only do you risk choosing a design that isn’t to a buyer’s taste, you also sink thousands of dollars into the project without knowing if it’ll actually increase your profit. (So very true.)

Instead of tearing out the whole kitchen, it might be in your best interest to focus on one particular aspect of the room. Older cabinets, for example, can easily make your home look dated. Happily, you don’t have to rip out the cabinets and put in new ones. Projects that can leave a big impression on buyers include:

Removing a few cabinet doors to expose cabinets as shelves
Replacing the knobs and handles
Repainting cabinet faces and surrounding walls
Installing under cabinet lighting

Note that it can be especially hard to choose an appealing style for your kitchen. For example, when you’re competing with a large pool of other sellers, you don’t necessarily want to stick to a generic white kitchen that appeals to a wide audience. Instead, you have to walk the fine line between being boring and way too “out there.”

Stage Your Home

Staging is crucial for helping buyers picture themselves in your home. The process includes a variety of steps, with some of the most important ones being the three D’s:

Decluttering
Depersonalization
Deep cleaning

As you stage, be sure to tackle clutter in every room, making sure to address closets, the garage and even drawers. It’s also crucial to repaint the walls, even if you don’t have any wild colors. The Flooring Girl notes that a fresh coat of paint looks clean no matter what, especially neutral tones like beige, ivory, grey and tan. Just make sure that you do a professional-looking job; see-through paint or sloppy trimming can detract from your presentation to buyers.

Add an Outdoor Space

A welcoming outdoor space is one project that can reap serious results, and you don’t necessarily have to go as far as building an outdoor kitchen. There’s so much you can do! A few popular concepts to consider:

Install a deck or patio
Add a fire pit or pergola
Install pavers
Add a retractable shade

Put that together with updated landscaping, and you’ve got one more “room” in the house for entertaining and relaxing.

(From the owner of Eclectic-ware. From my own personal experience of changing this, adding this, doing lots of upgrades that you personally like, just note: You might make your home so desirable that you may not want to sell it.)

Improve Your Security

Feeling comfortable goes hand-in-hand with feeling safe. Regardless of whether you live in an area where you feel completely at ease, boosting the security of your home can naturally improve its appeal to house hunters. Consider these options for taking your property’s security up a notch:

Plant spikey or horny shrubbery
Add a professionally installed fence
Install a smart home security system
Boost outdoor lighting

Up the Storage Space

Whether a buyer has a family or not, the need for storage is universal. Adding storage space without making rooms feel smaller can be a challenge. However, just as Embrace Home Loans points out: there are many creative ways to squeeze a little more storage out of a room without making it feel cramped:

Install shelving
Add built-in cabinetry
Choose furniture that doubles as storage
Use hooks on the backs of doors

By thinking outside the box, you can create functional solutions that don’t take away from the look of your home.

Selling your home can be a challenge no matter where you live, but it’s especially hard in competitive markets. However, the good news is that you don’t necessarily have to invest in major renovations to make your home stand out. Simple projects like staging and giving the kitchen a small facelift can sometimes go a long way in making your home look fresh.

Custom Bar DIY: Designing the Perfect Home Bar

Adriana Lopez — Sun, 02 May 2021 20:03:00 GMT

If you enjoy the occasional adult beverage, you’ve probably visited a few bars in your lifetime. Thanks to the “new normal” that focuses on staying safe at home, it’s a perfect time to consider designing your very own custom bar that you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home.

Setting up a bar in your home can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish. With a few simple steps, you can easily design a custom-built bar so you can mix, sip, and mingle to your heart’s content. From the build to making sure you have the most important drink essentials, read on for some tips that will inspire you to design a new custom home bar, DIY-style.

To read the full article by Adriana Lopez, please follow this link to the Porch website:

Custom Bar DIY: Designing the Perfect Home Bar

Why is the full blog not on the Eclectic-ware website? This blog was originally written for and posted on the Porch website. So the entire written and informative work belongs there, and we are showing that credit due by directing you back there. Google does not like the same content posted in more than one place, and we respect that. Anyone who would like to write an original written work to post on our website, we encourage. You can link to it from another website to throw attention to it. But it is bad form to post it all over the internet without using a canonical tag directed to the original source of it.

So we are just introducing you to Adriana's work here. To read and enjoy it in full, you need to go to the Porch website. Follow that link above.

Where Can I Buy Hera SlimLites

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 02 May 2021 17:24:00 GMT

Word is getting out that the Hera SlimLites are discontinued. And Eclectic-ware is here to tell you what you can do now.

In the summer of 2018, the Hera Lighting T4 size SlimLites were discontinued. In 2021, the T5 size have now been discontinued. But there is still hope. Thus far, only the two shortest sizes of the T5 size lights are still in stock. No more are being made, but they have not completely run out yet. The T4 size, the 10", 13" and 20" fixtures are completely gone. And for the T4 bulbs we have the SFB18CW and SFB18WW remaining. The 7 and 10 watt bulbs are all gone.

For this informational article, it will relate closely to four of our web pages:

Why these four pages? Quick answer is that the ELite-LED XL version can be used in place of the Hera SlimLite T4 and T5 lights with the XL pin connector ends. What are the pin connector ends?

These are the XL pin connector ends. Two pins on the INPUT end of the light, and two round sockets on the OUTPUT end to continue lights in the same power run.

There will not be any other pictures in this help article. Most of what we will teach you here will relate to this picture just above. And there will be a lot to read. Get ready.

To try to keep from being repetative:

On the 4 page links we listed higher on this page, there is some history about the Hera T4 Slimlites. You can read it there. If you happen to have the very old blade-style SlimLites, best if you just upgrade to the 3-prong grounded ELite-LED now. And on all 4 pages, there will be a lot of product pictures, and the ability to drop items into your shopping cart for what remains of the SlimLites and replacement bulbs. And to order either variety of the Hera Elite-LED lights and components.

Let there be Light

Hera SlimLites can be identified by two part number systems. The T4 sizes came in 10", 13", and 20" lengths. They were called the ES10, ES13, and ES20. But also called DL07, DL10, and DL18. The DL numbers referred to the WATTAGE of the bulb, NOT the length. They were available in Warm White and Cool White and came prepackaged with bulbs, and Plexiglass shields. T5 sizes generally say ES12, ES22, ES34, ES46, or ES59 on them.

What we are offerring now for a quick and easy replacement, and one that allows you to use your same connecting cables, power cords, and hardwire boxes is the ELite-LED XL version. The XL version has the same connection ends as shown in that picture a ways above. So if you have any of the three T4 sizes of SlimLites, you can connect an ELite-LED XL in-line with them. If you have a few SlimLites on one power cord and one went bad, the ELite-LED XL can work in conjunction with your other lights that are still functioning. For the 10" and 13" SlimLites, you would choose the EL/LED/12/4000/XL or EL/LED/12/3000/XL which is 11-11/16" long. It fits smoothly in place of the 13" light, but for the 10", you must make sure that you have 1-11/16" of more LENGTH space for it to fit. That is really important. Sometimes the SlimLites were fitted under cabinets with light rails and there is no extra room. So MEASURE FIRST. Make sure they can fit. On the 20" light, the replacement is the EL/LED/22/4000/XL or EL/LED/22/3000/XL which measures 21-7/8" long. Thus, you must have that extra 1-7/8" of space for it to work in lieu of the 20" SlimLite. We cannot emphasize that enough. MEASURE your space.

The 20" SlimLites were by far the most popular of the three sizes. So this is the one we get the most requests for. The EL/LED/22/4000/XL has performed fantastically in place of it. But you must have that extra space for it to fit. The ELite-LED XL version comes in Cool White and warm white. When on, it looks just like a SlimLite. We have pictures on the ELite-LED XL page showing this.

What if I have several lights in the same string to replace?

This is where you can begin to SAVE MONEY. The SlimLites allowed for end to end connection via the direct connector. It is quite common to see two or three of the 20" lights connected end to end to make one longer light. So, if you have 2 of the 20" lights together, you can consider using one EL/LED/34/4000/XL in place of the two lights. It will be a little shorter on overall light length, but it will fit. The 34" ELite is 33-11/6" long. But let me direct you back up to that picture again. See the ends of the two lights? The Slimlite has its end collars, on both ends, that the pins of the bulb fit into and then turn. Then the bulb itself has end collars. So on each end of a SlimLite, you have a dull area of almost one inch. When connecting two end to end, you have dull areas of near two inches between lights. Now look at the end of the ELite. Notice how the lighted area of the tube is almost completely to the end of the light? So two Hera 20" SlimLites end to end technically give you about 36" of light output area. The EL/LED/34/4000/XL has a lighted output area of 32-3/4". So not as great of a loss in length when you look at it like that.

And if you had 3 of the 20" lights end to end, use one of the EL/LED/59/4000/XL. It measures 57-5/16" long and will conveniently fit in the same space.

All 5 sizes of the ELite-LED-XL, with info about their overall lengths, pricing, etc. is on that web page. We just want you to be aware, that even though the 22" Elite is the substitute for the 20" SlimLite, you do not have to replace them one for one. When you have longer runs of SlimLites "direct connected" you can opt for the longer lengths of the ELite XL and use fewer lights to replace more lights. The ELite-LED XL can also direct connect end to end with the same SDC/XL SlimLite direct connector.

What if I have the T5 size SlimLites?

All the rules are the same. But the convenience factor goes way up. The T5 size SlimLites come in 5 lengths, basically the 1 foot marks from 1 to 5 feet. The ELite-LED XL is also a T5 size tube and comes in 5 lengths, rounded down from the foot marks from 1 to 5 feet. Looks like ALL the ELites are roughly an inch shorter than the T5 SlimLites they would be taking over for. So no problem with them fitting precisely where your T5 SlimLite was. ONLY consideration is your connecting cable lengths. If your cables are stretched to their max, you might have to shuffle cables a bit to make them reach. If slack in them, then no worries. It will work just fine. So if you need to replace your ES46 SlimLite which is 46-3/4" long, use the EL/LED/46/4000/XL which is 45-7/16" long. Measurements for all the T5 SlimLites are on that web page, and the ELite measurements are on its respective page.

I want warm white, why doesn't the ELite XL come in warm white?

As of November, 2022, this question is obsolete. The ELite-LED XL now comes in both cool white and warm white. Hera has finally made the warm white version available. AND WE ARE stocking them. So the old information was that warm white was not available, but as of now, they are available. We have tried to update all our related web pages to reflect this new info.

Subway and Dunkin Donuts Displays

In many store applications such as Subway Restaurants and Dunkin Donuts, using the cool white lights is what they have. So very convenient to switch to the T5 ELite-LED XL to replace their T4 or T5 SlimLites that are starting to fail. The expected lifespan of the Hera SlimLite varies wildly, very wildly. Some customers have gotten a few years out of them, most seem to get 15 to 20 years out of them. They are electronic and prone to surge damage, that is the main crippler of them. However, there are a lot of customers out there with 20+ year old SlimLites.

So cool white is great for the retail stores, but in the home, a lot of customers like that warm white feel. So use the warm white ELite-LED XL now.

The normal ELite-LED version is brighter than the XL version. The lumen counts are higher, and shown on that page. Now it is not like how Chevy Chase put 5 million Christmas lights on my roof brighter. They are just a bit brighter. So with the ELite you are not sacrificing any light, you get a little more. And as mentioned, you get more on each end, and more at connection points for lights direct connected end to end.

This also brings up another important thought about length. On the normal ELite, since the cables connect in from the ends, not the top of the light, this creates the need for a little more space needed since the cords stick out from the ends.

The ELite-LED, both versions, are also sealed. You will not be replacing any bulbs or covers. They are so much COOLER in operating temperature too. There is a little warm spot on their backside where the intergrated power driver is in the casing. But the fronts of the lights are cool to the touch. You will not see the ends of them blacken like the SlimLite bulbs do.

And a special safety note here. When the ends of your SlimLite bulbs start to turn black, that is your indicator that the bulb is starting to age and time to replace it. The ends will continue to grow more black, and become hotter. The Plexiglas shield is designed as a fire retardant and needs to remain in place. The T5 SlimLite replacement bulbs are all still available at the time of this writing. On the T4 sizes, we have run out of the 7 and 10 watt bulbs. The 18 watt are still available in our stock. Hera has completely sold out.

ELite-LED available in WW and CW

When choosing to set up a completely new linear light system, for under counter, ceiling mount, furniture, or whatever your application, definitely go with the normal version of the ELite-LED. This way you can choose warm white or cool white. The ELites function just like the SlimLites, a pretty much identical set up. Similar length cables, options of using a power cord or hardwire application. Each normal Elite comes prepackaged with a direct connector and its mounting clips. They are very lightweight, no glass. So they feel a lot lighter than the T5 size SlimLites.

I have the Hera SlimLite-LED XL, what can I do?

Simple, replace them all with the ELite-LED XL. You will save a lot of money. Hera has minimal stock left on some of the SlimLite-LED XL. This light was popular for quite a few years. It is discontinued, but some sizes have not run out of stock. We can check stock for you if you have a need for some. On the longer lengths though, they are far more expensive than the ELite. So best to consider the ELite-LED XL when replacing them. Available in both cool white and warm white.

Summary

When looking for the easy fix where you do NOT have to change out your old SlimLite cables and connections, you will use the ELite-LED XL version. Has the same connection ends. Comes in Cool White and Warm White.

If you want to rip out everything you have, and start fresh with new cables and cords, most certainly use the normal ELite-LED version. You can choose between WW or CW, your set up will be near identical, and you will have a vastly improved lighting system.

One of the main reasons we hear that customers need to use the XL version is that they have cables going through walls and cannot change out the cables. Or at Subway or Dunkin, they have cables going through their display cases and cannot easily change out the cables. This can limit you to the XL version. Recently, we did have a customer adapt the 3-prong ELite cable onto a 2-prong SlimLite cable. Now of course the cables do not have prongs, we are just saying that because there is a ground wire in the ELite cable, and no ground wire in the SlimLite cable. So when he spliced his cables to convert his existing cable, he is forfeiting the grounding to the ELites. We do not know what type of problem this might create. Could be none at all. Most household lighting is not grounded. All two-prong plugs for lamps. Even low voltage lighting has just 2-prong plugs. So we are not going to recommend splicing, but we will make it known that for those who know what they are doing, this is a possibility.

Remember that when replacing multiple SlimLites with the ELites, either version, if one Elite can take the place of multiple shorter SlimLites connected end to end, do it to save money.

Afterthoughts, based on feedback we have received

The ELite is a T5 size tube. Thus all fit well in lieu of the T5 size SlimLites. On the T4 size, the ELite will be a little wider and taller. Just by a little bit. But sometimes by too much on extremely tight fitting places. We ran into it with a customer lighting his built-in cutting boards and had a very narrow space that his T4 SlimLites were placed around the perimeter. So the ELite would not work for him.

Worthy mention

If space is a real consideration and you need something very low profile, consider the Hera ThinStick-LED. The ThinStick is new. It is taking the place of the Stick3 when it is phased out. The ThinStick measures just 5/16" x 5/16", yeah, pretty darn tiny, but pretty darn bright. It comes in multiple lengths, it can be connected end to end. And it is low voltage. It will operate from the various size LED power drivers. So you need a place to position your power driver. The ThinStick-LED is an innovative solution for hiding lights when space is a real consideration. You can recess them into a groove too. Something to consider for renovations or new installations.

Questions?

It is easy for me to write about the above. I understand it. I answer a lot of questions about it. And I may have skipped past some of the answers that you might need. So questions are always welcome. We can help with your application. Call or e-mail us.

How do I Make my Towel Bar Rod fit in the Ends

John W. Wagonis — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 01:45:00 GMT

Approximately 8 to 10 times a year, we encounter a customer who cannot seat the square plastic bar of a towel bar set into the square openings on the ceramic posts. We have labeled that problem: Globby Glaze.

The ceramic towel bars that we offer are hand dipped when it comes to the colored glazes. It is a rare happening, but sometimes too much glaze catches in the square hole and inhibits the bar from going in very far. Ideally, you would like to have the bar seat at least 1/4" into that hole, or greater. This goes for both sides. You want the bar in far enough so there is no chance of a slight sag or tug on it to dislodge it from the two posts.

This past winter, the frequency of this problem grew a little. To the point where we had to investigate this globby glaze problem in more depth. There was one towel bar in particular that incurred greater complaints. It was the AC625-C5 black towel bar set. The black towel bars use to come with a clear bar, and still do, but we had a lot of requests for black bars. When we found out that AC Products had a leftover stash of near 600 black bars, we bought a couple hundred. The black bars work fine in the model 730, 830, and CA530 towel bar sets. But in some of the AC625 sets, the bar was barely seating into the posts by 1/8". That just is not enough. It's not that the square holes in the posts are not deep enough, they are just not big enough in true squareness. The globby glaze catches in the square corners kind of making it a rounded corner square hole instead of neater square corners. So it is the squareness of the bar that cannot get past the rounded corners.

When this happens, we do report it to the manufacturer and we have the manufacturer send a no cost replacement. It is a defect and our responsibility to make a proper replacement available. On the AC625, we did find out that AC Products was grinding out the excess glaze and making the holes the proper size again to accept the bars. This is when they catch the globby glaze problem before the towel bar posts are shipped out the door. Not all are caught.

To top off the problem, we discovered that the black bars are a touch larger than the clear bars, by about 1/32". That is just enough to make them a problem. So on the AC625-C5 black towel bar set, we have made the clear bar the default again, and the request for a black bar an option.

That is our little history behind the problem. Now a solution.

Of course, as our customer, if you encounter this problem on any of the towel bars, not just this one, report it to us. It has happened on white and bone color towel bars because that glaze is a little thicker by nature. And again, roughly 8 to 10 times a year. So it is a rare problem. But do report it to us if you encounter it, and we will have a replacement post(s) sent to you.

On the AC625-C5, though, since we are making it known that you could encounter a size issue with the black bar, here is what we can tell you. In this picture, we inserted a clear bar, an unaltered black bar, and then a black bar with the sharpness of the corners filed down. We put a little blue tape on the bars so you can see how far the bars did go into the posts. As you can see, the unaltered black bar did not go in very far, just 1/8". The clear bar and the black bar that we rounded the corners on both sunk in 3/8". So the black bar with the corners filed down now fits.

The width of the black bar really is not the problem. The width fits in both ways, but with the square corners of it trying to get past the rounded square corners of the ceramic, that is what is inhibiting it.

If you encounter this, you can file down the corners of the plastic bar, on both ends just a little to take off the sharpness. You can use a wood mill file. What I used was a Dremel tool with the barrel sanding disc. It took me about 35 seconds to round 4 corners on one end. I did not go too deep, I did not want to split the bar. I just rounded over the squareness, more on the very end, and then tapered it down the bar about 7/16". I did it fast, mostly for this demonstration. If I actually intended to mount this set, I would had taken a little more time, filed or ground a little down at a time, and then a little more until the desired depth that I need is achieved. By doing this fast, 35 seconds on each end, I did get the bar that only wanted to go in 1/8" to fit in 3/8". It will hold quite well. And by doing it neat and clean, you will not even know it had been done when the set is up on the wall. Thus, do not grind down the bar an inch into the bar, that is unnecessary. 3/8" to up to 1/2" is more than enough. Do a little, and do a little more if needed.

Or just stick with the clear bar....

When a towel is hanging on your towel bar, how much of the bar do you really see? The clear bars are fine. But if you want the black bar with this set, anticipate that you might have to file down the corners a spec. Here is a close up of the post opening and the bar we modified. You can clearly see how the opening naturally has rounded corners. But do you see the glaze build up in the opening. See how the deeper inside corners become even smaller.

So this little trick of just filing the corners off the sharpness of the bar can work on many towel bar sets, not just this brand. Sometimes molds change and the square holes become a little smaller. And sometimes Globby Glaze strikes.

We want you to have a great product. And it seems like 99% of the towel bars we ship out are fine. But some problem childs do sneak through. When it happens, tell us. If it happens on the AC625-C5 and you opted to get the black bar which we are letting you know here that it is about 1/32" larger than the clear bar, get out your file, sandpaper, or your Dremel tool. You may have some altering to do.

Notice too, in our picture showing the bars seated in the posts, you cannot tell which is the modified black bar. That little roughness that we ground down, is not seen when done neatly.

How to use LED Lighting Terminal Block Extenders

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 20:55:00 GMT

I need to install a dozen LED under cabinet lights in my kitchen. Can I do it from one low voltage LED power driver?

Excellent question. Class is in session. It will be easier to explain by focusing on just one LED light model, and that will be the Loox 3038 LED light. Then everything explained will apply equally to the 12 volt lights as well as the 24 volt.

In this article we are going to cover:

the various LED power drivers
the 6-port terminal block extender
the 4-port cable extender
the various individual extension wires

First, the terminal block extender and an extension cable are not the same thing. Words might be similar, but they are for two separate purposes. But sometimes used together. The 6-port terminal block extender converts ONE light port on your LED power driver into SIX. Thus you gain use of 5 additional ports. When using the higher capacity drivers (in wattage), this extender allows you to connect 5 additional lights to the driver. If you use two, you have the ability to connect 10 extra lights. The Loox 3038 LED light is 3 watts. You can conveniently connect 1 to 6 of them on any of the 3 Loox LED power driver choices. All 3 drivers are made with 6 ports on them. So if only using 1 to 6 lights, the 20 watt driver is more than sufficient to handle six of the 3-watt lights. But not all kitchens are the same, don't we know it. Yours need 8 lights, and you want them all controlled together. You could use two of the 20-watt drivers, or use one of the 40 watt drivers with a terminal block extender. Thus 8 of the 3-watt lights is 24 watts used on your 40 watt driver. Room left over for a few more lights if you chose.

The below components are all shown on our Loox LED Power Drivers and Dimmers page. So we will not keep adding the same link reference over and over.

The LED power drivers come in 20 watt, 40 watt, and 90 watt for the 24v lights. For the 12 volt lights, you have choices of 20w, 40w, and 60w. They all look pretty much alike. Each has 6 usable ports on them to connect lights to. You can have as little as one light on a driver or as many as you like up to its maximum rated wattage capacity. So the 20 watt drivers are really convenient for smaller applications of 1 to 6 lights. The majority of Hafele Loox LED spotlights are 3.2 watts or less. It makes connecting a lot of lights per driver very easy. All modular connections. Jacks are similar to tiny phone jacks. All plug and play. Each driver also has a black side port called a switching port. Thus, any of the Loox switches: dimmers, on-off, motion detector, or door switch can connect into that side port. This is an important consideration when selecting the capacity of the power driver. If you are setting up 12 lights, and you want all 12 to come on together and dim together, to reduce your cost, using one 40 watt driver with two terminal block extenders will allow you to use just the one dimmer control. If you were to split the lights between two drivers, you would thus be setting up independent zones. With a 0-10v low voltage compatible wall dimmer, you could set it up to split to both drivers. But with the Loox switches, you would need one per driver. We welcome any questions on this. You can call or e-mail us.

The terminal block extender with a lot of reach

The 6-port terminal block extender is great when the attached lead wires on the lights are long enough to do the job. You can center your power driver in most cases and run lights both directions. But say you have that island bank of cabinets extending out into the room over a breakfast bar or island cooktop. And it is farther away from where your LED power driver has to be positioned. The 4-port combination terminal block extender and extension wire can really come in handy. It can give you a lot of the reach you need, and allow for some extra lights to be mounted in that outlying area.

It has the one male connection on it which connects into the driver. Then 4 female ports spaced apart along the rest of its extension to allow you to connect light after light still stretching farther out. If you have need of more lights, say two lines of them, possibly 3 lights on the front side of the island and 3 in parallel on the other side, you can add a 6-port extender into one of those ports about halfway down and continue to add lights. Just as long as you stay under the maximum wattage for the driver you are using. Thus terminal block extenders can also connect into themselves. You don't want to get too crazy. If you are mounting 20 or 30 lights in your kitchen, you might want to break them up into zones. Or you might have to break them up in to zones. With all the components and lights available individually, you can create whatever set up you need.

Extension wires

Extension wires are pretty much a one for one extended reach per light. They do not increase the number of lights you can connect onto a driver, they just allow you to put one light way out there. Or many lights way out there by using one per light. They also allow you to add those extra few inches or feet that you need for your last light or two in a line. Most lights have a 79" attached lead. But you cannot always center your LED power driver. Sometimes it is on one end where your outlet is. Thus your last light in the line could be 8 feet away. So what do you do? A 39" extension wire would probably do the trick. The wires come in 19", 39", and 79". Basically, half-meter, one-meter, and two-meter. For those of us who like the metric system. The extension wires can also connect to each other. Should a 79" extension not be enough, you can connect another lead to it to gain more length.

Extension wires can also be used from the terminal block extenders. Or even leading up to an extender. An example of that, we hear about a lot of older halogen light systems being hooked up where the transformer is in the basement. Yep, very common to find the transformers in the attic, the basement, or 5 cabinets over. Thus more wire is needed to reach the lights. So when you mount the LED power driver farther away, you can use an extension lead out of it, connect a 6-port terminal block to that extender, and it would equate to the same thing as putting the six ports that are part of the driver somewhere else. Where they can reach the lights. You can be quite crafty with your hookup.

All of the above is showing the green connections for the 24v light systems. Everything above, including the switching controls out of the side port of the drivers, applies to all the 12v light systems too. The 12v have orange connections. Done on purpose so you do not mix up lights on drivers. Some kitchens could have a mix of 12v and 24v. Or just mixed throughout the house. Under cabinet lights are used in bathroom cornices and cabinets. They are used in hutches, in bars, in desks, even in bedroom furniture. Having the ability to use the number of lights where you want, and the flexibility of various size power drivers, switching controls, and stretching things out farther away, count on the Hafele Loox LED Lighting Systems to fulfill your lighting needs.

The future

Hafele has just launched Loox5. All of the above components are still available. But changes are happening. The drivers will be made without ports on them. You will connect a distributor to the driver which will give you the ports you need. Multiple distributors can be connected to each other per driver. Each could have separate switching control if you like. Extension wires and terminal block extenders can still be used. There will be convenient port convertors to connect the old to the new or the new to the old. So there will be some changes coming. We will have a little rewriting to do on our web pages. Lights will be the same with many more added. And Hafele is not going to leave anyone hanging. With the port convertors, which come in 6-packs, if you ever need to expand upon what you need in your home, or replace a component, you will be able to do so without having to rip everything out and start over. Like a lot of us have been doing with the older halogen lights which are aging. Since halogen is not being produced and the world is switching over to LED, it is important to have an LED manufacturer who takes measures to assure you that you can keep your lights on in the future. Hafele Loox is there for you.

Hafele Loox has a lot more goodies than what we presently show on our website. We do plan to add more web pages and start showing off more of what you can do in your home or office. Lots of display lights too.

Advice on Buying the Perfect Florida Vacation Home

Patrick Young — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 23:41:00 GMT

Think it Through: Advice on Buying the Perfect Florida Vacation Home

For retirees with a few dollars in the bank and fond memories of beach getaways, buying a Florida vacation home and escaping the long, frigid winters at your northern home can be an exciting prospect. Unfortunately, many jump in too quickly without considering the financial ramifications of such a big investment.

It’s easy to focus on all the fun you and your family will have while overlooking the many associated costs, taxes, insurance, and maintenance. If you have a large family, there’s living space to consider and whether you’ll allow loved ones to borrow it from time to time. But, with careful planning and an honest, objective assessment of your finances, a Florida vacation home can be a major source of enjoyment. If money’s no object, you can concentrate on location and lots of memorable experiences. But for most retirees, there are lots of details to think through before purchasing the right vacation home.

Is it affordable?

Some people make the mistake of looking at the sale price alone. But many of the same factors you’d consider when buying a house back home are relevant when investing in a vacation property. Determining whether you can afford it means considering things like condo or homeowner association fees, property taxes, utilities, physical upkeep, furnishings and decor (this is important if you plan to rent it out). Also, bear in mind that you may not be able to sell it for a profit down the road (remember that real estate isn’t a liquid investment). Then there’s the money you’ll pay for hurricane insurance, which is an expensive proposition, especially if your vacation home is in a flood zone. If you own or plan to purchase a boat, that means a completely different set of costs. Your best bet is to brainstorm every cost you can think of, assess the total cost and make your decision based on how much wiggle room you’ll have.

Be realistic

Once you buy your Florida vacation home, how much time will you really spend there? If you live in New Hampshire or northern Minnesota, the travel costs alone may limit the number of times you can realistically get to Florida. This can be an issue if you don’t plan to rent out your vacation home. It may not be a great investment if you can’t expect to spend enough time there to make it a worthwhile purchase. Too many people jump headlong into buying a vacation home, only to end up with a vacation property that sits empty most of the year.

Making it pay

Retirees and small-scale investors often use a vacation property to generate revenue. Renting can help make your investment profitable and give family and friends a place for fun and sun (not to mention an occasional trip to Disney World). There are many options available, from renting through a management company to posting your home on Airbnb. Then there are logistical details to arrange, things like providing keys, having your place cleaned on a regular basis, and processing rental payments. You’ll also need to make sure you’re properly insured (a landlord policy will cover major risks, like fire and theft).

Take precautions

Don’t forget that you’ll need to safeguard your second residence while you’re off body surfing and eating fresh shrimp with every meal. If you have a pool, you’ll want to make sure it’s securely covered and protected with a security fence of some kind. You might also consider having an alarm system installed to guard against break-ins. Using a security system, even one you install yourself, can be a great way to maintain peace of mind when you can’t be there.

If you’re going to rent out your home, it’s also a good idea to protect yourself from potential litigation by operating your rental business as a limited liability company. Registering as an LLC is an easy and inexpensive task when you go through an online service. Another option is to hire an attorney, or you can wade through the legalese yourself. Regardless of how you do it, with the right groundwork, you’ll be ready to earn passive income while protecting your assets.

Profitable and enjoyable

A Florida vacation home is a reward for many retirees who work for years taking care of their family and saving what money they can. Take full advantage of the opportunity by accurately assessing your financial situation and purchasing a property that’s within your means. Handled correctly, your vacation home can be a profitable and enjoyable destination for you and your loved ones.

And one day you may decide to retire to it full time and leave behind the cold of the North. When that happens, then….

Interested in upgrading your vacation home? Visit Eclectic-ware for all your kitchen cabinet and bathroom hardware needs!

Patrick Young

ableusa.info

5 Questions to Help You Find Your Perfect Accessible Home

Patrick Young — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 20:12:00 GMT

On the hunt for a new home? If you live with a disability, the road to that new home may look a little different. That’s because you may need certain features to accommodate your needs and settle into your new home safely. If you want to take the hassle out of finding and buying an accessible home, be sure to ask yourself a few questions.

Need to make improvements to your home? Look to Eclectic-ware for unique and durable cabinet and bathroom hardware! To learn more about our products, complete this online contact form!

How much can I afford?

Before you start searching for that perfect new place, you need to think carefully about how much you can reasonably afford to pay for your new home. If you’re not sure, there are plenty of online tools to help you figure out an ideal price range. Once you have a number in mind, you can start looking at current home prices in your prospective locations using a reliable real estate website like Redfin. For example, you can see that homes in Wimauma have sold for an average of around $258K over the last 30 days.

What are my home loan options?

After you’ve determined your budget for your new home, it’s time to think about how you will cover your purchase. For most people, that means researching home mortgages and determining the best option for your financial needs and current financial status. If you became disabled due to a service-related injury or have served time in the military, you could be eligible for one of several programs for veterans. Then you may not have to take on the added expenses of a down payment or mortgage insurance and can secure a lower interest rate.

What home features do I need?

Once you’ve figured out the financial side of buying a new home, you can start thinking about what that home will look like. You should first think about what sort of features you will need to make performing everyday tasks safe and comfortable. This list can vary depending on what disabilities you are living with, your needs, and your overall lifestyle. For instance, if you use a wheelchair, you may need to look for a single-story home that has wider doorways and step-less entryways to accommodate your needs. You may also need accessible cabinets and extra lighting.

Will I need help with my move?

While all of this is in the works, you should also start thinking about the steps you will need to take to plan a safe and low-stress move. One of the first steps to consider is whether you will need to hire professional movers. With a disability, you may want to think about hiring movers, rather than taking on the added stress and strain of a DIY move. Use consumer reviews to find a moving service online that you can trust to provide the assistance you need.

Will I need to make modifications?

Another thing you will want to think about before your move is whether your new home will need to be remodeled or modified to fit your needs. If the bathroom in your new home is not disability-friendly, for example, you may need to have it remodeled to include features like adjustable countertops or lower sinks. The reason why you should think about these modifications ahead of time is that it will be much easier to have them completed when your home is empty. Plus, it can take time to find the right professionals to help with your remodeling and repair projects.

Finding a new home, planning a move, and making modifications can all be stressful processes on their own. So when you are trying to tackle all these tasks at once, it helps to have a few helpful tips and resources to make finding and settling into your perfect accessible home less of a hassle.

Patrick Young

Ableusa.info

How To Use Brushy Creek Custom Doors To Upgrade Your Home

Ad agency contributed — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 23:12:00 GMT

(This was originally written by an ad agency about WalzCraft doors. We have not finished updating the WalzCraft section of our website yet. So we took some liberties and twisted it around a spec to relate to the Brushy Creek Custom Doors, which are fully visable and orderable from our website.)

Home improvement can take your home from outdated to modern chic with even the smallest change. There is no need to overhaul your entire home, rip out walls, or take out a $40,000+ loan to upgrade your home. One inexpensive way to improve your home's look is by using Brushy Creek cabinet doors for your kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room, and even your home office.

Brushy Creek Custom Doors are custom made to order cabinet doors that are a Southeast tradition of quality. Brushy Creek cabinet doors can be ordered in a huge variety of 3D Laminate colors and finishes for your unique needs. These options are great for adapting to different colors in your home. Located in Greer, SC, Brushy Creek manufactures:

Custom Cabinet Doors
Matching Drawer Fronts
Coordinating Moldings
3D Laminate Refacing Coverings
Fluted Fillers, Wine Racks, and Valances for the finishing touches

The manufacturing team at Brushy Creek has over 80 years of combined experience in the woodworking industry. You can count on high-quality products and customer satisfaction every time.

Brushy Creek doors for Kitchens

Changing outdated custom doors with new cabinet doors can transform the look of your kitchen. Whether you'd like a modern, rustic, classic, or contemporary look, Brushy Creek has a large variety of cabinet doors styles and profile selections. Choose frame only or mullion style cabinet doors that you can see right through to display your best dishes on your upper cabinets. Or opt to go with the same solid panel doors that you are using on your base cabinets. Mix the colors a bit and choose a second color for kitchen islands to make them stand out as a showpiece of your kitchen.

Brushy Creek doors for an Upgraded Bathroom

When it comes to upgrading your bathroom, the organization and creating space seems to be the primary importance of remodeling. Creating drawer banks can help you and your family keep bathroom supplies organized and neat! Thus, instead of just having cabinets with hinged doors where you have to reach into the back of a cabinet, create larger sliding drawers and bring what is in the back out to you. Moldings can enhance your bathroom space by adding them around mirrors or installing crown molding in your wall to ceiling corners. Fluted fillers can make an ordinary bathroom vanity become a spectacular bathroom vanity.

Brushy Creek doors for Home Office

Your home office should be a place that is kept organized and something you'll love to show off at your next zoom meeting! The same kind of doors used in your kitchen or bathroom can be used for furniture making for your home office. Desks, filing cabinets, bookcase, a home office is not just a laptop on your dining room table. We can buy prefab particle board kits, or start measuring and drawing and make your own configurations. It would take some work, but how many years to you plan to sit in comfort, or work from the dining room table?

Cabinet Accessories to Upgrade Any Space

Adding simple upgrades like decorative hardware, extra shelving, or a footstool. Slab style drawer fronts can be used as independent shelves. And one thing great about that is that you get to specify the exact size. Add some decorative shelf brackets, and you just created a new look to your home. Shelves are great for displaying collectibles, storing books, or vamping up your decorations. Use a custom sized shelf system in your laundry room, bathrooms, office space, entryways, living rooms, and bedrooms.

Buy Brushy Creek Custom Doors Online from Eclectic-ware

Upgrading your home doesn't have to be expensive or difficult to match your current style. Please call us directly, and we can help you find your perfect Brushy Creek Custom Doors at 813-633-7544. We can help you find products for your kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, or home office. For real wood door choices, check out the Woodmont Doors section of our website too.

Cabinet Lighting Fixtures in Wimauma Florida

Ad agency contributed — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 02:06:00 GMT

Eclectic-ware

Interested in New Lighting? Look for Hafele’s LOOX LED!

2021 comes next week, which means you might be in the market for some new home fixtures. Many people set resolutions to redecorate their home with new and updated technology, and their lighting fixtures are no exception.

If you are looking for lighting fixtures that are sure to shine, look no further than LOOX. The Hafele LOOX LED cabinet lighting fixtures are a great choice for any home improvement project.

Here at Eclectic-ware, we are proud to carry a number of different Hafele LOOX LED cabinet lighting fixtures. To learn more about our inventory of Hafele lighting fixtures, give us a call today at 813-633-7544, or visit our website at eclectic-ware.com. We are more than happy to help.

Hafele LOOX LED Fixtures at Eclectic-ware

Here at Eclectic-ware, we understand the importance of being able to properly see where everything is in your cabinets. That is why having spotlight lighting fixtures installed can be a great help for you and your family. If you are looking to install lights in your cabinetry, check out the Hafele LOOX LED fixtures.

One of our most popular options is the LOOX 2020 spotlight. This is a 12 volt fixture that can be installed into your cabinetry with ease. It fits in a 2-⅛” hole which means it can take the place of old halogen lights that fit into that extremely popular size hole. Not only that, it carries an IP44 rating which provides a water resistant that normal cabinet lighting fixtures do not. The light is entirely sealed.

Of course, all cabinets are different, which means that cabinet lighting fixtures are not one-size-fits-all. We have a number of different spotlights that can be used to illuminate your cabinetry, such as the LOOX 2027. The lighting in this fixture actually forms a ring around the spotlight’s center. This results in a beautiful yet subtle translucent glow.

Loox LED lighting has some large choices, some flexible arm choices for headboard and desk lighting, and various linear lighting that we will be adding to our website soon. There is an assortment of LED power driver choices to help you set up your zones of lights. There are set choices, but the installation and design can become very custom to fit your needs.

Cabinet Lighting Fixtures in Wimauma, Florida

Get done with your 2021 home improvement resolutions early! Want to learn more about the Hafele LOOX LED cabinet lighting fixtures, or any of the other fixtures we have in stock? Contact the team here at Eclectic-ware today! You can call us at 813-633-7544 or e-mail us. We look forward to providing you with the best cabinet lighting fixtures around.

Lenape Porcelain Bathroom Hardware

Ad agency contributed — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 01:45:00 GMT

Sometimes it just feels good to do something on our own. Working through a long project with our own hands, months of work, and finally a completed project. That feeling of accomplishment we get is unmatched.

We call these do it yourself projects. With the innovation of guides across the internet, there is no better time than now to get in on this latest trend. Of course, you need a place to find your materials and that's exactly what you'll get here at Eclectic-ware. We do our best to provide you with the materials necessary to make doing it yourself at home easier.

One area of the home that has plenty of do it yourself potential is the bathroom. You'll obviously need to be careful with dangerous spots such as pipes and plumbing, but the exterior of your bathroom is full of endless potential. At Eclectic-ware, we offer you both practical and aesthetic options. One of our favorite collections is our Lenape porcelain options.

Lenape products, when properly installed, can be a mainstay in any bathroom thanks to their durability. They’re regularly seen in many home bathrooms because of their clean design.

At Eclectic-ware we offer many Lenape products including the:

Pro-Series Tile Set Porcelain Bath Accessories
Classic and Classic Blossoms Oval Porcelain Bathroom Hardware
Lenape Carrousel Collection Small Near-Square Style Bathroom Hardware
Meridian Round White Porcelain Bathroom Sets

Purchase all of these products together and you can build out a bathroom space to call your own. We may even suggest getting some triangular tempered glass shelves. This way you can build out some essential shelving for placing toiletries.

The Enjoyment Of Doing It Yourself

Start with the process of placing down tiles and attaching add ons such as towel bars and blossoms. As these are placed throughout your bathroom you’ll get to watch the room transform. By using the Lenape brand products you'll get to see your do it yourself project come together.

The ease and satisfaction of installation is part of why Lenape is such a great do it yourself option. For example, let’s say you’ve bought a new house that had previous residents. As you go around you notice that one of the towel bars in the guest bathroom is loose. You don’t think much of it until you have a guest staying over and they rip the towel bar clean off the wall.

This is one of those tasks that you would rather not hire a professional to handle. So you go out and seek a simple alternative. With Lenape, you have exactly that. You can either go with the more involved method that involves sawing, or you can use a clip on option.

Read About Installing The Re-Place-A-Bar Here

Contact Eclectic-ware To Learn More

Eclectic-ware should be your go-to source for Lenape Products, add ons, and accessories. Towel bars, towel rings, toothbrush holders, and more. Lenape is a perfect do it yourself brand because you can do all of it on your own. Embrace the do it yourself mindset and find what you need here at Eclectic-ware.

If you have any questions about current products or what you should be looking for then go ahead and give us a call at 813-633-7544.

Some Surging Home Office Tips

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 17:12:00 GMT

The year 2020 became the year of working at home. And sadly, we need to show compassion for those who are unable to work, either in the home or at their job. Before you read on, please remember the people who are in need of help.

This little blog will be about Home Based Office Set Ups. With most emphasis on the Ups or UPS. UPS stands for Uninterrupted Power Supply. It also stands for United Parcel Service which is an important part of a home based office too. But let's talk about the ins and outs of battery backups.

Battery Backup UPS Brands

There are many. Two that seem to dominate the market place are APC and Cyberpower. They also seem to get the majority of reviews when you are searching for information on them. They come in a variety of sizes and power capacity. The larger capacity in the 1300 to 1500 VA range will cost more than those in the 625 VA range, but there is a strong reason for opting for one of the larger units in your home based office.

Most likely one of the main tools in your home based office will be a Personal Computer, the PC. Not a whole heck of a lot of people are running a business from home on their smartphone. You like typing with one or two fingers on a 5" screen? Or do you like the real estate of a 27 to 32" monitor with a full size keyboard with a 10-key on the side? I like the PC and my nice big 32" monitor. So the PC is the prime hub of the home based office. The PC needs to sit on a comfortable and spacious desktop. One with some room for paper stack trays, maybe even a roll out tray to use as a hideaway desktop to extend out when needed. My keyboard sits on the platform of one of these variable height desks. I seldom stand and work, but if I need to I can raise that and stretch my back a bit. My roll out tray is 44" wide and 16" deep, I made it custom for this desk. I wanted a lot of space because there are many tasks that I do not work on right away, but they stay close for me to grab when I can work on them. And I have quick reference and rate charts taped to the top of my tray to keep from reaching for 3-ring binders for info I use daily.

So we have our fabulous PC and desk and we go to work. Whatever our home based business is, is not what we are discussing at the moment. That is for you to decide, or have decided upon. What we are doing now is getting the function of that business working in our home and what we need to do it. Turn on the computer, get started.

BAM!

That was just a lightening strike in the neighborhood that just took out the power for several miles of homes. Your PC just went black, the customer credit card you were processing just disappeared. Uh oh, business is closed for the moment with a nasty interruption that you need to go back to, and figure out where you were. And figure out what was NOT saved. Thus, for the battery backup UPS on your PC, here is why it is important. All your neighbors might be sitting in the dark right now, but your PC will still be on. You will finish processing that credit card. You will have time to save your file and other programs you have open. You have a few more minutes to a half hour to get some more work done.

How long will my UPS stay on?

That depends on the load. Most larger capacity UPS's have a front display. That display has two common readouts of load and remaining battery capacity. The load is what you have attached to the Battery+Surge outlets. This will of course be your PC and your Monitor. You could also have your computer speakers attached and maybe a low wattage LED desk lamp. You want to be able to still see what you are working on. You could also have your cordless phone base connected to the Battery+Surge outlets to retain use of your business phone.

What you most certainly NOT plug into the Battery+Surge outlets is a laser printer. Repeat, do not plug your laser printer into the battery outlets. When a laser printer receives a signal to print, it takes a lot of wattage. It takes less wattage to run, but that initial start up draws a lot of power. It can drain or potentially damage a UPS. So it is not wise to power backup your printer through the UPS. Plug the printer into a separate surge strip to protect it, and just do without printing for a while if the power goes out.

The 1300 to 1500 VA battery backup UPS units could potentially run for a half hour or more if you just have your PC and monitor on the backup outlets. There are additional outlets on them that say Surge Only. Those outlets are not protected by the battery. If the power goes out, anything in the surge only outlets will turn off and stay off till power is restored.

Something else to consider plugging into the Battery+Surge outlets is your router. Your home router allows you access to the Internet. It is plugged in. If the power goes out, you will lose the Internet. If you have a UPS on your router, you can continue working on the Internet. BUT, part two of that Internet power is the battery backup on your service provider equipment too. You will have your exterior equipment on the outside wall of your house, and then inside equipment opposite on the interior wall. On the inside, there most likely is a 6 volt battery or even 12 volt in that case to back up your TV, phone, and Internet service from your provider. Those are replaceable, non-rechargeable batteries. And if you have had power outages and they are a few years old, they might be dead. Best to check them. We want our home office to function smoothly.

To review: the equipment that we should have connected to our battery backup UPS is

personal computer
computer monitor
possibly computer speakers
small low power desk lamp
household router for Internet
our business phone

You could have a separate UPS for the phone and router. The smaller, lesser expensive 625 VA battery backups are fine for that, and you may even get a few hours use out of them with such a tiny load on them. Most of us have become dependent upon our smartphones as our main phone. Yet, in a home based business it is a really good idea to have a land line. And the land line should have a power backup on it.

What else adds to a home based office?

We have our desk, PC set up, laser printer, phone, Internet access, and our battery backup. We of course will need the proper software to run our business. Most businesses do not need too much, but at least an accounting or inventory control software should be high on the list. There are several to choose from, I am not going to endorse any here as I have my gripes with some. We also need the functioning space to do what we need to do. Possibly some or all of the garage will need to become workspace. One of the bedrooms or half of the dining room might need to become that control center for the desk and PC. It will take a little planning. Get out your tape measure. Most of that planning is up to you.

Battery Beware

We want to tell you about a very important factor about your battery backup UPS. The smaller units have one battery in them. Most of the normal tower units have two batteries in them. Some of the really large expensive units have multiple batteries. Prices can range on some of these units to well over $1000 each. Those in the $140 to $180 neighborhood are generally sufficient for a One PC office.

The batteries in your UPS are constantly being charged. You leave the unit plugged in all the time, and for the most part you probably even ignore that it is there. Many of the UPS's come with a 3-year warranty, and many of those warranties even cover battery failure for the time period. I just purchased a Cyberpower unit that comes with a 5-year warranty, including the battery. Well, batteries do fail. They do not last forever. If you have the UPS connected to your PC via a USB cable for monitoring, it should tell you if your battery is still charged ... or KAPUT. I think most of us do not connect the UPS to the PC for monitoring. We just expect it to perform.

Well, when the battery goes dead in the UPS while it is ON, it may not tell you that it is dead. Seems like the majority of UPS's do not. Thus when the power goes out, and the battery is dead, the UPS goes off. And then you lose all your work again and Windows or OS shuts down wrong, and you might be dealing with a rough restart the next time you boot your PC. Windows 10 is really good about recovery, but you do not want too many harsh shut downs.

So when the UPS goes off suddenly with a dead battery in it that you did not know about, when the power comes back on, the UPS generally will not come back on automatically. When you try to turn it on, it might chirp or give you an error message. And at the moment it is nothing more than an overpriced surge strip without the battery backup. The batteries are replaceable and usually pretty expensive. But losing your work can be equally expensive. So get new batteries or a new UPS when one acts up. Sad thing is, you do not know when the batteries will go dead. Presume about a month past when the warranty is up, seems to work that way. But sometimes sooner, which is what inspired me to write this little story.

So my last tips for battery backup UPS's are:

Opt for the stronger rated units around 1300 VA or even up to 1500 VA.
Tape a copy of your purchase receipt to the side of it, in case you need to call in for warranty service, you will have all the info you need ready, and clearly know your purchase date.
Do not block any air vents on the sides of them when taping your receipt to their sides.
Be ready to replace the whole unit or the batteries near the warranty expiration. Shit happens.
Batteries are easy to replace, and please dispose of the dead batteries properly.
Consider having multiple UPS's for various equipment instead of just one.
Best not to use one UPS for two computers, have a separate UPS for each.
You can use a UPS on your TV sets and DVD players too.

There obviously is a whole lot more to consider when setting up a home based office, but the main computer, the phone, and a battery backup to both are the brains of the office. The center. The place where most of the action happens.

Eclectic-ware has been a home based business for 20 years. Just remember that a backup UPS is something that requires some attention every few years. Don't be caught thinking that your battery inside it is just fine. Put it through a test every year. Unplug the PC and monitor (after the PC is properly shut down and turned off), leave the desk lamp plugged in. Then pull the plug on the UPS to simulate a power outage. Did the lamp stay on or not?

Looking Ahead to 2021

John W. Wagonis — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 20:49:00 GMT

Traditionally year after year, we say Happy New Year several days before the new year happens, and a lot for several weeks after it has happened. I would really like to say Happy New Year, but instead, it feels better served to just offer Hope that 2021 will be a better year.

I want to offer Hope because most likely I am afraid to offend anyone by using the word Happy. 2020 has not been happy for a lot of people, just the opposite. We are still battling Covid-19 and it is dangerously strong. We are also facing a high unemployment problem which causes me to be sad for millions of people. Millions of people who I do not know and whose paths I will most certainly will never cross since I barely go anywhere. Millions of people fighting their own individual hardships of not knowing when or if they will be going back to work. We are Americans. Most of us like working. We do bitch and complain about our jobs, but when we work, we do gather a feeling of accomplishment. We do earn our living so we can buy those things we like buying. And on the responsible side of the equation, work allows us to be productive members of the community by paying our bills and looking out for ourselves financially. This is not happening for everyone right now. People are scared.

How can we make 2021 far better than 2020?

First: We need to care. Care about our own situation, but most of all, care about others and their plights.
Second: We need to be generous. Generosity is not just about donating money. I am not prompting that yeah or nay. Generosity is: Smiling, being nice to people, holding the door for someone, sharing some food, giving some of your time to help someone, and just being decent to people. Which includes everyone you don't know too.
Third: We are going to need to follow a few uncomfortable rules. Can we do that? Just follow a few simple rules? For ourselves and everyone else? We may not like hearing it, but isn't abiding by a few extra common sense rules better than building hundreds of thousands of pine boxes?

Now before most of the Republican Party starts labeling me as a Liberal, let me clear the water or whatever other cliche you may want to use, I am half Republican and half Democrat. What a concept! That middle ground thing! The thing that makes America truly great. AND LET ME SAY, this little blog post is not going to be a political statement. So for all those gearing up to slam me right now, don't. This blog post isn't going to be about cabinet or bathroom hardware either. But if you need some, follow that link. And it's not going to be about a Gofundme or giving money to the poor, or anything like that.

It is going to be about, what can all of us do to make 2021 better? A group effort. Who's in to make 2021 better?

Well, back to Happy New Year. I think it is okay to say it. And it should be said. But be ready. You may say it to someone who has lost a wife or husband to Covid-19. Or even a child. They may say Happy New Year back to you, but they may just be saying it to be nice and to conclude a conversation. Some people may need to talk about a loss, be ready to listen. Some people may want to talk about thier financial situation. And some may not want to talk about it. Some of us are very private people, or stubborn proud people. Just be light on your toes and be ready to be nice and to listen. And know when to back off as needed. The phrase: Give me some Space. Boy, does that one matter more than anything right now....

We will need to have that consideration ... and for quite some time. Covid-19 and unemployment will need TIME to heal. There are several promising vaccines buzzing in the news. The world has stood up against this virus and we want to fight. Until the vaccines are ready for anyone choosing to take one, or needing to take one, what can we do until then?

We can wear masks when in public or when in groups. (I do not want to hear complaining, masks help.)
We can keep our hands washed as often as possible. Or when we question anything that we recently touched. Such as a gas pump, store door handles, anything questionable in public. Consider your hands to be dirty if you are uncertain about them being clean.
We can keep our hands off our face when we know that we touched something in public. If you consciously practice this, it actually does become easier. And stop licking your fingers to grab a piece of paper. No hands to the face. Penalty of 15 yards.
Of course, there is that social distancing thing too. We should had known in February 2020 how aggressive this virus was through airborne spread. We deal with a flu every year. Why were we not cautious with Covid-19 from the beginning?
If someone is not wearing a mask, take a few steps backwards. Nothing wrong with talking to someone from 6 to 12 feet away. We can hear each other.
And something major that we can do to slow the spread of Covid-19, stop bitching about having to do the above. Don't be a damn cry baby. We don't want to see people on the news yelling at grocery store workers about their constitutional rights. We don't want to hear people whining about their religious rights being taken away. No one is taking away your religious rights. Makes me sick that even churches aren't preaching the right thing to do. Instead they want to invite everyone in, sing at the top of your lungs, and create super spreader events. What the hell is wrong with people?

I know, most everyone not believing in masks or thinking Covid won't get them has already tuned out and closed this page. But for those who do care, for those who want to make 2021 better, for those who want to go back to work, just look to the world report. Other countries are recovering. And yes, I know, some countries are surging out of control like the US is. This is a world virus. It is not a hoax. It is most certainly real. We do not want a repeat of the 1918 Spanish Flu which extended into 1919 and 1920. And it originated from the United States.

When we do win against Covid-19, businesses will come back. They will re-open. Sadly, not all of them, because harm has been done. But the buildings are still there. And we all have seen businesses come and go over the decades. Someone, yes, probably a rich guy, will buy out those empty buildings and turn them into something. Quite possibly the same kind of business it was. Thus people will go back to work. A full recovery will not happen immediately. 2021 is where we begin! No need to wait till 1-1-2021, get started on caring and doing the right things now. As many of us have been doing for the last 9 to 10 months. And in 2021 continue doing the right things. We can win.

Do we want to whine, cry, and bitch? Or do we want to act and get our butts in gear and do the right THINGS? Yes, plural, things! It is going to take effort. There is no silver platter or easy way around this. It will take work, some sacrifice, and the great need to be nice. Stop fighting back and forth. Just be nice, or stay at home. We don't need rude uncaring people out in public who do not take this virus seriously and add to the spread. Those fools can just stay at home, and locked in their houses. If you want to behave and do the right things, you can come out and play. At a distance.

To make 2021 better, we all need to do as many of the right things that we can. Stop disobeying and criticizing. Start doing all the right things. The economy will self-recover when we can open up safely and fully. Right now, it is not safe.

Hopeful New Year to all. Spread the cheer. And still be considerate and compassionate to everyone who is not happy. They did not ask to have a loss befall them. Just show some care.

Importance of a Kitchen

Ad agency contributed — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 20:04:00 GMT

Is there any area of your house that is as important as the kitchen? This is where you prepare your meals, hold much of your smaller furniture items, and it is the natural gathering place when company arrives. As a result, a kitchen needs to be able to handle multiple house tasks at once.

Your kitchen needs to be so much more than the location you make meals in. It is an essential part of the home. You wouldn’t settle for an okay living room so why would you settle for just an okay kitchen? Of course, designing the perfect kitchen is hard. There are so many factors you have to take into consideration, but at Eclectic-ware, we can provide you the ability to take the steps needed so you can design your perfect kitchen.

Plan Out Your Design

Before you can even begin laying out the groundwork for your perfect kitchen you will need to make a general design of what you want your kitchen to be. This means making decisions such as:

Do you want a theme?
What finish do you want on your cabinets?
Does the layout have an island?
How much space do you want or need?

Once you’ve established what it is that you are looking for you can begin setting some hard rules for yourself about the overall design of the kitchen itself. This is when scenarios like the budget will come into play.

What Eclectic-ware Provides

At Eclectic-ware, we provide plenty of additions that you can make to your kitchen to help you create the design you have always wanted. This includes:

Storage Options
Cabinet Doors
Shelving
Lighting
Knobs and pulls

Are you the kind of person that gets tired of looking at the same thing every few years? Rather than constantly redesigning your kitchen we can help you make adjustments and changes. Our variety of options allows you to not only design the perfect kitchen, but you’re able to change around designs and follow trends if you so wish.

You can go traditional, modern, or simplistic. We offer those and complementary pieces here at Eclectic-ware to keep your home feeling fresh and new. Have you always wanted one of those fancy wine holders? We have them. Unfinished wood, sanded, ready to stain, and ready for you to add into your design. When you are having a conversation with a guest in your kitchen, you could be standing next to a normal cabinet door. Or carry on that conversation in front of your wine rack as you are reaching for a bottle to chill for later.

It’s Time To Get To Work

All right, you’ve laid out everything exactly how you want it and you have the perfect image of a home in your head. Now it’s just time to create that home. Use Eclectic-ware to assist you in that process. We offer all the materials and add ons you could ever want to create that home you’ve always desired.

Have questions about what else Eclectic-ware has available to you? Then go ahead and give us a call at 813-633-7544 you can also send an email to EWsales@eclectic-ware.com. We look forward to assisting you however we can!

DIY Home Office

Ad agency contributed — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 19:49:00 GMT

DIY Home Office

The year 2020 has changed a lot for everyone, and one of those changes is how and where we work. We even have a new, frequently used acronym, WFH, meaning work from home. Everyone is trying to create a space in their home that encourages creativity and productivity. Along with the change in how we work in 2020 came a significant increase in managing budgets, and therefore, DIY home offices became a trend. With a DIY office, you can expect to save money and create the home office of your dreams.

How To Design A Home Office

There are many resources online that give you plenty of home office design examples like Instagram, Pinterest, and home-style blogs. Knowing what you want in your office and what is important to you are both important things to note, but there is more to a DIY home office than just the colors and accent decor you choose. We've compiled a few steps to designing your best DIY home office!

Establish A Budget

Your first step in creating the DIY home office of your dreams is to establish a budget. No matter if you are revamping your current space or doing a full-on home office remodel, a budget is the first and possibly the most crucial step. Know what you can spend and what you should spend. Establishing a budget for your home office can also open you to finding more deals and offers than you were expecting.

Decide On A Style

Deciding on the style of your home office is what we consider a "fun step." This step is where you can research all the beautiful offices on the internet and pick and choose different colors, elements, and technology that you'd love to include in your DIY home office.

List Out Work 'Musts'

Picking out a desk and a chair is all good and fun, but it's important to remember why you're building out this office in the first place for work productivity. Here is a list of what people typically need when it comes to your home office:

Surge Protector or Power Strip
Printer
Lighting
Microphone and Headphones
High-quality Webcam
Dual Monitors
HDMI or DVI Cables

Although these are typical "fun" to pick out, they will take your space from workable to productive! Remember to add these 'must-haves' to your budget!

Don't Settle For A Crowded Space

What do you think to help your productivity? Studies have that clutter can significantly affect us by influencing our behavior, emotions, and even increased procrastination. When you are designing your DIY home office, you should take shelving and organization into consideration. Having a clear desk and office space can help you focus on your work and avoid procrastination. In your ongoing list of home office must-haves, consider adding a filing cabinet, cubbies, and other forms of organizational furniture that can help you stay on task.

Start Your DIY Home Off With Eclectic-ware

At Eclectic-ware, we are more than just cabinets and bathroom hardware; we offer cabinet hardware, bathroom accessories, lighting, cabinet door knobs, drawer pulls, and plenty of other custom furniture hardware, which makes us a great resource for your DIY home office.

No matter what home office furniture you are building, we offer some of the top furniture hardware products to ensure your DIY home office project goes off without a hitch. Build custom office cabinets or a custom office desk to really let your creativity loose. We have a vast lighting selection that can take your home office from simple to outstanding.

Start your DIY home office project and take a look through our site to find all the cabinets, shelves, lighting, and furniture hardware you need to create the most productive home office. If you have any questions or need any suggestions, call us at 813-633-7544 or email us at EWsales@eclectic-ware.com

Retro Black Vintage Ceramic Bathroom Accessories

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 19:04:00 GMT

We would like to open this blog post with 3 important facts before they get lost further down.

If you are on a smartphone, we apologize in advance. This blog post WILL BE LONG. We are going to pile a lot of helpful info into it. And the intro picture may look way too tiny on a phone - only because we are emphasizing the number of ceramic pieces available.
All the soap dishes, towel bars, TP holders, corner shelves, etc. shown in this big group picture and the following pictures (with the exception of the two giant square shower caddies) are actually available in approx. 80 colors. Not just black. This article will focus on Retro Black Accessories.
The ceramic bathroom hardware is not just for remodeling. As a matter of fact, it is used more in new home construction than it is in renovations now a days. It is by far one of the best choices for bathroom hardware.

And a 4th important fact added March 4, 2024. AC Products has gone out of business. For an updated post about the black ceramic bathroom hardware currently being made by Lenape, please go to our new blog link at:

https://www.eclectic-ware.com/blog/?what-is-back-in-black---ceramic-black-that-is

Let's get into it.

There are 22 items shown in our opening photo for this article. And there are 21 items not shown. What? Many of the above items come in multiple mounting methods. When mounted, they look the same from the front. So we are not showing all 4 towel bar choices, or all 3 of the toothbrush holders, and the numerous soap dishes. And there was one fancy corner shelf we did not have on hand at the moment to squeeze into that picture.

This is the left third of the big group photo.

It shows the majority of the wall mount soap dishes, a couple of the corner shelves, and the clip on towel bar with a couple bars emphasizing that the towel bars come in multiple sizes also. The bar portion of the towel bar set is plastic, so they can be cut down to the size that you need. The 24" is the standard, yet we also offer a 36" black bar and a 12". The 12" can be cut down to 8 or 9 inches to make a nice hand towel holder beside your sink. The 24" is the most popular size when mounted in a shower. But what if your shower is a bit narrow and you need something smaller. Cut the bar down by an inch or two and create the right look for YOUR bathroom. The model 730 towel bar comes in 4 mounting methods: thin-set, flat back, clip on, and mud-set. We will add quick links within this article to the various web pages for the AC Products Stylish 700 Series. This way, when you would like to see detailed info for part numbers, pricing, and measurements, you can.

The two corners shelves shown are the large and the jumbo. Both available in thin-set or flat back mounts. What does that mean? Thin-set has been the traditional way of mounting ceramic accessories in your tiled tub or shower. You basically leave an opening in the tile for the back protrusion of the corner shelf, towel bar, or soap dish to glue onto the same wall surface that the tile is adhering to. For a corner shelf, you would of course have an open slot on two wall surfaces in the corner for the shelf to seat into. The adhesive that you use to mount the tile can be used to mount your accessories. Or you can pick up a waterproof (all weather) adhesive to use. Thin-set generally is used when laying new tile, or doing a repair of one item on a tiled wall. What flat back means is, there is no protrusion on the back. The pieces are flat. Flat back is a great idea for renovations or an afterthought. Say you just tiled your whole shower, and didn't plan for any corner shelves or just forgot to add a soap dish. Flat back can be glued right onto the surface of the tile, or any flat wall surface such as sheetrock. You do not need to chisel out an opening to fit in the traditional thin-set.

So if laying new tile, definitely consider using the thin-set mounting. Flat back is potentially for easier repairs, covering over a hole opening where you cannot find the exact size thin-set piece, or for huge tiles that are not easily cutable, such as marble tiles. There are a lot of reasons why you may consider a flat back item.

The large corner shelf is the only shelf that comes with one side tiered. Two levels. Set a bar of soap low, set something else like a razor higher. The tier is only about 1/8", very subtle, but it is a nice feature. The other side is not tiered. Thus, you get to choose which side you would prefer as the up side.

For all these ceramic soap dishes, so many choices, all come in the thin-set mount. From right to left, if you can still see the photo above or scroll back to it: the BA729 double wide soap dish is used when you want that big of a soap dish. Not everyone's first choice, but nice when you need that. Next to it is model 725 which comes in the same 4 mounting methods as the towel bar does. This is the most popular "tub" soap dish. We already explained thin-set and flat back mounting. The clip on mount is ideal for drywall or wood, wherever you can screw mount the mounting clip. The mud-set mount is for an actual hole cut into the wall. You need 1-1/4" of depth to set the mud-set pieces into the wall. When mounted, they look like any other piece, it is only the mounting method behind the piece that is changing. More on mounting methods.

The next dish over, moving leftward is model 726. A little narrower, and a drain grove that funnels to the center of the dish. Next to it are the vanity soap dish and toothbrush holder combination. VERY popular. The smaller square soap dish is what you want behind your sink. It is not overwhelming. And you can pair it with the toothbrush holder if you like. Again, we would like to remind everyone, all the items we just spoke about are available in approx. 80 colors.

This is the center portion of the big picture.

It is very difficult to take a great picture of that 3 compartment shower caddy. We have the shine of the black gloss reflection, it is dark to begin with, and I am far from being a professional photographer. Okay, everyone who just agreed, I'll give you that one. But I am trying. The recessed big shower caddy niche with 3 compartments is a great item to have in a shower. Something premade and 100% waterproof that doesn't stick out from the wall and gives you use of the interior portion of the wall, that's a win-win. On the left, there is a short height opening on the bottom for your large bar of bath soap. The rest of the left side can hold short height bottles of shampoo, conditioner, etc. On the right half is a full height compartment to hold those taller and larger bottles. On our web page for the caddies, we actually show pictures of the caddies loaded with items so you can get an idea of what fits into them. Upcoming in the right third picture of the big picture, we will show the same size single compartment caddy, and the other recessed bath hardware items.

Next to the caddy is the popular tub soap dish with cradle. The cradle is a washcloth holder - or a bottle ledge for those of us who like to rest our bottle of shampoo on top of the the soap dish. It is not a grab bar or a ladder. These items are ceramic, not aluminum. The handle on that soap dish is not for acrobatics when taking a shower. It is designed to drape your washcloth through it.

The small corner shelf, a towel bar showing how you can make a narrower towel bar, and robe hook are shown in front. The small corner shelf is nice for tiny showers and when you want a shelf that will hold only one bar of soap or only one bottle. That is the limit of its dish area. You can call it a corner soap dish. Comes in thin-set mount and flat back like the other sizes of corner shelves. The robe hook or hanging hook since you can hang whatever you like from it, comes in thin-set, flat back, and clip on mounts. Hanging hooks can be used as just one where you need it or a series of them together. We should mention here too, that with the corner shelves that we have shown in 2/3rds of our explanation so far, they can be used to make corner shower caddies. Use them 2 or 3 at a time stacked in the same corner. Alternate your sizes instead of using all the same size. Use them in two corners. Basically, what you will use depends upon how much space you want to stack your stuff.

Is this a shower for one or two people?
Do you like bar soap or bottles of body wash?
Do you need to compete for space?
Are you tired of bottles on the floor of the shower or surrounding the ledge of the tub?

One other question that you should consider too, how much do you want to clean? More corner shelves does mean more to clean. So plan. Think about what you need, or what would be nice, and go from there.

This is the right third of our alarmingly big group photo.

The single compartment large shower caddy is shown in the upper left. The two big square shower caddies and one large specialty corner shelf that we did not get to add into the group photo are available in approx. 14 colors each. There are some limitaions on them. Every single other item shown comes in approx. 80 colors each, including most available in most of the stoneware colors from the Exceptional 900 Series too.

Next to the large square caddy is the less wide but taller 2-compartment shower caddy. This one has been around for a long time. Thus it is available in about 80 colors, stoneware colors too. We like calling them shower caddies or caddy. Shower niche seems to be a popular phrase for them too. The 2-compartment niche has the smaller opening on the bottom for your bar of soap, then room above for two small to normal sizes bottles of shampoo or body wash. It does not hold large bottles. If you use larger bottles, one of the two bigger square caddies would be more advisable. OR, make your own corner shower caddy by using the jumbo corner shelves.

Right in front of the caddies are the three popular Recessed items. Two recessed soap dishes and the recessed TP holder. Here's where we get to define "recessed" a little better. The thin-set mount is confused as recessed because it does recess into an opening. But very shallowly. Thin-set sets in only 1/4" to 3/8". Think thin. When we refer to recessed, which all 3 of the shower caddies are, recessed means it sits into the wall approx. 3-1/2 to 3-3/4". On wood stud walls, that is so easy to do. A stud itself is usually 3-1/2". You have the drywall, greenboard, or sheetrock over the framing, thus you usually end up with a wall depth of 4-1/8". Plenty of room for the recessed bathroom hardware to set into. The recessed items come only as recessed. They are by far the most retro items for ceramic bathroom hardware. Older homes and apartments in New York City, Washington D.C., Oakland, CA, and other older cities made bathrooms in the past with a ton of recessed soap dishes and TP holders. When you think about it, a bathroom in an older house sometimes was only about 5' x 6' in size. Sink, toilet, tub. No stretching out space. You hit your knuckles on the wall when you towel dry yourself. Older homes did not have spacious bathrooms. Recessed bath hardware made a lot of sense. And even in newer more spacious bathrooms, recessed bath hardware makes a lot of sense. It is space saving, stylish, convenient, and super functional.

Next to and beside the recessed TP holder are the wall mount TP holders. Model 777 comes in those 4 mounting methods. Some TP holders are mounted onto tiled wall surfaces, so thin-set or flat back work great there. Pros like using mud set and fitting them into a hole in the wall. When mounting a TP holder to a drywall surface or to the side of a wood cabinet vanity, the clip on mount is best. Then there is model BA778. This version comes in thin-set mount only. But it has longer arms on it. Many customers ask us if their roll will fit. The BA778 is designed to accommodate some of those bigger rolls. Not the 3X Charmin or Mega rolls, but bigger rolls near 5-1/2 to 5-3/4" in diameter. The model 777 works for most normal double size rolls. But when you are planning a thin-set mount and want the larger holder, the BA778 is the choice. Pricing, sizing, and other details are on the respective web pages that we have been adding links to.

Lastly in this photo we are showing two of the jumbo corner shelves. On the left is the low height shelf. It does not have that taller back wall to it. It comes as a flat back mount only. So you can adhere it onto the tile surface, or slot the entire shelf into a slotted surface. We recommend surface mounting it only. Why? It has nice curves. When you glue it onto a surface, you see all the curves. If you slot it in, you will have your sharp ragged tile egdes and what do you do with those? Add some grout or silicon? You could, the silicon that is. But it could end up being a big unsightly bead. You would be filling a gap. So surface mounting makes better sense. The shelf next to is is the jumbo with hook, comes in thin-set and flat back mounting. The embedded hook under it gives you a nice place to hang a brush or sponge. If using in a stack in the corner, use the jumbo with hook as the bottom shelf in a stack so whatever hangs from the hook does not dangle over a shelf below it.

The one corner shelf that we did not have in stock for our big picture is the BF784-Retrokit shelf. This is a jumbo size, a little fancier as either side can mount as the top, and each side has a different sculpting to it. And this shelf is prepacked with a 2-part adhesive and mounting assist blocks. It is limited to the basic 14 colors. If it becomes more popular, AC Products may expand on those colors one day.

Still with us, there's more.

The retro black look, and black and white look, is so popular. The above items we keep in stock in the C5 Gloss Black color. We also stock them in the C1 Gloss White color. By far, these two colors are the most popular. There is also a M137 matte black color which is pretty cool. Kind of has a leather look to it. Then there are other whites and matte whites. Black and white bathrooms definitely are popular. All black are more popular though. This is why we have shown all these items together. Most people just have no idea of the numerous items that are available and that go together. Sure, we are all aware of towel bars and soap dishes. But the number of soap dishes, and the wide array of corner shelves, the Stylish 700 Series has a lot to choose from.

BUT DON'T STOP THERE!

AC Products has a few other series:

Sleek 800 Series: oval and rounded shaped pieces

Inspired 500 Series: conch shell shaped pieces

600 Series: simple clip on towel bars and TP holders

And these three series are all availble in glossy black too. How cool is that? There is no law about mixing items between series. If you would like to use some of the smaller base 600 Series towel bars and two-piece toilet paper holders and then some soap dishes from the 700 Series, do it. It's your bathroom, make it look the way you want. The 500 Series shell shaped pieces are larger, and thin-set only. So if you are retrofitting and kind of need something bigger to disguise holes or potentially blemishes in your tile, this might work. The 800 Series is different. More curves, more rounded and oval shapes. They have a purpose. Oval shaped soap dishes and toothbrush holders to match an oval shape sink; makes it look like you planned well and knew what you were doing.

Black is beautiful. We love our black gloss cars, our black leather jackets, and our black bathroom hardware. Eclectic-ware can help you with the bathroom hardware. You are on your own for the car and black leather jackets. We do answer questions over the phone and via e-mail. We have customers e-mail or text us pictures of what they have. Many people are just repairing one towel bar or soap dish. No order is too small for us. And we have customers who just gutted their whole bathroom, knocked out the adjacent wall to the closet to expand the size of the bathroom, and then they are installing a half dozen or more ceramic bath hardware items. Two or three towel bars in one bathroom is more of the norm now. The whole family is not fighting over one towel bar. Place them on different walls, stack one high one low. Draw out your plan. Make your bathroom work for you. Do you have a tub or a shower stall, or both. I have both in my master bathroom, and just shower stalls in the other two bathrooms. We have many towel bars, soap dishes, and corner shelves set up. Decorative and functional use of the space.

It's your bathroom, and your project. Let us help you with the ceramic bathroom hardware that you need. And in white, bone, biscuit, almond, beige, a dozen grey tones, a dozen brown tones, pinks, greens, yellows and blues. And of course, black.

Addendum

As we proofread this, we noticed that we forgot the BM782 mud-set tumbler holder, the AR171 soap dish with drain hole, and the AR151 shell shaped soap dish with drain hole. You will see them on their respective web pages. Thus, if our big group picture got any bigger, those on smartphones really would not be liking me right now.

Sharing Sharing Sharing

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 00:18:00 GMT

A friend on FaceBook shared a nice blog post to her timeline. Of course, we saw it in our news feed. As with all of us, we pick and choose what we want to read, potentially ignoring a huge chunk of what we do see. This shared post, we liked. And we wish to share it here: 8 Kitchen Remodel Costs to Consider

This blog gives you an idea of what you may be getting into when considering remodeling your kitchen. Such as:

Budgets
Difficulty on the scope of the project
Who may be needed to complete the job
The value the remodel may add to your home
Time factors and more

We found it helpful for someone who has never taken the steps to remodel a kitchen. There is a lot involved. If you have an older home, say one of those square pre and post WWII type houses that are about 20' x 25' total footprint, one or two story, odds are, you have a very small kitchen and dining room combination. Limited counter space, most of the floor is taken up by the dining room table, which doubles as counter space when you need it. Thus those of us in our 50's and 60's are thinking back to our grandparents houses right now. There would not be too much you can do to remodel such a kitchen, at least not structurally. Most of us are not going to knock out a wall and expand the room.

So, for a kitchen like that, either painting your cabinet doors, or opting for new cabinet doors, and then converting one or two base cabinets to a roll out door with nice trays on slides, might be as far as you can go. In addition to upgrading your appliances. Time to dump the goldenrod color fridge and stove that looks like a 1950's Sci-Fi movie.

And that could be enough. Cabinet doors from the 40's and 50's were much more simple. Back then, they were for function to hide what was in the cupboard. Consider converting one upper cabinet to an open cabinet, no door faces. Leave the shelves open, put in a plate display, or if you are into wine, a wine rack. One simple change like that to the layout will most certainly provide a more modern look. Combined with new cabinet doors, drawer fronts, and even some decorative knobs and pulls, you will transform your little kitchen. As for creating more cabinet space, options can be limited. Maybe the dining room table could be converted into a breakfast bar, and thus you can add cabinets below it instead of it just being open space for the dog to hide when he tries to sneak food from one of the kids. Adding a breakfast bar will add to the budget. You will have a bank of cabinets, most likely two to three side by side, or shallower cabinets and back to back also. It will give you much more storage space, and depending upon your countertop choice, it could double the cost of your whole project.

Let's roll ahead to many of those 1970's and 1980's homes that the majority of us grew up in. My dad built his own kitchen. He had a hand in building almost the entire house. And our kitchen and dining room were two separate rooms, adjacent to each other and open to each other. Made the space feel incredibly larger, close to triple of what the grandparents had. My dad made these huge pantry cabinets as a border from the kitchen to the living room. So the kitchen was NOT open to the living room like most of today's homes are. These pantry cabinets were eight feet tall and spanned about 8 feet across. Four of them, all approx. two feet wide. Each having at least 6 tall shelves in them. One was designated for the "broom closet." Do they even make broom closets anymore? So the pantry was huge and the kitchen still had the normal amount of cabinets in its U-shape.

That house has been sold over a few times, and I saw pictures on one of the realty sites in the past. Lots of remodeling and repainting happened in that house. Being that it was a larger kitchen, the budget to remodel it was greater. But the changes many of the subsequent owners did make also made the kitchen more enjoyable, and it did add worth to the house. I believe someone took out the hanging bank of cabinets and vent that came out from the wall over the cooktop, and thus opened up the kitchen more to the dining room. More light flowing from room to room makes the rooms feel better. Right? Who likes a dark kitchen, dark dining room, dark anything?

Thus, right now, the majority of kitchens being remodeled, and just my opinion, I have not looked up any numbers, the majority are going to be from the 1970's into the 1990's. People tend to house hop, and for various reasons. An older home is usually easier to afford. It is a starter home either from moving out of your parents home, or after many years of apartment living. And some people want a fixer-upper. They find something charming and they want to improve upon it. Some people get crazy and do start knocking out walls and adding rooms. But for those of us into "coloring", we keep the floorplan and the structure and add our own color. New cabinet doors, new counter tops, cabinet conversions to slide out trash cans and other pull out trays, coverting to a smaller oven or increasing the size for a new fridge. Possibly putting in a pantry. Painting the walls. New floor tile. A ceiling fan. Lots of lights!

At Eclectic-ware, we offer many of the remodeling goods that you will need. We have wood and RTF cabinet doors. The RTF cabinet doors have about 70 color choices, tons of raised panel looks, and refacing materials to go along with them. Lots of options. Wood doors can come finished or unfinished and also offer quite a few selections. All are made to the sizes you request, not off the shelf products. These are custom made. We have cabinet lighting to go under those upper cabinets or inside them to light up your mullion doors. Don't remember any mullion doors in Grandma's or Mom's kitchens. Wasn't popular back then. It is popular now. And cabinet knobs and drawer pulls have expanded into endless creative choices. Modern, traditional, rustic, and even themed hardware. It can get pretty wild. Then hinge and slide choices, kitchen organizing products and other things can transform those older kitchens into something grand.

And the same doors, lights, knobs, and organizing accessories are used in brand new kitchens too. Building a custom home instead of selecting one of five choices in the planned subdivision? We can help with customers building their own home and adding their own unique touches to the kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, and living room. Cabinetry is found in most rooms of newer homes. When you pick out a house in a planned subdivision, you do not get too many choices. You are getting something brand new, something bright, and something well equipped. Nothing wrong with that. But when building a custom home, or remodeling one, that is where Eclectic-ware can help you.

The Ultimate Guide on Kitchen Organization

Daniela Gonzalez — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 00:07:00 GMT

A disorganized kitchen can make life stressful. Cooking for yourself or your family is much easier when your kitchen is neat and organized. A busy lifestyle can make keeping this part of your home clean a challenge unless you have the right decluttering plan in place. Thankfully, with a few simple tweaks and some habit-forming tips, you can master the art of kitchen organization. Read on for some helpful advice that will make decluttering and organizing your kitchen easy.

To read the full article by Daniela Gonzalez, please follow this link to the Porch website:

The Ultimate Guide on Kitchen Organization

Arthur Harris Stainless Steel Kitchen Hardware

Ad agency contributed — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 00:20:00 GMT

Upgrading your kitchen with modern touches is easy with Arthur Harris Stainless Steel Kitchen Hardware. Eclectic-ware offers Arthur Harris's stainless steel door handles and cabinet knobs. These are 303 grade solid stainless steel handles that have a brushed stainless steel finish. This kitchen hardware can also be used for:

Bathroom Cabinets
Office Spaces
Boat Cabins
Covered Outdoor Patios

Arthur Harris Stainless Steel Kitchen Handles are a durable kitchen upgrade that are built to last. Eclectic-ware offers a great deal of door handle lengths and multiple knob designs and sizes for all your projects. Browse our Arthur Harris page and order right on our website or call us at 813-633-7544.

An Affordable Luxury Kitchen Upgrade

Making small and inexpensive changes to your kitchen can make a big difference. One of the best ways to make a 'big change' is switching out or adding cabinet hardware. Taking on a project like this can be done in as little as an afternoon. Picking a style of kitchen hardware will probably end up being the longest part of your kitchen upgrade. The Arthur Harris selections can give your kitchen the perfect touch of modern. Whether you have a glass door pantry, pull out drawers, or extra tall cabinets, Arthur Harris Stainless Steel Kitchen Hardware makes custom-sized European-style railing handles including:

Standard Style Bar Handles
Back to Back Mounted Handles
End to End Style Handles
Cabinet Knobs
T-Pulls

Measuring and Planning For Your Kitchen Hardware

Eclectic-ware offers Arthur Harris Solid Stainless Steel Cabinet Handles in sizes made to your specific measurements:

Any cabinet handle is made to the sixteenth of an inch
Sizes ranging from 2” short to 96” long for most bar diameters
Choose from 6 bar diameters from ⅜” up to 1”
End to End handles made in the same sixteenth of an inch increments
Back to Back Mounted Handles available in ANY length in 5 bar diameters
Knobs available in 12 machine cut styles and 2 diameter sizes
T-Pulls available in 6 standard sizes, and then custom sizes too

Custom ordered sizes is what we specialize in. Handles are made how YOU need them.

Instead of installing the same size handle on every single cabinet face, Eclectic-ware's selection allows your cabinet handles to flow with the sizes of your door and drawer fronts. Both vertically and horizontally.

European-style railing handles are installed vertically and horizontally on your cabinet doors and drawer fronts. You have options. To order the proper size railing, Eclectic-ware recommends ordering a railing in the range of 2 to 3” shorter than the width or height of your cabinet door or drawer. This ensures the tail ends of the handles remain 1” to 1.5” from the edges of your cabinetry. For more detailed instructions on measuring and installation, visit Eclectic-ware's page.

Installing handles that extend near the full length of your cabinetry creates a highly customized and polished look. It also is more practical as, oftentimes, when brushing past our cabinets, we can snag our belt loops or pockets on the kitchen hardware. Eclectic-ware points out that measuring for and installing the railings as they recommend reduces the likelihood of that happening.

Buy Your Arthur Harris Stainless Steel Kitchen Hardware From Eclectic-ware

Eclectic-ware offers superior customer service from knowledgeable staff. They can answer all your questions about hardware selection, design, and installation.

Discounts are available on bulk orders of Arthur Harris Stainless Steel Kitchen Hardware. Varying discounts apply to assorted knobs, Back to Back handles, and European-style rails. Volume discounts are as follows:

10% off for 25-49 items

15% off for 50-99

20% off for 100 or more

25% off for 400 or more

Stainless steel kitchen hardware gives a sleek and modern design to not only your kitchen, but bathrooms, office, and more. Arthur Harris 303 grade stainless steel provides that look with quality that will last, as all handles are solid stainless steel - not coated. Eclectic-ware offers a broad selection of sizes and styles for customizability and to help you fulfill the vision of your remodel.

To get a quote on your Arthur Harris Stainless Steel Kitchen Hardware, visit Eclectic-ware's page.

Hera Lighting System for Your Home

Ad agency contributed — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 18:33:00 GMT

Creating the perfect kitchen doesn't stop at appliance finishes, cabinet types, and countertop material; it's also about the 'ambiance.' One of our favorite ways to create a comfortable and friendly ambiance is with Hera Lighting systems.

Hera has been a leader in lighting for cabinets, furniture, and retail for over 85 years. Their LED technology leads the lighting industry, making Hera the choice for the top 100 retailers in North America, which is why we trust their quality in our own homes.

Creating a new lighting dynamic in your home can bring you a comfortable and elegant look to your home. Lighting under your cabinet space is just the beginning of what you can do with Hera LED lighting.

Why Choose Hera LEDs?

Most people think that all LEDs are created equal; however, this isn't true! LED light is a 'hot label' in the lighting industry, which means everyone uses the label LED. Hera LEDs are made with high-quality components and top of the line diodes to ensure you receive all the benefits of LED lights in your home. Other lighting companies use substandard parts in their LED lights, which cause the light to provide low-quality lighting, fast burn out, and low color rendition index (CRI).

Hera LEDs have many benefits, including:

Lifespans of 50,000 hours of lighting.
LEDs are infamous for not generating heat and needing little energy, all leading to a lower energy bill for you.
Hera LEDs aren't hot to the touch, so you won't burn your fingers or cause heat damage to your display items, under cabinets, or headliners.
Hera Spotlights do not produce infrared or ultraviolet radiation.
Hera LEDs are available in cool white and warm white, some in multiple Kelvin ratings.
Hera Lighting can be installed anywhere because of its small and compact nature.
Hera Lights purchased through Eclectic-ware come with tech support and design assistance before and after the sale from Eclectic-ware.

These seven Hera light benefits are just the beginning. Hera is dedicated to continuing to be the leader in innovative lighting products to serve their customers better.

How To Use Hera LED Lights In Your Home Projects

One relatively simple way to upgrade any space in your home is with lighting. The process can require cutting out and drilling into walls, under cabinets, or under shelves depending on the type of project or light type you decide to go with.

Hera LED fixed spotlights are a great way to add under lighting to your kitchen cabinets or display cases. Many people also choose to use these lights above their bookshelves or in bookshelves.

Hera LED swivel spotlights are excellent if you're looking to create a dramatic lighting scenario on an accent wall or uplighting paintings and other art pieces.

Hera linear lighting is excellent if you want to get the most lighting under your cabinets, closets, or display cabinets. Instead of highlighting one area or object, linear lighting will light up the entire shelf or counter evenly.

Hera tape lighting is ideal for anywhere that you want a long line of lighting. Use this on top of cabinets to create a dramatic look that highlights the wall and ceiling. These have also been seen on gaming desks to create cool lighting effects.

Buy Hera Lights from Eclectic-ware

At Eclectic-ware, we have everything you need to create the perfect lighting ambiance for your kitchen, furniture, offices, and bedrooms. Our selection of Hera LED lighting products include:

Fixed Spotlights
Swivel Spotlights
Linear Lighting
Headboard Lighting
Tape Lighting
Power Drivers & Dimming Accessories
Fluorescent Lighting
Lighting Replacement Parts

We even have some old Hera discontinued LED lights including a few of the halogen lights & accessories still in stock. Please start on our Hera Lighting intro page and envision your lighting products' possibilities and buy directly on our site! If you have any questions about our Hera LED lighting products, please give Eclectic-ware a call at 813-633-7544.

8 Things to Know Before Buying a Ceramic Towel Bar

John W. Wagonis — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 21:49:00 GMT

It's not as simple as saying, I need a ceramic towel bar.

Before you jump out and grab any ceramic towel bar, ask yourself these questions:

Am I looking to repair one or do a new install?
If a new install, is it a bathroom remodel or completely new construction?
Is the towel bar mounting in the shower stall or bathtub, or just on the bathroom wall?
Will I need more than one towel bar?
What mounting method(s) should I choose?
How do I know what color to pick?
What length of bar should I use?
Who makes a quality product?

1. Repair or new install

All too often, a towel bar in someone's bathroom becomes broken. Either just the bar, or one of the ceramic posts. We fall into them, bump our head on them, or blame the grandchildren for doing chin ups. Whatever the reason, it is broken and we need to fix it. Finding the exact same thing that is in the bathroom has very limited odds. Because over the last 80 years or so, there were a lot of companies in the United States that made ceramic bathroom hardware. Bathroom walls were covered with ceramic tiles, made sense that the accessories should be ceramic too. And over the last 30 years, many of these ceramic companies have disappeared. So finding the exact same thing, and same color, let's just not get our hopes too high. Now of course if you are just adding a towel bar, thus a new install, if matching to one already in the room, again, you might not have that kind of luck. But you can at least try.

2. Is your new install a small or large remodel, or a brand new bathroom

When remodeling an existing bathroom, and in an older house, have fun. You may have no clue in the beginning what you can run into. Sure enough, you may find rotten wood, you might even find the termite trails. There could be plumbing pipes in areas of the walls where they are unexpected. There could be electrical wires, cut into your walls with caution. And you may run into surprises such as assuming you could place a recessed soap dish or shower caddy into a wall, only to find out what is behind the sheetrock is the exterior block wall that you cannot chissel into. So if remodeling, be prepared to have plan B or C ready. When a brand new bathroom in new home construction, up until the plumbing is in place, you have some room for adjustment. Turn the shower this direction, fit the toilet in there, where will I hang the toilet paper holder? And, will there be enough wall space for one or two towel bars? Do I have pocketing doors or just hinged doors? That may determine which walls you can use.

3. Where is the towel bar going, in the shower or on a dry area location

Seems like a trend in more modern homes is to have a towel bar on the back ceramic tile wall of the tub and shower area. Whether you use it for washcloths or towels, it has become very popular. And the 24" size is by far the most popular on the wall opposite the shower head. The towel can rest folded up on the bar while you take a shower, then hang there afterward to dry before the next shower. Generally, you will find only one 24" towel bar mounted within the bathtub area. In just a standing shower stall, there usually is not enough room, nor is there any way to keep a towel dry while showering. The majority of bathroom towel bars you will just find on the painted drywall surface of the bathroom, and quite often more than one. Two towel bars side by side for his and hers, or one high and one mid height on the wall, or on different walls. Many people will use a towel bar for decorative display towels, and then one closer to the shower or sinks for functional towel bars. When you have more than one person using a bathroom, a second towel bar is very nice to have. No fighting over space, no excuses for not hanging up the towels.

4. Thus, do I need more than one towel bar

All depends on the number of users in that bathroom. Husband and wife generally will prefer a towel bar of their own. And a good idea to have matching towels to make the bathroom look more presentable. In childrens bathrooms, or shared bathrooms, definitely try to place two if you can. Not all bathrooms have the wall space to accommodate it. So you have to do the best that you can. In a guest bathroom, one will generally suffice. But sometimes you will add a second, a smaller one to be used for hand towels by the sink. And when the posts match the main towel bar for bath towels, your bathroom comes together. So for the most part, available wall space may define whether you can have one or two. Having three or more might start to look a little odd, unless one is solely for decorative towels that aren't really used. Bigger bathrooms will have that presentation look to them.

5. The mounting method question, by far very important

After you know if you are doing a repair or new install, and if it is a major remodel or new construction, and where you are planning on mounting them, you must know how you will be mounting them. We have a page set up in the AC Products section of our web site called: Mounting Methods Ceramic Bathroom Hardware
This page has pictures and many explanations about the various choices from AC Products. For the Stylish 700 Series towel bars, there are 4 mounting options.

A) Thin-set mount. This by far is the more traditional method on ceramic tile walls. The towel bar post has a shallow projection on the back. It is smaller than the overall size of the towel bar post so the overall dimension can overlap the cut tile edges and hide them. The recess part is just 1/4" to 5/16" deep which easily sits in the tile space of tiles that are 3/8" thick. Thus the backer of the towel bar is gluing onto the same wall surface that the tiles are. You just have two "partial" pieces of tile left out so the towel bar posts can sit in-line with the tile. By far the method the majority of towel bar manufacturers agreed upon.

B) Mud set mount. Very similar to the thin-set, but deeper. You must have a real hole in the wall, at least 1-1/4" deep. The backer of the towel bar is generally around one inch deep. Meant to be adhered into the opeing using a mud pack. And by mud, that generally refers to a polymer concrete. A compound that dries hard and holds it shape with some adhesion ability. These compounds are available at the giant warehouse stores. Normally mud set mounting is done by tile setting pros. Not your normal DIY person.

C) Flat back mount. This is not common, not common in the sense that we do not know of any other companies besides AC Products who have ever made it. Flat back is a marvelous invention. It has no protrusion on the back. It does not have to fit inside of a restricted size hole. It can be used right on top of existing tile or any flat wall surface without cutting any holes or divots. Flat back is incredible for repairs or adding a towel bar after tile has gone in and you think about it later. You do not have to chisel into the tile to create two openings as you would with the thin-set mount. Flat back can allow you to cover over a rough opening or hide an old hole in the wall. A small hole. These towel bar posts tend to measure about 2-5/8" wide by 4-3/4" tall.

D) Clip on mount. This is what you should select for drywall, greenboard, or wood wall surfaces. They can be used on sheetrock or tiled walls too, but when drilling into ceramic tile to mount the mounting clips, you need a ceramic tile drill bit. When going directly on drywall, painted or wallpaper surfaces, the mounting clips are secured to the walls with drywall anchors and screws. Then the towel bar posts slide down onto the mounting clips. This is probably the most common selection when adding a towel bar to your bathroom and planning on mounting on just the drywall. (Good idea to make sure the posts slide down snug on the mounting clips so they do not jump off the wall with aggressive towel grabbers.)

6. Picking a color

When repairing or adding a towel bar, this can get tricky. When doing a new install and you have some colorful tile, still tricky. When you have a more mainstream color already, you will have more luck. Here is how we can outline our ceramic towel bar choices:

Stylish 700 Series: four mounting methods, multiple bar lengths, approx. 80 colors to pick from, gloss and matte.
Sleek 800 Series: three mounting methods, multiple bar lengths, approx. 14 standard color choices.
Inspired 500 Series: thin-set mount only, shell shape design, multiple bar lengths, 14 standard color choices.
600 Series: clip on mount only, smaller square design, multiple bar lengths, 14 standard color choices.
Exceptional 900 Series: three mounting methods, multiple bar lengths, six stoneware color selections.
Lenape Pro Series: thin-set only, white*, bone or black colors only.
Lenape Classic Series: oval shaped, clip on mount only, double towel bar choice, white or blossoms on white colors.
Lenape Meridian Series: round base shape, clip on mount, double towel bar choice, white only.
Lenape Carrousel Collection: small squarish shape, clip on mount, white or bone only, multiple bar lengths.

Within the AC Products section of our website, we have 3 pages set up to help you with the available colors. One is colors shown one at a time, pictures we have taken ourselves. The second is the color cross reference charts from AC Products, showing which colors correspond to tile manufacturer colors. Remember, they make about 80 colors, and amongst all the tile manfucturers, there are more than 1000 colors. So choices are limited in the broad scope. And our third pages shows similar colors photographed together so you can see how the shades change on the browns, greys, light colors, and others.

*Note: Lenape's white in the Pro Series is a greyish white, not a true white.

For additional color matching help, customers can mail us pieces of tiles or pieces of broken towel bars and we will "compare" that to the available choices. Something may match or compliment well. Our address is shown in the copyright notice at the bottom of every web page.

7. Bar length to choose

What size towels are you planning on putting on the towel bar? Are you considering putting two bath towels on one bar? Is it for a hand towel? On the 3/4" plastic bars from both AC Products and Lenape, you can cut them down in length. If a 24" is too wide and you need 22", cut it down. If you select the 36" bar and it fits, great, you have a nice large towel bar on your wall. But if your wall tells you only 31-1/2" will fit, cut it down. Any of the towel bar sets mentioned in paragraph 6 have bars that you can cut shorter. And with AC Products: near your shopping cart selection for the towel bar set, we have a BAR EXCHANGE part number where you can change to a white or clear bar, or black bar, and then pick a 12", 30", or 36" from the default size of 24". When you decide to create a hand towel bar next to your sink, if 12" is a little too long, cut it down to 9 or 10". You have flexibility in your choices.

8. Who Makes a Quality Product?

AC Products and Lenape. Both companies have been in business for decades. Lenape once produced most of their products in New Jersey. Now they have cut back to their factory in Thailand. This is why their collections are restricted to white, or white and bone for the choices. BUT BUT BUT, AC Products is made right here in Ohio, USA. Yes, Made in America. A high quality ceramic product and available in a lot of colors. Eclectic-ware has been offering Lenape since 2001, and AC Products since 2009.

Conclusion:

Many of our conversations with customers begin with: I need a towel bar. Then we ask, Which one? There is definitely much more than just one choice. Many shapes, a few different sizes, square bars and round bars, color options, mounting method options, even a nice shell shape design. A choice of limited options from Thailand, and then a choice of glamorous options from a US Manufacturer. And AC Products makes a lot more than just towel bars. You will find corner shelves, soap dishes, TP holders, recessed shower caddies and other fully recessed items. Many items to enhance your bathrooms. Use them on tile walls, marble, sheetrock, and other wall surfaces. Great products for great bathrooms.

Easy and Inexpensive Ways to Upgrade Your Laundry Room

Ad agency contributed — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 00:43:00 GMT

Thinking of taking on a new 'room refresh?' The laundry room may be a great and inexpensive room to update. Just a few touches to a laundry room can make a big difference not only aesthetically but organizationally. We are going to go over a few inexpensive makeover ideas to improve your everyday laundry experience. Hey, maybe it will motivate you to fold and put away your laundry after taking it out of the dryer? Here are a few ideas:

Add a butcher block
Add cabinets
Add shelving with a drying rack
Use peel & stick tiles
Upgrade with decor and organization hacks
Update your laundry hardware

Pick one, pick two, or pick them all. Even the smallest changes can make a difference in your laundry room makeover.

Butcher Block

Adding a butcher block on top of your laundry machines can add much needed counter space, which can be an excellent spot for folding. Butcher blocks can be extremely cost-effective and can instantly makeover a laundry room with little to no effort. Keep an eye out for clearance deals when shopping around! However, this butcher block idea only really can be accomplished if you have a front loading washer and dryer. Alternatively, you can add a small table if your laundry space allows.

Laundry Room Cabinets

Laundry room cabinets are a great addition to your space if you have used wall space. Most people utilize wall cabinets or upper cabinets in their laundry room to create a clutter-free environment adding more storage space for laundry products. If your current laundry room has a sink, adding base cabinets is a great way to 'hide' an unflattering utility sink and add more storage space. You could save some money by installing cabinets yourself! At Eclectic-ware, we offer custom cabinet doors from Woodmont, Brushy Creek, and Walzcraft. Feel free to check them out in our cabinet doors section!

Shelving For Your Laundry Room

A great way to upgrade your space is by adding shelving. If you're looking to add storage space and you're not all that interested in looks, adding inexpensive wire shelving can do wonders. Using wood or glass shelving can add a touch of flair and provide you with great organizational space. To create a more efficient space, try adding a bar or drying rack under your shelves. If you choose to build DIY wooden shelves, Pinterest offers a wide variety of unique shelving ideas that can include a drying rack!

Decorating Your Laundry Room

Decorating your laundry room can be more about the organization than looks. Try adding large glass jars for laundry pods or dryer sheets. Additionally, you could purchase wicker baskets to organize extra linens. Decorating can add charm to your space. Use house plants, paintings, photos, and signs to create a dramatic difference in your laundry room.

Peel & Stick Backsplash Tile For Your Laundry Room

Although this is specifically a cosmetic update, it can significantly improve your laundry room look. Peel & stick backsplash tile comes in a wide variety of styles and is extremely easy to use. This project can take less than half of a day and create an elegant look to your space.

Laundry Room Hardware

Another great way to add to your laundry room makeover is to update any hardware. Replacing a whole sink can be a bit pricey, but replacing the faucet and handles can be a cost-effective way to update your laundry room sink. Cabinet knobs and drawer pulls can also be upgraded to match your sink hardware to add design flow.

An Inexpensive Laundry Room Makeover

These small projects done over time can add up to a complete laundry room makeover. Now you know how much additional space and organization can be added to your laundry room without making a considerable dent in your wallet. It's easy to take these projects one weekend at a time because it won't take your laundry room out of commission for an extended time. Let us know if you have any inexpensive laundry room updates on your radar. We'd love to hear!

Shop all of Eclectic-ware for your home improvement needs online or call us at 813-633-7544, and we'd be happy to answer any questions about your home improvement or product questions

How To Install Your Kitchen Cabinet Doors

Ad agency contributed — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 01:02:00 GMT

Being a Do it Yourself type of person has its perks, like saving money. However, sometimes our DIY nature can have us taking on more than what we anticipated. If you have found this blog article, you probably have either a) ordered your new kitchen cabinets, and now you realized this is harder than you expected, or b) You are currently looking to see just how complicated installing your kitchen cabinets are before ordering! Whether you are in category A or B, we have great news! It is relatively easy to install kitchen cabinets. This step-by-step guide will have you done and admiring your new kitchen in no time at all.

Step One: Check your newly received cabinet doors

No matter what you order, it is always important to check the contents of what you have ordered. If you do notice any abnormalities like scratches, dents, wrong sizes, or even full-on broken pieces, inform the sender immediately. Depending on the type and make of the cabinets, they should be able to provide you with new doors fairly quickly. Open them gently, watch how you use your razor blade. Do not cut through the cardboard potentially hitting a door. Cut the straps, pull up on the cardboard, unroll it if rolled, go easy.

Step Two: Installing Hinges to Your Kitchen Cabinet Doors

You'll want to inspect for pre-drilled holes to attach the hinges to the doors. If they aren't there, don't panic, they can be drilled with ease. (Concealed hinge boring is an option at the time of ordering.) Don't just punch a screw into your door; this can cause the wood to crack and break, permanently damaging the cabinet door. Pre-drill all screw holes first, doors and frames of cabinets.

What kinds of holes you predrill for depends upon the hinges you are using. If concealed hinges that fit into the 35mm hole, best to order hinge boring as an option when you ordered your doors. Have the professional door company place those properly for you. And they can do it with or without the two additional dowel holes. Ask questions of your cabinet door provider prior to finalizing your order to get exactly what you need. There are one-piece concealed hinges and two-piece concealed hinges, and then face frame or frameless mount. The company you are ordering your doors from can help clarify your need. And then of course there are semi-concealed decorative hinges where you see some of the hinge when the door is closed. These mount differently. With semi-concealed hinges, you'll want to make sure yours are spaced approx. 2 inches from the top and the bottom of the doors. Use the hinge as a template for the holes and pencil mark where the hole should be. Use a power drill with an appropriately sized drill bit to create holes for the screws to fit into, watch your depth! These are normally one piece hinges, thus you'll want to attach the hinges to the door first then to the inside or face of the cabinet.

Step Three: Attach Your Cabinet Doors To The Cabinets

When it comes to attaching your cabinet doors, you'll need to know what kind of doors you are working with. Depending on the type, you may need to adjust where you place your hinges, and the type of hinge to use. There are two common types of cabinet doors: inset door and an overlay door. An inset or partial inset door will set inside the cabinet face, and an overlay cabinet covers some or all of the cabinet face. This decision was made by you prior to ordering because it greatly affects the sizes of the doors you ordered. Inset doors are smaller to fit inside your opening, overall doors have a lot more wiggle room as they cover over your cabinet box or face frame.

When drilling into the cabinet face, face frame edge, or cabinet sidewall, use the same precaution of pre-drilling shallow pilot holes. Especially in Maple. Some woods are extremely hard, and when a metal screw competes for space with the wood, the wood could crack. Predrilling saves that headache. As you hang your doors, you may want a partner to help you hold the door while you use a power drill, or screw driver, to connect the hinges into the cabinet.

Take A Moment To Admire Your Handy Work

You did it! Replacing kitchen cabinet doors is now checked off your home improvement list, and now it's time to move on to your next project. If you haven't started your kitchen refacing yet and you were researching how difficult or easy it might be to install your own cabinet doors and drawer fronts, then it's onto your next step, purchasing cabinet doors! Eclectic-ware offers unfinished kitchen cabinet doors that come fine sanded and ready to be painted or stained for the full DIY experience. And you have the option of ordering wood doors pre-finished too. And then, we also provide RTF Brushy Creek Custom Doors with over seventy 3D laminate colors in many different designs. Head on over to our cabinet doors page and explore your options today.

5 Inexpensive Ways To Reimagine Your Bathroom

Ad agency contributed — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 00:49:00 GMT

As a weekend warrior, you have probably prioritized your home renovation projects by either need or easiness. You may not have the funds just yet to do a full home remodel or even a room remodel, but you can do some touch-ups that can change your space from good to fantastic! Today we thought we would offer some knowledge on five inexpensive ways to reimagine your bathroom space. From updating bath lien to upgrading your bathroom hardware, we are going to turn your boring bathroom into a getaway.

Bathroom Hardware

One easy and inexpensive fix is changing up your bathroom hardware. Hardware includes knobs, toilet paper holders, towel racks, towel rings, robe hooks, shower curtain rods, and faucet spouts.

These pieces are easy to order online, and a pretty straight forward install. We recommend buying all your pieces of hardware from the same 'collection' to have a consistent look across your bathroom. Remember to properly install your fixtures for safety!

Bathroom Shelves

Utilizing bathroom shelves in another inexpensive way to spruce up your space! Floating shelves can not only update the look but also increase storage space if you find it is limited.

Currently, there is an interest in having a 'rustic' look to your home. A rustic style can even save you money if you have the right tools! Get creative with your shelves, make them square, triangular, or even polygon-shaped. Shop around for a look that suits your tastes.

Tile Paint

Painting your tile is a trend that is popping up on every DIY Pinterest board. Painting your tile can completely change your bathroom space without spending more than $40!

Caution! You cannot just use any paint! It is essential to pick a latex or epoxy paint. You can also spring for a mildew-proof that will keep your tiles looking brand new. Do your research and be sure you are using the proper paint for your bathroom tiles.

Bathroom Linens

An easy and effective way to change your bathroom is to update your bathroom linens. Pick a 'theme' or color that matches your style and then hunt for:

Bath towels
Hand towels
Bathmats
Shower curtain
Washcloths

These bathroom linens can really tie your bathroom together without overspending. Plus, you can usually find deals depending on the time of year.

Art & Embellishments

Bathroom trinkets and art pieces will take your bathroom to the next level. Buy similar matching styles of bathroom accessories to create a uniform look throughout. Woven baskets can be a great addition to your guest bathroom to add storage and charm. Adding 'Old-timey' type bottles or candles can create more atmosphere to your once dull bathroom. If you are a DIYer, you might look at adding a frame around your bathroom mirror.

A 'New' Bathroom Without The Cost

Tie all of these easy and affordable bathroom tips together, and you'll think you've done a complete remodel! If you're looking for great deals and inexpensive bathroom hardware, check out our page on Bathroom Hardware. Do you have any tips and tricks to turn your bathroom from old to new at an affordable price? Let us know!

Kitchen Organization

Ad agency contributed — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 00:28:00 GMT

When it comes to kitchens, we all want to be more organized and use our spaces in the most effective way possible. Often we can end up throwing utensils in drawers, overfilling cabinets, placing all of our bottles of wine on our countertops, and overall not using our cabinet and counter space wisely.

If you are the DIY type, you might be looking into creating or building the ultimate storage organization products for your kitchen. Eclectic-ware offers kitchen organization products that will help you effectively use your kitchen space without costly demolition and renovations. Our inventory is filled with kitchen organization products that will change the way you use your area:

Slide-out and hide-away waste management solutions
Hardwood kitchen storage and organization accessories
Door appliance garage kits
Stemware glass holders
Wooden lattice wine racks
Bottle racks
Wood plate display racks

We have crafted our selection to help you get the organization you have always wanted from your kitchen. We also offer kitchen accessories that can spruce up your space:

Brushy Creek Custom Doors
Woodmont Doors and drawer fronts
Stainless steel hanging hooks
Expo design glass shelves

Eclectic-ware has all the kitchen storage accessories that you need to create a kitchen that is elegant and maximizes its space.

Slide-Out and Hideaway Waste Management Solutions

If you are dealing with a smaller kitchen utilizing a Slide-out kitchen trash can may be a great addition to reinventing your space. Even if your kitchen is rather large and offers space for a conveniently placed trash can, you may still want to hide-a-way your trash and recycling bins. Eclectic-ware sells ready to install slide-out waste management solutions for your kitchen bins. The Rev-A-Shelf 53WC and 5349 are both door mountable 'ready' units. You do have the option to mount them to the cabinet door, or you can choose to have your cabinet not attached; it is all up to your preference. We have single bin Rev-A-Shelf options or double bins if you are looking to hide-away both your recycling and waste cans.

Hardwood Kitchen Storage and Organization Accessories

Omega-National hardwood kitchen storage and organizing accessories are sure to clean up your cluttered kitchen. Omega offers hardwood bottles plus stemware racks and holders. These are great for displaying your wines and glassware. We also carry plate display racks that can elegantly showcase your antique and heirloom dishware. A wine rack lattice can take the place of an upper or base cabinet to offer more organization and display value for your wine and champagne bottles. A wine bottle rack conveniently arranges your wine bottle for an easier 'grab and go.' A wine bottle rack is usually a single level of wine bottles side by side and held at the neck of the bottle and body by two separate arches. These look great under shelves and cabinets!

Door appliance garage kits

Small kitchen appliances have made our lives much more accessible, but they also cause our countertops to be cluttered. Installing an appliance garage can tuck away all those appliances and clear up your kitchen space. They also offer easier access if you happen to store your appliances in base cabinets. The appliance garage kit is an extension of your cabinets. The appliance garage, which is installed on the corner of your counter, connects your top cabinet to your countertop. To offer even more space value, we suggest installing a rotating lazy susan. It can be tricky to move different appliances out of the way, but with a lazy susan, the kitchen device you are searching for is just a turn away! The garage door allows for its entrance to be all the way closed, partially opened, or all the way opened. The garage kits come with unfinished walls in order for you to be able to match your current cabinets as you wish. An appliance garage is a perfect way to access appliances easily while getting rid of countertop clutter.

Stemware Glass Holders, Wine Racks, and Lattices

If you are looking for an elegant way to arrange your stemware and bottles, Eclectic-ware has Omega-National holders, racks, lattices, and display cases for you. Suppose you are redesigning your own kitchen and are looking to add some space-saving plus decorative touches. In that case, you may want to consider installing a combination stemware hanging glass holder with a diamond wine rack lattice above your sink. These can save your cabinet and countertop space. These Omega-National products come sanded and unfinished; this way, you can paint them to match your decorative needs. They are in the best condition to coat, stain, glaze, or paint. They can even be cut down to fit your custom cabinet size. These organization features are available in oak, maple, cherry, and hickory.

Create The Perfect Space Saving Kitchen With Eclectic-ware

Take a look through our website, and you'll find that Eclectic-ware has everything you need to create a space that utilizes space that will make navigating your kitchen an enjoyable experience. We also can supply bathroom hardware, cabinet doors & drawers, lighting fixtures, knobs & pulls, shelves & brackets, and furniture hardware! Order right through our website or call us at 813-633-7544 for phone ordering or if you have any questions.

LED G4 Replacement for Halogen G4 Bulbs

John W. Wagonis — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 23:11:00 GMT

We have been asked this question quite a bit over the years:

Can I replace my halogen bulbs with LED bulbs?

Well, we are going to answer that question. In depth.

Low voltage Halogen under cabinet spotlights have been popular since the early 1990's. And back then, that was all that existed. They were commonly called puck lights because they had the shape of a hockey puck. Yet they were much smaller. Most were only 2-1/2 to about 3" in diameter. They were not overbearing, they were meant to add focused light onto your countertops, or to accent objects on your counters. Many were used inside upper cabinets with glass doors to allow the light to shine inside to highlight plates, vases, and other objects you wanted to display within your cabinets.

So under cabinet halogen spotlights were used for:

Adding focused light to your countertops
Providing accent light for countertops and backsplashes
Interior cabinet lighting, to include living room built ins
As lighting around bathroom mirrors
And very much so as ceiling lights in boat cabins

G4 LED Replacement History

Approximately 11 to 12 years ago, there was this halogen substitute called an "LED pin." It should had been called an LED wafer since it was flat and most were around 1-1/2" in diameter. They did vary in size, and varied a little in intensity. Some were just a half watt, and others might have gone as high as two watts. We never offered any. At that time, we sold only Hera Lighting brand lighting products. Hera never made an LED pin, nor did they endorse any. Hera was starting to produce real LED lights. Not halogen lights converted to LED. So this was not a favored approach to convert halogen to LED. And these LED pins did not fit too well inside the small halogen lights. Many prevented the ring and lens to be placed back on the light. Most were very difficult to slide in sideways due to their size. And the majority that were 1 watt or less, just outright stunk on the light output. They were nowhere near the intensity of halogen. Kind of a failed experiment.

So for years, we advised against using LED pins and that it was best to just upgrade to real LED lights. LED lights were more expensive than their halogen counterparts. It was newer technology, they do cost more to make, but they also last longer. All of Hera's LED lights are rated for 50,000 hours. Thus, no bulbs to change. The LED lights that we offer from Hafele at more attractive pricing are rated for 30,000 hours useful life. And most of those are priced about the same or less than what the halogen lights were. Lot's of cost savings with the Hafele Loox LED lights. Additonal cost savings include:

LED lights are lower wattage, they use less energy
LED lights are cooler, some are warm, but not hot like halogen, they do not increase your AC bill
Real LED lights do not have changeable bulbs, thus no bulb expense, very long life
And since they are lower wattage, more LED lights can run from one LED power driver, less transformers to buy

[image:image-0]So we feel, the LED pin was a failed experiment. As technology continued to expand, so did solutions. We went to Home Depot to see if G4 halogen bulbs were even still available. Hera discontinued everything halogen in August, 2015. All lights and parts for the lights, including bulbs, were no longer made and offered from Hera. We have been slowly selling off the overstock over these last many years and just recently sold the last of our G4 halogen bulbs in 10 watt and 20 watt. It is important to us to continue to help our customers, so we wanted to see what Home Depot had. And they did have them. But something else caught our eye too. They had an LED bulb with the G4 socket. What G4 represents is that the bulb is bi-pin. Thus the two little pins that push into the socket. The 4 means the pins are 4mm apart. So when you go bulb hunting and see G6 and G8, those will NOT fit in the G4 sockets that Hera used. You must get a G4 bi-pin bulb to fit in the Hera halogen lights. This is true of Tresco, Mepla, and other companies that made under cabinet lighting, and used G4 bulbs. But back to the sparkling little G4 LED bulb that jumped off the shelf and right into my hand. A nicely sized LED bulb to take the place of the glass halogen bulb. I did buy one, so I could write this blog post and offer more helpful info. This is the packaging of the bulb I bought. On the front of the package it clearly says G4. It implies it is the substitute for a 20 watt halogen. Yet at 2.5 watts and being 12 volt, it will NOT be as bright as what you use to have with your 20 watt halogen. A 20 watt halogen bulb is usually about 300 lumen. This bulb is 225 lumen. So it will be bright, but a little less bright than the halogen. The front of the package does say 12v, and the estimated life is approx. 10,000 hours. In comparison, the economy halogen bulbs that we use to offer were rated for 1000 hours. The premium halogen bulbs were rated for 4000 hours. And we did have a Xelogen bulb (a Xenon bulb to use in place of halogen), those had ratings of 10,000 or even 20,000 hours. That was a great bulb and we miss that one. But this $7 LED bulb from Home Depot is rated for 10,000 hours. The back of the package estimates a 9.1 year lifespan when used only 3 hours a day. That sounds right to us. At that rate, they are also estimating your annual energy cost of using this bulb 3 hours a day to be about 30 cents. Can't do that with halogen. To be more realistic though, if you have this bulb on 6 to 8 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week, expect that it will last 4 to 5 years, but still cost you under $1 a year to run it.

[image:image-1]We are not selling this bulb. You can run to Home Depot and grab them for just under $7 each. We have not sourced them. But we did test fit one into a halogen light socket that we still had. This is the Feit Electric bulb inside a Hera E1 light. It fits, and fits nicely. It was also extremely easy to push in and pull out. The entire LED bulb seems to be in a clear rubber boot. It feels spongy and was easy to hold. Unlike halogen bulbs where you need to wear gloves or hold them with a paper towel because you are not supposed to touch the glass. With the LED bulb, just hold it with clean fingers. We took some measurements too. The halogen bulb which we show together with the LED bulb at the top of this blog post measures:

.35 inches pin length
.92 inches glass length
.32 inches glass diameter

The G4 LED bulb measures:

.37 inches pin length
1.03 inches bulb chassis length (just 1/10 of an inch longer)
.35 x .49 bulb girth, this bulb is not 100% round, it lays in the light on its flat side.

Thus, the two bulbs are extremely similar in size. You can see that the LED bulb is 1/10th of an inch longer, and just a bit wider on its width. But it fits, far better than the LED pins from a dozen years ago. You can also see the small circuitry in the LED bulb. I would suspect that these are "soft start." Which means when you flip the switch, there is a tiny delay for them to come on, sometimes up to 2 seconds. Many LED lights are like that. It is a feature meant to extend their life. Few seldom flash on. Those that do are cheaper and will not last as long.

Now a word of caution

If you are choosing to use this or any similar G4 LED bulb as a substitute for halogen lights, we have two things to say about that. First, if using these on a boat or motorhome, thus running your lights directly from your 12Vdc, they should work as expected. The package does say dimmable on it. So if you have your lights set up on a dimmer, that should work just fine too. But we have not tested it. As with anything, when you need to test it, but one or two bulbs first, see how they work, then go from there.

Secondly, if your lights are in a home or office, thus operating from the Hera 12v halogen transformers, here is your word of warning. Hera has told us that their 60 watt 12v transformers require a 10 watt minimum load to perform properly. They can work with less than 10 watts on them, but they might buzz or worse, flicker. Each transformer seems to behave differently. Many people have encountered no problems, but many have been ready to chuck their lights out the window. So in most 20 watt light applications, you will have 2 or 3 halogen lights on a 60 watt transformer. If you have the Hera UK120TW transformer, true that it is a 120 watt transformer, but better said as a dual 60 watt since each terminal block supports only 60 watts and has the same 10 watt minimum load on each side. So, if you replace 20 watt bulbs with this 2.5 watt bulb, for two bulbs you are at 5 watts, for 3 you would be at 7.5 watts. You could encounter a hissy fit with your halogen transformer. If you encounter a blinking effect, the transformer is turning on, sensing not enough load, turning off, turning back on to try again, and repeating that annoying cycle. If you get a light buzzing sound and the lights come on, you could then use the transformer for as long as it lasts. You most likely will not hear the buzz when you don't have your head close to the transformer. But that irritation will limit the life of the transformer. How many more years you might get out of it is hard to say. We just want you to be aware of this.

Which leads us up to a real LED light solution

We have never promoted replacing halogen bulbs with LED bulbs in a halogen fixture. Mostly because we did not know about this bulb. So we are not endorsing this bulb, we are just informing you about it. Try it at your own choice. What we do endorse is replacing your older halogen lights with real LED lights. And we have a nice selection. Within our website, we invite you to explore these web pages: (short explanations on each)

Loox 2020 3.2 watt 12 volt LED light - by far the best light to use on boats. Good for the home too. Looks a lot like the Hera E1 light. Will fit into the same recessed hole. Has an IP44 water resistance rating, light is sealed.
Loox 2047 3 watt 12 volt LED light - an economical solution for upgrading from halogen to LED. Fits into the same recessed hole as the Hera E1, EH11, KB12 and old KH12 lights.
Loox 2039 2.5 watt 12 volt LED light - a superior solution for lights on boats, but it is more of the equivalent of a 10 watt halogen. For accent lighting, it is ideal. But it is not a bright work light. It has an extremely high water resistance rating.
Loox 3038 3 watt 24 volt LED light - this is the way to go when changing out the halogen lights in your home. The 24 volt will offer a closer brightness to what you had with the halogen. Fits in the same holes as the E1, EH11, KB12, and KH12.
Hera R55-LED 3 watt 24 volt LED light - this is Hera's top choice for under cabinet kitchen lighting. Near the same power as a 20 watt halogen. Rated for 50,000 hours. But the friction fit clips are designed for a 2-1/4" bore hole. If attempting to fit them into the 2-1/8" hole, it is a hard fit. A little trimming may be needed, or you have to increase your hole size. So not an easy retrofit like the 4 Loox lights we mentioned above it.

Design Assistance

We can help you with retrofitting halogen lights to LED lights. We are not coming to your house, all help will be over the phone or via e-mail. Or by reading many of the notes we have added to various web pages. But we can help. You will have to hunt down the hiding spot of your existing halogen transformers. Clever cabinet makers seem to try to hide them from the homeowner. On a boat, you probably will have zero transformers. But in your home, you will have 1, 2, or 3 of the 20 watt lights fed from a 60 watt transformer. If you have 10 watt halogen lights, which are much dimmer, you could have up to six attached to a 60 watt transformer. And you might have a dozen or more lights in your kitchen or built-in living room furniture. You also may have zones, thus these 3 lights over here are controlled separately from those 5 lights over there. Sometimes with your zones, you cannot string wires across the room. Thus, you can set up your LED lights in a similar zone pattern. But one of the really nice thing about LED lights is you can attach many more lights to one LED power driver. The Loox 2020 LED light for example, you can connect up to 6 of them to one 20 watt driver. With the aid of terminal block extenders, you can actually connect up to 18 lights onto one 60 watt LED driver. And the Loox LED lights are lower priced than what many of the premium Hera halogen lights were priced at. Now is actually a good time to ditch halogen for LED. And LED lights are not harsh. You have choices of 3000K, 4000K, and 5000K. The 3000K is more like the warm look of halogen. Most people seem to favor that. If you are displaying clear crystal or glasswear, consider the 5000K.

Whenever you have questions or need help with a new lighting set up or retrofitting what you have, you can call or e-mail us for help. We hope that you will consider our products. Between Hera and Hafele, we have some really nice lighting. Linear lighting too.

We hope this information about this G4 LED bulb was helpful. As well as all the other rambling. We do not open our blog posts for comments. But if you have comments, there is an e-mail link one paragraph up. We are not going to post comments, but if some contain additional helpful information, we can add on to a blog post.

Priority Mail Shipping to Hawaii

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 10 May 2020 22:12:00 GMT

What is the best way to ship a package to Hawaii?

For small to modest size boxes, the answer is Priority Mail 98 times out of 100.

Throughout this blog post, we will continue to say Hawaii, because it is easier, and more of our orders are shipped to Hawaii vs. Alaska, PR, USVI, GU, and any other territory with a US Zip Code. We will however be referring to all these territories equally. The US Postal Service has a tiered ZONE rate chart. We are based in Florida. When we ship Priority Mail to California, Nevada, Oregon, or Alaska and Hawaii, it costs the same. Pretty cool, huh? We cannot say the same thing about UPS or FedEx. When using those services to ship outside of the continental 48 States, the rates go up a lot. But Priority Mail does not discriminate. Nor does the mail add on a residential surcharge or a fuel surcharge. As of May, 2020, to use current rates, if we ship the Small Flat Rate Box anywhere in the US, it costs $8.30. Whatever can fit into it, which is not a lot, costs only $8.30 to ship. The Medium Flat Rate which can hold quite a bit is $15.05.

Examples of shipping costs:

Not everything is about Flat Rate, although we will always use the Flat Rate Boxes when they save money. It is best to convey shipping cost info by example. So here is our first example. We sell ceramic bathroom hardware. One of the items is a recessed soap dish. It weighs just under 3 pounds, but when packed, it weighs over 3 pounds. So it ships at the 4 pound rate. This item can fit in the Medium Flat Rate box with enough padding to protect it. So here is what we do when we receive an order for a quantity of one. If shipping to Hawaii and all the other western states, we will use the Medium Flat Rate box to send it for $15.05. The normal 4# rate to Hawaii is $23.15. So that is a good savings. If we need to ship it IA, KS, NE and other midwest states west of the Mississippi, we will still use that box, because 4# rate would be $17.25 if not. But if it is going to PA, OH, KY, etc, that is considered zone 5, and zone 5 for 4# is only $13.95. So we would not use that box because it costs more. Thus, there is a balancing act. And we do choose the lowest cost option to save you money.

Example two: A Stylish 700 Series towel bar also when packed is just over 3 pounds, so again it ships at the 4# rate. And this will be sent in a 24" long box. Thus, no way to fit it in any of the flat rate boxes. So 4# to Hawaii would be $23.15 to ship. Four pounds to the USVI would be $17.25 to ship. UPS Ground to Hawaii, yes that may sound funny 'Ground,' but that is what the service is called, would cost about $56 to ship to Honolulu. If delivery to a more remote section of Hawaii, it could suffer surcharges from $6 to $50 more. So I think you see that Priority Mail to Hawaii is a good deal. Also, that towel bar packed in a 24x6x5 box ends up being a 6# dimensional weight with UPS. The postal service does not apply dimensional rates until the package is greater than one cubic foot. They are more generous in that respect too.

What if something is really heavy?

Good question. We do offer a lot of steel, brass, bronze, and stainless steel cabinet handles. All very heavy metals. The handles that are small enough can ship in the Small, Medium, or Large Flat Rate boxes to save money. Even the Padded Flat Rate Envelope too. We have been shipping 8 to 12 pound boxes tucked inside the Padded Flat Rate Envelope for $8.40 plus insurance coverage to any US zip code. So boxes that would cost us $20 to $28 to ship with UPS, the post office is delivering for $8.40. And that means Hawaii too.

Not all handles can fit into these boxes. Some of our longer handles from Siro Designs or the custom made stainless steel bar handles from Arthur Harris are too big to fit. So that slogan from the post office, "If It Fits It Ships" is only nice for the items that actually do fit. If you are looking to order a kitchen slide out trash can, sorry, something like that would never fit. And sadly it is extremely expensive to ship off the continent. Dimensional rate pricing applies big time on a box like that.

What about UPS, FedEx, and the others?

Great services with great options, especially within the continental US or to Canada. Thus for Standard Shipping within the United States we would like to refer you to a more indepth article written about that. These services do deliver to Hawaii. We feel that the post office does an exceptional job to Hawaii. And Alaska, Guam, PR, USVI. Anywhere with a US zip code.

Summary

When we ship to Hawaii and other states and territories, our goal is absolutely to save you money on shipping. We do not own stock with UPS or the Post Office. We utilize the best option for shipping for all packages. Priority Mail comes automatically with $50 insurance coverage and tracking. We can insure boxes more to cover higher value, and we do. If we are shipping $800 in Hera Lighting to Hawaii, it will have $800 insurance on the box. To cover against damage and loss both. And we are happy to say, we may incur about 5 to 7 packages a year encountering damage through the post office. And I believe in 19 years time, maybe ten boxes actually became lost. That is pretty darn impressive. In fair play, we will also say that UPS has lost very few of our shipments, maybe a dozen in our 19 years. But damage counts with UPS are sadly noticeably higher. Approx. 3/4 of a percent of the boxes we have shipped have been damaged. So yes, less than 1%. Pretty good considering the high volume of bubble wrap that we use.

We have heard stories about expensive shipping to Hawaii. Some companies will not use the US Postal Service. We will. We use it to ship out of the country also. And Flat Rate Boxes are used Internationally too with some nice rates.

Guest Blogging on Eclectic-ware

John W. Wagonis — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 14:03:00 GMT

Guest Blogging is the SEO rage

Why are we writing these tiny bits of information all over websites around the world? Primarily for two reasons. 1) to help those whom are reading them. Good, relevant, helpful info to teach or inform about a product, service, or how to perform a task yourself. And 2) to bring people to our own websites. And for number 2, that is two-fold. With the greater number of relevant backlinks that you have to your website, the more horsepower you get from Google. But let's not forget about the blog itself. If it was helpful and informative, as well as inspiring, the reader is destined to follow one or more of the links to find more of what he wants (without even going back to Google).

SEO companies all over the world want to promise you links. Eclectic-ware is not an SEO company. We sell cabinet and bathroom hardware. We are just trying to promote our own SEO. And of course a great way to do that is to get info about us on other websites across the United States and other world countries, mostly the English speaking countries, and then bring people to our website - to help them with cabinet and bathroom hardware.

Guest Posting

We are open to guest posting, both directions. If you would like to write a short or long blog post for our website and include a link or two out to your website, sounds good. BUT! We play by the rules. This is not going to be an open forum for just anyone to write about anything just to hop up a few backlinks for themself. Blog posts will not just be automatically thrown into our blog. They will be reviewed, and they have to be RELEVANT. There are a ton of cheap ass SEO companies out there that do not understand RELEVANCE.

And, if you like our writing style and would like us to write a relevant blog post for your website, this can be done too. We of course would like to merge in a paragragh about how one of our products relates, and add a link to that product page. Without it sounding like a commercial.

Thus, the rules: Guest Blogging on our site

If you would like to write something for our site, it would need to be professional, and related to home improvement obviously. Cooking articles, info about clothing, automotive related, or your child's science project are NOT relevant. Unless the science project was redesigning your kitchen. Don't request or bother us with unrelated gibberish. And if you are one of those cheap ass SEO companies, go somewhere else. We are opening the door to people who want to write, who want to share something about what they do that is related, and those who would like to earn a backlink back to their site. Their website also should not be in direct competition with ours. If you are selling Hera Lighting or any of the other products that we offer, and are trying to bring our customers to your site, that is not fair play. Nor would we do that to you.

The blog posts we are referring to would be something along the lines of: a) I'm a tile setter and can offer info about how to install a ceramic soap dish. b) I just built beautiful cabinetry for my living room and I used LED spotlights behind the glass front doors and this is how I did it. c) I make wood furniture and use similar products and want to bring people to my website to sell my furniture. d) I'm an electrician and I can tell people how to install cabinet lighting, and I am for hire. Get the idea? Related topics, related contractors, related products, but not in direct competition with the brands we sell. (In cooperation with the brands we sell, that helps both of us.)

Your blog or article should be well written in English. Not choppy incomplete sentences. Grammar should be good. Think about. Look at how reads this. Would you decipher through snetences that look like this? Speling errors and uh sentences backwards they are and lacko cammas, and other crap - We don't want! This is why we will review blog submissions first, and it is at our discretion to decline anything that is not a good fit. How to and informative blogs are not fiction, so we are not looking for prose. You can get a feel for how I write by just looking at my blog submissions and my web pages that offer a lot of helpful info about our products.

Links back to your site: You can place in bold which anchor text you would like as a link and let us know the URL to link to. You can have two or three links if you like. Sometimes a topic hits on a related sub topic and that is okay. And whether it is one, two, or three links back to the same domain, but to various pages, Google will count that as only one backlink from our domain. But, you will still get the exposure from the anchor text, and the relevant page, and it all revolves around the subject of the paragraph it is in. If you captured your reader's attention, that is great. Forget about Google, get them interested in what you wrote and let them follow that link right back to you. If you have a graphic or two that you would like included, that is good to do also.

The Reciprocal part of this:
After you write that nice blog for us, write another very similar for yourself, hitting on a product or two of ours that is related to your first blog, and give us a link back. We are in this to help each other. Do not copy that first blog word for word and post it in two places. That is also a sign of the cheap SEO tactics. Write a second fresh blog but in a flattering way to us in how our products did or could participate in what you do. Make sense?

Us Guest Blogging for you

I do like to write. I do not always have a lot of time to do so, but I am pretty quick when I can get to it. I do have a lot of experiences, yet the blog posts I should be writing should be related to kitchens, bathrooms, custom furniture, home improvement, maybe even yard projects since I have done most of my own myself. I am skilled with many power tools, yet I am not a licensed contractor. I am cautious with my advice. Most of my knowledge is from my dad and my neighbors when I was growing up, and then my own skillset that I perfected by just trying things on my own. Recently, I added a two-tier metal roof to my carport. Never built a roof before, thought it would be fun, drew it out, ordered all the products, went to work. It coincides with the other oriental themed structures on our property, and closely matches to our house roof (in color and shape).

Since what I would primarily write about would in some way relate to one of the products on my website, I of course would be looking to slip in that one or second link back to Eclectic-ware to get that beloved link juice. And then of course this should work the same way. If you would want me to also write a second post, something related to your 'related' site, a follow up to the blog I just wrote, I can do so and get the link posted back to your site from my site.

Cooperation

That is what guest posting and link building is about. We are cooperating with each other to benefit ourselves, AND the readers of our posts. Do not forget about whom we are writing for. If a blog cannot help someone, keep it off the net. It is just a waste of space. And a waste of time. Irritating readers would become like a thick newspaper. Newspapers in the early to mid 1900's were read. As soon as they became fat and were filled with 60% or more of ads, they became less read. I get magazine companies offering free subscriptions to their magazines all the time. Why would I want to look at 60 pages of the same ads from the previous month just to find 10 pages of articles in between, and then be irritated because maybe two pages of articles actually were worth something. Glad I didn't pay for that. Right? We all think the same thing.

Relevance, relevance, relevance. If our products, services, or stories are not related in some way, do not bother. Our goal together needs to be to benefit each other ... and our readers. You can use our contact form to send us a quick request and mini-outline of what you would like to do, or see from us. Or you can just e-mail us. SEO companies be warned, this is not an invitation to you. Do not harass me or try to game the system.

Coronavirus Covid-19 Update and Status

John W. Wagonis — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 23:40:00 GMT

Coronavirus Covid-19 information

We are not a health provider or associated with any health organization. But since several of our manufacturers have put out statements about the Covid-19 pandemic and alerted us to their plan, it seems appropriate for us to inform our customers of our plan.

Our semi-daily updates follow at the end of this blog.

About Eclectic-ware's status

We plan to continue operations, ship orders, and pretty much conduct business as usual. But staying alert of all the health news, and abiding by any requests of the CDC or WHO pertaining to small businesses. Our business is a home based office. We pretty much have no physical interaction with the public. We do not have a showroom, and we do not have foot traffic coming to our office. The UPS driver picks up daily. And we take our smaller lightweight packages to the post office on Mondays and Thursdays. So our public contact is already at a minimum just due to how we have always conducted business. We will be diligent when out in public and conscious of our behavior and that of others.

About our Customers

If you need updated info about the Coronavirus, here are a few things you SHOULD do. Definitely inform yourself.

You can go to Google and type in "Coronavirus update". A red banner comes up at the top of the screen to bring your attention to all the news stories about it. After that, Google lists links for the CDC and WHO. Those are the websites that will have the most up to date data.
You can also turn on your local news or CNN. This pretty much is what the whole world is talking about right now. And the news can give you some very valuable information. Information that can save your life as well as the lives of the people close to you. Watch the news and listen to their tips.
Be cautious about social media updates. Some will be valid and helpful. But some will arise to stir chaos and increase panic. So be a bit careful about what you read and share on social media. When unsure, turn on the news or check in on the CDC website.

Some tips to help us all

Everyone is telling you to wash your hands. Not just your mother, but everyone on every news station. Most are saying to wash your hands for 20 seconds or longer.
But how do you wash your hands? We have all seen people in public restrooms who place their hands under running water for a few seconds, don't use soap, and then just dry them. THAT IS NOT WASHING YOUR HANDS. That is sprinkling water on your skin. For those of us who have watched MASH, we have seen those doctors scrub from their elbows to their fingertips and take several minutes to do so. We do not need to be that extreme.
When you do wash your hands, scrub the tops, insides, finger tips, between the fingers, wrists, and if you have longer nails, attempt to wash under your nails. Or keep them cut shorter for now.
Probably a good idea to change your hand towel every few days instead of leaving it out for a few weeks.
Always wash your hands before preparing food or eating, or immediately after touching any dirty or uncertain surfaces. I wash mine after dragging the trash can back to the house. The can is generally clean, but there is pollen on it, the garbage truck touched parts of the can, and who knows what bird flew over and peed on the can handle. Wash your hands OFTEN.
Consider washing your face too. Wash your hands first, well. Then wash your face. It is more work, but it is smart.

Coughing and Sneezing:

Yes, cover your mouth. Cough into your elbow. We are going to get tired of hearing it, but it needs to be said until everbody gets it. How many of us see people all the time, and childern, who just blurt out a cough or sneeze across the room without any care for the rest of us? It's pretty sick that some people have incredibly BAD manners. So from here forward in life, learn some good manners and cover your coughs and sneezes. It is only proper conduct. Behave properly.

Let's consider a few things that I do not hear the news saying yet!

When you cough into your elbow or shoulder instead of your hand, I think most of us press our face into our elbow or shoulder. Well, we are being told not to touch our face, especially our eyes, nose, and mouth. If you sneeze a second time into your elbow, you just touched your face. We might need to consider washing the insides of our elbows a couple times a day.
Also, when you cough or sneeze into your elbow, and then later CROSS YOUR ARMS, your hands just touched the insides of your elbows. That is pretty much the same thing as sneezing into your hand. So the emphasis of washing your hands often, multiple times a day, is really damn good advice.
The news is telling us to refrain from shaking hands. Good plan. There is no rule in business or life that we must greet someone with a hand shake. Wave, bow, claspe your hands, elbow bump, foot bump if you have good balance, or just nod. Various cultures greet in various ways - that do not involve touching. Maybe bowing should become a world custom. Don't be French right now, no kissing on the cheeks. We can all have a big hug in a couple of months after we beat this thing.

Distance between us
I am in line at the post office, grocery store, or other stores, and the person behind me in line needs to stand right on my ass. Why? I'm usually afraid that they are after my wallet. Why do people think they need to stand on top of someone? Newsflash, it does not make the line shorter. Physcially shorter in length, but not shorter to the checkout. So back up. We should always be leaving a few feet between us. And now, we need to add a few more feet to that. Current recommendation is to leave 6 feet between people. That might not always be feasible, but do try to leave some space between you and the next person. And cover your coughs and sneezes. Don't aim them at others.

When practicing Yoga or a martial art, you have space between you and the next person to keep from kicking them in the head. Restaurants may need to remove a few tables right now to have more space between tables. We know how crammed dining rooms generally are. Those with fixed booths obviously will not be able to remove a booth, but maybe they can seat every other booth when not busy instead of cramming people together.

The Future

We make the future happen. We can make it a good one, or we can incur the wrath of this ugly virus. A virus that has claimed a lot of lives already. I read up on the Spanish Flu of 1918-19. That was an H1N1 virus. It affected 500 million people worldwide, and sadly, most reports say approx. 50 million people died. One out of every ten people who had it, died. Times were much different then. Medical testing and technology was in its infant stages. We are much more advanced right now. Let's use our heads and be safe. Many of us are going to have to go through this self quarantine thing. It is going to suck. It is going to suck more for those who actually catch the virus. It will be important for all of us to have compassion and to obey the recommended rules right now.

Dr. Fauci is telling us about the Curve. We can choose to conduct our lives as normal, go out, touch everyone and everything, and all get sick. Or we can take a few weeks off from going out and touching everyone and everything, and make this thing fall flat. It could affect 50% of our population, or we all can do our part and keep it well below 1% of the population, far below 1%.

So keep your hands clean, keep them to yourself, keep them off your face. Wash your hands, elbows, and face more often than normal. Don't let people breathe on you or spray you with their uncovered mouth, and make sure you do not do that to others. Stay informed, watch the news and listen to the tips from the experts. Who is smarter, this virus, or us? We need to beat it and we need to show it that we will win.

March 20th, 2020

This past week we heard a lot more horror and saw numbers jump in the United States dramatically. Our hearts go out to those who have lost someone. Please do what you can to keep yourself and your families safe. The spread of this virus can become under our control if we listen to our local governments and the news. We have to space ourselves apart and be careful about the things we touch, including our faces. For those who have now been ordered to shelter in, it will be frustrating. But a few weeks or a couple of months of us trying to win against this virus is important. It will not be easy, no one is saying it will be. And it really does suck, but we cannot go out in public and either catch it or spread it. We all want to do the right thing. And the right thing will be maddening, but please bear with it.

March 23, 2020

We had our first vendor announce today that they will be shut down approx. till April 14th by declaration of the Michigan governor asking people to shelter in place. Another company in Illinois has not been able to return our e-mails for a few days now, we suspect they have been asked to do the same. We do stock a lot of our mainstream products, but many are custom, or just ordered as required. We will continue to operate as normal as possible up until any such order is issued in Florida. So most shipments are commencing at normal speeds still as of today.

PLEASE CONTINUE to head the warnings of health officials on the news. Their goal is to help us. Our goal should be to help us also. And I was just thinking this past weekend as I was raking leaves: Many of us complain about not having enough time around the house to get things done. So if you are sheltering in, that doesn't mean you can't go outside. Get some stuff done around the house. Paint a bedroom, clean the garage, clean the whole house. Let's use the time productively and when the height of this pandemic passes the hump, many of us will be ready to go back to work. We have an opportunity to make something from this - while being safe. Don't invite all the neighborhood kids over for a pool party, that would be stupid. But do grab a broom and stay busy. It may sound weird, but the way to help others right now is to stay away from others.

The numbers the news is showing us will look really bad next week. Tens of thousands are being affected quite rapidly. It is the numbers we will be seeing 2, 3, 4 weeks from now that will start to look better. IF WE ALL DO OUR PART.

March 25, 2020

Many State Governors have issued Stay At Home statewide orders (requests). Thus, a few of our manufacturers are caught up in that, so there can be some products that will encounter several week delays on custom made products. Some mainstream products too. Florida has not issued a statewide order. And we will keep shipping stock orders and set up direct ships for manufacturers who are still up and running.

Business is extremely slow, as expected. Everyone's focus should be on taking care of him or herself and your families. Watch the news, try your best not to be depressed or discouraged by it. All the experts are agreeing that the numbers will become far worse. That is the curve. Now the numbers can become just a bit worse or drastically worse, that is up to us. Staying at home 100% of the time or near 100% is going to help everyone. There are 329 million Americans who do not have this thing, let's try to keep it that way. Listen to the advisories for conducting yourself in public when you are out buying groceries. And just do not go out unless it is absolutely necessary. Again, it doesn't mean LOCK yourself in your house. You can still walk around the block, go in your backyard, and go to the store. Just don't play sports with the neighborhood kids, no Twister games, no pool parties, refrain from having our normal fun. It will return, just don't push it too soon.

March 29, 2020

Sadly, we were optimistic about hearing better news by now. We offer our condolences to those who have lost someone they loved. More of us are starting to understand the seriousness of this. As Andrew Cuomo has told us, the density of population is a HUGE factor in the spread of Covid-19. And social distancing and limiting your exposure in public MUST HAPPEN. The Florida Spring break crowd heading home to most of the Midwest and Northeast states is not going to help those states. It is possible to have this virus for 1 to 14 days before you show any signs of having it. If you think, 'I am not sick,' how do you really know? And if you are thinking can I get sick if I go out? YES, you can.

I saw something on Friday. I went to Sam's Club for supplies. I generally grab a cart from the lot and walk up to the store with it. I noticed someone else did the same. This person leaned on the cart with both of his forearms stretched across the cart handle. The lazi-man's walk. Instead of standing up straight, you are using the cart as a walker with your forearms. That cart handle was not wiped down yet from the previous person who left it in the lot. And even if that person goes in the store or home and washes his hands, is he going to wash his forearms? Cough into your elbow? His nose and eyes are going to touch his forearm. How is that being cautious. Touch the shopping carts only with your hands. And until you can find a place to wash your hands, keep them off your face. If you have an itch, let it itch. Keep your hands off your face.

Our county just issued a "Safer at Home order." Similar to the stay at home, but not really making anyone stay at home. Our state has not issued a statewide order like California, NY, and other states. There are millions of people who have been staying at home for a month now. Most of them have not worked their jobs. People are becoming cooped up and want to get out. Give it more time! It is important. Holidays can be celebrated later. Our public gatherings, sports, and social events will return. But wait it out. Find some ways to amuse yourself at home. There are over 30,000 people worldwide who have died. And this sucker is just ramping up in the US. Please, whether you have been told to stay at home or not, do so. Only necessary trips to the store. Keep your distance from people. And keep your hands off your face. That is the main way people are getting sick. Rubbing your eyes, nose, and mouth with the contamination on your hands. Stay Safer!

April 3, 2020

Much has happened in the last few days. Florida finally issued a statewide stay at home order. Our business is home based, so that effect is so minimal to us. Thus we are continuing operations. A few of our manufacturers have temporarily closed due to their States' stay at home orders/requests. Some of them are also small businesses, and many are still in operation. A few are considered essential businesses, and they are still open. Many are also publishing their own Covid-19 updates through e-mail to explain how they are safeguarding their employees and customers. This is good to see. When companies and citizens abide by these social distancing and stay at home orders, it will give us a stronger hand in beating this thing.

And we need to beat it. The numbers we keep hearing day to day are very sad. None of us enjoys hearing about thousands of people dieing. It is our current reality and we need to deal with it the best we can.

Many States have set up help lines for consuling. Call them if you believe you need help. Call them if someone told you that you can use some help. E-mail or text your friends. We are allowed to stay in communication with everyone we know. We just need to be patient about seeing these people in person. Can we do that? Can we be patient? We really need to try.

Look at how Facebook many years ago took many of us away from seeing people in person and just communicating via that platform. We instantly shared pictures and stories. We kept in touch with people continents apart. Use that technology. And does anyone remember how months ago we were complaining about people in restaurants sitting at the same table, and all or most would have their faces glued to their smartphone and weren't really interacting with one another? Or people sit at home in their living rooms with the TV on, but they are on their individual phone or Ipad and not conversing with anyone in the room? Remember that. People were already 'mentally social distancing.' So we should have a bit of practice with that already.

Do your part. Stay at home and save lives. It will be for only a short period. Yes the period seems to keep getting longer only because we did not do it diligently enough yet. As soon as we are diligent, the curve will flatten. The sooner it flattens and then goes completely flat, the sooner we can get back out there. Then we can complain about the long lines at restaurants once again. Let's bring back the good ole days of waiting for the little buzzer to go off to let us know that we finally get a table after waiting outside for an hour. We will be shoulder to shoulder again. That will return. Please be patient with it.

April 9, 2020

We are still chugging along and shipping orders. Most of our manufacturers are still open and shipping too. Only a few are caught up in the Stay at Home orders. And today I just want to offer two statements of advice for everyone:

Listen to Dr. Fauci
Listen to Governor Cuomo

April 10, 2020

Please play it safe this Easter weekend. Stay at home to be safe. Sounds like a rerun, and being cooped up as the weather turns nice doesn't mean you have to stay in your house with the windows closed up. We are allowed to go for walks, we can go for bikerides. We just are not supposed to line up side by side on our bikes and risk the health of others. Ride with someone, but keep some distance between you, WHILE watching for cars coming up on you. Let's prove how much we can think about our safety in all kinds of aspects of life. We have to refrain from playing ball and all jumping in the neighbor's swimming pool together. But there is a lot we can still do. There are a lot of movies to catch up on. There's probably a mess in the basement to clean up. Let's use the time wisely, and try to throw whatever fun you can into it. Dress up in your halloween costumes and post images on-line. Get a little crazy. Make people laugh. We only have weeks to go to slow this way down. AND THEN just a little bit more time to beat it into nothing. Do not rush going back to normal....

April 20, 2020

Please be smart and safe. Now is not the time to rush things open. Now is not the time to underestimate this virus. Now is not the time to ride piggy-back on your friend. Let's be a bit more patient. Yes, it is not easy. Many people have been told to stay at home or unemployed for well over a month. But just keep one major thought in mind: We have been shy on medical supplies, masks, gowns, face shields, gloves; thousands of police officers and medics have caught this virus from the public they are tending to; some police officers and medics have lost their lives; the economy has been hit hard; so with that long thought in mind, do you want this thing to rebound?

May 3, 2020

This will be our last update to this Coronavirus blog. Much of America is returning to work. There are mixed opinions about it. Some think it is being rushed, some think it is being rushed foolishly. There are communities that are lesser impacted, and there are some that are getting past the curve and on the way to recovery.

Today, I saw this quote in the news from Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce. It is in regard to the mandatory order to wear face masks when visiting businesses, and then the order being recinded 24 hours later due to threats of violence to store employees:

"To the people who resort to threats and intimidation when asked to take a simple step to protect your community: shame on you. Our freedom as Americans comes with responsibilities, too," the mayor tweeted. "We must find common ground and work together to deal with the circumstances our society is facing. Whether or not we agree on the details, we have to find ways to cooperate in the task before us."

Just like to emphasize the part ... Our freedom as Americans comes with responsibilities, too.

There has been enough on TV and other media to show us that we are all in this together, and we all need to do only a small part for the benefit of others, and ourselves. Wear a face mask. You can take it off while driving, and you do not need it at home. But when you visit a business, out of respect to others, and respect to the Freedom we take for granted in America, wear the damn mask when inside a store or restaurant. Or movie theater, bowling alley, etc. It is a simple thing to do, and it will put a big CLAMP on wave #2 of this crap when it comes back around.

Where can I get Adjustable CTC cabinet pulls

John W. Wagonis — Sat, 07 Mar 2020 01:07:00 GMT

I'm trying to find cabinet handles to fit my 3-1/4" screw holes. Or my 2-3/4" screw holes. Or 5-1/16", etc. etc.

In 19 years time, if we had a nickel for every time we heard this phrase, we probably would have about $200 by now. It is a common question, generally related to customers who want to spruce up their existing kitchen cabinets with a minimal effort. Cabinet handles are a preference. When you purchase an existing house or condo, and one of the first things you say is yuk to the old handles on all the doors and drawer fronts, your first thought is to change them.

If you have one of the two most common sizes, 3" and 96mm (3-3/4"), you will have a multitude of choices. 3" ctc WAS one of the most common American sizes. And 96mm by far has been the most common European size. But before Americans started growing larger, the 2-3/4" CTC size was the most popular American size. And very very few handles today are made in that size. But we have some! Several in fact.

For a quick reference of what we do have in 2-3/4" if you are looking for that particular size, please see our Center to Center Drawer Pulls Options Page. We have outlined many measurement sizes on that page to get you to what you need. 2-3/4" is one of the star attractions.

Another star attraction is the Adjustable Center to Center handle option. On the Siro Designs stainless steel handles page, there will be three sizes to choose from. Each has its own range of screw hole centers it accommodates. The smallest works great for screw holes spaced from about 1-1/2" ctc to 3" ctc. Also called CC on the Siro pages. The next size works great for holes up to 4-1/4" ctc, and the largest for up to 5-1/2". These are two-piece cabinet pulls. The handles can be set at any size from where they look good as a minimum size up to the max. size allowed for each. So if you had screw holes that measured 4-7/8" apart or 5-1/32", you can make these handles work with ease. When the screws are tightened down, the handles lock in place, nice and tight. These three handles are made from solid stainless steel and come in a brushed stainless steel finish only. The smallest of the three is one of our most popular retrofit handle selections for that 2-3/4" size. Note how the narrow handle portion slides into the thicker barrel and leaves a tail to one side. The tails can be positioned to the left or right, or downward for a vertical mount. When used in pairs, you can alternate them. The handle size you select and your hole spacing pretty much are going to dictate the length of the tail. This is a great handle when faced with an existing screw hole size dilemma.

If the stainless steel finish is not right for you, then Siro Designs does have 3 additional finish options shown on the Metro Collection page. These three choices will have a size limit. You can set them anywhere between 2-1/2" up to 4". They come in just the one size. But they are available in black, polished chrome, and matte nickel finishes. A great choice for the smaller range center to center measurements. Same concept, handle portion slides into a round barrel, and you have a short tail. Handle and sleeve will come as a set, just as the stainless steel adjustable handles do.

Two piece handle not for you? Check this out.

We offer the incredible line of Arthur Harris stainless steel handles. These are not considered an adjustable CTC handle, but worth honorable mention here because Arthur Harris will make them in whatever size you need! Yes, you heard that right. Arthur Harris technically makes one style of handle in one finish. Theirs are solid 303 premium grade stainless steel, brought to an elegant brushed finish. It is the European Railing style handle, round bar above two round legs. BUT! Arthur Harris will make the handles from 2" up to 96" long in increments of a sixteenth of an inch. Longer handles will have 3 legs, possibly 4 if very long. The bar diameter comes in 6 sizes, from sleek up to 1" dia. for those huge heavy glass doors. They also offer a back to back mouting option, you can have a handle on opposite sides of a door. This has become popular in hotel renovation on closet doors. There are other parameters that are custom also such as length to CTC ratio, the height of the handles, even the positioning of the legs for special applications. And Arthur Harris handles, and their stainless steel knobs, are Made in the USA!

Finding new handles in a specific size is not always easy. There are popular sizes that many manufactures are agreeing upon such as 128mm CTC, 160mm CTC, 192mm and others. But when you have an oddball, something that potentially is not made any more, the adjustable CTC handles for the smaller range sizes is a good way to go. Arthur Harris is also a good choice. And in a completely brand new kitchen where you would like your rail handles to vary in size to coordinated with your doors and drawer fronts, Arthur Harris is awesome!

Whenver you have questions about your cabinet hardware needs, do let us know. The search bar on our site can help, but it finds only words and phrases we have entered into the site. It doesn't think on its own. We are happy to help however we can.

Where can I find Interior Replacement Lights for my Carver Yacht

John W. Wagonis — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 01:06:00 GMT

"I just found another light ring and broken glass lens on the floor of my boat."

Prior to 2015, when we still had ample replacement parts for Hera halogen lights, we use to have a quick and easy solution to just replace decor rings and glass lenses. Well, halogen has steadily faded away. Parts are gone. Lights are sold out. And we have no idea if any cabinet lighting manufacturers are even considering making halogen lights ever again. LED has quickly taken over the market.

And because of that, we want to inform all Carver Yacht and Formula Boats owners about LED lights that you can use to replace the 12 volt halogen lights in your cabins. Since we are a Hera Lighting distributor, and also a Hafele Loox LED lighting distributor, our focus here will be about the old Hera halogen lights. There were other brands such as Tresco and Mepla, and others that we are not familiar with. The Loox LED lights can work in lieu of those brands also.

The History:

The Hera E1 halogen light (you will see an E1 under the Hera logo on the back of the light), probably the most popular cabin light used in boats, is no more. All gone. Doubtful that you will find any anywhere. We have even purchased old inventory from other Hera distributors, and then quickly sold it out. There was, and still is, a reasonably high demand for replacement lights for the 12 volt halogens. Thus, we found a solution.

First, a few tidbits about this light. The front decor ring did come in white, black, chrome, gold, and stainless steel finishes. And there was an exclusive tan color that Hera made for Carver Yachts and Formula Boats. The tan color was never made available to retail cabinet makers. It was exclusive for these two boat manufacturers. The rings were plastic only, even in the metallic finishes. The glass lenses were mainly frosted, but clear lenses did exist too. And the lights were designed to not need venting for the heat. Thus the heat was designed to exit the light from its face. This is why the decor rings would age, and eventually crack and fall off. Then the glass lenses break on counters and floors. It is a common condition with this light. Yet, there are customers with 25-year-old E1 lights that are still working, but with no rings or lenses on them. It was a great 'economy' halogen light.

Another popular light used on Carver Yachts and Formula Boats was the Hera H11 light. Most boats would have the EH11, but the light may be stamped with only H11 on it. Same light. EH11 just represented the recessed version, AH11 was the surface mount version. Boats will predominately have a recessed light. Thus a hole is cut in your headliners or wood ceilings, and the lights mount into the holes and stick down just a small amount, approx. 3/16". The EH11 light came in white, black, chrome, or gold finishes only. It was larger than the E1. The E1 is approx. 2-9/16" in overall diameter. The EH11 was 2-15/16" in diameter. But both lights were designed to fit into a 2-1/8" hole. And that is where we are headed with our solution.

The Solution:

The Hera E1, EH11, and even the KB12 halogen lights recess into a 2-1/8" hole. The Hafele Loox LED model 2020 light will fit into the 2-1/8" hole. And it is a 12 volt LED light. So it can be powered the exact same way that your halogen lights are powered on your boat. Most likely directly from your 12 volt batteries. Each light has an attached lead wire on it which is a twin wire. You can cut the coupler off the end and then wire it directly into the twin wire on your old halogen lights. It will be a very easy retrofit.

Highlights about the Loox LED 2020 light:

12 volt LED
50,000 hour estimated lifespan
Comes in 3000K, 4000K, 5000K light color outputs
All metal construction and sealed, no rings to ever fall off again
IP44 rating, thus excellent for water resistance

The Loox 2020 LED light comes in three finishes: polished chrome, matte nickel, and matte black. White and Gold finishes are not an option. You will need to work with one of those 3 finishes when changing out your lights. Another benefit of LED is far lower power consumption. Each 2020 LED light is 3.2 watts. Your halogen lights were either 10 or 20 watt, most likely the 20 watt. So LED lights can stay on a lot longer and not kill your boat batteries at night. If you have a lot, like 30 to 80 lights as some larger boats do, that is a heck of a lot less electricity used to keep the lights on.

Additional Solutions:

There are two other models of Loox LED lights that we would like to mention. Loox model 2039 and Loox model 2047. Both are also 12 volt, so you can install them on your boat running 12 volt DC without power converters, LED drivers, or any major complications or headaches. Model 2039 are 2.5 watts each, thus a better choice if you were running 10 watt halogen lights. The brightness will be near equal and not overpowering. The model 2039 also has an IP65 water resistance rating, thus better resistance than the model 2020. If in an area of your boat that can get wet, or is exposed to vapor or steam, you may want to consider this light. Just a tiny bit more expensive, but sometimes that stronger IP rating is needed.

And then the Loox LED model 2047 light is more economically priced. It is still high quality, but that IP rating is an IP20, which means it does not have a water resistance. If your cabins stay dry and are pretty much just like a living room or kitchen in your house, no reason why you cannot use the 2047 light. It is pretty much just light your halogens that had no water resistance rating. But it is priced less, and then the "white" finish becomes an option. The model 2047 light comes in white, black, polished chrome, silver-tone (brushed silver), and then stainless steel finishes. Five choices, and all five available in 3000K, 4000K, and 5000K. So when you need a lot, like dozens of lights, and the water resistance rating is not a concern, the model 2047 is a great way to go.

Conclusion:

Products change. They come and go. None are meant to be available forever. Look at the smartphone market. A new model comes out every year, and models from 5 or more years ago somehow go out of date fast. And trying to find tech support on an old phone, or old anything goes away too. Under cabinet lighting has had its changes. Hera and others started out with halogen lighting. That's what was available in the 1990's and early 2000's. And then LED technology came into light, and continued to glow. Hera predominately has 24 volt LED lighting. Not a lot of help on boats running on 12 volt. So we are grateful that we found this exceptional Hafele Loox LED lighting. The 12 volt is a big plus. Hafele also produces the Loox lighting in 24 volt. We do show additional Loox LED light choices in that section of our website. They are great for home or office use, as well as on marine vessels.

If you have any lighting questions about what may be best for your boat, please use the Contact Us links at the top or bottom of any of our web pages. Or you can call us also.

Menu improvements for Eclectic-ware.com

John W. Wagonis — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 20:11:00 GMT

The Eclectic-ware website goes back to the year 2000. And in comparison to what it looked like then and what it looks like now, we're just gonna zoom right past that conversation. Let's just say, it is far better....

In November of 2019, after practicing with some new web authoring software for many months, and then spending from approx. February to October rewriting the majority of the web pages, we uploaded our new responsive website. We did it in-house. No company was assigned to write it for us. It's all home grown right here from Wimauma, Florida.

In comes our second level menu. When we first uploaded the new site, we had a link to every page crammed into the main menu across the screen on PC's and Laptops, and the wide screen format on tablets. The compressed Hamburger menu, (the symbol you see to the left), also had all those links in what we found out was a somewhat confusing format. All pages accessible from the same Hamburger button? Kind of felt like a highway on a smartphone with a list that dropped way below your ankles. So, some helpful advice from the Tech Support people at Website X5 suggested making the main menu far less cluttered. And adding a secondary hamburger menu - more specific to the pages or page section of the website that you are within. And that clicked. Because that is the way we had always done it in the past with our old software. But mostly with just text links, not a nice now you see me, and now you don't polite slide out menu. So we spent a few hours on this day going through each page and configuring submenus for the associated pages related only to that section.

Sections?

Our website is set up for the most part by Manufacturer. Hera Lighting is a section. Woodmont Doors pages are altogether. The knob and pull collections from Siro Designs are under a header for Siro Designs. We have always made our product brand names known, and we display each manufacturer's products in a private little corner so you can look over their styles and designs without being clobbered with flying things on the screen trying to redirect you to another product brand.

That's another thing we DON'T do on our website. We do not sell ad space and turn it into a commercial. It is a product showcase. We are showing you the products that you are looking for. Ad pop ups will not happen. Nothing worse that trying to close a bunch of crazy little windows or videos that want to start screaming at you.

Hamburger Menu

Those 3 little horizontal lines generally inside a square rounded corner colored background. Some might actually be pictures of hamburgers. We did not name it that. Some other guy a decade or so ago gave it that name. And it is a very convenient tool. It takes up little screen space as it is snoozing. And when you wake it, it gives you a tiny little road map to find your way around to other web pages. How cool is that?

So when you seen the orange color hamburger menu button below our main full across the screen menu, or black hamburger button on smaller devices, the orange button guides you around the section that you are in. Many of our products such as the cabinet lighting and cabinet knobs and drawer pulls, have a lot of choices. Different types of lighting, and different choices in decorative hardware for your cabinet doors. Please take a little time to explore some of the numerous choices available to you. And, whenever you have product questions, or questions on how to find something on our website, there are multiple ways of getting those answers:

The Contact Us link is in the header and footer of every web page. | The Search Field is located at the top and bottom of all web pages. | And our 813-633-7544 phone number is displayed in the header and footer of all web pages.

We welcome your inquiries when you need help. Throughout the site too, there are mini-contact forms sporadically, and direct e-mail links. We know some products open up questions.

Thank you for reading our rambling today. Most blog posts from here forward should mainly be product related. As well as other helpful home improvement advice, shipping advice, and other stuff. I'm sure our Pugs will make it into the blog soon too.

Move over Halogen, LED is Taking Over

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 02:54:00 GMT

Originally Posted on August 25, 2015. Vastly updated to reflect current products.

LED Lighting is the current wave of the Present. This blog post from August 2015 opened up with many paragraphs about the Hera halogen lighting and replacement parts. Hera had announced in that month that halogen was no longer in production. There was a fair stockpile of halogen lights and parts that were made at that time. And guess which company decided to stock up on them and pretty much buy everything that Hera had left in their stock. If you guessed Eclectic-ware, you are right.

We did sell the last of their halogen lighting and parts. Took most of the last four years to do so. Very few halogen items remain, and you can view which are left by selecting from those two highlighted links.

So all of the halogen paragraphs showing many of the EH11, KB12, E1, and even the Xenon lights are now erased from this blog post. Very little need to emphasize them since LED is Taking Over. But at the end of this post, we will say a little more about what to use to replace the EH11, KB12, and E1 halogen lights.

LED Lighting is the Present and the Future

Hera has transitioned to LED, even their fluorescent lighting is being phased out. LED is pronounced L-E-D, not lead. It means Light Emitting Diode. LED Lighting is extremely energy efficient. A 24 volt, 3-watt LED light is the equivalent to a 20 watt halogen light. Just the other day (in 2015), someone mentioned to us how much of a drain the halogen lights are to the batteries on his boat. If you have 15 of the 20-watt halogen lights in your cabin, that is 300 watts of power used while they are on. If you had 15 of the 3-watt LED lights, that is 45 watts used. A considerable difference – per hour.

Hera Lighting’s LED line up offers many selections. Two we really want to point out are the R55-LED light, a 3-watt. And the FR68-LED light, a brighter 4-watt LED. These two LED lights are awesome replacements for under cabinet halogen lights. Now these two LED lights are a 24 volt system, thus you have to change out some components. You will need to use 24 volt LED power drivers and remove your old 12 volt halogen transformers. The nice thing about the R55-LED light is that it can be made to fit into the same 2-1/8" dia. hole. It is designed for a 2-1/4" hole, but the rear base of the light with the friction fit clips compressed more, will fit the 2-1/8" hole. Hera's EH11, KB12, KH12, and ER1 halogen lights all were designed for the 2-1/8" hole. Easy to retrofit the R55-LED into the same hole. The R55-LED light can also be surface mounted.

The FR68-LED is designed to fit the same hole as the ARF halogen light did. That is a 68mm hole. The FR68-LED light also can be a surface mount light if you like. These are just two LED lights that can take the place of old under cabinet halogen lights. And they come in 3000K warm white which is the light color that best resembles halogen. They come in 4000K too, but if you are trying to match the halogen light, go with the 3000K.

Special note for boat owners running cabin lights directly from your 12 volt DC. Check out the Loox 2020 12-volt LED lights that we offer. It is THE IDEAL direct substitute for the Hera E1, EH11, KH12, and KB12 lights.

Eclectic-ware is not just a retailer of products. We actually learn about our products and offer design and technical assistance. We have over 20 years experience with the Hera Lighting brand. And we still remember their old lights that are long gone. The LED lights come in various strengths and sizes. Their spotlights come in 1.2 watt accent lights, to 3 or 4 watt under cabinet lights, to 7.2 watt high power under cabinet lights and display lights. The linear LED lights in short to longer lengths range from a few watts each to around 18 watts each. And you might be thinking, 7.2 watts, that is not much. How bright will it be? LED is not like our understanding of incandescent lighting. It is way different. The 15 watt ELite-LED lights I have put in my own home throw about the same light as a 100 watt incandescent bulb. And very little heat. So having the lights on is not jacking up my AC expense, nor my electric bill. Most of the LED lights will cost a bit more in the beginning, but the savings comes over time. Many are rated for 50,000 hours. In retrospect, that old halogen EH11 light used a 4,000 hour halogen bulb, you will have gone through 12 bulb changes in 50,000 hours. So with halogen, you buy the light and buy 12 bulbs over the course of 15 to 30 years. With LED, you install the light and not change any bulbs. There are many benefits.

An example of LED linear lighting

Below is a picture of a light box I built for the hallway of my own home. It has two ELite-LED lights in it, connected end to end, approx. an 88" long light down the middle of the case. Each light is 15 watts, so I am using 30 watts, and look at how much light I get out of this 2' x 8' drop down box. (More pictures of how I did it on the bottom of the ELite-LED page.)

Within the Hera Lighting section of our website, we have a couple dozen web pages showing their various LED light systems. For under cabinet, display, and commercial uses. When you are ready, visit that section of our website. We can help with your kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom lighting needs that pertain to cabinet or furniture lighting. And for boat owners, we have solutions for you too....

Carver and Formula boat owners, as well as homeowners

About all those missing paragraphs that were once part of this blog post. We were sad to see halogen go. Halogen cabinet and boat cabin lights were extremely popular from the mid 1990's up and till around 2015. And because of that popularity, we needed to find a solution for a replacement light to fill the need of the millions of E1 and EH11 lights on boats. As well as those for under cabinet lights in homes too.

Thus, the first light we brought in and have been offerring for several years is the Loox 2020 LED light. (Shown across the top line in the picture above, and near identical to the Hera E1 and KB12 lights.) It fits in that 2-1/8" diameter hole! It is also 12 volt! It is all metal construction, thus no more light rings to drop off and find on your floor. It comes in 3000K warm white and will look like the halogen light output. It is sealed and has a good water resistance rating. And it is 3.2 watts, a generous savings on your boat batteries. For boat owners, we HIGHLY recommend this light. Go to that web page to learn a lot more.

And then we have brought in some additional Loox LED lights. Many of which can retrofit into the 2-1/8" recessed holes. But others that are surface mount, and some to take the place of similar lights that have now been discontinued by Hera. Especially the Flex Arm headboard light that is quite popular in Holiday Inn hotels. Most of the Loox LED lighting that we are offering is 12 volt. Some is 24 volt. And we intend to add other selections as time permits. Frequently check back to see what might be new.

Ceramic Bathroom Hardware

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 02:05:00 GMT

Originally Posted on August 17, 2015. Updated to reflect current information.

AC Products ceramic bathroom hardware is Made in the USA. We like giving a plug to products that we offer that are born in America. So that is one great thing about this hardware. The next, is the colors. There are several different series of ceramic pieces that AC Products offers. The Stylish 700 Series, the most extensive, has approx. 40 selections – ALL of which are available in about 80 colors each.

You will find a few differently styled soap dishes. Three sizes of corner shelves, the jumbo coming with or without a hook beneath it. A matching vanity soap dish and toothbrush holder. Some recessed items such as the 3 shower caddies, recessed soap dishes, and recessed toilet paper holder. There are surface mount toilet paper holders and robe hooks. And then the popular ceramic towel bars. And not just in one size or color. The towel bar posts are all the same size, but you have a choice of 4 bar lengths, of which you can alter any of them shorter. The bar can come in white or clear, you can choose that too. And you have a choice of 4 mounting methods – and then all of that in 80+ ceramic colors. So the model 730 towel bar technically can come in 2500 different combinations. Don’t ask us to show you a picture of every combination, not gonna happen. You have to use your imagination a little to picture all the solutions available to you. Not every bathroom has white, bone or biscuit ceramic tile. Some people need a grey-tone soap dish or corner shelves for their shower. The next guy may want a blue tone, and the girl next door may want a Sandstone colored shower caddy. The 700 Series (and 900 Series) is awesome for choices. And about those mounting methods. There are several to choose from.

Ceramic bathroom hardware mounting methods

The most popular mounting method is thin-set. What thin-set means is that the hardware piece is generally glued to the backer board using the same adhesive that the tiles use. And you must have an opening in the tile for it to fit into. Most pieces are sized to fit into a 4×4 opening, but that is not uniform for all pieces, especially a few of the larger items. Some people call thin-set “recessed”, that is not correct. Yes, the protrusion on the back will recess into the tile depth, generally 1/4" to 5/16". The definition for recessed, as you can see in the picture above is that it fits into the wall 3 or more inches. The recessed TP holder shown needs 3-5/8" of depth to fit in the wall – into a 6×6 opening. The mud set item shown above can be considered semi-recessed. It does not require as deep of an opening to fit into. You must have 1-1/4" or more. And it is called mud set because professionals prefer to create a mud pack and push the piece in place and that is how they mount it. It can be mounted with adhesive also if you choose.

The two other mounting methods, flat back and clip on have their specific purposes. Flat back was created as a simple solution for repairs or after thoughts. Flat back can be mounted to ANY flat wall surface. It can go over tile, it can glue directly to sheetrock or backer board. It can glue onto a wood or paneling style wall. We do not promote it being glued directly to drywall, that is not considered best practice. For normal drywall mounting, on a smooth unblemished surface, use the clip on mount. The mounting clip will secure to the drywall using screws and drywall anchors, then the towel bars, soap dishes, and surface mount TP holder slide down over the tapered clip and wedge themselves in place. For more detailed explanations about the 5 mounting methods, please visit that link.

The other AC Products collections: Series 500, 600, 800, and 900, can be viewed on our website. There is a lot to see and we are not going to try to cram any more into this blog post. You can view a ton of data, a lot of colors, and other helpful information on our website. And again, AC Products bath hardware is Made in America, right here in Ohio. Quality craftsmanship and very nicely designed hardware....

Replacement Spring Loaded Towel Bars

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 01:25:00 GMT

Originally Posted on March 5, 2015. All info still current.

Something that seems to happen in ceramic tile showers and bathtubs all across America is finding one with a broken towel bar. The plastic bar between the non-removable ceramic posts snapped. We hear all kinds of stories. My grandson was doing chin ups. My husband fell into it and broke it. My son hit his head on it. I moved into a new house and it did not have one. Of course we never hear any stories about the lady of the house breaking one. Guess that doesn’t happen.

If you contacted a tile setter, most of them will offer to chip out one of the posts, put a new bar between them, put the one post back on, and hand you the $150 bill. But, Ta Da! Some of them are aware of an ingenious solution: The Lenape Re-Place-A-Bar.

The Re-Place-A-Bar is a white, clear, or black plastic bar. We stock the white and clear in 12", 24", and 36" lengths. The black comes only in 24". You will need to cut it down to the exact size to fit your ceramic post separation. 24" is by far the most popular size and spacing, but we do hear about all kinds of sizes. The bars are easy to cut. A hack saw works well. Most any other fine tooth saw can work also. When fitting the bar to your space, the length of the replacement towel rod will be: the distance between your posts plus half the recess depth of both of the post holes. When cut like this, you will be able to place one end of the bar with the spring loaded end compressed into one post (while firmly holding the post so you do not push it off the wall). The other end, you will hold the spring loaded plunger in, slide the bar to the inside of the other post, and release the end. Now the spring loaded ends self-center the bar. And the bar now rests halfway in to each post hole, AND IT RESTS ON THE BAR. The spring loaded ends are a function to keep the bar centered. The bar still takes the weight of your towels and holds firmly between the posts.

We do keep these in stock and generally ship them via Priority Mail, or international mail for orders outside the US. This is a very cost effective way to fix a broken towel bar. And most everyone can do it himself or herself. There is much more information on it in the Lenape section of our web site, on the Re-Place-A-Bars page.

Ceramic towel bar posts - available in approx. 80 colors

Now, to offer another solution. Sometimes a ceramic post gets broken. And sometimes you have a very odd color. We have offered AC Products ceramic bathroom hardware since 2009. AC Products is made in Apple Creek, Ohio. A wonderful Made in the USA product. And they make their ceramic bath accessories in over 80 colors. If you have a broken towel bar post, odds are fair that we can get a close matching color, or even the exact matching color.

Posts are offered as pairs only. And more info on them is shown on our 700 Series ceramic towel bars web page. As you can see from one of our photos showing the colors, there are a lot.

Another note about these colorful towel bar posts: we stock them in white, bone, biscuit, black, and a few other popular colors. And then they come as thin-set mount, flat back mount, clip on, and mud set mount. Yep, you have a lot of choices.... Color selection page | Mounting methods explained

AC Products makes much more than just towel bars. They produce a full array of ceramic bathroom accessories. Several styles, and their biggest collection comes in multiple mounting methods with a lot of color options for each piece. Ceramic bathroom hardware does mount to ceramic tile wall surfaces, but also drywall surfaces. You commonly see a towel bar or TP holder mounted directly on drywall. And they make a few recessed items too.

Lenape Classic Blossoms Porcelain Bathroom Hardware

John W. Wagonis — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 00:51:00 GMT

Originally Posted on September 22, 2014. Pretty much all is still the same with this product.

The pink flowers with green leaves on white porcelain bathroom hardware is back!

The Classic Blossoms collection prior to 2009 came with 4 floral pattern choices, on bone and white porcelain. But in 2009, Lenape had suspended their US production in New Jersey. Now, with a lot of people asking for the most popular of those four choices, Lenape has reinstated the popular Blossoms on White pattern.

These pieces are oval shaped bases made in white porcelain. Porcelain and ceramic are interchangeable terms. The molded clay compound is the same. Porcelain is just fired at a hotter kiln temperature. The appearance of porcelain and ceramic is basically the same. The Blossoms on White bath hardware consists of: double towel bars, single towel bars, a towel ring, a soap dish, matching toothbrush holder, a double robe hook, and a toilet paper holder. All items are clip mounted pieces, towel bars come with two mounting clips.

The Blossoms flower is a 3-tone pink flower with green leaves in a vine type pattern. There are small green flowers on the vine that appear to have not blossomed yet. So it gives the symbolism that the vine is growing. It has always been a colorful pattern and stands out well on the background of white porcelain.

We invite you to follow this link to the Lenape Classic and Classic Blossoms page on our web site. We have taken many new pictures of the pieces instead of using the 25 year old picture from Lenape.

There are close ups of each piece so you can see the floral patterns. They are shown after the plain white pieces on that page. As with many of our web pages, there is a lot of data on the page. Dimensions and pricing are shown near each picture, and the convenient add to cart button.

AND, we stock this collection in both plain white and Blossoms on White.

If you ever have any questions about the products that we offer, please use our Contact Us form to send us a note. There are links to it in the header and footer of all web pages. And if you know of anyone who might like the Classic Blossoms bath hardware, please send them a note.... We greatly appreciate word of mouth promotion of our hardware.

Remodeling my Kitchen with New Cabinet Doors

John W. Wagonis — Sat, 14 Dec 2019 23:57:00 GMT

Originally Posted on January 13, 2014, now updated for current content.

So, you are thinking about a new look for your kitchen. Some people take the simplest approach and just replace cabinet handles and knobs with something new. Some may paint their kitchen cabinets. And if you do take that route, make sure you use a quality brand enamel that will withstand some light scuffing over the years. And prep your doors and cabinets properly for good adhesion for the paint.

And then there will be some who really remodel....

New cabinet doors and drawer fronts, possibly a new appliance or all new appliances, new countertop surfaces, and maybe adding on to some of the cabinetry. Eclectic-ware has solutions for many of your kitchen and bathroom remodeling needs. And one of the big solutions is custom made cabinet doors and drawer fronts. By far the best way to give an existing kitchen a great facelift! For cabinet boxes that are solid and strong, there is no need to rip them out and start with all new cabinets. That’s what a total expensive redesign would be, or if you are building a house and are starting fresh with new cabinets. If you are not planning a total redesign, which is what 80% or more people avoid doing, then just REFACE.

Refacing existing cabinet boxes

There are a few ways to proceed with refacing your cabinets. And ultimately, it depends upon which doors and drawer fronts you choose. Make up your mind on that first, then tackle the prep work on your cabinet boxes. If you wish to order prefinished wood doors, you can also get self-adhesive veneer and cut to size plywood to reface your cabinet boxes. The veneer and plywood, when ordered with the doors and drawer fronts, will be finished at the same time with the same stain lot. So you will have matching pieces. Veneer is something you cut to size yourself as you are applying it, generally for face frame cabinets and “smaller” areas. For larger areas such as the side walls of end cabinets, it is advised to use 1/4" plywood for refacing. It is stronger, has less chance of bubbling if air is caught underneath when applying it, and it can cover any minor or major blemishes in an existing cabinet. You would apply all your plywood refacing first as it will increase the end size of your cabinets, then go over those edges with the veneer as being a small extension of your face frame. If you have frameless cabinets, also called Euro-box, you most likely would not go through the effort of refacing the front edges of them as your doors will typically cover them over completely. We have definitions and illustrations of face frame and frameless cabinets in the Woodmont Doors section of our web site.

Adding veneer and plywood is one way to reface. And both, as well as the wood doors can be ordered prefinished in one of Woodmont’s offered wood stains, or unfinished. If you have a certain color that you are going for and have your own stain, spray on or wipe on, then please, order everything unfinished and create that special color that you are going for. Wood choices are maple for most designs, and some are available in red oak and cherry. All can come finished or unfinished. Paint Grade is also an unfinished wood choice when you plan to paint a solid color instead of staining.

Depending upon what your cabinet boxes are made from and how they look on the outside, you might have the option of sanding them down, removing all the old finish, and then clear coating them, staining them, or painting them. If they are a nice woodgrain plywood box, and you want the natural beauty of wood to show, clear coating them is a nice option. Minwax makes a Polyclear, which does not seem to alter the color of the wood. On light woods, it will start to amber over time. There are some products on the market that can stay clear over time, but most will tend to yellow as light reflects upon them over the years. Now if staining your wood cabinets, you have hundreds of color choices in lacquers. Actually millions of choices with custom lacquers, but we are not going to get that crazy today. If you are not choosing to have a woodgrain look to your cabinets, and your plan is a solid paint color, the work you have to do to prep your existing boxes can be minimalized. Paint for the most part can go over any surface. But you do want it to adhere well to that surface. So you may not have to strip off the entire old finish when painting, BUT, you do want your surface to be sanded smooth, free of dents, and free of oil and debris. Wood fillers can be used to cover over dents. Sandpaper can take off most debris and oils. Cleaning solvents are usually not needed. It is definitely a good idea to always prime first, then use your top coat paint. Some paints have a self primer and can save you time. For light color paint covering darker wood, two coats of paint will most likely be necessary. Enamel paints hold up better over time. Semi-gloss paints are easier to clean than Satin or Flat paints. Think through your paint choices, because once it is done – well, it could be done again, but who wants to spend that kind of time. Doing it right once is always desired.

Hanging your new cabinet doors

After you have completed refinishing your cabinets, you can mount your new cabinets doors and drawer fronts, and even include some accessories like slide out trash containers, glass shelves, and more. If you were also installing a new countertop, you most certainly would want to install that before hanging any cabinet doors. It would be advisable to install a countertop before refinishing your cabinets. Why? Potential damage. The countertop is huge. Big, clunky, heavy. It needs maneuvering room to set it in place. It entails someone climbing inside the cabinets to fasten it down. There is a lot of room for error for someone scraping or kicking a cabinet face. So if you are redoing the countertop, or laying new tile on the floor, don’t take chances with scratching up your new doors or the work you just did in refacing your cabinets. (This second photo is the same set of corner cabinets as the orange melamine picture shown just before it.)

Once your kitchen is finished with its new look, you will be amazed as to what a difference it makes. Sometimes it feels like a whole new house. Now we just briefly went over cabinet doors and drawer fronts and a few refacing options. When updating your kitchen, you will want to plan a little under cabinet lighting. Or even lighting in your cabinets behind glass front doors. People do like to display some things in the kitchen … and hide others. We have wine rack lattice and wood stemware holders. Display your wine bottles and your glasses. And we have appliance garages. Hide your mixer or George Foreman grill. We offer a ton of selections in cabinet handles and drawer pulls. We have Corian custom made switchplates. There is so much that you can do in a kitchen remodel that you can be busy for a few months. And doing it yourself is quite rewarding. There are things like new countertops and flooring that you might not want to do yourself or are unable to do. That is okay. Take on however much of the project you want to do yourself. We can answer questions about the products that we offer and give some how to advice. We are not just about selling products. We get involved … but we don’t make house calls. We can help you from our Florida location, and have done so for thousands of customers over the last 19 years.

-- Add on to this post. We now offer Brushy Creek Custom Doors. 3D Laminate doors in raised panel and flat panel designs. 3D Laminate is Thermal Foil. There are selections in solid colors, woodgrain colors, and very realistic textured woodgrain colors. Some have wood knots in them. All doors and drawer fronts are custom where you can create your own profile combinations, and of course all are made to the sixteenth of an inch. You have choices for plain or matching woodgrain backs to the doors. There are refacing accessories, moldings, and other goodies. Well worth the look in the Brushy Creek Custom Doors section of our website.

Eclectic-ware Kitchen Cabinet and Bathroom Hardware

John W. Wagonis — Sat, 14 Dec 2019 21:53:00 GMT

This is our original first blog post from 2014. Rewritten only to correct a few grammarical mistakes and to reflect verbage related to current product offering.

Founded in December, 2000, for 19 years we have been supplying homeowners and cabinet makers with quality cabinet and bathroom hardware. Many of our product lines are made to order. They are not something just stocked on a shelf. We do stock some mainstream items. But, when it comes to a specific size wood or thermal foil cabinet door, a stainless steel handle made to the sixteenth of an inch, or a Corian cabinet handle or matching switchplate made to a configuration, size, and color of your choice – this is part of what we do!

We are a full line distributor for Hera Lighting and Loox LED Lighting. Our service includes tech support and helping you plan your lighting project. We are not just going to scan barcodes, toss a bunch of boxes in a bag for you, and say good luck. If you have questions, before or after a sale, we will answer them for you. When you are planning three 12 foot sections of linear LED lighting, several spotlights, and some TAPE-LED for your toe kicks, and you need to know how many lights you can run per power driver, and what cables you need, we are here to help with that. And more.

Ceramic Bathroom Hardware

Another great product line that we offer is AC Products ceramic bathroom hardware. How many people have a tiled wall shower stall or bathtub? Most everyone! Ceramic tile showers and tubs have been the most popular choice since indoor plumbing. Yes, there are very nice all-in-one fiberglass surrounds and other things available today. But by far, half the homes and condos in America have tiled shower walls. And half of those people wish there was a miracle cure to keep your grout clean without having to workout while cleaning it. But back to AC Products. Tiled-in towel bars, soap dishes, corner shelves. These are convenience items for your bathroom. Organizational necessities so you do not keep your soap or towel on the floor.

And not just in white or off white. Most ceramic pieces from AC Products come in over 80 colors. There are also 6 stoneware colors. So if you are planning a new bathroom, or remodeling an existing bathroom, or just replacing that broken soap dish, we have some solutions for you. And we won’t bore or frustrate you with just white, white, or white. If you need black gloss, Mexican sand, heron blue, Texas yellow, or any of the extended color choices – you have those choices. There is much more info on this in the AC Products section of our web site.

Custom Made Cabinet Doors

When faced with building a new home, or remodeling a kitchen or bathroom, order your made to size wood and thermal foil cabinet doors from us. There are a lot of people who do projects themselves. We applaud you for that. Measuring for your own cabinet doors, ordering them unfinished (or finished), then applying that special color stain you have been wanting to have in your kitchen for ages, gives you that completed kitchen you wanted. The custom made cabinet doors that we offer are for DIY people, contractors, and cabinet makers. Anyone can purchase through us. Options for raised panel doors, shaker style, and even thermal foil doors present you with countless choices. Wood doors can come prefinished. 3D Laminate (thermal foil) doors are available in 70 different colors and woodgrains. Finishing off your kitchen, bathroom, living room, or bedroom with custom cabinetry makes your home, your special home. Off the rack cabinets? Yuk. Custom sized drawers under your bed with drawer fronts finished in Espresso Maple, yeah!

We offer quality products. About half the product lines that we offer are Made in the USA. Many are made in Europe and Asia also. We do not import or offer cheap products. All our products come from US wholesale manufacturers and US distribution points. We are not into the cheap commodity hardware that you can sell fast and cheap. Our product lines were selected based on our prior knowledge about them, and happy to say, some of them selected us. As we get into posting future blogs, we will try to inform you about all the great products that we offer....

-- We had 5 additional blog entries from 2015-16 that we will update and repost in our blog forum. Our website was completely revamped and finally updated in November, 2019. It is now mobile phone friendly, and shopping cart friendly. As well as people friendly. Some pages may have a bit of reading to do on them. This is because there is product information to convey. We are not just advertising a bag of cookies or a sweater. Pick your flavor or color and add to cart. No, we have cabinet door handles, many of which that come in multiple sizes, multiple colors, and may have corresponding cabinet knobs to go with them. We need to talk a little about that to aid in your selections. We just don't have a bunch of pages with pictures and prices. When you visit our AC Products ceramic section, you will see what we mean about the assistance that we offer to our customers.

You can select this link to jump to our home page. Or go to our Products Summary page.