Created Slim Hanging Organizers

August 1, 2017August 15, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / Leave a comment

08.01.2017

0600

Materials:

Three 7 inch-8 centimeter, white zippers (for one pillowcase design)
Two 12 inch, pink zippers (for the second pillowcase design)
Two Velvet Hangers

Tools:

Sewing Machine or sew by hand

I always try to take up less space than necessary when it comes to my home. It’s not that I dont’ have the room to spread out, but I personally don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t like my items and possessions spread out over a large space because it takes more energy to find things and living a more compact lifestyle helps me keep my possessions to a minimum. As a designer, it’s an interesting challenge to minimize the space that I take up.

So I decided to create a slim organizer for my closet. I had a hanging closet shelf but I wanted to get rid of it. In order to get rid of it, I still needed some type of organizer in its place. The items that I needed to organize were small clothing items as well as small accessories. This slim organizer only needed to hold the weight of those items. I did move some stuff out of the original hanging shelf to other areas of the house, so what you see in the images below isn’t a direct transfer of items to the new slim organizer.

Hanging organizers actually already do exist in stores, but from what I’ve seen, these organizers tend to have the user access the pockets from the front of the organizer. It would be easier for a person who has a walk-in closet to use those organizers, but I wanted to make a slim organizer which I could access from the side.

So in the end, this organizer helped me reduce my space by half:

Here is what I did…

I gathered my pillowcases and designated one of the pillowcases to be divided into three sections and the other pillowcase would be divided into two sections.

I took one pillowcase and hemmed the open end of the pillowcase. I then folded the pillow case into thirds and marked the lines using sewing pins. This pillowcase would have the three 7 inch-8 centimeter, white zippers sewed to it.

I sewed along the lines to close off the three separate sections, then I placed my zippers down to mark the location of the zippers. Depending on how I wanted to access my slim organizer in the closet, I had to choose which side of the pillowcase to attach the zippers. Since I wanted this slim organizer to be on the right side of my closet, I wanted the openings on the right side of the pillowcase so that when it was hanging up, I could access the slots easier. I also left about an inch margin between the zipper and the edge of the pillowcase because the items inside will create a bulge that I had to take into consideration.

I used an ink pen to make tiny dots at each end of the zipper. I actually marked the dots in between the zipper teeth at each end, this way, it also centered the location of the zipper. I connected each set of dots to create the cut lines in order to fit my zippers into the pillowcase. I just used scissors to cut these lines.

After I cut the lines, I inserted the hanger into the opening that was on the end of the pillowcase that was originally closed. I folded the pillowcase in half (vertically) to find the center and pretty much wedged the metal hook through the pillowcase. I chose to place my hanger on the original closed end of the pillowcase because if I used the hemmed end of the pillowcase for the hanger, the weight of the items in the organizer might weaken the that end of the pillowcase over time. I had to consider the weight of each pocket that was created, so I constantly thought about the overall weight that would pull on the material itself.

Once I placed my zippers into each slot that was made, I folded the edges of the pillowcase down to the zippers and pinned them together with sewing pins. Then I hand sewed the zippers to the pillowcase (making sure I sewed both the hemmed layer and the top layer of the pillowcase to the zipper).

Once I was done, I used the same process to create the double pocket slim organizer. The triple pocket slim hanging organizer will be used for small items and the double pocket slim organizer will be used for some extra pieces of clothing items.

I don’t know if this is a favored design, but I personally like how much less space it takes up. this design works for me and, my space. Hopefully this design may jog some space organizing ideas for you as well.

Cheap and Easy TV Mount

June 27, 2017August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / Leave a comment

06.27.2017

0600

Materials:

One 1-1/2″ (width) x 5-1/2″ (depth) wood lumber about 18″ (length)
Two 2-1/2″ wood screws (to hold the first wood piece against the wall)
Two M4-7.0 screws , at 40 mm in length (to hold the second wood piece against the television)

Tools:

Drill
- Drill bits (drill bits to drill holes for the screws that will hold the wood piece against the wall as well as to drill holes in the wood piece that will attach to the television.
- Flat wood drill bit (to create the holes that I’ll use to sink the screws into the wood, so that it won’t pop out)
Table saw (or saw it by hand with a rip hand saw)
Measuring Tape
Heavy duty block magnets

Locating the studs in the wall:

So I wanted to mount my TV up on my wall, and I wanted to do it in a simple and cheap way so I figured that a French Cleat would be the best. First I located my studs in my walls, and I used a different method this time. Usually, I can differentiate stud sounds through the gypsum board, but I thought I would share the other method I use. If you take strong magnets and move along the wall, they will be able to locate the existing nails embedded on the studs. Now, because this can leave scratches along the paint on your wall, I actually sewed little fabric sleeves for each one from fabric I had left over from other previous projects. You don’t have to use fabric, you can wrap paper around it and locate the studs that way too. Sometimes it takes a bit of searching to find the first nail, but once you do, the rest of the nails will be located within the same location on the other studs.

Knowing where the studs were located, gave me the general length of how long of a piece of wood I would need, so I chose an 18″ piece of wood.

I first divided the piece of wood in half. Because the width of the wood was 1-1/2″, I moved the center line off by 1/4″ to offset the width. I did this because the next step was to cut the wood piece in half at a 45° angle. By offsetting the divided line by 1/4″, the 45° angle cut would be more centered. I then designated which piece would be screwed against the wall and which one would be attached to the TV. To avoid confusion, mark the surfaces of the pieces which will need to be screwed into the wall and TV with a black line in the corner. So mark the actual surfaces which you know will have screws entering the wood piece.

To start this, first unhook all of the wires and cords from the back of your television set and place it face down on a towel. It’ll be easier to measure the mounting holes this way.

For the wood piece that would be attached to the TV, I measured the width of the mounting holes on the back of my TV (each flat screen television comes with). I simply measured the same distance on my wood piece and marked up the two locations. I marked these holes slightly higher on this piece because I knew the bottom inch of the wood was the angle and I wanted to avoid it. Once you remove the screws where the mounting holes are, you can bring these screws to the hardware store to find longer ones which will be used to attach the wood piece with.

To find the existing depth of the hole on the back of your television, I actually folded a tiny piece of paper and stuck it in the hole until it couldn’t move any further. When it stopped, I marked it with a pencil. My television mounting holes were 1/2″, in case you wanted to use that as a reference. When buying the new screws for attaching the wood piece to the TV, make sure you take into account the depth of the hole and the thickness of the wood. Because I could only find 40mm length screws, I knew I would have to “sink” my screws into the TV wood piece.

I used the same method for placing the screw holes on the wood piece that would be screwed to the wall. I measured the distance where my magnets were hanging and placed the holes slightly lower on the wood piece. (Always measure the center of the stud to the center of the next stud.) I did this because I knew the top inch of wood was the angle cut.

I drilled my holes accordingly, and the diameter of the holes was based on the diameter of the screws I was going to use for each wood piece. I personally like a slightly snug hole for my screws, so I always measure the drill diameter to be slightly smaller than the diameter of my screw. I like that the screw will fit snug, but it’ll embed itself in the wood as well. For the drill bit that created the holes for the wood piece that attached to the television, I placed that aside, because I would need it to pre-drill holes in the wall when it came time.

Once the drill holes were made, I took a Flat Wood Drill Bit to create the sinking spaces for the screws. The depth for the sinking holes varied because I used 2-1/2″ screws for the wood piece that would attach to my wall and only 40mm screws for my wood piece for my TV.

For this part, you have to measure the depth of each set of screws. As long as the screws are sunk into the wood and the surface is flush without anything protruding out, it’ll hang nicely. For the TV wood piece, I made sure that when the screws were screwed all the way in, that they would only protrude out 1/2″ (which would be where it would attach to the TV). Because the other piece of wood would be attached to the wall, I just had to make sure I pre-drilled holes into the wall.

I took the wood piece that was designated to be attached to the TV, and screwed it in. I then located the height at which I wanted to place my TV, then I pre-drilled the holes into the wall. I took the wood piece that was to be attached the wall and screwed it to the the pre-drilled holes.

I attached all of the television cords while my TV was still faced down on the towel, and then hung it up on the new French Cleat Hook. This is a really quick way to hang almost anything. This method is cheaper than buying a mount and with leftover materials, you can create this too. I really liked this design hacks due to the fact that it’s such a strong hook and it was so cheap to make.

Maybe this might help you find solutions to hanging furniture issues.

Creating Sliding Drawers

June 20, 2017August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / Leave a comment

06.20.2017

0600

Materials:

One sheet of brown peg board
KOMPLEMENT drawer handles from IKEA
Bulk rope from Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store
Extra nuts and bolts to secure the handles to the peg boards

Drawers:

I first had to measure the width of my cabinet openings, due to the fact that they were old up-cycled cabinets from when we had first moved into this house. The cabinet drawer opening measured 12″ wide and 24″ deep. Ideally, most new cabinet installments would add a nice overall look and clean up the space a bit, but the way new sliding drawers are built, the thickness of the wood would eat up a lot of the width opening. This is why I decided to make some generic sliding drawers.

I measured out the dimensions of 11-1/2″ wide and 20″deep on the peg board, and I had just enough board to make up three drawers. Because the peg board came with pre-drilled holes, it was easy to guesstimate where the handles would be located, and not all of the handles would necessarily be centered. Also, the screws that came with the handles accessories package were designed to fit a 3/4″ thick board, but the peg board was only 1/4″ thick. this is why I had to gather a few extra nuts to infill the space between the original handle screw and the end of the handle itself.

Once I cut the boards to the right size to fit the openings, I placed the handles where I wanted them to be located and attached the nuts and screws accordingly. Because I wanted these drawers to slide, I went to a local fabric store and bought some thick bulk rope. I used this rope to wrap around the long sides of the drawers so that they would slide out easier. The rope also evidently contained the items sitting on top. You can also contain the items that would sit on top of these drawers by screwing a thin piece of wood onto the top of the drawer so you have a more secure way of holding your items.

Because the motion of the drawers is more of a pull-out motion when in use, I was more concerned about the items falling off in the back of the drawer when the drawer was pulled outward. Once the rope was tied on, I placed my items inside my small rectangular, fabric containers.

Drawer Guides:

I nailed down 12″(L) x 1/4″(W) x 3/4″(D) wooden pieces on each side of the drawers, inside the cabinet, as guides for the drawers. I chose to use a 12″(L) because the depth of the cabinet is 24″. I braced the guides up against the front of the cabinet, in which these guides will help slide out the drawers along a smoother line.

Conclusion:

These drawers are very simple sliding drawers made form material found around the house. There are a number of designs to secure drawer guides in place, and this one was a very simple design. If I had used a 1/4″ bottom for the drawers, I would have secured a different drawer guide design underneath the drawer. I genuinely like the fact that these drawers slide on the rope and it makes virtually no sound when pulled out and pushed back in. It doesn’t’ scratch the surface of the cabinet shelves and it’s simple enough to take apart if I no longer have the need for this design. Maybe this design will work for you, in other areas of your home. I hope this post might have helped brainstorm some ideas.

Upcycling Shelves

June 13, 2017August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / 2 Comments

06.13.2017

0600

Materials:

Two shelves that are 42″ in length, 9-1/4″ in width and 1″ thick/
Two shelves that are 72″ in length, 9-1/4″ in width and 1″ thick
Four grey Everbilt 10 in. x 8 in. Gray Medium Duty Shelf Bracket
Two white Everbilt 9.75 in. x 7.75 in. White Elegant Shelf Bracket
2″ Multi-Purpose Construction Screws
9″ Small Level
Two 2×4 wood lumber (mine was 19″ in length)

Tools:

Miter saw
Electric drill and drill bits

So my family usually keeps leftover material from previous house projects or from items that were disassembled. A lot of the time wood planks are left over. These vary in sizes so I try to upcycle them around the house. My father had a book shelf a while back and it had two 42″ shelves that were 1″ thick and two 72″ shelves that were one inch thick.

I knew those shelves could be used elsewhere in the house so I designated the shorter shelves for the upstairs kitchenette and created shelves with the other two longer pieces, in two other separate areas of the house.

I bought four grey Everbilt 10 in. x 8 in. Gray Medium Duty Shelf Bracket for the kitchenette and I bought two white Everbilt 9.75 in. x 7.75 in. White Elegant Shelf Bracket for the shelf in the bedroom. The shelf in the hallway will be mounted up with two wood 2x4s on each side.

For the kitchenette, I located the studs by knocking on the wall (you can also use magnets to locate the nails located in the studs as well) and since I wanted the top shelf to have at least 16″ of space from the shelf to the ceiling, I had to create two marks that marked both the top and bottom of the top shelf. I then measured another 11″ below the bottom line of the top shelf and made two marks for the bottom shelf. I wanted to leave at least 22″ above the countertop so there was enough room for using the countertop surface.

Because the shorter shelves didn’t reach across the wall of the kitchenette, I offset the shelves to make the weight of the items on the wall even. I measured the distance between the studs for each shelf, and transferred that onto each shelf. It’s easier to attach the shelf brackets to the shelves first, and then attach them to the wall. My studs were 30″ (on center) between each, so I knew to leave half an inch from the edge of each shelf edge and then measure inwards 30″ to mark the next center of the next bracket.

Once I attached the brackets to the shelves, I had to pre-drill the holes for the screws in the studs on the wall. If you screw in the top screw on the bracket closest to the wall (where the blue arrow is pointing to), and then place a small level on top (where the violet arrow is pointing), then you can swing the other bracket up (where the maroon arrow is pointing), until the level shows that the shelf is at an even plane. This seemed to be the easiest way for me to attach the shelves and also double checking the correct balance of the shelves.

For the shelf under the window, I first located where my studs were and made sure I cleared the electrical outlet. Ideally, I would have place a bracket where that electrical outlet is located, but there wasn’t any room. I wanted the height for this shelf to have an 8″ clearance, so I simply measured 8 inches below the existing shelf and marked two lines for the top and bottom of the shelf. For this shelf I trimmed the edges so it would fit the width of this space better. I also drilled a hole above where the outlet was located, so there would be access to the outlet. I attached the brackets to the shelf based on the width of my studs. For this shelf, I literally held up the shelf with one hand, and traced the inside of the drill hole locations with the other. As long as I continued to press the shelf against the wall, it didn’t move much. I did this because I wanted to mark where the drill holes were and also to pinpoint the center of the holes. There wasn’t room to swing the shelf up to level it out, (such as the kitchenette example), so when I placed the level on the shelf, I only had to adjust the shelf slightly to even it out. Once the first screw was placed, it pretty much held up it’s own weight until I could drill in the last three screws.

The shelf in the hallway was mounted with a different method. I actually had to cut this original shelf piece in half. It was the other 72″ long shelf piece, and by placing each of the halves next to one another, I created a 18-1/2″ depth shelf. I first located the studs in each wall and measured 11″ height clearance for the space above this shelf. The width of the space was so small, that putting up brackets would have taken up too much room. I pre drilled the holes in the 2x4s based on the width of my studs I had located. Always remember which 2×4 belongs on which wall, so you’re not accidentally drilling extra holes. After that, I placed each piece on the new mount and held the shelf pieces in place with finishing nails.

This was just one of my upcycling projects using materials I found in the garage. If you can find materials that are still in fairly good shape, I would try to upcycle it for a useful piece of item that you may need. It’s cheaper than going out to buy brand new material- especially since you’ll still have your extra supply of material laying around. I like to use up what I buy, it’s habit of mine and it’s saved me money over the years. I hope this post helped jog some ideas for you!

Sewed Fabric Bags For My Makeup Tools

May 23, 2017August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / Leave a comment

05.23.2017

0600

So originally, I had created these bags for my Utensil To-Go Kit, and I realized that I could create smaller bags for my make-up tools. So I tested it out and this is what I came up with.

I had some old zippers from awhile back that I never used and these were a great fit. I first undid and removed the drawstring from the bag. Then I cut the original bag in half and sewed the sides of each to create two smaller bags. Because I cut straight thorough the original drawstring hem, I took the string and also cut that in half.

I measured each zipper and made appropriate cuts on the front of each bag for each zipper. Using small sewing pins, I attached each zipper to each bag and then I hand sewed the zippers to the bags. I inserted the smaller drawstrings through the new drawstring hems and tied them off.

The end product were bags that could be accessed through the zipper or through the top where the drawstring closed the bag. This was an interesting solution because when I place items in these type of bag designs, I never have items of all the same height. This bag allows me to access the taller items from the top opening and the smaller items from the front where the zipper is located. I’ve used this for make up tools, writing utensils and also my “Take Out Silverware Kit” that I keep in my purse.

Creating A Locking Mechanism For My Carabiners

May 16, 2017August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / 1 Comment

05.16.2017

0700

I’m a big fan of carabiners. I have all different types and designs, however, I tend to favor the Asymmetrical D-Shape. On a whim a few years back, I bought two S-Binder carabiners. I really liked this design because the items I would place on the bottom half of the carabiner were separated from the top half. The top lever was the lever that I would use to hook and unhook the carabiner to other objects.

This also lead to an issue with the way in which I used it. Each time I would wrap my hands around the carabiner to press open the top lever, I would inadvertently press my palm against the bottom lever and the objects had a very good chance to slide out. This involuntary action happened a few times and I had to come up with a quick solution.

First, I wrapped a small piece of Velcro around the bottom lever, but over time, the Velcro started to become weaker and would become unattached, which left the end flap of the Velcro unattached. I knew I had to come up with a more permanent solution. I knew other carabiner brands sold their Asymmetrical D-Shape carabiners with locking mechanisms or had an external accessory that helped lock their levers in place. I had to make my own locking mechanism in order for me to not drop my keys all over the place.

I took a old piece of an iron on elbow patch (I had bought a set years ago and never used them all up), and I cut the length to the distance that it would take to cover the lever and half of the basket of the carabiner. (If you don’t know where the ‘basket’ is, I labeled all of the parts of a carabiner in the first image).

With a few sewing needles, I marked the locations of the fabric of which I would have to sew the fabric together. I removed the fabric from the carabiner and sewed it up. I needed to create a snug fit for the locking mechanism so that the fabric didn’t move easily when in use. When I sewed my second locking mechanism, I sewed it a little too snug, but with fabric, you have a slight chance to stretch the length and width of any product due to the material. This was material for iron-on elbow patches, so it was a very, very slight stretch .

Once I was finished sewing both the locking mechanisms, I slid the pieces on, moved my key rings over them and then slid it back over the levers. It’s a simple solution to a very basic tool I use everyday.

If you use any other kind of fabric, perhaps 100% cotton, you may have to sew it a little tighter because cotton tends to stretch more. And, you may want to extend the length of the locking mechanism so that it can’t slide back and forth on the basket as easily. The idea is to make the fabric slight “stuck” on the spine of your carabiner. If it has a hard time sliding around the basket, then it most likely won’t slide around when in use.

I hope this might give any of you some ideas as to how to approach design problems such as this one. Happy sewing and don’t loose those keys!

A Climber’s Guide To Carabiners

Make-Up Brush Bag Hack

May 9, 2017August 14, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / Leave a comment

05.09.2017

0700

Materials:

Plastic store bought brush bag

Tools:

Razor Blade or scissors (Please be careful when using the razor blade)

So I bought an e.l.f. Angled Blush Brush from Target back in 2016 and it came in a clear plastic bag such as the ones in the pictured below. I didn’t want to add it to my trash collection, so I set out on trying to figure out how to convert it into a product that would be useful in mylife.

I knew I wanted to create a holder for all of my brushes (luckily I only use two types of brushes) So I came up with this design to hold my vertical make up tools, such as my mascara, eyeliner pencil, angled blush brush and my EcoTools, Bamboo Smudge Eyeliner Brush.

I sewed the flap that covered the holder to the bag itself. I did this because, I didn’t want to remove the flap to access a clean opening but to also reinforce the bottom of the holder. (At this point I had decided to hang this object as a vertical brush holder).

I opened the other end of the holder by cutting a small slit across the top side of the bag and hold punched a hole on the opposite side. I only put one hole punch on one side because I would be using that side to hang the bag and I didn’t want anything blocking the opening of the bag. Lets call the hole punch end the “Top” and the sewed end of the bag, the “Bottom”. (you kinda have to picture this bag vertically hanging like that)

I used a permanent marker to show you where I placed my cuts on each side of the bag. On the same side as the hold punched hole, I sliced a longer slit on the bottom third of the bag. On the opposite side of the bag, I sliced a shorter cut closer to the top. These cuts do not cut through both walls, please keep that in mind. This design will only work if both walls of the holder are not cut at the same spot.

For the taller brushes, I am able to insert both of my brushes through the opening at the top, however, I can also slide the brush I tend to use through the slit towards the top.

The same rule applies for the slit towards the bottom third of the bag. I can use the slit I had created to hold my mascara and eyeliner but be able to access them from the outside. The next few images demonstrate the versatility of the cuts better than how I’m describing them.

Here is what the bag looks like when it’s hanging up and being utilized. You can see that my EcoTools, Bamboo Smudge Eyeliner Brush is inserted through the opening I had created (towards the top of the bag) and that my angled blush brush is actually on the inside of the bag. I use my Eyeliner brush more than my angled brush so this is why I keep it on the outside, for easy access. On the opposite side of the bag, you can see my small eyeliner and mascara sticking out from the small opening I had created towards the bottom. I also use my mascara and eyeliner often so I like to have access to them easily.

When I travel or move around with my makeup brushes, I can easily tuck everything inside the bag and nothing with get caught during transportation. I actually do have a bag for my toiletries when I travel and this brush holder goes into that bag as well. The last image shows what the brush holder looks like once everything is tucked inside the entire bag. I know that this bag with eventually fall apart and I will end up adding it to my trash pile, but as long as I don’t stretch the plastic by putting too many items into this holder, it might hold up well.

This is a simple and interesting design manipulation of what we receive along with products we buy and how to re-design them to accommodate to our own needs. I really like this design manipulation because I tend to hang things a lot and I didn’t have to throw any packaging away. I hang things a lot because I like to keep my surfaces clean. Maybe this design might accommodate you somehow, I hope it will.

Revisiting Design Hacks

February 28, 2017August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / 1 Comment

02.28.2017

1200

Design is ever changing. It evolves, grows up, mutates and sometimes dies. As someone who consistently designs functions for different objects, and re-designs those function issues, I’ll come across methods that are better for the product itself. It never stops. As people grow in the sense of mentally, physically, emotionally, we will change our habits and routines. Sometimes it’s based on a simple scheduling issue, sometimes it’s a physical disability that we all the sudden need to integrate into our routines. Maybe our routines change due to new people coming into our lives and that includes children and adults.

For these many reasons, I re-visit many of my design ideas. I re-visit them as often as I can. know that I’m designing from my own perspective and from what I know, but I also know that there’s a whole different world out there who may not have the same resources or the same materials readily available.

So let us take a walk down memory lane… and we’ll re-visit some of my old blog posts and some updates I have for this one.

In addition to my Car Hacks blog post, I had to add one small change. I actually learned this from my mom, but since it made sense, I started doing this as well. It’s very simple. IF you have the room, it’s easy to organize you’re items using boxes in your truck. I have two different sized boxes so that when I go grocery shopping, I can place my bulk liquid items in the smaller box and I know that they won’t spill on the drive home. I use the bigger box for larger bulk items and even for my take out food containers. It’s nice that the smaller box fits well inside of the larger box and I can limit the movement of the objects when in motion.

For the front of the car, I actually looped an S-Hook through the rope that I exists from that original Car Hacks post. The S-Hook allows me to hang my purse when I need to as well as smaller bags that may roll around. When I brought my lunch to work, I would hang my bag from this hook, and (thank goodness for the consistency of gravity) my food never spilled or toppled over. I really like this hack.

At my work desk, which I wrote here, Work Desk Essentials, I now changed items out and the final setup is a jar of bulk green tea, and a jar of raw almonds and dried cranberries. I have one extra jar in case I run to a grocery store to grab some hot food from the hot foods bar. My coffee tumbler is by Contigo and it has a 20 oz capacity.

On my desk… I now keep a set of utensils, tea infuser, lip balm and hair bracket in a bag. In the other bag I keep my earphones and phone charger together too. I carry a handkerchief now and store it along with my napkin. I use my leftover Aquaphor to help me moisturize my skin during the winter.

In my shoulder bag, I now carry a pair of chopsticks and a handkerchief along with my set of utensils and cloth napkin. Although when I air travel, I will replace the metal utensils for my bamboo set (knife, fork, spoon). My coffee tumbler is also by Contigo who has an excellent spill proof lock.

These are only a few design hacks that I keep revisiting. As a designer, your perception of a good design always changes and it take a few trial designs to settle one final design. also, as life moves on and time marches on, your routines and needs will change- so your designs will have to adapt.

A Minimalist’s Short Business Trip

December 15, 2016August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / 2 Comments

12.15.2016

0800

So once in awhile, I will take business trips, usually short ones, so that makes me happy. I prefer to leave the long trips associated with personal vacations. Because it’s a short business trip, I thought I would share what I packed. Here is my list:

Clothes:
1. Day (Business):
  - Tops: 2 dress shirts, 1 jacket
  - Bottoms: 1 pair of black pants
  - Shoes: 1 pair of low heels
2. Day (Casual):
  - Tops: 1 shirt
  - Bottoms: 1 pair of jeans
3. Sleepwear & Intimates:
  - Tops: 1 shirt
  - Intimates: 2 changes of intimates
Daily Tools:
1. Dining:
  1. Reuseable Water bottle, Coffee tumbler
  2. Straw, bamboo fork + spoon (to get through the security check at the airport), napkin
2. Bathroom:
  1. Travel bath bag
    1. For the sink space area, I pack my:
      - Bamboo toothbrush
      - Dental pick
      - Dental floss (packaged in a paper container)
      - 1/2 bar of soap (I cut my normal sized bars and bring it along)
      - Deodorant crystal
      - Collapsible stainless steel cup
      - 2.0 oz. bottle of lotion
      - 2.0 oz. bottle of baking soda
    2. For the shower area, I pack my:
      - 3.0 oz bottle of concentrated Shampoo/conditioner
      - Pumice stone
      - Empty stainless steel water bottle (not pictured)
    3. For the “Just In Case” situations, I pack my:
      - Diva Cup
      - Shewee With Extension
  2. Make-Up bag
3. Entertainment:
  1. iPad, Cell phone and charger cord
  2. Workout Stuff
    - Running Shoes, shirt, sports bra
    - Armband

I tend to pack multiple tops and wear the same bottoms for most outfits. My bottoms don’t get very dirty so I don’t mind wearing them for a few days. This list is for a short trip to a warm area so I don’t have many long sleeved items. Also, since I have such a small wardrobe and very few possessions, I tend to already use what I’ll need to pack. I have to grab certain items right before I leave such as my:

Make-up bag
iPad and charging cord
Running shoes, clothes, accessories

I keep my wet items out of my travel bag in case they dry up, or if i don’t travel often enough during time periods, the products won’t expire. I keep these item containers in my bathroom grouped together, this way, I know where to look to find them when I do need to travel again. These items include:

Body sunscreen
Face Sunscreen Moisturizer
Body Lotion
Shampoo/Conditioner

These items are also the items that I’ll probably use on the same day as I leave so I keep them by the door so I can pack them really quick before I jet off. Also, this pile by the door also varies in items depending on the time in which I’m scheduled to leave. If I leave straight from work, I’ll usually wear at least half of my business clothes that I count in my business attire for the trip. If I leave from my home, to jet off, I’ll wear my casual clothes during the trip there.

This is a simple overview of what I pack based on my 30 Piece Capsule Wardrobe. Admittedly, having a capsule wardrobe makes packing for trips much easier as well. There is a select handful of options for me to wear business attire and casual attire and even what I’ll wear to go workout. I hope this post helps in giving you ideas of how you may pack if you have a capsule wardrobe or want to pack lightly as well.

Check out these post from some other bloggers about traveling:

Compost and Cava: Travel Easier And Greener This Holiday Season
Just Leaving Footprints: Sustainable Animal Tourism Alternatives
Just Leaving Footprints: Eco Friendly Travel Gifts
Just Leaving Footprints: Gentle Giants: Why You Should Visit An Elephant Sanctuary

Essential Design Tools

March 28, 2016August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / Leave a comment

03.28.2016

0900

When I mention my essential design tools, I’m talking about tools I keep around in order to hack an object or product. Whether it be the way that the product is used, is placed in a location or creating more than one type of use for it. These alterations are never designed to compromise the integrity of the product itself unless I really want to step into that realm. The reason why I don’t want to alter the integrity of the products too much is because by living a zero waste life, I must be able to make multiple products be able to be used for multiple functions. This idea of versatility with every product I invest in, is always in the back of my mind with every purchase or design hack.

Supplies I keep in order to fix or hack day to day situations and circumstances around the house:

Shoelaces and Rope
S-Hooks
Metal Binder Clips
Velcro straps
Carabiners
Metal Rings

All of the tools I choose to keep are reusable and are made of durable material. I do prefer metal or stainless steel material because these tools can be manipulated into the shape of a loop. My favorite tools out of all of these are the carabiners and metal rings. Carabiners are strong, safe, secure and easy to use. Their closed loop design and locking mechanism was the design feature that caught my attention years ago. And due to the fact that these carabiners can be used repeatedly, the investment will pay off on its own. Metal rings can be used anywhere to create another secure loop for hooking any carabiner to it. These two tools coincide with one another when I use them.

I also favor rope as well. If you can find extra rope that’s braided together, then you’ve found gold in my opinion. The strength of braided rope combined with the knowledge of knots is essential. Also, rope has a soft flexibility to it where it can be use with clothing alterations, products and repairs. It’s flexible enough to create tension for a blanket fort, yet can be turned into a lasso to help save a drowning adult in a roaring rapid.

Metal binder clips and velcro straps are used as temporary grips for a group of anything that need to be bundled together. Although metal binder clips are limited in the width of the object they’re gripping, the metal material is still strong enough to retain it’s own shape. Velcro straps can be used for larger bundles and can also be linked together to extend their capabilities around larger bundles.

S-Hooks are simply used when I need to hang something up without needing to drill a hole into another material. It is my go to tool when I have to deal with an object that needs support due to gravity more so than any other issue.

There are parameters to living a zero waste life, but one has to live within those parameters and still meet their own needs. Some might say that keeping supplies such as the ones I’ve listed above is excessive, yet, I reuse these design tools repeatedly. If you notice that you constantly reuse certain tools or constantly go out and buy the same supplies, I’m betting that you’ve stumbled upon your own design tools. Invest in supplies that are versatile and are produced with durable materials, and they will consistently give back to you.