Household
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Background: Frequently, residential houses have areas that are dangerous in some way: perhaps a railing that is a little wobbly (but will probably stay attached), a garage door that is missing the “don’t crush a person” electric eye sensor, or a bookshelf with a three-hundred-pound vase that is perilously perched on the top shelf. The…
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Background: Some older home have “simple” built-in drawers that are just a wooden box that slides on some wooden rails (instead of metal drawer slides). These drawers are fine for rarely-accessed items, but can be quite annoying in frequently-used situations (such as kitchen utensil drawers). The Issue: Since these drawers typically don’t have any sort…
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The Issue: Sometimes, it feels cold in a house, but when you go to check the thermostat, you see that it’s already something like 72° F (22° C). That’s already plenty warm, so you’d feel guilty about turning on the heat! As a result, you must shamefully put on a sweater instead. But what if you COULD…
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Background: An “au pair” is a sort of “study abroad” nanny: the idea is that an approximately-college-aged individual will travel to a foreign country to help a host family take care of their children (Figure 1). Conceptually, the idea is that it provides a job and opportunity to see a foreign country (benefitting the au…
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Background: A “snail” is a slug-like creature with a shell on its back. Many snails can entirely retreat into their shells for protection, which lead people to describe the snail as “wearing its house on its back.” (This is not strictly accurate, since snails do not pay property tax.) The Issue: High cost of living…
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Background: In smaller homes and apartments, it is likely that most rooms are multi-purpose: a “dining room” might also include a sofa and TV, and a “bedroom” might host an artist’s easel, work desk, yoga mat, exercise bike, and more. This is a practical method of using limited space, but people often find it unpleasant…
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Background: Many cities have restrictive zoning requirements that, perhaps justifiably, prevent certain types of construction (for example, building a pesticide manufacturing plant next to an elementary school). Some restrictions are a bit more arbitrary: many “homeowners associations” (HOAs) enforce extremely specific details about the exact shades of beige that a garage door can be painted,…
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Background: A cat owner may install a “cat door”—a cat-sized flap—in a door in their house (Fig 1). This allows a cat to travel freely even when the human-sized door is closed. A cat door also removes the need for the cat to carry a set of keys. Proposal: But why should cats get all…
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Background: Modern technology is often extremely convenient. For example, in a house with some type of central heating, you can heat the entire house by just pushing a couple of buttons on a thermostat (Fig. 1). The Issue: However, this system might just be too easy and convenient: there’s no sense of accomplishment in pressing…
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Background: Waking up to the horrible “RRRRRINGGGG” or “BEEP BEEP BEEP” sound of an alarm was once an unavoidable feature of the alarm clock. The Issue: Nowadays, most people use their phones as alarm clocks, and the various “alarm” ringtones have become substantially more pleasant, but the problem remains—even a once-pleasant sound becomes annoying and…
WorstPlans: updated every Monday since July 2014! 