September 2008 - Posts
My inspiration for this blog came from a design show I was watching on HGTV a few weeks ago – Summer Showdown. Two expert HGTV designers took the same exact family room and competed to make it the most functional and attractive for the family. Vern Yip was one of the designers. I love Vern’s design style….very simple, comfy, and cozy. And, he’s not over-the-top with whacky, impractical ideas like a lot of the designers.
Anyway, the family kept a huge dog kennel in their family room. Vern very cleverly put a table over the kennel and used it as an end table beside the couch. He then used fabric to make a fitted cover for the table to hide the kennel and make the end table attractive. (Here’s the link to the episode. Click to the second picture showing Vern’s winning design and you can just barely see the dog kennel/end table in the bottom right corner with the brown striped fabric.)
Vern’s idea reminded me of a similar “hiding technique” my friend Angela uses in her craft room. She has a small 4’x2’ folding table that she uses for a workspace. Like most craft areas, she has a lot of supplies stashed under the table for storage. In order to hide her stacks of stuff, she simply used adhesive Velcro to attach fabric around the outside of the table to make a fitted table skirt. She left an opening in the middle (like closed drapes) for easy access to the stuff under the table. It looks more contemporary than using a floor-length table cloth since it is actually “tailored” to the table. And, with the opening in the middle, it provides much easier access than lifting up a tablecloth. 
So, if you are using a Lifetime table or other table around the house, think about putting a skirt on it for some quick and attractive storage space! This is also a great tip for college students living in dorm rooms or those of you in small apartments. Simply Velcro fabric under your desk, between two dressers, under a bathroom sink, across shelves, etc. to make the space do double duty for you!
Can’t sew? No worries! There are plenty of easy ways to avoid sewing for a project like this. Use fusible tape like Stitch Witchery (available at fabric stores and even craft departments at discount stores) to make the hems on the sides and ends. The fusible tape irons on and basically replaces a needle and thread! (It’s kind of the Duct Tape of the sewing world!) Before you head out to buy new fabric to make your table skirt, check your linen closet…and maybe use some old sheets instead! That band that runs along the top of your sheets makes a nice decorative edge (already sewn!) for the bottom of your table skirt. Simply cut the sheet to the length you need for your table and use fusible tape to hem the top of your skirt. Then, just stick the adhesive Velcro on both the table and skirt. Ta-da! 
After writing my last post about my first encounter with a Lifetime Basketball System, I started thinking about how many other people probably had a similar experience as mine. In fact, on my drive home from work last week, I decided to count how many basketball systems there were, and how many of them were from Lifetime. In my short 10 miles from work to home, I counted 60 basketball hoops along my path, and out of those, close to 80% of them were made by Lifetime! So I’m guessing that many have had an experience similar to mine.
If you do, I’d love to hear about it! In fact, while looking for the Jordan vs. Bird commercial a couple of weeks ago, I ran across video of some guys creating some pretty cool memories of their own on a Lifetime System. Check them out here: Backyard Basketball
Well, just when we think we have something figured out, plans always change. When we bought our house, we paid a little extra for our lot because of the abundance of trees. We were thrilled to find such a beautiful lot because the trees give us complete privacy from our neighbors, provide a gorgeous view from our family room and kitchen windows, and make for a unique play area for the kids. Unfortunately, over this past weekend, one of the tallest trees in our yard just up and died. No clue why. We happened to be playing with the kids in the back yard and noticed all the leaves on the Mountain Laurel tree are completely brown…which they aren’t supposed to be even though it’s autumn. Obviously, we are sad to loose such a big tree and we are hoping it’s not a disease that may spread to our other trees.
But, on the bright side… we now have a new option of where to build our Lifetime shed since we have to cut down the dead tree! We can center the shed along the back fence near the kids’ clubhouse (right where the park bench is sitting in the photos). This will work out perfectly because it actually gives us a much wider space than the corner where we originally thought we would put the shed and the ground is a slightly more level. Thanks to the dead tree, our shed size dilemma has been solved for us and we'll be able to build the 8'x5' shed which is wanted to build all along! Thank goodness since Darrin commented on my blog that there currently isn't a Lifetime shed smaller than 8' wide like we had hoped. But, I can't wait to hear what he says is in the works for Lifetime sheds in his future posts! No fair just teasing us! :)
More good news...there is a huge cluster of trees in front of this new shed space that will completely hide the shed from our view when looking out our windows or from on our patio. Don’t get me wrong, I love the look of the Lifetime sheds, they are very attractive. If I have to see a shed in my backyard, I’d want it to be a Lifetime shed. But, I think most people would agree, if you can get a shed out of sight completely, even better! 
So, our next project will be to cut down the tree, level the ground, and put down a foundation of some sort. Then it's time to buy, build, and fill the shed! I’ll keep you posted on our progress over the next few weeks!
For the past several years our company has participated in the Annual Outdoor Retailer Show at the Salt Palace in Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. You’ll find the show filled with aisle after aisle of camping gear, climbing gear, custom water craft, outdoor apparel and the like. This year at our booth you would have also found our sweet Fold-Up Utility Trailer and our convertible Yard Cart.
But anyone who’s been to a trade show knows that besides touting your own wares, half of the reason you’re there is to see what everyone else is doing. So while meandering through the multitude of retailers just trying to keep up on relevant trends, I happened across some of our tables. A configuration of several card tables made for a very practical and common use of our product – a convenient meeting area to discuss the business of the day.
I was glad to see our tables being put to good use at the show, but I can’t say that I was surprised, our tables and chairs can be found almost anyplace indoors or outdoors. Ironically enough, in this instance, I guess you could say they were being used indoors at the Outdoor.
Do you like to go camping or RVing? Don’t we all? There’s one thing I’ve noticed, there never seems to be enough room to put pots and pans, board games, work areas, or just places to sit down and have a nice meal. The problem is space. RV’s don’t have a lot of room for “extra stuff” and regular folding tables can take up quite a bit of room.
JEBar, a senior member over at MyRVtalk.com, recommends Lifetime’s fold-in-half tables to solve this problem. They open up to a good working size but fold to a nice, compact size.
JEBar says:
features we like .... adjustable height .... easy to clean .... folds to a really nice size so as to fit into the basement of our camper (open size 2' X 4' -- folded size 2' square about 4" thick) ..... seems to be very stable .... one concern, will I have to put some sort of heat shield between our grill and the table top?
To answer your question, yes, putting some sort of heat shield between the heat-source and the table top would be a very good idea with any sort of table, not just a Lifetime table. Doing so not only protects the table surface from heat but also from anything that might fall onto the table’s surface.
Thanks for the write-up, JEBar! We’re glad our tables are working out for you!
Lifetime’s folding tables and chairs have long been a staple of churches, schools, governments, airports, and non-profit organizations.
Lifetime looked closer at these institutions and noticed some of them making larger orders, most need some way to store and transport tables and chairs when not in use, and many need custom bids and personalized service.
In an effort to better serve these institutional customers, Lifetime has created the new Instutional Sales department.
If you fall into one of these categories, get in touch with our specalist Michael Mower and see how Lifetime can help you!
Ok, for those of you following my blogs, we haven’t forgot about our shed project. It just kind of got put on the back burner with summer vacations, back-to-school etc. But, we’re ready to start tackling it again. Like I mentioned before, unfortunately, we really only have one ideal place for a shed in our backyard since we have a sloped yard and lots of trees. It will be in the back corner with fence on two sides and trees on the other. If you take a look at the pictures, you can see where we plan to put it and why it’s going to be slightly challenging.
We did some measuring the other day. The space we have to work with is really only about 6’ wide before we’d have to start removing trees, which we don’t want to do. A 5’x8’ shed would fit perfectly! Of course, things are never as simple as they seem with our projects. We have another dilemma. Lifetime doesn’t make a 5’x8’ shed! Sigh. Their shed is 8’x5’ which won’t work for us. I was hoping maybe Darrin at Lifetime can give me some insight whether there are any plans in the works for a 5’x8’ shed. And, if not, why is 8’ wide the smallest width Lifetime makes? Surely, I’m not the only one that has come across this need. If you have been looking for a shed narrower than 8’, please comment and let us know!
So, I’m waiting to hear what Darrin says about future shed sizes. If a 5’x’8 is not possible, then I think we have decided to get a Lifetime 11’x3.5’ shed and place it along our side fence. It’s not ideal and won’t give us quite the storage space we were hoping for, but it will definitely help eliminate a lot of our patio and garage clutter. As always, I’ll keep you posted on our progress.
Oh…and for those of you wondering about our rat status. Thank goodness, we haven’t seen any more in our BBQ grill! But, our bait boxes in the back still have “lots of activity”. And, yes, I’m still putting cotton balls soaked with peppermint oil in our grill and on the patio. Go away rats!!
Ahoy There, Me Hearties! If you like to navigate shrewdly, fight recklessly and pillage mercilessly. I have the perfect board game for you. 
One of the many uses we get out of our Lifetime Card Table and our Lifetime Folding Chairs is using them for a convenient gaming table. The card table is handy for board games where access to the board is necessary. It’s small enough that you do not have to stretch across the table to draw a card or move a token. This also allows us to use the dining table for the dining portion of the evening and the game can be already set-up ready to go instead of waiting to clear and clean the dining table. The dining table can also be reserved to host a large array of desserts and treats. One of our favorite board games is called “Pirates Cove”.
Your objective in Pirates Cove is to battle for the rights to plunder and become the most famed and feared pirate in the world by collecting “fame” points. You will gain fame points by winning battles; burying gold and treasure; and bragging about your exploits at the Tavern. The game has 12 turns and at the start of every turn, each pirate must decide (secretly) which of the 6 islands they will visit. Each island offers various amounts of treasure and game resources; each island also offers an opportunity to upgrade a specific section of your ship, which is vital when fighting the other pirates for the booty. If any two or more players end up at the same island, a combat with the dice ensues. The battles are straight forward and a player can choose to flee to Pirate's Cove rather than fight when it is their turn to fire. The last remaining pirate wins the booty for that island.
Pirates Cove is a great family game for both adults and children over the age of eight. You need between 3 to 5 players to play. The playing time is 60-90 minutes. If you are feeling extra adventurous, consider making a theme night out of it. Invite everyone to dress as pirates, enjoy dinner and snacks, play Pirates Cove and possible end with your favorite swashbuckling blockbuster. Best of luck to ye!
Bet you didn’t know it’s National Play-doh Day today, did you? Not exactly sure why I know, I guess I just stumbled across it online somehow. I’m also not sure what you’re supposed to do on National Play-doh Day and who even recognizes or sponsors it. But, in honor of National Play-doh Day, I thought it would be appropriate to post of picture of my son playing with…yep, you guessed it…Play-doh! :)
Kids love Play-doh. Parents love the idea of fun, quiet, creative play…but, deep down, most of us hate the mess it makes and detest the fact that the stuff dries out after just a few months no matter how tightly you put on the lid! A lot of my friends only let their kids use Play-doh outside so they don’t have to worry about cleaning up those gazallion little rice-sized pieces that get dropped on the floor. I’m not that hard-core, but I do insist that it is an in-the-kitchen toy so I only have to worry about vacuuming the tile and not the carpet. (Although Play-doh smooshed in grout isn’t too fun to clean either!)
Usually, I let Nathan use Play-doh at the kitchen table, especially now that he’s tall enough to sit on the grown-up chairs. But, back when he was smaller, I’d just pull out our Lifetime Personal Table and let him go to town. And even nowadays, if I’m trying to get dinner ready and don’t want to have to clean up Play-doh to set the dinner table, I’ll still pull out the Lifetime Personal Table. It actually works quite well since it adjusts in height so I can make it low enough for him to sit or stand. So many of those Play-doh press toys require lots of “leverage” that you can only get if you are pressing down from a standing height so a short table is better than our kitchen table anyway. (I usually set the Personal Table at the 24” height.)
The other day, Nathan was using Play-doh on the Lifetime table and dinner was ready. He was excited because he didn’t have to put away his creations to eat dinner! After dinner, he immediately went back to making snakes, rolling out make-believe pizzas, and designing fabulous jewelry for me to wear.
Clean up is a cinch on the Lifetime table (although I still dread doing it!). The Play-doh wipes right off the plastic and doesn’t get smeared in the wood grain or in the table-leaf cracks like it does on our kitchen table.
One more thing. If you’re like me, your Play-doh creative juices are about as dried up as your Play-doh and you can’t bear to roll out yet another snake! So, try some of these fun, new design ideas I found on Hasbro’s Fresh Idea Gallery.
Happy National Play-Doh Day!
We’ve been seeing a few comments posted here from customers trying to reach our Customer Care team.
While we’re glad to try and address your questions here, most of the time we pass your questions directly on to our Customer Care team who is happy to help you get the information or help you need regarding your product.
We always invite your comments and don’t want to discourage anyone from writing in (after all, that’s what this blog is all about), we do want to make sure that when you have questions they get answered as quickly as possible.
That said, when you want to talk to a product or lifestyle expert, this is the place to post those questions, comments, suggestions, examples, etc.
When you have questions regarding assembly, warranty, replacement parts, etc. you’ll want to contact Customer Care. First, check the Customer Care section of our web site at www.Lifetime.com/customercare/, we may have already answered your question, or you can always contact a representative using one of the email links on our Contact Us page: www.Lifetime.com/customercare/contactus.aspx.
A few months ago I attended a wedding reception for an old friend of mine. He and his bride chose a beautiful nursery garden for the location; a small waterfall, a pond, and the abundance of lush foliage set the perfect scene. T
he entire setup also used Lifetimetables and chairs in a great way that was simple and elegant, to be specefic, they used Lifetime round tables and folding chairs. 
Having planned my own wedding just 1 year ago last week, the whole process is still fresh on my mind. He and his bride emailed me 6 months before the wedding asking for some tips and contacts. So naturally, I was very curious to see how the reception turned out.
After being a picky bride, you tend to notice all those things that tend to take SO MUCH time to choose. You appreciate the little details that took hours of debating, several last minute fixes, and frustrating arguments with mom. You know what I mean--- the cake, the color(s), types of flowers, her shoes, and most certainly-- the dress. The table's centerpieces are certainly one of these details. 
I remember holding color swatches against a white table cloth, running to the store to buy yet another kind of vase, debating over disposable cameras, sprinkling flower petals over the table, then clearing them off and sprinkling on some little rocks... I was always keeping my eyes open for something unique.
Well, this couple had very unique centerpieces I just had to share with you: glass vases in a cast iron stand, with fish and flowers. It was a combination of everything a bride wants! Very cool. Very cool. If you're a bride to be, or know someone planning a wedding, or even if you're the groom and could care less about centerpieces, you should check out this useful site The Knot, for some great centerpiece ideas like this one, and plenty more ideas for wedding planning and wedding decor.
This week I wanted to post some feedback and actual photos we've received from one of our shed customers.
Nancy of Jackson Michigan wrote in to tell us about her new Lifetime shed. She writes:
"After shopping around for the size and quality we wanted, we decided on an 8' wide x 12.5' long Lifetime shed. The deciding factor was the Lifetime name, since their quality and reputation exceeded the others, by far.
"We were amazed by the step-by-step complete instructions for assembly. Since we are both not handy people, this really helped us. Our lawn tractor fits into the shed with plenty of extra room for garden tools. It is now very organized and efficient.
We have another smaller shed we plan on replacing next year. There will be no shopping around since we already know it definitely will be another Lifetime shed. THANKS Lifetime, for a great product!!!!"
Thanks for sharing your story Nancy. I love getting feedback from customers, and I realize that a large part of my job here at Lifetime is to be the voice of the customer with our product developers and other departments in the company. Paying attention to our customers is what has made Lifetime successful.
That’s all for this week. Now get out there and enjoy the nice fall weather.
My parents recently bought a vacation house at Lake Erie and I saw it for the first time when I went home to Ohio last month. (Boy, good thing I made the trip to Ohio because it’s given me tons to blog about!) I was happy to see they had furnished several areas of the house with Lifetime products. (I taught them well!) My parents actually became Sam’s Club members for the first time just so they could buy some Lifetime products for their new house since Sam’s Club has such a large selection.
Remember my last post and how I was talking about my parents still having a heavy picnic table at home that they actually move with a lawn mower? Well, apparently, it IS possible to teach an old dog new tricks! My parents purchased a Lifetime 8-foot picnic table for their patio at their lake house. Hip-hip, hooray!
Since their backyard has a view of the lake, they wanted plenty of outdoor eating options for neighbors, grandkids etc. So, they also bought a Lifetime 6-foot banquet table and six chairs that they can set up outside or inside. When the banquet table isn’t needed outside, they just keep it set up in the basement for crafts, games, storage, etc…and really just to kind of fill the empty basement!
Oh, but wait, that’s not all! When I first got to their new house, my mom was waiting on a little kitchen cart to arrive that she had ordered to fill a corner where she planned to keep jars of snacks for the grandkids. In the meantime though, she was using her Lifetime Personal Table to hold the snacks. What a perfect temporary fix! (Oops, I forgot to take a picture.)
And, Mom had a 4’x 2’ fold-in-half adjustable height table set up in her sewing room with her sewing machine on it. It was a great fit for the small room and, if they need it, they can always take it outside for even more eating or serving space.
It was great to see that even though I’m no longer a Lifetime employee, Mom and Dad still purchased numerous Lifetime products because of their quality, versatility, and convenience. Hmmm, now that I take a tally, I think my parents officially now own more Lifetime products than I do. Way to go, Mom & Dad!
The first time that I played basketball, or at least tried to, it was on a piece of plywood bolted above a neighbor's garage back in the mid 80's. I say "tried", because the ball never came remotely close to the rim - although it did hit the family station wagon multiple times.
That's what makes my first encounter with Lifetime so memorable. It was in my best friend's driveway in the spring of 1990 - I was 12. I helped him unpack the shiny white poles for his new basketball hoop, while he picked an ideal spot for it in the corner of his driveway. With shovel and tools in hand, we began to install what would turn out to be the hub of recreation for us and several friends over the next half decade.
While I didn't know then who Lifetime was as a company, I quickly became familiar with the advantage of their product. After the push of a broom handle, and a 'click', 'click', 'click' the rim was now on my level, thanks to the innovative Quick Adjust height adjustment feature. Suddenly I could dunk like Jordan, or drop a 3 like Bird. My most memorable shot came from the street as I closed my eyes, hefted the ball, and watched it bounce...off the house...off the garage...nothing but net.
I drove by my friend's old house a few weeks back, and the hoop is still there, along with all the memories. Last month marked 5 years for me here at Lifetime, but thinking back on that first hoop, I realize that Lifetime has been a part of the way I live since the seventh grade.
Small gatherings of family and friends are not uncommon at our home. My wife really likes to entertain guests. However, inviting about 100 of our closest relatives during the heat of the day was a little bit of a stretch for our home, so I came up with a solution . . . overflow seating in the garage!
Here’s what happened: A few weeks ago, we decided to celebrate the birth of our 2 month old baby girl. We agreed to hold a casual party to celebrate this occasion with a few of our closest relatives. After the invite list ballooned to around 100 people, I realized my wife’s definition of “a few” was much different than mine. It wasn’t long before I realized the seating capacity of our home would not accommodate her expanding invite list. Due to time constraints, the only time the party could be held was in the middle of the afternoon. Since the temperature during that time of the day was in the mid 90's, hosting some of the guests on our back patio was not a viable option.
Fortunately, earlier in the summer I finished our two-car garage and it was still virtually clutter free and to a point where I felt comfortable seating people in our garage.
Overall, I think it worked out really well. After setting up four Lifetime 6-foot folding banquet tables and 28 Lifetime Folding Chairs, we were able to comfortably accommodate an additional 28 people. Setting up our Lifetime Tables and chairs in the garage was a breeze. Because our garage door faces the northwest; the temperature in the garage was quite pleasant. We were also able to leave the door open during the party, which created a feeling of openness.
Although this solution may not be practical for everyone, it was a simple solution for our entertaining needs that day. We had a wonderful afternoon and enjoyed the company of 100 of our closest neighbors and family members. My next goal . . . use a pulley system to drop a couch down from my garage ceiling then install a projection screen television so I can invite 100 of my closest buddies for the next big game . . . hmmm.
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