10 Hacks To Use Everyday Design Products

Over the years, we have come up with great hacks on how to take advantage of the multifunctionality of our products. And we of course want to share them with you.

1. Get a convenient home recycling center with two HELSINKI holders and three bags!

How to make a great home recycling center? This tip is a classic. So how does it work in practice? Place two holders with bags next to each other so that there is space for one bag between them. Then the third bag hangs effortlessly between the two holders. Smart and easy!

This works with our TURKU XL holders as well, they just require a little bit more space. But then again, they hold more recyclables, so they are very handy for example recycling bottles and cardboard.

2. Two paper bags on top of each other

How to get a super durable paper bag? Put two of them on top of each other.

If you put two paper bags on top of each other, it becomes very strong, almost as sturdy as, for example, a jute bag. So if you worry that a paper bag might break, use two of them together. It’s practically a permanent paper bag.

3. Piece of clear plastic tube to cover hard surfaces and metal products

When a metal furniture, like our recycling holder, and hard surface, like stone floor meet, it can be noisy and cause unwanted scratches. You can buy (inexpensive) clear plastic tube from hardware stores that can be put on the bottom of the holder. Best size tube has approx. 6 mm diameter.

You cut four one-inch/couple of centimeters long pieces, slice them open with a sharp knife and then wrap them around the holder´s bottom.

Then the holder won’t cause banging noise when it hits the floor, it won’t scratch the floor or the holder and it offers also bit of a support, when the holder is placed on uneven surface. The plastic covers are basically unnoticeable as the bag in the holder hides them quite nicely.

4. Name tags for the recycling holders

If you have a home recycling point and the recycling bins sometimes get mixed up, try our tip and make name tags for them or ”color code” them.

You can decide whether you want to include a picture, labels or even sorting instructions for the name tag. If you have small children and you want to teach them how to sort and recycle waste, we recommend using pictures. They are easy for kids to understand. You can place the name tags inside or outside the bag.

We used adhesive tape that doesn’t leave any marks on the jute bag. The glue holds quite well the first time, but if you plan to move around the name tags, we recommend using some extra glue. You can even use screws for a really durable attachment. But those will leave holes to the jute bag.

5. Supermarket paper bag inside our jute bag!

It’s not a coincidence that Everyday Design’s HELSINKI jute bag is slightly bigger than the standard sized supermarket paper bag. It was designed so that you can put the supermarket paper bag inside the jute bag. Then you can just grab the paper bag and recycle it together with the recyclable waste.

The jute bag can be used without the paper bag inside, as the jute bag is laminated inside. So it can take a few spills and splashes.

Remember that the brown paper bags usually go into cardboard waste and white paper bags go to paper recyclables. However, we recommend that you check your local recycling and sorting instructions.

6. Make your old recycled leather products look brand new with shoe polish!

Did you get a scratch to you VAASA recycled leather bag, PUNAVUORI carrier bag or to your ESPOO magazine holder?

In everyday use, our products might sometimes get scratches or marks in them. And of course that can be annoying, if your fancy bag gets damaged. But no worries, with shoe polish you can get rid of those blemishes. Because scratches are part of life, but not ideally part of leather bags.

7. Decorate your own HELSINKI holder (or another product) to fit your own taste

If you have the patience, imagination and sleight of hand, then sky is the limit when it comes to decorating our products.

Everyday Design’s product designer Helena Mattila made this black and white stripe version of the HELSINKI holder. Saara, the marketing and sales manager, made a rainbow version of the HELSINKI holder and paper bag as part of April Fool’s day prank. It would be perfect for Pride Week as well.

DC fix tape, DC fix, markers, stickers, you can use anything to decorate! Of course the products can be left undecorated as well. Conservative approach to start would be to decorate a paper bag. Maybe just label what is inside the paper bag? Are there recycled paper waste or bottles? Or office supplies etc.?

For kids, decorating paper bags is a great opportunity to let them discover their creativity. And what a fun way to display their artwork: placing the decorated paper bag to the HELSINKI holder. Because let’s face it, there is only limited room in the fridge door for the kids’ works of art.

8. Sell your unnecessary Everyday Design products in different market places

We always strive to make timeless, essential and practical design. And we hope that once you acquire our product, it’s for lifetime. But sometimes your taste in interior design can change or for some other reason you find that you don’t need your Everyday Design products anymore. We encourage you to sell or donate our products forward. As they are made to stand the test of time, they are still great and usable for the next user.

Everyday Design products actually hold their retail value quite well and they are sold in different market places. If you are looking to sell or buy used Everyday Design products, we recommend checking out Franckly, Mjuk and different Facebook market places.

9. Accent colors for beginners

Would you like to use more colors in your interior design, but are a little scared that the outcome is too much? If you would prefer to start small, when it comes to accent colours, then take a small step instead of giant leap. Start with a small and affordable design piece, for example a bright yellow HOOK wall hook or a bold red HELSINKI paper bag holder!

If you are still on the fence and even those suggestions are too much for you, then how about trying different color combinations with our LOFT interior design colouring book? That’s a fun way to combine different colour worlds with no risk. No need to buy that green sofa or paint the wall pink in your home, just color them in your colouring book with the colors that you want. No muss, no fuss.

10. Give your opinion, feedback, wishes and make a difference!

Big corporations are always asking for feedback. But how many of us have thought that ”nobody will actually read them” and then decided not to leave the feedback? We in Everyday Design can guarantee that we will read every single feedback, opinion and suggestion that we are given. Nothing will be lost ”in the system” or not reach the right people, as we are a company of two.

So, if you have an idea that could for work for us, maybe a product development issue or suggestion for a new product, please let us know. We are here to make people’s everyday life easier.

Unfortunately, things aren’t always that simple that all product ideas automatically go into production. We need to consider several issues before, such as materials, production costs, market opportunities and logistics (this is where many of our products have stopped their development: shipping the product would be too hard or expensive).

But you'll never know until you try. So share your thoughts with us! You can do so by email (info(a)everydaydesign.fi) or by phone (+358 50 594 4340) or by social media: www.instagram.com/everydaydesign.fi/ or www.facebook.com/everydaydesign.fi