Above, “how-to” books make good gifts for the new homeowner. Below, Spic and Span takes on multitasking.
Briefs and news of note
Some hearth-warming ideas
Need a housewarming gift? Try these ideas from www.lifenetwork.com where you'll find lots more: Create a map of your hosts' new neighborhood, highlighting the stores and services they'll want (grocery, video store, post office, coffee shop). Add some takeout menus from restaurants and a gift certificate to one of them. Make a lights-out basket for that time (you know it's coming) when the power fails in a summer storm: candles, matches, flashlight, battery-operated light. Home-repair books are a can't-miss idea for first-time homeowners: Try Reader's Digest's The New Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual or Home Improvement 1-2-3 from Home Depot.
Couches sought for antibeauty pageant
It's that time of year: enter the annual Ugly Couch Contest sponsored by Sure Fit Slipcovers. In 2000 the nation's ugliest couch came from Port Richey, and in 1998 a Clearwater couch was a semifinalist, so let's show the flag for the local team. Between July 1 and Aug. 3, send a color photo of your ugly couch to Sure Fit Slipcovers, c/o Ugly Couch Contest, 58 W 40th St., 2nd floor, New York, NY 10018. Include name, address, phone number and e-mail address. Or enter online at www.surefit.com where you can also find contest rules and pictures of previous winners. The competition is brutal. Judging criteria: ugliness of overall design and fabric pattern, offensiveness of color, inappropriateness of fabric, and inappropriateness of the combination of fabric, color and design as it relates to any period in the recent history of furniture. The three finalists will appear in September on Live with Regis and Kelly, on which the winner will be chosen. The victor gets $5,000 and shameless media hype.
Spic and Span smells success
Spic and Span is moving beyond floors. It is repositioning itself as a multipurpose cleaner for lots of hard surfaces to appeal to a "new generation of multitasking users" who, the company says, may still think of it as Mom's cleaner. "We wanted to bring out contemporary products," marketing executive Charles Schrank said in a phone interview. "There's a lot of interest in new scents and fragrances. You see a lot of products where that is a big part of their attraction," he said, referring to competitors with aromatherapy scents or citrus aromas. Spic and Span's new stronger, dilutable liquid cleaner has been reformulated in two scents: sun fresh (a floral) and pine fresh ("Alpiney, light and clean. A very heavy pine scent was not our intent," Schrank said). It joins lemon-scented countertop antibacterial spray, orange-scented touchup spray and citrus-scented Soft Powder. Soft Powder is a nonabrasive cleaner for countertops, sinks, tubs and appliances that comes in a white plastic container with a lid, which is supposed to guard against the spill-and-rust problems of powdered cleansers in cardboard cans with holes in the metal top.
