Ace Hardware's free paint giveaway is deja blue all over again

Without spending a dime here's your chance to try an interior paint that performed impressively in Consumer Reports' tests and that we recommend. Ace Hardware is offering you a free quart of its Clark+Kensington Flat Enamel paint on Saturday, March 16. Ring a bell? If you missed the last giveaway here's another chance to try Clark+Kensington paint.

You can find the form for the free sample on the Ace Hardware website. Fill it out and bring it to your local dealer. Each participating store has about 40 quarts to give away. Choose from an array of colors or bring in a sample of a color you love and Ace will match it. The offer is good for one free quart per household for the year. No double dipping allowed.

In our interior paint tests the Clark+Kensington Flat Enamel, $30 per gallon, was very good at hiding and excellent at resisting stains and scrubbing, and it lets you skip priming. But this paint wasn't very resistant to gloss change after aggressive cleaning—that's true of many flat paints we tested. See our Ratings of 65 interior paints. You'll recognize the brand names but their performance or price may surprise you.

Via: Ace Hardware's free paint giveaway is deja blue all over again

Bohemian Shoulder Bag from Inspiration Magazine & WeAllSew

Looking for a fun and practical project for sewers of all levels? This cool-looking bag goes from super simple to super trendy with plenty of options for embellishment. Enjoy playing with decorative stitches on your machine and splash some color in the process. Walk away (and around!) with a casual bag that shows some serious groove.

Bohemian_Shoulder_Bag_from_Inspiration_magazine__WeAllSew.pdf (2.6 MiB, 16 hits)

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Via: Bohemian Shoulder Bag from Inspiration Magazine & WeAllSew

FTC gives nod to Tempur-Pedic purchase of Sealy

The number of major mattress makers is about to shrink again. Four years after Serta and Simmons combined under joint ownership, Tempur-Pedic has now gotten approval from the Federal Trade Commission to acquire competitor Sealy. The resulting pairs of brands will together command more than 60 percent of the market, according to Reuters.

But as we report in our first comprehensive mattress tests in Consumer Reports' history, buying from a major brand is no guarantee you'll get the comfort and support you need to feel refreshed in the morning. Our Ratings of six innerspring and six memory-foam mattresses assess mattresses from Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, and other brands for back and side support, claimed firmness, bounciness, durability, and other criteria.

The resulting combination of the latest merger shouldn't further complicate mattress shopping, though that's cold comfort since model names for a single mattress are often different from one retailer to another. Our advice? Use our performance Ratings as a guide, along with our buying advice. And insist on the precise makes and models that scored well in our tests.

Via: FTC gives nod to Tempur-Pedic purchase of Sealy