Washing up is way more fun and definitely more hygienic with our collection of touch-free dispensers. Just place your hand under the sensor to dispense hand sanitizer, soap or lotion automatically.

Our current collection includes three models in several different finishes, and each one allows you to control the amount of liquid dispensed and has a wide opening for easy refills.

If you’re overwhelmed with choices, here are a few of the key features that make each model unique. For instance, our original sensor soap pump has a 20 second LED timer that blinks to let you know how long to lather (didn’t know it really took 20 seconds, did you?). Our spout sensor soap pump has an elongated spout that dispenses over the sink and not the countertop (say goodbye to messy countertops). The touch-free dispenser collection ranges from $30 and $50 and are available on our site or you can find them through our retail locator.

Because I get to try our products out and I also buy a lot of them, I have a pretty decent collection of dispensers throughout my apartment. I have the spout model in my kitchen so the spout reaches over my oversized sink. Our very first model in black, looks great against my white bathroom countertop and does the job just perfectly. Call me germophobic but I also have our newest model at my desk so my hand sanitizer is easily accessible anytime – I’m all for sharing with other simplehumans, but not in the germ dept!

So here’s to convenient hand washing! Spread the message, not the germs!

At the end, everyone voted on their favorite pumpkins of the night. Here are the three winners:

First Place:             ………………. Second Place: …………………………….. Third Place:

To see all of the  entries, check out our photo album. Also, you can take a look at our entries from last year. which one is your favorite?

We had a blast and we can’t wait until next year! Happy Halloween!

I’m happy to dig out my winter wardrobe and snuggle up in front of the fire, but I find little romance in the army of arachnids trying to snuggle up with me! Spiders seem to be just about everywhere at the moment. In the bookshelves, behind the bathroom sink, in my kitchen cupboards… I even found a web in my car the other morning when I had driven it just the night before – what’s that about?!

So anyway, I had a bit of a whinge to our fabulous receptionist / customer service rep / all round office angel Christine and she suggested putting conkers in the corner of every room. For those of you Yanks who haven’t grown up playing conkers in the school playground, a conker is a seed that falls from horse-chestnut trees. As a child growing up in the UK, October is the perfect time to gather up the prickly green cases on the ground around these huge and stately trees. Some cases split open when they hit the ground, but others you have to cut open if you want to extract a truly perfect, lustrous brown conker.

The game conkers involves two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string. Once your conker is securely threaded, you take turns smashing each other’s conker until it breaks. Although conkers is traditionally a children’s game – okay, it’s no PSP but it’s still played at break time (despite some teachers’ health & safety fears) – for some, the conker craze doesn’t end as a child. Yes, adults can compete in the World Conker Championships, which are held in a small Northamptonshire village on the second Sunday in October to raise money for charity. Apparently, the championships began on a village green in 1965 after a group of people in Ashton held a conker contest because the weather was too bad to go fishing.

Anyway, enough of sporting events, the match I truly cared about was Conkers v. Spiders! I was sceptical at first, but in my desperation to escape from the clutches of the creepy-crawlies, I stuffed conkers into every nook and cranny and sat back to await my uninvited guests. Three weeks later, and I’m still waiting. To be fair, I’ve noted a few spindly-legged companions in the ceiling corners (swiftly dispatched with a well aimed vacuum cleaner) but there has been a noticeable absence of  hairy monsters running across the floor; Conkers 1, Spiders nil!

It’s not just me who’s impressed either. Earlier this month, the Royal Society of Chemistry launched an appeal for information in support of the old wives’ tale that spiders suffer from “conkerphobia”. The 46,000-member Society, which has roots dating back to 1841, is offering £300 to anyone who can back the claims with persuasive evidence. It will also consult biologists and insect and spider experts, so watch this space!

This was the first of many handwashing stations we will be setting up all across the country, so come find us! This weekend, we’ll have mulitple stations in San Fransicso, Chicago, and New York. If you would like to stop by, follow us on Twitter. We will be sending location updates, handing out more coupons and t-shirts, and posting updates and pictures of the events.

We were so pleased that over 100 of the capital’s crème de la crème attended, from trend-setting bloggers and magazine editors to interior designers and national newspaper columnists. It was great to get their feedback on simplehuman products and to hear about all the interesting projects going on. Our new wall mount shampoo and soap dispensers went down a storm and everyone loved their goody bags!

If you’re a UK journalist and would like to know more, please contact rpater at simplehuman.co.uk for the latest press information.

The clean design and compact storage are designed to fit perfectly in virtually any bathroom, so you may find the foldaway squeegee will become your shower’s new best friend:

• easy to use and store in the shower and compliments most bathroom aesthetics
• quick release button allows handle to fold flat for compact storage—once open the handle locks in place so it won’t snap shut unexpectedly
• weighted handle is easy to grip
• blade is precisely angled for an effortless streak-free glide across surfaces
• includes suction cup for convenient hanging

Made from anodized aluminum and die-cast zinc, the foldaway squeegee is extremely durable and won’t rust or discolor over time. Plus, it’s backed by our simplehuman five-year warranty.

Starting today, the simplehuman foldaway squeegee is available for $19.99 at www.simplehuman.com. Check it out!

We had a great time connecting with the local mom community last week at Jin Patisserie. The purpose of the event was to get to know some local LA moms and get feedback on our products. These moms are all very active in the blogging community, and represented over a dozen influential blogs and websites. We had some great conversations about the importance of teaching kids to be environmentally responsible, entrepreneurship, and the need for products that are easy-to-use and easy-to-clean. All in all, we had a great time and we learned a ton. Thanks to all of you who joined us!

If you are a mom and you’re interested in joining us at our next event, we may be coming to your city soon! Contact amayer at simplehuman dot com for more information.

There are two separate lids for easy sorting and each lid has a color-coded label so it’s easy to identify which bucket is for trash, and which is for recycling. I tend to do green/garbage and blue/recycling but it really doesn’t matter— once you decide, it’s simple and easy to explain to the occasional houseguest. Also, having the two buckets forces me to be a bit more reflective about what I throw out and as a result, I’ve become a bit more economical.

The flip lid has the same body as our rectangular step can so it fits completely flush against the wall, which is great if you’re pressed for space. It’s also got lid shox® air suspension shocks for a slow, silent close, and our bag tuck® opening to hide messy bag overhang.

If you’re looking for a recycling solution that isn’t a step can, the flip lid is a nice option and with a 5 year warranty, it’s sure to stick around for a long time.

We also want to ensure that every product we sell is easy to setup and install. So, instead of hiring professionals to create installation videos for our new shampoo and soap dispensers, we decided to get our hands dirty and make our own homemade installation videos. Enjoy!

Installing The Shampoo and Soap Dispenser using Glue (glue included)

Installing the Shampoo and Soap Dispenser using a Drill (drill not included)