The Living Hub - a Habit-building Domestic Appliance

An innovative task reminder system that uses human nature to incentive you to remember and complete tasks. The plant in the middle of the design is the incentive to keep alive. The product works through you completing a task and then being able to move the peg over onto the other side, once all the pegs have been moved over you can spray the plant with a little bit of water to keep it alive. You have to do this everyday or eventually the plant will die.

Supplies

Recyled Materials:

Book
Notepad
Plywood
Letter Stickers

Other:

Adhesives (glue, epoxy, etc)
Tools (Scalpel, scissors, ruler)

Step 1: Setting Up the Book

Using an old recycled book, first cut out around 10-15 pages for later. Secondly, measure a square hole of 52x60mm. Then use a scalpel and cut ~10mm deep.

Step 2: Making the Box

Using a recycled bit of plywood, Cut out a square that matches the dimensions of the hole we cut in the book earlier. Our one was around 52x60mm. This just has to be large enough to fit a plant of your choice.Then cut out two long strips and two short strips of wood around 10mm (The width of these strips will be the depth of the hole you cut in the book. Using these 5 bits of wood and some wood glue, assemble the box like shown. Then glue the box into the hole in the book and let the glue set.

Step 3: Making the Backing Plate

Using the spare pages from earlier, cut the pages into smaller squares. Afterwards, cut the letters G,R,O,W. Then using the backing plate from the picture frame, stick the letters on using PVA glue.

Step 4: Making the Pegs

Using the 6 plain wooden household pegs. Lay a small rectangle of tape on the long end of each of the pegs. Then, Paint the outside using different shades of earthy browns/oranges. Once they have dried, peel off the tape and you will have a plain area that can be used to write any tasks of your choice.

Step 5: Finishing Up the Frame

Using 2 plain wooden pegs, disassemble them and glue them separated end to end on a long flat piece of plywood. Then glue this piece of plywood on the short sides of the picture frame. Glue the pegs with the flat side facing outwards like pictured. Once this is done you now have a spot to peg the tasks pegs on to. Using an old sticker set we found included with the diary that will be used as the base, make up the words; completed and incomplete and stick the letters on with the word running downwards. Put the 'incomplete' on the left and the 'complete' on the right.

Step 6: Making the Spray Bottle

Using the spare cutout squares of the books pages from earlier, glue them around the bottle part of the sprayer. This helps the spray bottle fit with the aesthetic of the rest of the design.

Step 7: Putting It All Together

First remove the bulky spine of the book and replace it with a fitted piece of plywood to hold its structure. Secondly using a 2 part epoxy (Areldite) attach the book to the notepad base. Once this has dried a bit attach the base of the frame to the book using the same epoxy. Have a friend help you hold it in place and smile for the camera :) Once the adhesive is all dry you are finished :)

Step 8: Final Product

Add a plant into the hole in the book. Now you can place the completed design somewhere near your front door and move the pegs from one side to the other when you have done the tasks you specified.