Open House - A behind-the-scenes view of Manage My Home

Say Hello To Hello Modular Shelving

Why is it that I can't resist the umpteenth creation of modular shelving design. For those of you looking for a step up from milk crates and cinderblocks this could be just the shelving your looking for. It's called 'Hello' shelving but I suppose if you're lying down you might call it 'me, myself and I' shelving. Regardless of which letter of the alphabet, this is a nice design for a reasonable price that will definitely give your bedroom, living room, or anyroom a nice lift.

Check out the designer and give him your rating on his design!

-Garret, Industrial Designer

Big Day for Manage My Home

Yesterday was our "going public" day for Manage My Home. We conducted a satellite media tour with HGTV's Steve Watson. It was my first SMT and it was a crazy, wild, long day, but it was also a great success. Steve gave 38 interviews — 14 which aired live on stations including KCPQ (FOX, Seattle), WZZM (ABC, Grand Rapids) and WTVR (CBS, Richmond).

Steve in the studio

It wasn't just Steve Watson making the rounds. Jim Hilt, our DVP and Chief Home Manager, was busy spreading the word about Manage My Home too. Yesterday, a great article about Manage My Home appeared on Brandweek featuring an interview with Jim. On Monday, Jim and I visited the offices of Good Housekeeping and met with Kim Moreau, Assistant Home Editor. It was a great interview! And Crain's Chicago Business also conducted an interview with Jim later that day.

Our press release, "Sears Holdings Announces Manage My Home," was also picked up by more than 200 sites including Forbes.com, Reuters.com, Yahoo! Finance and DailyHerald.com.

All this activity resulted in more than 11.2 million media impressions for Manage My Home yesterday. It was a great day!

-Alex, Marketing

Steve Watson Moves Into the Neighborhood

Recently, I posted a behind-the-scenes photo of our new spokesperson asking readers to guess who it was. I'm happy to finally announce that Steve Watson of HGTV's "Don't Sweat It" has joined with Manage My Home to bring you no-nonsense home-care ideas.

The photo I previously posted was from the shoot for the web video tour Steve filmed for Manage My Home. You can watch the video on Steve's landing page. Here are some more behind-the-scenes shots.

Steve gets ready for a shot poolside

Steve does a take in the garage

Our fabulous crew pauses at the end of the day for a shot with Steve

Me and Steve

After you check out the video, make sure you take a list of Steve's must-have home to-dos. Add them to your list and get started caring for your home with Steve's no-sweat advice.

Steve will also be doing a cross country satellite media tour tomorrow to share his advice on home-care with a new audience of homeowners. To see when Steve will be appearing in your area, check here.

On Wednesday, I'll have some more photos from the media tour and links to Steve's appearances in case you miss him.

-Alex, Marketing

Who is that mystery man?

I had a great two days in New York last week. I met with our PR agency EURO and our new spokesperson. After a day of "what is Manage My Home anyway" we spent a second day shooting a special video message for our website.

While I can't tell you who the spokesperson is (I don't want to ruin the surprise), I can say that we couldn't be more pleased. He's really the perfect fit for us. I've posted some behind-the-scenes photos below of the shoot. You can see our great crew and a few shots of our spokesperson's back. Can you guess who it is? HINT: He's a home improvement TV celebrity.

-Alex, Marketing

Behold The Green Green Lawn Mower

How Awesome is this new lawn mower! Battery powered it looks so good I want to mow someone's lawn since I don't have one of my own.

Features:

• 360 watt-hours of battery energy, it has plenty of power to mow through even tall, wet grass
• Gives you the powerful performance of a gas mower with convenience of battery technology
• There is no gas or oil to spill and no engine emissions to pollute the air
• Never need to wear hearing protection — nor will you annoy your neighbors, no matter what time of day you mow
• Instant starting, squeeze the handlebar and the motor starts automatically
• Optional on-board string trimmer/edger. No more second trips around the lawn to clean up walkway edges or trim around fence posts
• Trimming/Edger switch, instantly change from powering the mower blade to powering the optional Trimmer/Edger
• Security key can be removed to prevent accidental or unauthorized use of the mower

-Garret, Industrial Designer