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Garage Greatness: The Humble Origins of MyPillow

Bywittycow

There’s an old adage – anything that separates you from the ground is worth spending money on. It goes for good quality shoes, it goes for good quality mattresses, and – on a related note – it goes for a comfortable pillow! Everyone knows the hotel room struggle of trying different pillows and combinations of pillows, trying to find the one with the perfect mixture of firmness and softness, but for most people this hunt isn’t inspiring. For a certain kind of entrepreneurial spirit, however, any hardship is inspiring. Mike Lindell has just that spirit. 

Lindell tried everything to create the life he wanted for his family through an increasingly bizarre list of business ventures. In 2004, he finally found the million-dollar-idea – or to be more accurate, the multi-million-dollar-idea! MyPillow, a company that he begun in his residential home’s garage, has now sold over 30 MILLION pillows! Before he was the king of pillows, however, Lindell’s life followed a rocky path through business failures and drug addiction. In spite of this adversity, his drive never faltered, and Lindell has made a successful company out of humble beginnings in the family garage. 

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What to Look for in a Garage Door Company

Bywittycow

Hiring a company to work on your home can be intimidating. Having strangers walking around your property can be a little unsettling, and if you’re having some renovation done, seeing a stranger demolishing part of your home is even weirder! When someone is going to be working on your home, it pays to choose carefully – but how do you know what to look for in a contractor? Finding the best company can be a challenge, with so many companies vying for your attention and money! We’ve compiled some of our top tips, specifically looking at how to choose a garage door company. Most of these will be applicable to other industries as well, of course. 

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How to Prepare Your Garage Door for a Hurricane

Bywittycow

Hurricane Irma’s recent passage through North Carolina has left many of our customers thinking about their home’s hurricane preparedness in a whole new light. Even people hours inland from the coast can be at risk during hurricane season, and for our readers around the globe, many other areas present threats of tornados, monsoons, or other natural disasters. If you want to prepare yourself against these natural threats, the best place to start is the most vulnerable part of your home. Believe it or not, that might actually be the garage door!

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Wood Garage Doors Pros and Cons

Bywittycow

Wood garage doors have been around just as long as garages have been! Early carriage house doors were usually made of wood because it was the predominant building material of the time, and into the 1980s and 1990s most garage doors were still being constructed out of wood. The iconic sectional overhead garage door rose to popularity during these years, and these doors were usually made of detailed wood panels.

Nowadays, modern garage doors are likely to be made of metal – aluminum garage doors are lighter, cheaper, and easier to maintain, so for many homeowners they are the more sensible choice. For some, however, the luxury and beauty of a wooden door is more desirable than the ease of a metal door. Modern wood garage doors are impressive, and they’re one of the best ways for your home to make an impression on a passerby. A Plus Garage Doors has installed residential and commercial wood garage doors of all varieties, so we can tell you all about their advantages and disadvantages. Once you’ve learned about the subject, you can decide if a wooden garage door is right for your home.

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The Play in the Garage

Bywittycow

We like filling you in about new developments in garage doors and garage door openers, but we know that all that talk can get a little dry. Even still, the garage is one of the most iconic rooms in a home, and even just a mention of “garage door” gives you an instant image of what a garage looks like. Everyone knows that garages are used for parking cars, storing sports equipment, practicing with your band, or plying a trade like woodworking or auto repair. But despite how garages are typically typecast, they can be used for so much more – such as this Los Angeles-area garage that is the stage for a new and innovative play, “In Case of Emergency”.

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Expert’s 3 Top Reasons to Have Your Garage Door Maintained

Bywittycow

There are tons of reasons that someone might want to have a maintenance checkup on their garage door, but most homeowners never give their door any attention until it breaks! Your car has warning lights to let you know when something has gone wrong, but most garage door openers don’t have anything like that – instead, they rely upon your observational skills and a professional examination to stay in working order. And just like a car, a little bit of preventative care can go a long way! If there is a problem with your garage door, it is much better to notice it before it causes a catastrophe – a broken door can trap your vehicles in the house so you can’t go to school or work, and a broken door can potentially endanger your family. Here’s our top three reasons why you should have a professional look at your garage door once a year!

Garage Door Safety Security Keypad Update

Garage Door Safety: Keypad

Bywittycow

Does your garage door have a keypad? The keypad is one of the most convenient and most common ways for homeowners to open their garage door. It saves you the trouble of having to carry a remote, it is perfect if you have children that play outside, and it can even save you some humiliation if you end up locked out of your home! What most people don’t think about, however, is that fact that a keypad introduces some new security risks into your system. Older keypads in particular can be very dangerous to use, because tech-savvy thieves will sometimes target the garage door opener as the best mechanism for gaining access to your home. Luckily, there are a couple simple steps that anyone can take to make sure that their family stays safe!

Bat cave Garage Makeover Residential Renovation

Batcave Garage Makeover!

Bywittycow

We’ve worked on some wonderful homes with gorgeous garages, but this custom garage added to a Melbourne estate by Molecule architectural firm is way crazier than anything we’ve ever seen. If you’ve ever wanted to live like millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne (of Batman fame), this garage may just make you envious…

Garage Greatness Dell Company Origin Founding

The Rise and Fall of Dell, Inc

Bywittycow

There are very few consistent details between all of the companies that we’ve featured on Garage Greatness. Sometimes, the people responsible for these international powerhouse companies don’t pursue their passion until later in life. Sometimes, they spend years or decades toiling with their idea before finding worldwide success. Sometimes, these companies are momentary successes that then see their sales decline, dropping in popularity as time passes them by. None of these are true about the company we’ll be examining today, Dell Inc. Dell had a mercurial rise to success, going from an unknown name with $1,000 of startup money to being the 51st company in the Fortune 500 list in 2014. And just like the rest of the companies that we’ve covered, Dell got their start in a garage. The year was 1984, the place was Austin, Texas, and the mind behind the company, Michael Dell, wanted to fill an expanding niche in the consumer computers market.

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Inventing the Cat Flap: Newton or Not?

Bywittycow

Hello readers! On this installment of Garage Greatness, we’re going to be exploring the dubious claim that Isaac Newton himself invented the cat door while in the garage! Although this claim is interesting and would certainly make for a good story, many people doubt that it is true, so we will also be discussing the other potential origins of the cat door. Having specialized doors for your pets is a very old idea, and tracking the exact origin is difficult, but we have done our best to verify the information we’re bringing you. We bring the same reliable and dependable service to our blog that we bring to our residential and commercial garage door installation and repair services.