Trick out your toilet with heated seats and nightlights

  • By Andrea Brown Herald Writer
  • Tuesday, November 18, 2014 8:11pm
  • Life

Pamper yourself and pimp your toilet seat.

No need to stumble around the dark abyss of the bathroom only to park your buns on a ruthlessly cold seat.

There are seats that light up, warm up and scent the room.

For as little as $50, it can be a life changer.

If nothing else, it will make your stay more enjoyable.

Toastie Tush

Most homes don’t have bathrooms wired to warm your buns. For some strange reason, there usually isn’t a wall outlet in place for that purpose, so heating your seat might require a special receptacle for safe installation.

A Colorado man came up with a seat warmer that attaches to the underside of the lid with Velcro. No electrician required. When the lid is down, the device warms the seat. A collateral benefit is that it rewards the male species for lowering the lid.

Toastie Tush sells for about $55 and comes with an extended cord.

Necessity was the mother of this invention.

“We are originally from the south. We had a hard time with the cold,” said creator Rich Rendon, a Coast Guard officer who relocated to Colorado Springs.

His wife said, “Fix this. Come up with something.”

So he did.

“We used a prototype that I put together for about seven years,” he said.

After he retired in 2007, he started mass producing the hot seat. It’s available online at Lowe’s, Amazon and www.toastie tush.com.

“We have owners in every state in the U.S. and 11 countries,” Rendon said. “People in Louisiana and Florida have bought it. It is kind of amazing. There are a lot of sales in Los Angeles, 70-degree Los Angeles. One guy has it installed in an outhouse in Alaska.”

Sales increase every year.

“It’s the white elephant kind of gift at Christmas parties, and people say, oh-my-god, this is serious, this is a great product. It starts being humorous and ends up something people can’t do without,” he said. “You’ll never want to ‘go’ without it.”

Kohler Nightlight

Want a light that gently leads the way for your sleepy eyes?

The Kohler Nightlight toilet seat provides a subtle glow.

The task light illuminates the bowl. It’s called a task light for a reason.

A guiding light, in the seat’s hinge, is visible with the lid down. It glows onto the toilet’s tank so users can see where to go when entering the bathroom.

There’s one on display at Keller Supply Kitchen and Bath Showcase in Everett.

“It’s something that has to catch on,” showroom manager Stephen Gomer said. “It is really cool. People smile when they see it. They are trying to figure out how effective it will be.”

The list price starts at $50, with various color options. The battery-powered light runs automatically on a seven-hour cycle. With the push of a button, you program the first cycle and it will activate at the same time every night.

No need to flip a switch, but you still have to flush.

Or not.

The Kohler Purefresh ($120), slated to come out soon, has a carbon deodorizing system that neutralizes odors right where they originate and has a built-in freshener that releases a light scent.

It also lights up.

However, it doesn’t heat up.

For more about the seats, go to www.us.kohler.com.

Night Glow Toilet Seat

It’s no big deal if your man leaves this seat up.

You won’t fall in.

No way you won’t have a perfect landing with this glow-in-the-dark seat.

The seat looks radioactive, as if it’s a spaceship with aliens hovering nearby.

It is made with photo luminescent plastic, which is injection molded. The color will not rub off, leak out or be released.

The seat is whitish in daylight and comes in green or blue glowing options.

If you really want to trick it out, get a black light for the bathroom.

The glowing seat is $50 at www.homedepot.com or www.nightglowseats.com.

Soon, you will be able to buy them from the sky. The product will be in the SkyMall in-flight magazine, which led the seat-makers to tweet: “Today we made glow in the dark toilet seat history.”

It might warm your heart, but it won’t warm your thighs. You’ll need a Toastie Tush for that.

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