Essential Home Furniture

TV Stands for the Future

lucas20 — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:21:13 +0000

The big trend in TV stands is a very low lying piece of furniture. Perhaps the idea is that a flat screen TV can be so big that it barely needs to be off the floor. I honestly hate these low lying stands. I’ve included a picture of something that I like a little better which is a modern, high rise TV stand. You can still put a decent sized TV on it. The problem with this is that it does tend to take up more room than your standard low-lying television stand, which are generally pretty thin. This one, however, does include some pretty significant storage. One part that I especially like about this storage is that it is behind a closed door. Much of modern furniture is open storage, which is fine, but probably not as useful for someone as messy as I like to be with my storage space.

Cool Outdoor Furniture Set

lucas20 — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:52:59 +0000

After my recent post on outdoor furniture, I found this really cool set called Fiore by B-alance. It is a beautiful set of what I call tear drop furniture, pictured below. Really, the set is fashioned after the look of a flower, which makes sense too. The handmade set includes a couch, coffee table, and foot stool. I’d really like to see a table and chairs added into this set, for function reasons. That said, I also think it would have challenged the designer to include some different forms in the overall flower design motivation. In any event, a neat little piece of furniture design to share with you.

Essential Balcony Furniture

lucas20 — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:18:56 +0000

Whether you are in an urban apartment or have a large house, a balcony can be a great place to spend your time, especially during the summer. Finding the essential furniture for your balcony can be difficult though. Balconies can be tough because you have to balance many factors include space, comfort, and weather resistance. The main pieces of a solid balcony set include a small table, two chairs, a love seat/bench and a coffee table. These items all make for a nice set-up outside, but can be difficult to find as one set. The key in the case of not being able to find a complete set is to find a look and/or a color to go with. If you stick to a look (say wicker), you can still put together a uniform balcony set.

Spice Up Your Furniture With Textiles

lucas20 — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:10:54 +0000

The textiles section of the Ikea website is one of my favorite places for finding ways of spicing up that old furniture without purchasing new items. Let’s face it, not every piece in your home can be updated the minute you want it. In fact, your style will grow tired before your budget is ready for something new. Well, there is a cheaper way to improve the look of your home or apartment and that is with textiles. What do I mean by textiles? This can be anything from new rugs, pillows, throws, slip covers, etc. The Ikea store offers lots of cool, modern designs at affordable prices, but really many other places including Marshalls and TJ Maxx offer some interesting mixes for your furniture.

Free Shipping at Compact Appliance

lucas20 — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:41:47 +0000

I had forgotten about Compact Appliance’s fantasy free ground shipping offer, until someone asked me about my kegerator. Last year during this same deal, I purchased my first kegerator primarily because of the store’s free shipping offer. Compact Appliance, including its store at Kegerator.com is now offering free shipping for three days. This sale goes through Thursday, April 1st. Shop CompactAppliance.com or take a look at some of my favorite items from their store below. Some of this stuff is better for furnishing small apartments, but I’ve also found it useful for family rooms or rec rooms (like the basement).

EdgeStar 18 Bottle Dual Zone Wine Cooler

EdgeStar Extreme Cool 12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

Koldfront Portable Countertop Dishwasher

Should You Care About Furniture Feet?

lucas20 — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:02:57 +0000

It’s hard to easily ignore furniture feet. When choosing new furniture for your home or apartment, however, having some really complementary furniture feet can make all the difference. I always struggled, however, because I never really knew all of the different types of furniture feet. That is to say that I didn’t know what I was missing. Anyway, I stumbled upon this mini furniture feet gallery that has many different pictures of furniture feet. It’s something worth paying additional attention to if you are buying new or used furniture. Of course antique furniture probably highlights this “accessory” more than new furniture, but still a useful way to tie a room together.

Think of Furniture as Multifunctional

lucas20 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:50:47 +0000

People often enter into furniture stores and look at the kitchen section for kitchen items, the bedroom section for bedroom items, and so forth. One of the things I would like to underscore is the potential for items to be multifunctional. You don’t have to look at the TV stand section in Ikea to find TV stands. Other shelves or furniture not made exactly for a specific purpose, can be multifunctional if you’re thinking outside of the box. I think most people who have hip looking homes and apartments are thinking outside of the prepackaged functional box so to speak. Think about this the next time you go to a furniture store.

Shopping for a Memory Foam Mattress

lucas20 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:37:42 +0000

If you’ve made the decision to purchase a memory foam mattress, it is important to understand the features of this innovative mattress prior to purchase. This will help you find the appropriate model that will best meet your needs. Decides all being constructed of the same material, memory foam, there are drastic differences between different memory foam mattresses.

One way in which memory foam mattresses vary from each other is the manner in which they respond to heat. You might think this doesn’t seem that important but if you understand how memory foam works, you’ll be surprised to find out that it actually does matter. Memory foam mattresses are made of foam which changes according to temperature. The foam then either softens or hardens depending upon this temperature. Cooler temperatures cause it to be firmer while warmer ones cause it to be softer. This is how the memory foam mattress is able to conform to your own body. It provides different levels of support along your entire body as the temperature varies along the length of your body. In this manner, pressure points are prevented from forming which allows you to sleep well.

Another factor to look at is the density of the mattress. This does vary significantly from mattress to mattress. Each mattress will give you information about its density. Density is important because it will tell you how durable the mattress is as well as how supportive it will be for your body. Generally, experts recommend that you purchase a memory foam mattress with a density as low as 5.3 pounds or as high as 6.2 pounds. These will last much longer over time and provide you with an appropriate amount of support. However, memory foam mattresses that have a density of 4.5 pounds or more are considered good. If you see a memory foam mattress with a density of 3 pounds to 4.5 pounds is considered a mid-grade of memory foam. Memory foam mattresses with density below 3.5 pounds it poor and really would not be a wise purchase. Take the time to select the mattress that will be an investment that will pay off every night you secure a restful sleep. Now, you can also purchase Sleepeezee memory foam mattresses, which will contour to your body and give the best support for a night’s sleep. Memory foam queen loft beds.

Ceiling Lighting

lucas20 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:52:56 +0000

Lighting can be an extremely important feature of interior decorating. Without proper lighting, some much strived for design looks cannot be fully achieved. A popular location for lighting in all rooms is on the ceiling. Ceiling lights can effective light parts of rooms, often for different purposes. Some of these are of course aesthetic but others can be more functional. There are some basic principles one should keep in mind when using ceiling lighting in the home.

Ceiling lighting should be able to give the room the adequate amount of lighting needed. This amount of light will vary according to the type of the room as well as the purpose for which the room is used. The dining room would be an excellent room with which to illustrate this lighting principle. Since this particular room is used for dining, one would want ceiling lighting that could provide a soft glow to set a certain ambiance. Therefore, many designers will install dimmer switches in the dining room. This allows the homeowner to adjust the brightness of the ceiling light. After all, you do need a certain amount of lighting to see your food as well as your fellow diners. Bedrooms would need different lighting than that of a dining room. It is recommended that lighting installed close to the bed should be softer, this can be achieved by placing lamps on bedside tables which can then be dimmed if necessary. Harsher and brighter lighting does not create an ambience for sleep. Secondly, the softer lighting more effectively showcases bedding and other bedding related accessories that have been carefully selected for the bed. Recessed lighting is often popular for bedrooms as they provide a softer amount of light.

Lighting in bathrooms is quite different. Since many tasks such as grooming and cosmetic application can take place in this room, bright task lighting is needed. Recessed ceiling lights are often popular in bathrooms for the direct light they can provide to certain parts of the bathroom where tasks will most often occur. Most people do not care for fluorescent lighting in the bathroom. They prefer softer, more natural lighting. Keep this in mind when selecting ceiling light fixtures for the bathroom.

Craigslist for Furniture

lucas20 — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:12:06 +0000

Many young professionals use Craigslist to furnish their homes and apartments. This basically stems from a desire to keep things cheap. I think that finding essential home furniture off Craigslist can be a great idea. I also think that it can be a huge pain and lead to mixed results. I tend to believe that if you spend as much time on Craigslist looking for discounts and affordable new furniture you can put together something for a very similar price. I will say that one of the best uses of Craigslist for furniture, however, is using it to buy used Ikea goods. There’s one simple reason for that: it’s already put together!