The >>perfect>> living space

With the World Cup beginning to hot up, and the weather as well, I thought I'd post a few words on my ideas for the ideal living space.

I think the ideal living space is one that thinks big - big windows, big telly, high ceiling. If you want the first of these, a move to Holland would be in order - the standard house windows there are massive. As for the big telly, you're now talking standard, run-of the-mill tellies being at least 42" screen. I think I'll wait til they hit a 60" standard before shelling out. I also need a TV with genuine cinema ratio. When I get one of those, there's a very good chance I may never leave the house ever again :-]

The other essential is of course a big sofa. Bigger the better,really. A big sofa can almost function as a living space in its own right - a kind of microcosm where you can spend a lot of quality chill time. But the problem I have with the BIG SOFA is that it can sometimes look a bit out of place, like it's just landed there. As with all problems though, there is a perfect solution: the corner sofa. What these do is of course fit the corner of the room, and thus blend in with it. Never trust anyone who when alone in a room with a corner sofa in it, doesn't spend at least five minutes sinking into it and going "ahhh ... I wish I had one of these"!

And amazingly, these sofas don't cost an arm and a leg. Get yourself down to your furniture retail store and give the corner sofas a try. It's a whole new chill experience.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Alternative furniture ideas

One area of life where there seems to be a fair amount of uniformity is in home furnishings. It's not an area where people really try and show off the quirkier side to their personality. I can understand this, because I reckon some of the wackier things out there could soon get a bit tiring to look at. You could of course spend a bit (well... tons) of cash and import stuff from Mexico for that South American look - although like I say, expensive. You could also try your hand at making your own stuff, but cabinet making is rightly called a profession, not really something us mere mortals can dabble in of a weekend. I mean, it's hard enough trying to get a flatpack kit together without a barrage of consternated, ahem, *phrases*.

Anyway, this little meditation on alt-furniture got me thinking - what would your card-carrying, black-attired, pale Goth have as furniture?

A quick look around the internet and I found the answer in this marvellous Gothic chair. Nosferatu himself would be proud to own one of these beauties, i reckon!

If you snooze you win ...how to choose a bed in 4 easy steps!

How to choose a bed, in a few simple steps.

1. Avoid any newfangled self-vacuuming, water-loaded, massage-your-shoulders sci-fi stuff. A good night's sleep is predicated upon one thing, and one thing only: comfort. Your whizz-bang split the atom laboratory stuff can be bought for other parts of the house. Nothing wong with a few gizmos and gadgets in the kitchen, for instance.

2. Make sure you get a good mattress. Science does feature here, but not in terms of wires, circuitry and motors. The science is all in the design of the mattress. For a decent night's sleep, an orthopaedic mattress is a must. Preferably one that is also hypo-allergenic. I speak from experience here - I have in the past used a cheap non-ortho mattress and paid for it in lower back pain every morning after sleeping on it. Instead, go for a mattress that combines comfort with technology. It's one of life's less exciting investments, but worth every penny.

3. And that's about it. The only last consideration is the price. Some beds seem to cost more than small cars, whereas if you shop around you can definitely spot great deals here and there where money can be saved.

4. One last thing - once you've got the bed, don't get mean with the bedclothes. Decent quality cotton sheets , pillow cases and duvet cover. None of this polyester-cotton mix, especially in the summer. Way uncomfortable.

Check out what's on offer, take your time. Furniture retail stores are there to advise, so check 'em out and see what's on offer. And make sure you get a bed that you're happy with - that way, if you snooze you win. After all, we spend a third of our hours asleep...

>>Retro vibe>>

I'd been meaning to do a retro blog post about the 80s but for some reason the 80s is much less chromey than I remember it. Or what survives of it that I can easily track down, anyway.

It seems the 80s were more about thin red graph paper lines, not-of-this-planet vegetation prints, mega-mega use of plastics, and the odd piece of well designed classicism.

The ChromeQuest (TM) led me, as it almost always does, to the work of the Eames brothers. Check out this classic chrome/leather job on RetroDecades - I haven't actually tried one of these out, but it looks like it's got two of the main design plus points a chair should have - a level of good visual design and also a level of comfort.

Too many retro pieces look like something off the set of a space opera or a film by someone like Michaelengelo Antonioni. I think the Eames were genius because they understood sedentary ergonomics as well as style. The fact that they made use of chrome is just a bonus really.

Another, not dissimilar approach to ergonomics, aesthetics and chrome-ology is [at top of this post] the Breuer "Wassily"chair (named, I presume, for Kandinsky). Even looking at the picture almost works as a posture-corrective!