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September 27, 2017

Students from Lahti University design furniture for displacement victims

The ongoing refugee crisis and the effects of natural disaster have become increasingly important topics for designers in recent years. This is why it interested us to read Dezeen magazine’s report this week about 10 students from Lahti University of Applied Sciences in Finland and their designs for a collection of essential furniture items for victims of displacement. The designs are the fruit of a research project called Rehome, which gave students from the school’s Institute of Design the responsibility of creating temporary products for those suddenly forced to leave their home without belongings. “Manufactured automatically with the lowest costs possible” One of the students, Iida Nordgren, said to Dezeen: “The main idea behind Rehome was to design temporary products that could provide an answer to humans’ primary needs when suddenly rehoused. The furniture designed within Rehome can be manufactured automatically with the lowest costs possible. For example, a cardboard bed can be manufactured around 3,500 pieces in one hour – and no tools are required for assembling.” The students devised a list of things that they described as catering to “the most urgent human needs”, which they identified as sleeping arrangements, privacy and social interaction. This led to their decision to use...

September 13, 2017

Are microflats the answer to London’s affordable housing shortage?

One of the greatest debates of our times has undoubtedly been about how we can tackle the increasing shortage of affordable residential property across the UK – particularly in the most in-demand city centres such as London. Could the emergence of microflats be the answer? That question played on our minds recently as we read about the regeneration specialists U+I, and their claim that the development of tiny flats in areas of currently largely unaffordable housing provision could help to revive communities presently being “hollowed out”. Wealthy buyers continuing to acquire homes in the capital Anyone who walks around certain areas of central London these days will probably have some sympathy with the oft-voiced frustration that rich investors from outside the capital are increasingly snapping up property that is then often being left empty for months. Indeed, a report last month commissioned by the Mayor of London stated that foreign investors purchased 13.2% of all property in the capital sold between 2014 and 2016. Meanwhile, according to the Government’s latest English Housing Survey, home ownership levels across England are at a 30-year low, and the country hasn’t had this many private renters since the 1960s. So, should a new generation of hardworking professionals for whom...

April 12, 2017

How to Decide Between a Wooden and Glass Coffee Table

A coffee table holds great aesthetic value when it comes to the overall look of a drawing room. Paired with the right sofa, it can add a new charm to the décor of your room. There are many factors that need to be considered before selecting a coffee table, none more important than the material it is made in. With markets being flooded with a variety of coffee tables in different styles, design and materials; it becomes quite difficult to make a selection between the offerings. In this article we will try and guide you on how to decide between a wooden and glass coffee table. Glass Coffee Table When it comes to elegance and lux appeal, glass is the material of choice. A transparent Glass Coffee Table can be a worthwhile addition to any drawing room because it fits effortlessly into modern arrangements. A buyer can select from a range of shapes, including rectangular, oval and round. Generally, a glass table is not all glass and comes with table legs constructed from either wood or brass. On average, glass tables are shorter in size than wooden tables and have high functionality. Given their transparent nature, these tables can be used with...

March 29, 2017

MAKE YOUR DINING ROOM WORK FOR YOU

A dining room is a place where the whole family gets-together during meal times or the place which is most useful while entertaining guests. Most homeowners today who have formal dining rooms, seldom use them. This wasted space can be put to better use by rethinking and repurposing your rooms. Hectic schedules don’t leave the family enough time to sit and have a long drawn meal time. As this room is not often utilized it can very well be called as wasted space in the house. Just because the room is called as the dining room, does not mean that, that is the only function of the room. There are other functions it can serve making it a multi- functional area for the family to use and making better use of space which otherwise would have been wasted. Office: With an increasing number of people opting for working from home, the under used dining room makes an excellent office. This works especially well if the dining room is near the front door. The clients won’t have to trapeze all over the house to reach your office. You can have an office that doesn’t look boring and drab. Using lamps instead of boring...

March 24, 2017

Add Personality to Your Home With Accessories

Accessorizing is an art and it doesn’t come easy to most. While for some it may be a collection, but for some it may just be a collection of articles with no taste. A tastefully done living space will always include the right accessories that will accentuate and complement the room. Accessories reflect the personality of its owner and add soul to the interiors of any space. A room sans accessories will beg n to look like a furniture showroom and too many artefacts will make the room look like a museum. So, often accessorizing becomes a nightmare that most people avoid. Putting off, decorating your home with accessories is not a solution, instead understanding a few basic principles and thumb rules for accessorizing will help you add the personality and soul to your home. It is not necessary that the accessories have to be exclusive and expensive items. Sometimes the most ordinary of things like, stones, shells, pinecones, jars or matchbooks, when arranged innovatively make the most attractive and unique accessories. Antique stores, art and craft galleries and flea markets are the places where you can find exclusive yet affordable pieces to decorate your home. It is not necessary to go out and...

March 3, 2017

Tips for buying furniture online

It is easier deciding the furniture you want to purchase when in a showroom as you are able to touch, feel and even sit on the piece of furniture you have your eyes on. Let’s not call it old fashion purchasing as we may feel too old, but the traditional way of buying furniture. Nowadays however a big chunk of the UK furniture market is made up of the online furniture stores. A study from two years back found that half of the UK furniture purchasing was done in a physical store where customers actually get to see the products they want to buy in real-life. An interesting parallel to this number however comes from the same study that has shown half of those customers also searched for online reviews before deciding which showroom they should visit. The conclusion would be that online presence and online reputation of a furniture retailer is essential for the success of the business regardless of how the selling is done, in a showroom, online or both. The trend is clearly towards online furniture purchasing as it is expected to surpass the traditional way of buying furniture in a few years. In this regard a few tips and...

February 10, 2017

6 Seriously Amazing Wallpaper Styles To Wow You!

Who out there struggles on a daily basis to come up with fun and fresh ideas for their home furnishings? It can be so difficult choosing the right kind of wardrobes and other furniture, not to mention paint colours, wallpaper, carpeting… the list is basically endless and there are so many products out there to choose from that sometimes this means no decisions ever get made at all! If you’re planning on refreshing the wallpaper at home this year, make sure you devote at least a day to browsing the different kinds of styles and designs out there so you know you’ve made the right choice. Here are just a few of our very favourite wallpaper designs we’ve found. Enjoy! Grey Cable Knit Murals Wallpaper, £25 per sq/m With trends like hygge and lagom making headlines at the moment, you could certainly do a lot worse than this incredible cosy grey cable knit wallpaper – even if you’re not a knitter! The grey tones tie in really nicely with a Scandi-style aesthetic and you’ll make your living room so comforting if you decorate in this way. Marrakech Palm – Midnight Blue Barneby Gates, £81 a roll The dark blue of the background pairs so well with the...

February 10, 2017

Instagram – The Best Place To Go For Interior Design Inspiration

Redecorating can be daunting and it's not just the prospect of spending lots of money that gives people cause for concern. Trying to decide what would look good where can be incredibly difficult if you're not a professional interior designer and it's not always affordable for everyone to bring in the professionals. This is where the internet really comes into its own. There are so many sites out there, from magazines and newspapers to personal blogs, that are brilliant sources that you could use to help make a few home decor decisions, whether you need help working out where your TV units should go or what colour would go best in a smaller than usual kitchen. One of the best places to go online if you want a few ideas to help you get started has to be Instagram. Not only will you find a wealth of professional interiors specialists on the site, all posting incredibly beautiful pictures of houses and their insides, but you'll also be able to see what amateur decorators have been up to. These days, people live to document their every move and Instagram is perfect for this - if you want a snapshot into someone else's...

February 3, 2017

A Guide To Choosing The Perfect Dining Table

If you’re looking for a new dining table for your home, you need to make sure you buy wisely. This is a central piece of furniture for a dining room and so you need it to not only look good, but also be functional. It’s worth investing in a high-quality dining table as it’s the kind of piece of furniture that can last for years if well taken care of. So, what exactly do you need to think about when you’re buying your next dining table? Size When it comes to dining tables, size really does matter. The first thing to do is measure your dining room to find out how much space you have for a table. Remember that you’ll want to leave a good amount of space around each side of the table so guests can comfortably get in and out of their seats. Also consider how many people you usually entertain. There’s little point in buying a table that will seat eight, if you don’t normally have more than four people sitting down to eat together. If you’re worried about catering for large groups once or twice a year, you might be better off in buying a nice four-seater dining table and...

February 2, 2017

Have You Heard Of The Layer Approach To Home Decor?

If you’ve been looking at one of the rooms in your home and wondering how you can bring it to life, it could be time for an interior design project, but how can you be sure everything you select will work not only within the space, but with everything else too? And is there a way to future-proof (to a certain extent) your interior project? Well, we think that taking the layer approach to home decoration could be the solution. Earlier this month, interior designer Caitlin McBride told the Huffington Post about a host of her top tips, all based on this concept of layering your room. In essence it’s very simple - you begin with the bottom ‘layer’ of your interior, such as your walls and big pieces of furniture, and work your way up from there. Her advice is to buy the likes of sofas and carpets in neutral tones that could fit with a variety of decor schemes. Once you’ve got that first ‘layer’ sorted, you can start to have a bit of fun. Using small items of furniture - so in a living room the likes of arm chairs and coffee tables - you can bring a bit more colour and...

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