Small Space Folding Furniture

Folding furniture is not often pretty. It conjures up thoughts of grey metal, vinyl upholstery and pinched fingers.

Nils Frederking of Berlin is changing all of our past perceptions of folding furniture. His new pieces are both beautiful and durable. These pieces look like they could be used everyday. They are stylishly designed and fold for easy storage.

In small space living, dining is often a problem — this table could be easily stored away until needed. Having a dinner party? Not a problem, just pull the Klappstuhl F2 out of the closet and you have a dining table. Don’t need a full-sized table every day? Fold it up and put it away.

I’m not sure when these will be available for sale, but French furniture manufacturer Ligne Roset has them listed as key products for this years line-up.

Small Space Loft

The Interlocking Loft is great example of lofty living in a small space. The space for this loft is far from spacious, but Kyu Sung Woo Architects were able to pack in a lot of living while retaining an open airy feel.

The space has a waved ceiling that, at its low point, is 11 feet 10 inches and in the high points is 12 feet 3 inches. This space did not allow for two full height levels, so the architects incorporated three separate half-height levels into the design. Tucked into the highest points of the ceiling are to separate sleeping areas joined by a catwalk. The architects used the area under the upper areas for closets and spaces not requiring full height.

The space truly interlocks perfectly. In one of sleeping areas there is a raised sleeping platform; the underside of which creates more headroom in the kitchen area.

Chumby

Chumby is tricky device to classify. There are not many other devices that have the multifunction of Chumby.

Chumby is a small Wi-Fi compatible device with a 3.5 inch touch screen and a soft leather case. The Chumby is intended to replace your clock radio. But to call it a clock or radio would be so short sighted. It can be loaded with a number of widgets — the list grows daily.

There is no end to the multifunction goodness of Chumby. The Chumby can be a clock or an internet radio. It can track EBay auctions or display photos form your Flicker account.

The device sells for $179, which is the hardware break-even point for the manufacturers. It’s an unusual thing for a manufacturer to sell a product for no profit, but the intention is to make money by selling advertising on the Chumby units.

Chumby could fit well into your small space life — it’s little and has a multitude of uses.

Sonrisa Furniture

Photo Credit Sonrisa Furniture

Sonrisa Furniture is a unique company that specializes in retro and industrial pieces. I stumbled on their site some time ago.

I first fell in love with their vintage steel office furniture — classic Mid-Century Modern pieces refinished beautifully. They have a great selection of vintage office desks, credenzas and chairs.

There is a great selection of industrial objects as well. I have always liked basket lockers as a functional all-purpose storage and organizing solution. I also very much appreciate the idea of restoring and reusing vintage pieces — it’s like recycling furniture.

I am glad they are on the other side of the country because I’m sure if I could actually go to their showroom it would wipe me out.

Thonet Chair Project

I have a pair of great bentwood Thonet chairs. The chairs were free — thanks mom. I intend to remove the original varnish, which is quite worn and chipping, sand and re-finish.

I am also going to have the seat and back pieces reupholstered, professionally. I am looking for any information on this chair model. Anyone out there know its name?


I have seen similar pieces for sale; there is a set of four on Ebay right now with a starting bid of $475. None of the others I have seen have the metal studs on the back that mine do. It sure looks like original factory work to me. I’m trying to decide weather to replace the studs when I have them reupholstered. Anyone have a clue as to the studs being original?

They both have the original tags on the bottom from the company and the only date is 1928 — if that helps at all. I can’t imagine they are that old.


Here is a sample of the wood with the varnish removed. I’ll update the project as soon as the weather permits me to do some additional work.

Small Space Camcorder

So camcorders are somewhat essential pieces of our digital lives. With You Tube being so prevalent, videos are powerful tool. The right video could direct millions of views to the site of its creator. We like to watch stuff — it’s true. However, having a camcorder with you everywhere is not always practical. Well now it can be.

There have been several variants of pocket-sized camcorders. The Flip Video by Pure Digital has clearly established itself as the market leader in the tiny camcorder market. These little wonders are not going to be used to film the new Indian Jones Movie — or anything of the kind — but for most casual users, they should fit the bill nicely.

The newest model, the Flip Video Ultra has been upgraded to include some nice features. There is a better quality LCD screen so you can see what you are filming. There is also a one-touch button to upload video straight to You Tube and AOL Video. The Ultra is also Mac compatible.

Its small size does have drawbacks. The Flip Video Ultra records in MPEG-4 — a more compressed video than the MPEG-2 format recorded by more full sized camcorders. The zoom is less than speculator and there is no expansion slot for additional memory.

For the $150 price tag, the Flip Video Ultra is a contender. It’s a great little camcorder for the not so technologically inclined. You mother or grandmother could be filming in no time.