Posts from — October 2008

Always wanted one of those hideaway beds for your home? BedUp is an extremely refreshing concept in which instead of the traditional side panel foldaway beds, it has taken hideaway beds to a new concept- by concealing the bed up in the ceiling.

When stowed away, BedUp is raised to the top of the ceiling. What’s cool is that lights can be installed on its underside. Quite a bit of square footage is saved via this very interesting concept.

Click here to access BedUp’s website (it’s in French so you might want Google to translate it for you here)

Imagesource: decadrages.com

My colleague, OT, recently shared a very useful article from Popularmechanics on 5 Pro Painting Tips Every Amateur Should Know. Click here or the image below to read the article.

Getting someone to paint your home can be extremely costly so this is definitely a useful article for those of you who intend to get your hands dirty for a little DIY painting to enjoy huge cost savings.

Problem choosing colours? Read Choosing the Right Colours for Your Home

Fact- Home renovation and furnishing cost a bomb! Many always start out with grand plans for their new home up until the quote from the contractor comes in. These plans then get stripped down, contractor requotes, stripped down further, requote (well, you get the idea), until the price is right.

This scenario does not apply to those with deep pockets but certainly holds true for the majority of us out there. There are only two things one can do – find another source of income, or save up to get your home done up ideally. The former is definitely the better option- easier said than done though.

Kelly from Almost Frugal has two very real and applicable articles from her blog on things she does to live frugally in order to save more. As she’s a student in France, not all of her tips are directly applicable due to social and cultural differences between Europe and us here in the Eat, but each article offers 25 tips and is definitely worth a read.

Click on the images below to access Kelly’s articles

Here’s a really quirky furniture manufacturer – The Straight Lines Design Inc. The site takes a while to load but it’s definitely worth the wait. Click here or the image below to access their site.

Here are some unique products which the peopl over at Straight Line Designs have come up with. I strongly urge that you do visit their site as they have a whole lot more weird and wacky products which will definitely be the centrepiece of attention at your house should you decide to purchase any item from them. The best thing is that they ship worldwide!

1. The Oops Cabinet

2. Boom

3. Canned Bench

4. Sullivan

Straight Line Designs sure seems like a really fun place to work in!

Imagesource: straightlinedesigns.com

Undoubtedly, Verner Panton is one of the century’s most famous designers. Born in Denmark in 1926, Panton’s futuristic designs were way ahead of his time. Panton designed many of his works from his old Volkswagen van and toured Europe looking for manufacturers to buy his work. It was not uncommon for designers to do this in the ’50s.

Many of Panton’s works are still pretty much in fashion these days as they were several decades ago. A mark of a master designer- longevity. Many of you would have come across his works at some point but probably just do not notice that they are Panton’s designs. In fact, you’ve probably sat in some of the chairs he’s designed

Here’s a look at some of his more famous works in the area of seating…

1. The Wire Chair – Has a very unique yet industrial design. You’ve probably seen this in some offices, perhaps even some homes you’ve visited. Sturdy and extremely durable as it’s made of steel.

panton wire chair

2. The C1 Chair - Designed after the moon landing. Steel shell with fabric cover and foam cushioning. Great to fill up small corners of the home.

panton c1 chair

3. Panton Chair – the most famous of all his designs. Also probably the most widely reproduced. Made of moulded plastic, extremely durable, and never boring. These chairs can be widely seen in many places. In fact, even the mini pantry area in my office as a set up with these Panton Chairs.

panton chair

Click here to see my previous post on the Iconic Panton Chair.

Other cool chair related posts:

• The Obelisk – One Cool Patio Set
• Flexible Love Chair
• More Chair Ware
• Wall Art That’s Also a Chair

*Many of these contemporary chair designs can be found at G.D.O. and HomeLife

Image source (from top): selectism.com, bonluxat.com

Polypropylene pendant lights are very popular in contemporary modern day homes. Unfortunately, for anything designer, you’d have to fork out a handsome amount of money to procure it. Despite most local lighting stores constantly putting up banners that sale ‘SALE! Discount up to 70%‘, pendant lights usually cost several hundred dollars even after discount.

Really, these pendant lights are just made out of sheet plastic. For RM129.90, you can get the KNAPPA pendant light from IKEA, which is probably one of the more reasonably priced lamps of its kind. Still, I can’t quite get beyond paying that amount for sheet plastic.

Puremodern.com sells the Asbury Pendant Light for USD120.00. Personally, I think this design is rather cool. Perhaps because it reminds me of a local thorny fruit that’s banned in all 5-star hotels here!

For a little less, Exclusivelyhome.com has the more intricate Cerebro pendant light to offer. There’s no denying that pendant lights are becoming quite the craze. Most modern showrooms often have pendant lights as their lamp of choice in living rooms and hallways. Click here to view the cerebro lamp on exclusivelyhome.com

If you’re unwilling to part with that much money for a plastic lamp, then here’s the perfect answer- an invaluable instructable. Thanks to Dan, you now have a great tutorial and an avenue to create a super cost-efficient pendant light.

Click here to go to Dan’s Pendant Light instructable.

Alternatively, here’s another great source for teaching you how to create pendant lights – Steve Lambert’s Bright Idea Shade.

Watch the video Here

Imagesource (from top): IKEA, puremodern.com, exclusivelyhome.com, instructables.com

Shoji lamps are basically light boxes which house the bulb(s) in an encasement made of bamboo and rice paper coverings. The rice paper diffuses the light hence throws a calm/serene lighting effect on its surroundings. Some Shoji lamps can get extremely pricey as they are carefully hand constructed with intricate bamboo designs and high quality handmade papers which when lit can show of the paper grain’s complex patterns.

I found a great instructable on how to make a Shoji style table lamp using wooden chopsticks for dirt cheap. Click here to read Atarax’s instructable and save you heaps of $$$ by DIY-ing this.

Too simple? Try this – a more complex instructable by PKM. This instructable was awarded 2nd prize in the ‘Let it Glow’ contest and 4th prize for the ‘Green Science Fair’ contest. The instructable is extremely detailed and well written so there should be no problems following it from start to end. Click here to read the instructable.

Don’t like Shoji lamps? Fancy a Sun Jar instead? Click here to read my post on HowTo: Make a Sun Jar

Quite a few people have asked me about contractors and how to get a good one. Here a some tips I’ve compiled which hopefully will provide you with a bit of a heads up looking for a contractor and handling him afterwards.

1. I am not a licensed contractor. License? What license? Who’s a licensed contractor anyway? So really, how do you know if you’ve gotten a good contractor? Your best bet is to get recommendations from friends or colleagues who themselves have used the contractor and are personally happy with his work. I’d recommend that you visit your friend’s or colleague’s place to get a feel of the quality of the workmanship of the contractor. If all’s to your liking, arrange a meet up with the contractor for a quick chat to size him up.

2. Please sign on the dotted line. Contract? What contract? You don’t sign legally binding contracts with your contractor. No local contractor would ever agree to that. This is why it’s important to engage contractors with a good historical record and is highly recommended by those you know.

3. My prices are already the best in town. Never believe your contractor if he says that. There are only several factors in which they can really cut down on the price quotation – number of resources/workers, quality of materials used, how pushy the customer is in asking for a discount. You are in control of the third factor! And to some extent, the second factor. Make sure you push for discounts – never settle on the initial quote.

4. I work as hard even when you’re not looking. Most of the time, the contractor isn’t around to supervise works at your place. He usually tells the workers what needs to be done and they get their hands dirty doing it. Occasionally, there are miscommunications or even the occasionaly (frequent) ‘curi tulang’ (cutting corners) tactics used by the workers to minimise their efforts in completing a job, which could end up compromising the final delivery or output. If it’s possible, take some leave to supervise them or have sporadic spot checks on them during the work day to make sure they don’t cut corners. Remember, it’s you who has to live with their mistakes, every day.

5. I accept installment paybacks. I’d be somewhat wary if a contractor accepts installment paybacks. Most contractors which are reputable or have a good constant flow of business don’t usually offer this option. Why would they when they can get cash up front instead of forking out the money to buy raw materials, pay the workers and wait half a year to a year before you pay them back completely? Unless, they’re desperate for your business or they’re just not very good at their day job. Having said that, there are always exceptions to the rule.

6. I respect timelines- my timelines. Get fussy and pushy… else, expect delays and rework. Don’t feel bad about pushing your contractor or his workers. Make sure they get their jobs done or push them to work extra time. If you keep a close eye on them, you will minimise any need for rework.

Imagesource: library.drexel.edu