This is a truly amazing table!
It is round, and at the press of a button, amazingly doubles its seating capacity yet remains truly circular. It stores its expansion leaves within itself so no more logging around bits of table like with many original expansion tables. Existing tables can seat six persons when small, and twelve or more when expanded. DB Fletcher is responsible for the design. Check their website for more details.
Spotted in magazines, on the web, in stores and on TV; the tree is hip, happening and very much in vogue.
We had the deer antlers, the faux stuffed reindeer, the vilt greens et all, but it looks like we need to take the hunting gounds proper indoors too to keep up too!
Dutch design duo Snodevormgevers(sly designers), consisting of Josef Blersch and Ander Liefting, designed a tree trunk inspired metal locker type TV or liquor cabinet, a stool and even an entire fireplace.
Snode Vormgevers
Visit their website for the entire line of products.
A classic, but unavoidable one in this line-up is the Odda coat rack.
Odda @ Ikea
Tree Wall Sticker
Pine Tree Wall Stickers @ Ferm Living
Fast Forest Armchairs
Shawn Lovell metalworks Tree Bed
Chest of drawers decorated with twigs as pulls
Rustic Pine Barstools
Posted in Design, designers and online finds
Tagged design, Ikea, Pine, Rustic Wood, Shawn Lovell, Snodevormgeving, Trees, Wooden furniture
During one of my daily fixes at Apartment Therapy, I saw a great little gadget that caught my eye. It was an ashtray in the shape of a porcupine or hedgehog (what’s the difference?) that was made out of several tiny hedgehogs stacked into each other. The folk at AT were so impressed they created a little video to show it’s craftiness. You can check that here
It is a designed by German ceramist Walter Bosse (1904 – 1979). His most famous works are little statuettes of fairytale- or children’s illustration like animals. He used porcelain, glass, metal but is most famous for his use of wrought iron. He managed to design some his work so that it combined art with functionality. He designed egg cups, coasters, cigarette tempers and ashtrays. The hedgehog was such a success that it is actually featured on Bosse’s tomb stone!
Walter Bosse cat shaped egg cup
As soon as I saw the ashtray, I knew I had to have it. I don’t smoke (anymore) but my husband does so I decided to buy one for him. He smokes cigars, and the ashtray is far too small to support those, but anything is allowed when it comes to art buying right?
I found and bought one on Marktplaats and it was delivered yesterday! It looks very distinguished in my newly decorated office.
Walter Bosse Hedehog Ashtray
Bosse's tombstone in the Austrian Bezirksmuseum
Posted in Design, designers and online finds
Tagged Apartment Therapy, Ashtray, eBay, German ceramist, marktplaats, Walter Bosse, Wrought iron
As loyal blog visitor Jocelyn commented on the Scandinavian designarticle, there are actually companies that help you save your Ikea sofa. They create new slip-on covers to replace the old ones when the choices Ikea offer are too limited. I think that is just such a smart and clever business idea! Mind you, the new covers are a bit pricey, a few more D’s (or E’s if you’re European) and you can buy a new sofa all together, but still, I think they have gold there.
Two companies I found online are savemysofa.com and bemz.com
The first one to check is Holland based savemysofa.com. They have 28 different fabrics to choose from. They come in various colours and patterns to fit pretty much all flavours. With prices ranging between €220 and €380 one is left with one question… A new sofa with the most basic fabric in the Netherlands comes at €349, so one could wonder why spend all that money on a new cover when the sofa alone can potentially cost less? Good question, but come on, it’s fun! Plus, the choices at Ikea really are quite limited.
Fabric choices at Savemysofa.com
Let’s have my very own red three seater Ektorp sofa be the lab rat. It’s comfy, has the right shape to fit our house, and we like it. It looks a lot more worn down in real than in this picture though, and dog hairs really ruin your upholstery I can tell you. A new cover might not be such a bad idea.
It's extremely comfy so no need to get rid of it soon. Sorry bout the awkward picture angle by the way..
My sofa with Antibes Charcoal Grey
I do like the middle one... yet extremely sensitive with the light colour
Next stop: Bemz. They are based in Stockholm, and seem to be larger than Savemysofa. They also offer more alternatives and styles. However, they are on the whole a bit more expensive. Prices range between €189 to €475. Their site offers a search tool that allows you to search by price or lifestyle. But unless you were there for the brainstorm, you might not know if you are more Swedish Grace, Nordic Home or your average Archipelago. Or maybe you fit in to the Playground, Downtown, Bohemian Chic or Country Romance categories? Better to just browse all the price ranges and all the fabrics.
Panama Cotton Range
Bemz offers the possibility of having five swatches sent to your home free of charge. That is no luxury as colours tend to differ a LOT from what you see online. Also, the texture is hard to tell from a stamp sized online swatch.
It’s fun trying out various covers for your sofa though. Here’s mine with Urban Tapestry Real Red Panama Cotton.
Urban Tapestry Real Red
I do like the big floral patterns, but it might be a bit too much with our clutter. However, also at Bemz there are plenty of fabrics to choose from.
Just a few of the many options at Bemz
Posted in Design, designers and online finds
Tagged Bemz, Ektorp, Ikea, New, Save my sofa, Sofa Covers
Home voyeurs.... a peek into homes 