Free Up Your Room With a Loft Bunk Bed

If you live in a small space then you know how precious any extra room can be. What if I told you that there is a simple way to free up to 50% extra space in your bedroom? All this requires is replacing your current bed with a loft bunk bed. Visualize a normal bunk bed and then take away the bed at the bottom, this is what a loft bunk looks like.

Everybody wants a certain amount of privacy in their lives. If you live at home with your parents or share a small dorm room or apartment with a few other people, this can be very difficult to come by. In this type of situation you want to make the only room that is truly yours as functional as possible. However, there usually is not a whole lot of room to work with. A loft bed allows you to create enough space where you can have a bed, a computer desk, and a TV stand with enough extra room so you do not go crazy from being too cramped.

This is particularly useful for college students who need a quiet space to do their work. If your computer is located in a common area it can be virtually impossible to get any work done. When you put a computer desk under your loft bunk, you are creating an ideal workspace necessary for getting your assignments completed.

If your room is already big enough for both a computer desk and your bed, then you might consider using the futon bunk bed. With this type of design the lower bed can be adjusted up and down to become a couch during the day. This is ideal for just hanging out, watching TV, or playing video games. This simple bed will transform your room from one that was only good for sleeping in, to a place where you can truly relax.

If you live in a college town it should be very easy to find a used one for cheap. People are always moving and will be happy to get any money in return. You can also check Craig'slist to see what type the deals you can find.

Your room should be a place that is very open and relaxing. A loft or futon bunk bed can help set this mood in even the smallest of rooms

Airbeds - The Ideal Sleeping Companion?

Back in the day, air beds were used primarily in hospitals, as support for those that were mostly bed-ridden. Things have changed since then and nowadays airbeds are just as popular than traditional mattresses as preferred sleeping arrangements. Airbeds are made from heavy duty plastic, which means airbeds are tough and strong but they also have a soft suede top layer which not only keeps you cosy, snug and warm but also keeps your sheets in place.

It only takes a matter of moments for your air bed to be inflated, normally by a small pump (included with most models). With the credit crunch now hitting everyone, what happens when family or friends come to stay? People can't afford to spend hundreds on spare beds that sit unused in guest bedrooms most of the year. However, an air bed is the perfect solution to the problem.

Cheaper than conventional beds the air bed is light and can be moved to any position. The good thing is that when your visitors have left you can simply deflate the bed and roll it up giving you back all your space again. No more sleeping on the floor or pushing the chairs together, for visiting family and friends again - the air bed is the perfect solution to any sleeping arrangements.

Traditional mattresses have pressure points where the springs are located, which are designed to give the person a relaxing sleep - the same can be said for a good quality air mattress but with 1 advantage - you can adjust the amount of pressure on your spine with a hi-spec top of the range air bed - supplied with a memory foam top, therefore you will have a better sleep and wake up feeling more refreshed and relaxed after a perfect night's sleep with your inflatable airbed mattress.

Retro Furniture

Back in the 50s and 60s, modern furniture was cool. Now people are rediscovering furniture from this period and shopping on eBay for it or buying reproductions of design classics from the past.

The modern style became popular in the UK after the Festival of Britain in 1951. The Festival gave the best of British designers a chance to show off exciting new designs to a public that was hungry for change. In the 50s, people completely reversed their tastes from preferring traditional style to wanting modern design.

Today what was considered cutting edge modern in the 50s and 60s is retro. Retro style is a way to make your home look distinctive, something different from the DIY superstore look that everyone else has.

Re-issues of classic 50s and 60s designs are available at many stores. Habitat, for example, make a number of Robin Day's classics, such as the Forum leather sofa from 1964. Fritz Hansen still manufacture Arne Jacobsen's beautifully organic Egg Chair from 1958.

If you don't want to pay designer prices, then original designs from the 50s and 60s are still readily available on eBay. Be your own judge of what is good design; not every piece made with a contemporary style in the 50s and 60s was.

Look for simple shapes, such as long, low sideboards with minimal decoration. Generally if it looks good, it is good design. If the proportions are wrong, ignore it. Scandinavian influence was strong in UK furniture from the 50s to the 70s. Look for pieces finished in teak or rosewood. Rosewood has a distinctive curvy, grain pattern. Sellers on eBay often describe mahogany or sapele pieces incorrectly as rosewood. Both these woods have a straight grain. They are less fashionable in modern style furniture and consequently pieces in mahogany or sapele are less valuable.

Some manufacturers from the 50s and 60s that made well designed furniture are G-Plan, Stag, Ercol, Austinsuite and Nathan. G-Plan was a pioneer of modern design. Stag employed John and Sylvia Reid to create some fantastic minimalist pieces in the 50s. Their most famous design was Minstrel - a reinterpretation of eighteenth century elegance for the modern world. Ercol made simple, modern furniture in English Elm. Ercol is of high quality and has a large following. If you want to buy the top designers from the 50s and 60s then pieces do come up on eBay, but are rarely cheap. Look for manufacturers like Gordon Russell, or Archie Shine. Younger also made some marvellous quality pieces in teak and rosewood from the late fifties. They may be cheaper than some of the top designer pieces. Also look for Danish furniture on eBay.

Overall, look for furniture you like rather than what you think is valuable and have fun decorating in a modern style to complement your acquisitions.

Is Pine the Best Wood to Use When Building Furniture?

Fine furniture and cabinet makers have known for centuries that pine is a perfect wood choice for building their most distinctive pieces. It is not hard to imagine the old, rough hands of masters gliding gently over another finely crafted piece to feel the grain and smoothness of its offerings as the finish was applied and hand rubbed to a beauty that cannot be found in any other wood. If you are fortunate enough to own an antique that is other than oak, chances are it has some pine in it and unless it was abused down through the years it has probably stood the test of time when it comes to durability. In the shops of today pine still offers a stability, beauty and versatility that is hard to match.

Pine has a light cream to almost soft, yellow, natural colour depending on the species and where it is grown. The grain tends to be wider and more splinter free than other woods. It does therefore not appear to be "busy" such as oak or boring and plain such as maple. When put into the hands of a craftsman it can take on many styles such as modern, rustic, shaker or French provincial and still look unique and classic to that style. Rarely do you see other woods lend themselves to such versatility. When you add the fact that pine furniture can be made with knotty or clear (without knots) lumber the furniture buyer is sure to find a piece or an entire collection that will fit his or her home and look richer and warmer than many alternatives.

The durability of pine has already been alluded to. There are several reasons for this. When properly cured in preparation for fine furniture much of the moisture content is removed. This makes pine lighter and more stable than many woods. In addition, today's finishes are a lot more advanced than the old shellac or oil finishes that needed constant attention. They are water and even sun resistant keeping the original beauty constant for years of regular use.

While much of what we see mass produced today tends to be pressed wood particles covered with a vinyl coating to imitate wood, pine offers the buyer an affordable alternative. Because it grows quickly and tools easily it is less expensive than other woods making a pine wardrobe an attractive compliment to any bedroom in today's homes. Visitors to your home will notice the richness of your furniture made from pine that lends a feeling of elegance regardless of your style. Only the home owner needs to know that it was less expensive than it looks.

Not All Leather Recliners Are Created Equal

It seems that of all the pieces of furniture in the house, fabric or leather recliners take the hardest beating. Kids plop down on them and push them back to recline without any thought to how the mechanism works. They flop over the arms of the chair (both when it is upright and reclined), or they lean on the back of the chair and tip it backwards (this maneuver is also done with the chair in any position). Kids eat, drink and play with all sorts of things in a recliner. It is no wonder, as parents, that we want something that is durable! When it comes to upholstery, you cannot beat the toughness of leather. Leather recliners last. You may initially put out a bit more for the purchase, but the chair will outlast a fabric upholstery chair by as much as 4 to 1. However, you must remember that not all leather is created equally. Lets take a look at the three main types of leather (remembering that there are dozens of subcategories), and what to look for to make sure that you get what you pay for.

First, the highest quality leather is full-grain or top-grain leather. It is made from the top layer of the skin, the part where the hair has to be removed from the hide. What you see is what you get, this type of leather has real character because nothing is done to conceal any blemishes in the leather. You have to remember that the leather used to adorn a living, breathing animal. That animal may have suffered from insect bites, scratches or scars from run ins with barbed wire, "burns" from over scratching their neck on fence rails or manure that sticks to their hide for very long without being removed.

The grain can vary on full-grain leather, depending upon any healed scars, or any wrinkling, veining or stretch marks (yes, who knew it, stretch marks can be attractive if you are a cow!). But being natural, it offers great breathability. It adapts to both environmental and body temperatures. It ages very nicely, developing its own unique patina. Leather recliners made out of top-grain leather has either an aniline or semi-aniline finish. This creates a soft and supple leather, it is left with a natural finish - not dyed.

The next type of leather is commonly called a corrected-grain leather, though it may also be referred to as plated, embossed or buffed. This type of leather is made from top-grain leather, but has been sanded or buffed down because it did not meet the standards necessary to be a full-grain leather. This leather came from cattle that led a rough life, their hides have a lot of problems. The buffing hides most of these imperfections, then an artificial grain is applied. Often this type of leather is dyed with pigment to further conceal any imperfections. You will find many leather recliners in various colors with a nice smooth grain made from corrected-grain leather.

The third, and poorest quality leather that you have to watch out for, is split-grain leather. A cows hide is quite thick, so the hide will be split, often more than once. The high quality top-grain is the top layer, and what is left is split-grain leather. This type of leather has no natural grain, it is from the fibrous part of the hide, and this tissue structure just isn't very strong. Split leather is great for a lot of things (such as suede) but it is not good for furniture.

So, the next time you go shopping for a couple of leather recliners (his and hers), make sure that you are getting high quality leather so that the chair will last for many years to come. A top-grain leather may be best, but if it is out of your price range, a nice corrected-grain leather also make for very nice and good quality leather recliners.