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Im sure we have all done it, sat there dreaming about how we would spend the outcome of a huge Lottery win.

You draw up your list of cars, houses, holidays etc and then it comes to filling the house with a load of trendy furniture. It got me thinking of how the ‘other’ half live and all the interesting things you could have.

Anyway, the two things that really caught my eye were :

1. Magnetic floating bed – costs around $1.5 million and allows the user to sleep on the floating mattress which sits 40cm off the floor and can hold up to 900kg.  Visually its stunning, but obviously comes at a cost.

2. Chair by Pininfarina – the famous Italian car manufacturer has designed what has been described as the world’s comfiest chair.  Again at a shade over $1.5million it comes at a price.

Best start adding to the list though as I am feeling lucky this week, could be time to win the lottery I think !!

I recently found myself lay in bed thinking how boring my room had got and that really i should do something about it.  It seems to happen on a recurring basis and find myself re-arranging furniture just for the sake of it.

So if you are looking at doing your bedroom, what do you look at moving first ??

For me it is all about where the bed sits, its the focal point of the room and everything should really revolve around it.  I would love to say that its something to do with Feng Shui, but its more personal opinion than anything.

Would be good to know what other people’s views are on organisation of rooms.

Where do you start?  How much planning goes into it ?

let me know your thoughts

I hear on the grapevine that retro furniture is the new fad amongst the trendy generation around the country.  But as times change so fast, I have to ask what exactly constitutes being retro furniture nowadays.  If you tap ‘retro furniture’ into Google you come up with all manner of strange shaped chairs.

They vary from Egg and Pod chairs which I am still yet to decide whether they would be comfy, through to American Diner seating which is styled on the 1950’s.

I guess its all a question of taste, I know I personally would cringe at the thought of diner seating in any part of my home, especially when in theory this is a bit of a luxury purchase.

What would be acceptable in your front room ??

The new year has started and many of us will have sat down written our new year’s resolutions. One of the most popular will be re-arranging your house and starting a new year with a fresh look in the home. So if you are going to be undertaking this then I think the following points should be taken into consideration :

• gauge how heavy the furniture is – is it beyond capabilities of people moving it ?
• journey of movement – is it clear?, potential damage to fixtures and fittings ?
• sharp edges covered on furniture – don’t want to catch walls or other parts of house !!

When all this has been taken into account you should also be thinking about yourself when lifting.  Ensure that your knees are bent and arms locked when you are lifting.  Take the weight through your legs and slowly move as a unit if there are more than one of you lifting.

Overall, just take your time and you should eventually get there, with both unscratched furniture and walls, also minus a sore back !!

So being someone who suffers from a bad back, and having recently started a new job where i had a workstation risk assessment, it got me thinking about what would be the best form of seating.

I have seen lots of articles relating to posture, be it the angle that your feet are at to help with circulation or that you use a back rest to ensure you are not slouched in your chair.

But possibly the best I have seen is one of those kneeling chairs that has no back to it. I think it would take a bit of getting used to, but the principle behind it is that you attain the most natural posture while sat at your desk.

Maybe its time I contacted the facilities department, so that they can place my order.

The BBC has announced that it would like design students from around the North of England to send in designs for furniture and fabric for it’s new home in Salford Quays. The BBC plan to move to Media City in Salford Quays in the Spring of 2011 and the competition will be open until 30 April 2010 and the winner will be announced at the end of May.

Alan Bainbridge, North Portfolio Director, BBC Workplace said, ‘We’re seeking to create a place that provokes smiles and delight.’

As part of the brief, students have been asked to design a chair that will allow staff to make and receive calls confidentially within the open-plan offices that they will be occupying. If you would like more information, e-mail: bbcnorthdesignchallenge@bbc.co.uk

Tags: BBC, chair, design, furniture, offices

Back in November, Minneapolis based furniture company Blu Dot embarked upon a social experiment where they placed 25 of their “Real Good” metal chairs around New York city. These chairs were fitted with GPS and were watched closely by a mixture of remote cameras and cameramen. The purpose of the experiment was to see who would take the chairs and then speak to these people to see what they’d done with them.

Blu Dot have made a video explaining the experiment and showing the results, which can be viewed by clicking here. When you watch the video you’ll see how clever it is, not only the idea itself but also their use of social networking site Twitter to give updates on the movements of the chairs. This definitely brings a new edge to furniture marketing.

Tags: chairs, furniture, furniture marketing, metal chairs, social networking, twitter

Ever fancied owning crystal studded sofas, tables, mirror frames and lamps? This trend which was once a favourite of European royalty is coming back in a big way via India. Previously, indulgent royals would venture to Paris and Milan to purchase this luxury furniture but now Indian designers have started using it in their designs and it is becoming very popular.

High-end designers in India say that they have seen a definite uplift in the luxury furniture market since July as the trend has caught on. The Indians also seem to have found their own niche in the trend, sitting comfortably somewhere between the over-elaborate Italian designs and the bland German pieces. So if you’re in the market for some crystal studded furniture I suggest you head to India.

Tags: German design, India, Italian design, lamps, mirrors, sofas, tables

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has stated that Glencraft, a factory in Aberdeen which was staffed by blind and disabled people and which shut down in November, could still re-emerge as a new company. The Minister was presented with a 2,500  signature petition last week by  members of Glencraft staff, in which the Minister was asked to do all he could to save the outfit.

The closing of the factory in November meant the loss of 50 jobs but the strong feeling that it has provoked in the local community has forced action to be taken. The company which manufactured divan sets and mattresses will now hopefully have some sort of future.

Tags: factory, furniture, Glencraft, Scottish

As iPhone apps spring up to cater for every aspect of our lives, it was only inevitable that the furniture industry got in on the act sooner or later. This month IKEA and House of Fraser have released apps that will allow people to browse their new 2010 catalogues, but will it work? Does the furniture industry really require something tangible to sell products?

I guess the only answer to this is, “We’ll have to wait and see!” but it does seem a particularly difficult industry to break into the iPhone app market with. In my opinion IKEA, who only do a small amount of business through their website, are barking up the wrong tree. Their app only acts as paperless catalogue and nothing more. The House of Fraser app on the other hand lets users choose gifts by the recipient, which is a function that not many sites do well so if they can get it to work then they could be onto a winner.

Tags: furniture, gifts, House of Fraser, IKEA, iPhone