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Choosing the best bedroom furniture for you

Friday, May 7th, 2010

A bed room is the peaceful area of your dwelling to have your privacy and be totally relaxed. Everyone loves to sleep in a lovely and cozy bed room, just like they want to have quality in any other rooms in your home. Picking the correct furniture to go in the rooms should be critical. Developing a fine bed room gives a type of security and multiplies your comfort. When you are married then you will have better times together if you could have a comfortable double or king size bed and beautiful home furniture such as dressing tables, bed side tables, cabinets, chests and wardrobes. Bedroom furniture can come in numerous styles of designs. Here i will discuss various good tips on how to choose the most suitable bedroom furniture which will offer you the lovely sleeping experience.

1. Must haves and Desires. Get to know the things you would like and what you might need from the bedroom. It is really better if you talk about it with your husband or wife to get good designs ideas. You have to prioritize on things that you need as opposed to want, when you cater for your needs then is the time to start to think about what which you may desire.

2. Styles and Concepts. Study your bedroom’s structure and dimension and envisage what kind of pieces of furniture would suit it. Why not use our free planner that can be found on the homepage?

3. Decide on Appropriate bedroom furniture. Whenever you’re getting your furniture ensure that it’s hard-wearing, of high quality, and well engineered. You don’t want to waste your cash on poor quality pieces of furniture that can only survive for some months before it falls apart. AKKA furniture only produces timeless bedroom furniture in oak and walnut that will stand the test of time.

4. Deciding on your right website. There are numerous shops and warehouses that retail pieces of furniture but you will need to select the best one. Use the world-wide-web and locate one that supplies the types of furnishings you desire but after that be certain that they have got good credibility and good buyer satisfaction. Why not come down and visit our showroom in Colchester?

5. Enjoy your good quality bedroom furniture. The bedroom is required to be your sanctuary, finish it off with quality furnishings and insure that it is an area you may love sleeping in.

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Dodgy Divans Part II

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Dodgy Divans Part II
So, seeing as we’re on the subject of divans I might as well get the rest of the moans out of the way. In for a penny, in for a pound I suppose!
The flaw in the plan
Once, as a child, my parents bought me a brand-new bed, yes, a divan. It was a divan with a difference, the top section lifted open on some sort of sprung mechanism which meant that the entire bottom half of the bed could be used as storage. This was just great, providing you were happy for your ten-year-old son to empty his mattress and bedclothes over the floor every time he wanted to get something out!
A major ‘drawer’ back (groan)
So, we learnt from the flip-top bed experience and moved on. The next step was a more sedate approach involving drawers in a divan base, no more mattress slippage! This time, we found that, not only was the space severely limited, but also, the drawer bottoms were flimsy and generally collapsed once a few blankets had been put in – then they were impossible to open, even when you had managed to claw you way through the fabric hell-hole known as a valance (though I think I’ve already bemoaned valances in a previous post)
Let’s take a look at what we could have done (say in the style of Jim Bowen)
Let’s imagine what life would have been like with a lovely wooden bed. Firstly, we could have done away with any need for flip-top or sliding drawer contraptions. As a child, under the bed would have been a great place to stash a giant bag of lego (which I’m reliably told happens every night at legoland, Windsor). But secondly, there is also a great  ‘grown-up’ solution for neat freaks like me. A couple of beautiful wooden underbed drawers on castors would have been perfect. The bottoms are made out of decent timber, which means they don’t sag and collapse. They slide out easily avoiding the flip-top/drawer collapse/valance issues, and finally, they look great. Not only that, if you ever decide to change your bed and if you buy an akka wooden bed, we don’t see why you’d want to) you don’t have to change your storage at the same time. Simples.
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How to make the most of your bedroom

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

With the addition of televisions, desks and exercise equipment to bedrooms, there is a greater constraint on available space in the room.  There are many creative solutions to dealing with a lack of space. When planning your bedroom, it is important to maximize the space you have to deal with. Whether you just have a lot of stuff or your room is small, creative organizing will help to make the most of the room you have.

 

There are many ways to save space simply by the calculated positioning of your bed in the room.  In a limited space, one idea is to shift your bed lengthwise against a wall to create a daybed, thus allowing extra room for more furniture, like a coffee table or some chairs.

 

In a small space, prioritize the pieces of furniture for the room.  By deciding what’s more important, whether it’s a big impressive bed or a lot of space for storage, the room is better able to fit your specific needs.  For example, if you’re a person who has a lot of books or videotapes that you wish to keep in your room, a good solution would be finding a bedside table that also serves as a bookshelf.

 

If extra shelves are not needed, but drawer space is using a small chest of drawers for a bedside table could also be a good solution. Using that specific piece of furniture as a table and either shelves or drawers to store things, the potential of the space is maximized.

 

Storage can also be accomplished by a large chest at the end of the bed for example a blanket box, which could also serve as a place to sit with the simple addition of a cushion. Underneath the bed is also a storage place that should not be overlooked for underbed drawers which could help free up more space within the room for other things.

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AKKA Paris Leather Headboard. How is leather made

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.
The leather and the fur industries are differentiated by the manufacturing importance of the raw materials used to make the wares. In the leather industry, the skin and rawhide are by-products of the meat industry, because the meat has greater commercial value than the rawhide and skin. In the fur industry, the meat is a by-product, because the skins and hides have greater commercial value. Moreover, in taxidermy, the raw materials usually are only the animal’s head and back; hide and skin also are the raw materials for manufacturing animal glue and gelatin.
Forms of leather
Several tanning processes transform hides and skins into leather:
• Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using tannin and other ingredients found in vegetable matter, tree bark, and other such sources. It is supple and brown in color, with the exact shade depending on the mix of chemicals and the color of the skin. It is the only form of leather suitable for use in leather carving or stamping. Vegetable-tanned leather is not stable in water; it tends to discolor, and if left to soak and then dry it will shrink and become less supple and harder. In hot water, it will shrink drastically and partly gelatinize, becoming rigid and eventually brittle. Boiled leather is an example of this where the leather has been hardened by being immersed in hot water, or in boiled wax or similar substances. Historically, it was occasionally used as armor after hardening, and it has also been used for book binding.
• Chrome-tanned leather, invented in 1858, is tanned using chromium sulfate and other salts of chromium. It is more supple and pliable than vegetable-tanned leather, and does not discolor or lose shape as drastically in water as vegetable-tanned. It is also known as wet-blue for its color derived from the chromium. More esoteric colors are possible using chrome tanning.
• Aldehyde-tanned leather is tanned using glutaraldehyde or oxazolidine compounds. This is the leather that most tanners refer to as wet-white leather due to its pale cream or white color. It is the main type of “chrome-free” leather, often seen in shoes for infants, and automobiles. Formaldehyde tanning (being phased out due to its danger to workers and the sensitivity of many people to formaldehyde) is another method of aldehyde tanning. Brain-tanned leathers fall into this category and are exceptionally water absorbent. Brain tanned leathers are made by a labor-intensive process which uses emulsified oils, often those of animal brains. They are known for their exceptional softness and their ability to be washed. Chamois leather also falls into the category of aldehyde tanning and like brain tanning produces a highly water absorbent leather. Chamois leather is made by using oils (traditionally cod oil) that oxidize easily to produce the aldehydes that tan the leather to make the fabric the color it is.
• Synthetic-tanned leather is tanned using aromatic polymers such as the Novolac or Neradol types. This leather is white in color and was invented when vegetable tannins were in short supply during the Second World War. Melamine and other amino-functional resins fall into this category as well and they provide the filling that modern leathers often require. Urea-formaldehyde resins were also used in this tanning method until dissatisfaction about the formation of free formaldehyde was realized.
• Alum-tawed leather is transformed using aluminium salts mixed with a variety of binders and protein sources, such as flour and egg yolk. Purists argue that alum-tawed leather is technically not tanned, as the resulting material will rot in water. Very light shades of leather are possible using this process, but the resulting material is not as supple as vegetable-tanned leather.[1]
• Rawhide is made by scraping the skin thin, soaking it in lime, and then stretching it while it dries. Like alum-tawing, rawhide is not technically “leather”, but is usually lumped in with the other forms. Rawhide is stiffer and more brittle than other forms of leather, and is primarily found in uses such as drum heads where it does not need to flex significantly; it is also cut up into cords for use in lacing or stitching, or for making many varieties of dog chews.
Leather—usually vegetable-tanned leather—can be oiled to improve its water resistance. This supplements the natural oils remaining in the leather itself, which can be washed out through repeated exposure to water. Frequent oiling of leather, with mink oil, neatsfoot oil or a similar material, keeps it supple and improves its lifespan dramatically.
Leather with the hair still attached is called hair-on.

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History of wooden furniture

Monday, December 21st, 2009

For many people, the warmth and beauty of solid wooden furniture is inviting and reassuring; as if a touch of nature were still present in our modern, everyday lives. Wooden furniture is one of the earliest, and most important, inventions intended strictly for human comfort and pleasure. Understanding where our love affair with all things wooden comes from is an important part of understanding human nature and aesthetics.
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Chairs
1. Perhaps the earliest form of wooden furniture, the wooden chair has seen many permutations over the centuries. In Egypt, chairs carved of wood were status symbols in that mostly-treeless environment. Pharoahs would sit upon thrones of carved cedar inlaid with gold and gems. Romans also carved chairs, but Roman chairs were an open “U” shape allowing the occupant to rest his arms but without a backrest to lean against.
Arguably the most intricately crafted chairs hail from the 18th and 19th centuries. French, American, English and German craftsmen all produced highly detailed, exquisitely-crafted wooden chairs that displayed the grains, knots and patterns of exotic woods, all protected under layers of lacquer.
Chests
2. Chests in China were cedar-lined boxes delicately enameled and lacquered to protect precious silks and clothes from destructive insects. Medieval European wooden chests were relatively watertight, sealed with tar or lacquer, to protect important documents such as maps and papers from the occasional storm. Chests have changed over time, and have even been given new name: armoire, wardrobe, chest-of-drawers and hope chest. Regardless of their name, the function is the same; to use the durability of wood to protect precious belongings while making the room more attractive.
Beds
3. Early beds were nothing more than piles of animal skins or straw with a blanket on top. But Mesopotamian and Egyptian nobles slept off the floor, thanks to a wooden frame with interwoven leather or hemp straps. The essential configuration of a bed remained largely unchanged for centuries until the early Renaissance. Beds then were considerably shorter than they are now for two reasons; people slept sitting up and mattresses were becoming more widely used.
In 19th century America, Sears Roebuck & Co. began selling beds that could be dismantled and re-assembled fairly easily and thus distributed wooden beds across the country in a few short decades.
Tables
4. As old as chairs are, tables must be nearly as old. Persian emperors and the Rajahs of the Indus valley used tables as platforms for games of Shataranj (also called “Chess”). Roman and Greek feasts rested upon intricately inlaid and carved tables. The mythical King Arthur ordered a round table built so that all knights of his realm might be seen as equal.
Simple but elegant tables in the Shaker style are still in high demand both for their quality and for their attractiveness. Born of the Protestant American religious philosophy of simplicity, functionality and modesty, Shaker tables are easily recognized across the world.
Desks
5. Writing desks became the province of educated gentlemen in during the Enlightenment. Thomas Jefferson is often depicted with quill in hand, sitting at a beautifully carved writing desk penning the Declaration of Independence.
Presidents of the United States are often photographed sitting behind an imposing, wooden desk known as the “Resolute Desk.” Originally a gift from Queen Victoria to Rutherford B Hayes, the Resolute Desk was made from the planks of the HMS Resolute, a British ship rescued from the Arctic, refitted, and returned to England two decades earlier. The Resolute Desk is usually the desk of choice of American presidents and serves as a reminder of the “special bond” between the United States and Great Britain.

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History of the bed

Monday, December 14th, 2009

• 10,000 years ago, in the Neolithic period, people began sleeping on primitive “beds.”
• 3400 BCE. Egyptian pharaohs discover the benefits of raising a pallet off the earth. King Tutankahmen had a bed of ebony and gold. Common people slept on palm bows heaped in the corner of their home.
• Roman Empire. First luxury bed. Often decorated with gold, silver or bronze, these beds featured mattresses stuffed with reeds, hay, wool or feathers.
• Roman Empire. Romans discover the waterbed. The sleeper would recline in a cradle of warm water until drowsy, then be lifted onto an adjacent cradle with a mattress, where they would be rocked to sleep.
• Renaissance. Mattresses were made of pea shucks or straw, sometimes feathers, stuffed into coarse ticks, then covered with sumptuous velvets, brocades and silks.
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Louis XIV was inordinately fond of staying in bed, often holding court in the royal bedroom. Reportedly, he owned 413 beds and displayed a special liking for the ultra spacious and ostentatious variety.
• 16th and 17th centuries. Mattresses were generally stuffed with straw or down, placed atop a latticework of rope.
• The late 18th century. Advent of the cast iron bed and cotton mattresses. Together, they provided a sleeping space that was less attractive to bugs. Until that time, assorted vermin were simply accepted as an accepted component of even the most royal beds.
• 1865. The first coil spring construction for bedding was patented.
• 1930’s. Innerspring mattresses and upholstered foundations became serious contenders for the dominant position they now enjoy in the U.S. and Canada.
• 1940’s. Futons introduced to North America.
• 1950’s. Foam rubber mattresses and pillows appeared on the market.
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The expression “sleep tight” comes from the 16th and 17th centuries when mattresses were placed on top of ropes that needed regular tightening.
• 1960’s. Modern waterbed introduced. Adjustable beds become popular with consumers.
• 1980’s. Airbeds introduced.
• 1990’s. Spacious sleeping is once again on the rise. In 1999, the queen-size mattress became America’s most popular choice for mattress size – for the first time ever – beating the twin.
• 2000’s. Choice and comfort are key words in contemporary bedding. In addition to an almost unlimited range of innerspring mattress designs, new types of foam mattress cores (such as “memory” or visco-elastic foam and refinements to traditional latex) as well as airbeds, waterbeds and high-tech adjustable sleep sets offer consumers attractive, quality alternatives. Pillowtop mattresses, a popular innovation in luxury, offer an extra layer of soft cushioning, and single-sided no-flip mattresses are common.

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