Alternative Furnishing Ideas 2 (Was; 'Re: alternative furnishing ideas?')

[Warm Worm]

"R'zenboom"

>>> We had an architect neighbor back in the 70's who made all his >>>> furniture from sonotubes. Damn it was uncomfortable! >>> Makes me think of this: >>> >> >>> I've tried them in a showroom once and they were remarkably >>> comfortable and cheap, *and* of course easy to move. Just deflate and >>> roll up. Damn cool if you're a starving/travelling artist, designer, >>> student, whomever, and want to furnish a stylish pad on the fly. Got a >>> laptop as an entertainment hub, and you go to a local garage sale for >>> dishes, cutlery and fabric for curtains, and you're set! >>> >>> >> >> Not a bad idea for someone who might only have occasional parties/guests, >> either - don't have to have a lot of permanent furniture that seldom gets >> used. >> >> Heck, throw a slipcover over it, and who'd know it from "real" furniture? >> It'd sure make frequent moves a lot easier >> >> Only, I don't see any inflatable bookcases or chests... =:-o

Chests --> Wooden shipping crates. Bookcases --> Stacked recycled wood planks/glass sheets and bricks/glass-blocks/tiles Floating Bookshelf or Desk --> snugly fit some wood shelves in-- if, of course, you have it, and solid wall construction-- an alcove between two walls, or even along the entire length of a room's wall, from one wall to the other. Another bookcase/shelving or storage-unit --> Stack (with the open ends facing you) from floor to ceiling along one wall, many many empty plastic milk cartons. Yet another bookcase/shelving or storage-unit --> Stack (with the open ends facing you) many drawers of many thrown out dressers. I once used one tilted upright as a night-table

Effect: The bubble furniture provides a funky, modern and textural counterpoint/compliment to the brick-wood armoire/bookshelf/cabinet/chest and the industrial scaffolding, and the whole thing, along with the right window-treatments, looks decidedly expensive, well-conceived and designer.

For an added touch, find some sort of throwaway chair with a metal or wooden frame to re-cover/upholster. Learn a little knitting to fashion a mesh made with rope or leather strips. Every designer should know how to knit. It should be in their schools' curriculum. It's the perfect craft. Knit a hammock to suspend from some kind of frame or from the ceiling for a kind of hanging chair.

Skids: Collect a few skids (or similar throwaway wood) and take apart. Drill

2 holes in each piece of wood, one near each end so that 2 threaded rods can be inserted through and tightened, where all the wood comes together as though they were stacked or sandwiched. (If you've ever noticed loading-truck-station bumpers [that the truck back up into], you may have noticed that they are sometimes made with old recycled cut and sandwiched tires.) You can have four end-pieces cut and rotated to form the legs, or get 4 industrial wheels and add to the sandwiched-skid-wood underside surface for a wheeled coffee-table, or even couch if you add a pillow back-rest and some covered foam pillow seats. You can put a glass-pane over it, too, or plane and sand (and paint/stain etc.) the top surface (and paint the scaffolding, a la Debbie Travis, in an eggshell white, while you're at it) for some "elegance". You can also use a throwaway door or window for a coffee-table... or any flat surface really.

Add a one-off cheesy garage sale knicknack to a shelf along with maybe an exotic African piece for 2 eclectic additions.

Cover one wall (perhaps somehow frame it) with a collection of found broken mirrors.

Unsure about this one, but popcorn styrofoam might be good as a stuffer for a "beanbag" kind of seat.

Old metal shopping baskets: Get a welding torch and get to it. Think of ways to turn it into a chair or table.

Department stores all seem to have these floor-to-ceiling poles that seem to stand upright by spring or some kind of internal extension/locking mechanism, and hold an array of displays and shelves. I'd like to have one, say, for the bathroom, and last time I looked, they sold similar online.

Get an old working clock and as big as it can be, and rip out the body, keep the working mechanism, extend the arms as far as they'll go and still work, hang on wall, and paint the time numbers on the wall relative to the arms for a working wall-sized clock.

I like that! Anyone got other ideas on furnishing, say, a bachelor pad > with > minimal or 'repurposed' or recycled or 'outdoor' or [ ] pieces? I'm > planning > a room-divider of print roll tubes - what ya think?!

Sounds cool, although I wonder what a print roll tube looks like exactly.

Richard MacIntyre

[me]

All that stuff is heavy and hard to move if living alone

I'm looking at ideas that are not only alternative but easy to transport if needed

[Warm Worm]

I suppose... My rough-hewn post was for the NG in general, though, but I might ponder your requirements in specific... Mind you, your type and amount of belongings and living accomodations may not need a chest or other items, and what you do have to move that's recycled and heavy may be as easy to move as throwing it out beforehand. :)