Furniture Reporter

Furniture – Brilliant Mind

Jim and I were concerned with transporting heavy concrete slabs safely and effectively in my pick up truck.
We designed and fabricated an A-frame slab caddy out of scrap steel and wood 2×4′s.
Jim masterminded the wood slider sections and I fabbed up the the steel A-frames.
Here’s a picture of the unit with or very first kitchen countertop job on board.

10 “Green” Furniture Companies (well, actually 11 :)…..

by Sabina Maier Smith

Good Design constructed with renewable materials – without sacraficing style or color!

~ Domino magazine 2007

ciscobrothers.com Its “Inside Green” collection offers modern, handcrafted upholstered
sofas, chairs and ottomans made of pure, chemical-free latex and sustainabley
harvested wood. Made locally right here in SF!

furnature.com An extensive line of classic sofas and other upholstered pieces, all
available in chemical-free wood finishes and organic fabrics. Plus, crib mattresses
produced from orgainic cotton. Located in Massachusetts.

leeindustries.com The “Natural Lee” package includes furniture with frames constucted
from Sustainable Forestry Initiative wood, armrest padding from reclaimed fibers and
water-based finishes. Located in North Carolina.

palecek.com For more than 30 years, this company has relied only on renewable
natural sources like wicker, rattan, hardwood, grasses and bamboo. Located in
Richmond, CA :)

qcollection.com Launched by an interior designer and an environmentalist, this high-
end line boasts well-researched eco-friendly materials, finishes and even
biodegradable textiles! I especially love the case goods, crafted from sustainable
woods. Located in NY.

vivavi.com Find cool, contemporary furniture and accessories by such hot green
designers as Lannone Sanderson, Material Furniture and Mio Culture. Also located in
NY.

the following resources are companies which I worked with will managing Eco Design
Resources, a “green” home improvement showroom which used to be located in San
Carlos, CA (it’s now located in Redwood City, CA).

woodshanti.com This SF based, worker owned cooperative builds high quality custom
furniture and cabinetry from responsibly harvested lumber and uses natural finishes.

thewoodenduck.com This Berkeley company specializes in furniture made from
recycled wood. It also imports & restores antiques from Indonesia, Europe and China.

bamboocabinets.com AlterECO creates unique and beautiful custom bamboo cabinets,
made with ecologically responsible materials. Tom, the owner (a super nice guy), even
has birdsong as his cell pone’s ringtone :) AlterECO currently serves only our local San
Francisco Bay Area. They are located in Sausalito.
Sabina Maier Smith

pacificrimwoodworking.com This company hand crafts solid maple furniture from well
managed forests and then finishes them with beeswax and tung oil. My 2 year old sons
each sleep and jump and jump and jump in a Pacific Rim crib on a daily basis… these
puppies are built to last!

whitmcleod.com This company creates hand crafted furniture from reclaimed
materials. Their folding wine barrell chairs are especially cool. They are located just
north of us in Arcata, CA.

Happy sustainable shopping and blessings,
Sabina

Inspired?

Find out more about our school: www.fengshuischool.com

So many designers, so many marvellous creations and this is just another one of them- Casulo: mobile living furniture created by Marcel Krings and Sebastian Mühlhäuser. You’ve only got to watch the following video to be totally amazed.

See… what’d I tell you about being amazed by this crazy ingenious project? Right now, this is only a prototype but the duo have plans for mass producing Casulo for the retail market. I don’t really see it happening for the local market though- but hopefully we’ll be fortunate enough to see a live version of the Casulo some time in the future. Actually, I beg to differ. If Casulo is priced reasonably, i foresee a huge market for it here in Malaysia- ‘My maid uses Casulo furniture… designer wan lah… what does yours use? Hah? You buy from kedai perabot Cheecheongfun ah? Good meh?’. In fact, it’s also great for insecure/unstable married couples- avoid potential long and tiresome disputes over who gets to keep what in the house as and when they split. Hey, Casulo designers, I offer my services to help write business plan for you to bring Casulo here to Malaysia lah.

BTW, this info was provided to me by my good friend and avid youtube surfer, Adrian Schmitter. It’s great to be getting input from a fellow reader. For those of you out there with ideas you would like to share, feel free to share them here on How’sHouse. I’ll try to create an input box or proper ‘contact me’ section soon. Meanwhile you can email me at adrian.e.how@gmail.com if you’ve anything interesting to share.

This is the view walking in the door…

I was gonna go with a red sofa but decided against it since red doesn’t match everything. I like how the fabric covers are easily removable to wash or change out the color (Karlstad series)…

Dining area…

My old roommate gave her entertainment center to me for FREE! Can’t beat that!

If you live in the Nashville area and want to buy stuff from Ikea, you must check out ModerNash Furniture Supply. These two guys started their business where they go to Ikea often to pick up your orders, and you pay for the order and their shipping fee (which is cheaper than shipping the items straight from Ikea). I decided to save myself lots of hassle and headaches (and possibly a wreck – can you see me driving a Uhaul truck or trailer in horrible Atlanta? Uh, no.) by having them get the stuff for me AND deliver it to me. It worked out so well, and the guys were very prompt and professional. They’ll also set up the furniture for you (for an hourly fee), but I was easily able to put it all together myself!

Now I am praying really hard that I won’t have to move for another year!