Category: Furniture

Posted on

Franke Under the Sink Water Filter

Our LifeEdited 2 Franke Water Filter with ceramic cartridges easily mounts under the sink, leaving more space in our kitchen and allowing us to drink filtered water straight from the tap. It’s a great way to get away from bottled water.

As a former crew member of Plastiki, “a unique  60ft  catamaran  engineered  from  approximately  12,500  reclaimed plastic  bottles and srPET, a  fully  recyclable material … relying  primarily on renewable energy systems,” Graham cares about the complete removal of bottled water from his and everyone’s lives. For him, the Franke water filter is an excellent and easy way for dwellers to help completely remove plastic water vessels from their lives.

Even though NYC has exceptionally clean tap water, Graham still uses his Franke filter to help remove potential contamination created from the old pipes in the building. To learn about the best filters for your needs, follow this link!

This post is one in a series that describes our LifeEdited 2 showcase apartment. LifeEdited 2 embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view LifeEdited 2 as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The product described in this post was given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in it.

Posted on

Stunning KBH Mirror with Brass Fittings

A well known way to create the illusion of more space in a room is to add a mirror. In LifeEdited 2 KBH Københavns Møbelsnedkeri’s stunning brass mirror does that and more. The brushed brass frame enriches the aesthetic of the apartment and matches the Plumen light fixtures.

Have a look at KBH’s site, they do really great work.

This post is one in a series that describes our LifeEdited 2 showcase apartment. LifeEdited 2 embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view LifeEdited 2 as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The product described in this post was given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in it.

Posted on

Beautiful and Italian SMEG

Created with almost all recyclable materials, we love all of the SMEG kitchen appliances in LifeEdited 2. Founded in 1948, SMEG rapidly became a leading appliance manufacturer in post-war Italy, participating in Italy’s “economic miracle” of the 1950s and 60s, when, at one point, Italy became the 3rd largest producer of refrigerators in the world after the US and Japan. Today SMEG integrates technology with design to create detail-oriented products that are both useful and eco friendly.

For a small apartment like LifeEdited 2 it is essential to have kitchen appliances that are efficient, but also beautifully designed to blend into a subtle backdrop. Our 24″ Classic Built-in Speed Oven, 18″ Fully Integrated Panel-ready Dishwasher, and 24″ Fully Integrated Panel-ready Refrigerator, allow us to cook sophisticated meals in an eco-friendly manner while maintaining a simple, clean aesthetic.

The dishwasher is energy star rated, and all of the appliances have energy saving settings and features. The refrigerator is the right size for us to store enough food for big meals without wasting space and encouraging us to forget about what is fresh. Our favorite feature about the Fully Integrated line is that they are able to be built into cabinets, optimizing visual fluidity throughout the kitchen. As a final touch to our integrated appliances we added MadeMeasure vegetable tanned leather straps for easy use.

For our guide to buying a refrigerator for a small space apartment, follow this link.

This post is one in a series that describes our LifeEdited 2 showcase apartment. LifeEdited 2 embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view LifeEdited 2 as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The product described in this post was given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in it.

Posted on

We Love Our Plumen Drop Hat Pendant Shades with Warm, Dimmable LED Bulbs!

The light bulb market in America is ever-changing and complicated due to shifting regulations. Even though the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 sought to enforce the phase-out of incandescent lightbulbs, setting standards which LED and CFL lightbulbs already met but which incandescent light bulbs did not, it has since been undercut by congress. While it is upsetting that incandescent light bulbs are still on the market in 2016, there have still been positive effects of the 2007 Energy Act on the lightbulb market itself. One such effect is that the cost of buying and owning LEDs has improved.

According to energy.gov, LED lightbulbs “typically use about 25%-80% less energy than traditional incandescents, saving you money.” In LifeEdited 2 Graham wanted to create a warm and uplifting aesthetic that was simple but not too “white box,” and with as much energy saving qualities as possible. One of the ways he added color and texture to the space was with the addition of Plumen LED bulbs with elegant brushed brass Drop Hat Pendant Shades.

Not only is the light produced by LE2’s Plumen LED bulbs an elegant soft yellow, but all of the fixtures are remote controlled via Insteon’s smartphone app. Insteon creates easy to use energy saving settings and encourages the apartment dweller to use only the lighting “scenes” that are appropriate for their needs. e.g. fully on for cleaning, only a few on dimmers for late at night, etc..

To learn more about how to save energy and cut costs, read this article about when to turn off your lights.

This post is one in a series that describes our LifeEdited 2 showcase apartment. LifeEdited 2 embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view LifeEdited 2 as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The product described in this post was given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in it.

 

Posted on

LifeEdited 2

 

****THIS APARTMENT IS FOR SALE. PLEASE VISIT THE CORCORAN SITE FOR MORE INFO.****

LifeEdited 2 (LE2) is a prototype for apartments in future LifeEdited buildings. It allows dwellers to live a big, happy, smart, green, and simplified life in a 350 sft apartment that functions like one twice its size. You may have already seen it on the cover of the November issue of Dwell.

LifeEdited began in 2010 when Graham Hill, founder of popular eco website TreeHugger, crowdsourced his 420 sft New York City apartment. It demonstrated the “less but better” lifestyle by creating a beautiful apartment with the functionality of a much larger space. LifeEdited 1 (LE1) seats 12 for dinner, has proper sleeping quarters for 2 guests, a great home office, a home theater, and is extremely energy efficient. With its own TED talk, two NYT features and coverage by most major media outlets, it has become one of the most widely published apartments in the world.

Completed in 2016, LE2 is smaller than LE1 but amazingly manages similar functionality. It graciously seats 10 for dinner, hosts two in a guest room, and has a great home office. Our approach to achieve this:

See set of 25 official LE2 photos here or download a zip of web resolution photos here. Or download the high resolution photos: part1, part2, part3.

 

****THIS APARTMENT IS FOR SALE. PLEASE VISIT THE CORCORAN SITE FOR MORE INFO.****

 

Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter!

A massive thank you to all that helped make this a reality:

Design: LifeEdited, Architect of Record: Guerin Glass, Build: Composite Fabrication, Expeditor: J. Callahan

Extra special thanks to Andrei Butusina, Catalin Sandu, David Friedlander, Andrew Skey, Karolina Wydra, Scott Glass, Shawn Ruddy, Jorge Faz, Bill Byers, Casey Martin, Leah Solomon, Jayson Halladay and the Resource Furniture crew.

Big thanks to Dwell, Sean Sliger, Joanna Sjostrand, Adam Finkelman, Francesca Michel, Lloyd Alter and the TreeHugger crew, Lawrence Hudson, Wing Deng, Sokol Hoti, 150 Sullivan’s board and Paul Brensilber of Jordan Cooper, and others, without whom the project would not have been possible and whom we’ve somehow forgotten to include! 🙂

Posted on

BigAss Haiku Fan for a Clean Life

The SenseME Haiku ceiling fan by Big Ass Solutions is silent, aerodynamic, and beautiful. Made with automative-quality paint and hand-weighted blades, the white composite I Series fan is an omnipresent and dynamic factor in our LifeEdited 2 apartment.

161018_lifeedited_0408

Using a third of the amount of energy a typical fan-motor would, the Haiku’s SenseME technology allows for cost-effective, comfortable, and high quality air by enabling “seven discrete speeds,” which can be chosen from an app on your smart-phone and even paired with your thermostat to maximize efficiency. With built in sensors, the beautifully and simply designed Haiku works silently and in tandem with its environment.

If you use air conditioning in your space, a ceiling fan like the Haiku will allow you to raise the thermostat setting about 4°F with no reduction in comfort. For extra info on the benefits of ceiling fans follow this link!

PS: If your ceiling fan doesn’t have a motion censor like the Haiku be sure to turn it off when you leave a room; fans cool people, not rooms, by creating a wind chill effect.

Posted on

Simple Bed Belies Complex History

We ran across the Stapelliege stacking day beds by Müller Möbelwerkstätten on Remodelista. They’re pretty great. They are made of plywood and available in a number of wood finishes, colors and several sizes. All of the corners are rounded to make them especially kid friendly. While two seems like a pretty ideal number to stack, they can go higher.

mueller-moebelwerkstaetten-stapelliege-01_zoom

As this is not a complicated piece of furniture, to expand on its functionality would be doing it a disservice. However, expanding on the design’s origins would be really interesting! Here’s what Smow, a German store that sells the bed, has to say about it.

The origins of Rolf Heide’s Stapelliege can be traced back to the mid-60s. A turbulent time in Germany and worldwide, in addition to the trouble spots of the Cold War and its counter movement of Flowerpower and the peace movements, the great destruction of World War II presented the European population with problems of housing shortage and a need for new solutions; consequently, the 1960s were marked by especially strong changes in cultural and social life. In terms of housing, one popular solution was large estates on the outskirts of cities; conurbations which more or less appeared out of thin air and had to meet especially one criterion: as many apartments as possible on as little space as possible – space for decorative flourishes or elaborate designs was simply not provided. In the broadest sense, the design and the concept of Rolf Heide’s Stapelliege therefore fits perfectly into this period, even if the bed is not reminiscent of the concrete blocks of the 60s.

Who knew this simple bed had such a complex history?

1966_cmyk_300_720x600

The bed is available for sale from a number of vendors, but mostly in Europe it appears. Individual beds range from €381 for kids models up to €1,130 for a large 160x200cm (full sized) bed. A bunch of snazzy, Heide designed storage units are also available.

Via Remodelista

Posted on

Don’t Call Me Murphy

The problem with most beds is that they do one thing: support your unconscious body for 6-13 hours a night depending on your employment situation. For the other 18-11 hours, mono-purpose beds just laze around the house, occupying a ton of space that could otherwise be used to good effect. And though we are unabashed fans of murphy beds, which can quickly transform a bed area into a something else area, they are not the only type of multipurpose bed. We ran across a couple different European bed manufacturers that pack a ton of utility in the same footprint that would otherwise be used for a bed alone.

space-upThe Space Up bed (above) by France’s Parisot is a bed system with a closet’s worth of storage under its double-sized mattress. To access the storage, the mattress and its frame cantilever up, made possible by hydraulic pistons. The sides of the bed also features bookshelves, adding to its utility. With a low price point and no frills materials the Space Up seems mostly geared toward younger audiences.

1347_z_Dielle Modus 0101350_z_Dielle Modus 012If you want something more high end, check out Italy’s Dielle Modus who takes the Space Up idea to 11. While they make a variety of bed and storage systems, the ones that caught our eye are their room systems featuring storage either under or above the bed. The storage volumes for both are considerably larger than Space Up. The below-bed systems work much like Space Up with a hydraulic lift for the mattress. The under-bed volume is big enough for a hanging rack storage; it’s also big enough to warrant stairs to access the bed. Those stairs double as drawers of course.

1252_z_Dielle Modus 002bdielleThe models featuring overhead storage are more practical than they might initially seem. The overhead cabinets have hanging racks that easily pivot down. There is captain bed type drawers underneath and tall cabinets at the head. The sleeping nook can also be closed off with curtains to fend off light and, we suppose, insects.

Posted on

Awesome Furniture Company Makes Awesome Furniture

As we saw with the Yatno line, lightweight, compact and affordable furniture–the kind ideal for small space living–need not be disposable, poorly designed junk. We can now add furniture maker Greycork to this list. The startup is making a line of furniture that features elegant designs, super simple assembly, lightweight structures and affordable prices. And unlike Yatno, Greycork is US-based and taking orders.

greycork

On their website, Greycork is offering a sofa, chaise, bookshelf, coffee table and side table. All of items can be assembled without tools and are made of high quality materials such ash wood and powder coated steel. And despite their good looks, the prices are genuinely reasonable. You can buy all five pieces individually, with prices ranging from $125 for the side table to $700 for the sofa. Or you can get all five for $1500. The furniture is made in the US and flatpacked shipped to your door.

While we appreciate what stores like IKEA do provide for small space dwellers, it’s been said that the cost of throwing their furniture away and re-buying it is often cheaper than the cost of moving it. What companies like Yatno and now Greycork are doing is creating adaptable, lightweight and attractive furniture that’s worth holding onto.

Via Ippinka blog

Posted on

Loft Beds Grow Up

If you have the ceiling height to accommodate them, loft beds are great space-saving alternatives to wall beds. But typically when people conjure up images of loft beds, they think of improvised plywood structures filling out dorm rooms and illegally subdivided urban apartments. Or they’re for kids. Brooklyn based Casa Collection might be changing those stereotypes with their recently released Urbano Collection. Urbano brings adult-grade design and construction to a piece of furniture typically used by the whippersnapper set.

On their site, Casa shows two models. One has a queen bed on top, with a sofa and desk on its base. The other model has a king bed on top and what amounts to a walk in closet for its base; the stairs accessing this model all have build in drawers. All of the pieces are made in Brooklyn, primarily with FSC and CARB certified birch and walnut plywood, according to Casa’s website. Custom options are available.

The Urbano Collection also features adult prices, ranging from $7-20K. This is real money, but considering the furniture can replace several pieces of conventional furniture and theoretically increase the usable square footage of your home, the prices are a bit easier to digest. See more on Casa Collection’s site.

via Livinginashoebox.com

Proudly powered by WordPress