But no matter how hard you try, you just can’t find a place to store them. Whether at the bottom of a wardrobe or in the corner of the bookcase, they just end up becoming more of a nuisance and an eye-sore, either from getting in the way or not fitting in with the supposed spot they’re meant to occupy.
In this blog article, we’ll discuss some ways you can fully utilize the furniture in your home to maximise its storage potential!
If you look at any set of shelves in your home, take note of the dead space between the top of the items and the bottom of the next shelf. If it looks like you could probably fit a whole another row of items in there, then you’re not using your shelves efficiently.
Places such as Kmart offer a large variety of storage units designed to fit within any variety of furniture. From dividers for your makeup drawers to little shelves and cubbies for holding the spices in your kitchen. These help maximise the space, both horizontal and vertical, while also allowing you to better organize the items within.
Using storage solutions in this way can also be a great way to add style to your shelves too! You can give an extra tier to your bookshelf, keeping your novels on the bottom and photo frames on the top, or maybe you can split the middle cube shelf four ways to each show off a smaller ornament.
Utilizing smaller storage solutions in this way can have you finding things in your home like a well-oiled machine, with a nook for every knick-knack!
Notice how your furniture has those leg things to raise it off the ground? Imagine if you could use that space to its fullest potential.
Buckets, baskets and boxes are your best friend when it comes to housing things things on the floor without making it look messy. Storage like this is perfect for things such as the basket of wires that “you might need someday” or a box of photos not quite special enough to make it into the photo album.
This way of storage can also be beneficial with the entertainment unit, since a lot of the time you’re going to be near the unit to access the devices or to grab the remote, so why not keep things such as extra cables and batteries tucked away underneath so you’re always ready.
If you’ve got a bed frame with a lot of empty space underneath, this can make an excellent location to hide any variety of items while keeping your bedroom floor space clear to do whatever you’d like!
These low-profile containers are perfect for sliding underneath the bed while holding a large capacity of items whether it’s extra linens and woollies or a toy chest for in the kids' room. These containers make perfect homes for large quantities of small items, especially those that can be extra difficult to store otherwise like Lego or winter gear.
Additionally, if you’re in the market for a new bed frame, keep an eye out for frames with built-in storage. These are also great as they can provide a home for your clothes while removing the need for a dedicated set of drawers for said purpose. This then gives you more floor space in the bedroom for more extravagant pieces, such as vanities or standing mirrors.
The other thing to consider when trying to find places to store stuff is how you store the items in your home. How you stack can stack up, and if your piles aren’t efficient then this leads to your whole storing system toppling over!
Therefore, this next point requires digging back to 2019 and the Marie Kondo craze everyone went through. Start rolling your t-shirts and stacking those books vertically because if it takes up more space than it needs to, then it’s inefficient! This can also be a good time to take stock of the items you have and cut out anything unnecessary while keeping the ones that “spark joy”.
You can also refer to the first point on ways to better organise your items, it can be amazing how much a simple container can change the dynamic of a drawer. You can also look into vacuum bags for large items such as blankets and extra sheets, that compress the item when not in use to take up as small a footprint as possible.
Sometimes at the end of the day, the best solution is often the easiest! If you need a home for a collection of items, and you have the space to allow for it, then buying another piece of furniture is a great simple way to add more storage to your home.
Whether it’s another bookcase or a blanket box, it can be amazing the amount of storage just a singular piece of furniture can add! Even a simple upgrade of a piece of furniture, such as a larger TV unit can help accommodate more where you need it.
This also works the other way too! If a piece of furniture takes up more space than it needs to, then it could pay to get rid of it and replace it with a more practical piece. There can even be some alternatives to regular furniture that can better utilize your space, such as hall tables with added drawers!
Whether it was finding a home for those precious family heirlooms, or just another place to put those items you don’t feel comfortable throwing away because their time may be yet to shine, this guide should have helped give these items a place no matter their importance!
Your home should now be organized and ready for any occasion, with everything easily accessible in its appropriate room. Giving your room more than enough storage can lead to your home running more smoothly as anyone in the house can easily find what they’re looking for without the headache of searching through tubs of miscellaneous items.
If you’re in need of some new furniture to store your collection of anything, then great news! The site you’re reading this on is actually one of the highest-rated furniture stores in New Zealand!
If you’re outside of New Zealand however, our best advice would be to look for a business similar to us. As the world becomes more and more about things such as “fast fashion” and the mentality of “if it breaks, buy another”, furniture stores like us aim to provide long-lasting furniture that’s built for years, not months!
If you’ve just got a box of miscellaneous items you’re keeping on the ground, while you shouldn’t have an issue with most containers you can purchase at the store, we’d avoid placing baskets made from natural materials, such as cane or seagrass, on the ground.
The main reason you should avoid natural materials from sitting on the ground is that their material isn’t designed for durability. In most situations they should be fine, especially on a hard surface in the sun, but if they’re tucked underneath in the dark and damp, then their material is going to quickly get ratty as it wastes away.
The other reason also combines with the first reason also: dark and damp areas are often where insects such as spiders and silverfish hangout. As a result, the natural grass material often becomes a hive for insects such as silverfish and carpet bugs as it turns your basket into a bug buffet!
]]>Joanna asked: How do I remove the sticky residue from my oak kitchen table? I've had this table for over ten years, and over time, a sticky residue has started to develop. What can I do?
A sticky surface typically comes from an accumulation of dirt, cooking grease and grime. Another possibility is from the buildup of furniture polish, especially waxes or oils.
Fortunately, it's usually enough to give it a good clean without having to strip and refinish the surface of your table. Here's how...
Pro tip:
You can use a toothbrush or cotton swab to clean through any hard-to-reach gaps in the wood and crevices.
If the above method doesn't obliterate the sticky buildup, we recommend using the following method:
Bunning's "how to restore wooden furniture" will walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to bring your wood furniture back to looking like it's brand new.
Or you can watch the video below:
]]>To understand and properly understand how to soundproof your room, we first need to understand how “sound” works. In short, sounds are just vibrations in the air causing ripples in the air that then transfer onto any nearby surface. As such, imagine the pitch and frequency of the sound as a rope attached to a pole, as you move your arm up and down, the rope will start making a wave that in this scenario represents “sound”. When you shake your arm up and down quickly, this represents a high-pitch sound with the rope only reaching its peak for a short period, and as a result stifling off quicker. Whereas, if you do the same motion slowly, the rope will stay at its peak for longer, representing a low-pitch noise, such as most bassy sounds, meaning that lower pitch sounds travel further distances and as a result, can pass through into your room.
If you want to understand sound from someone more knowledgeable in the subject than a furniture store employee, then this article goes more in-depth providing a better idea of how sound functions, but the main takeaway is that the sounds you’re most likely to have issues with are the lower frequencies that travel farther than the higher pitch frequencies. Some examples include subwoofers in hi-fi setups that can literally shake rooms with how low their frequencies can go, and vehicles that have engines that rumble or are heavy enough to create sound themselves such as semi-haul trucks.
As with anything physics related, the easiest solution always goes back to Newton’s Third Law: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Thus, the goal of this article is to show a variety of ways to slow and hopefully stop the journey of sound before it gets to the receiving party's ears.
As such, the easiest way to stop sound is very much the same as stopping any other object: by putting something in its way. However, certain items and materials do this job better than others alongside strategically placing said items to maximise their noise-cancelling capabilities! Thus, the following will be a list of do’s and don’ts in terms of furniture and their noise cancelling capabilities.
Not only does reading require a “quiet space” for it to happen, but books are actually a great insulators of sound, making them great noise-cancelling material when placed in a bookshelf against a wall. Ideally, you want a heavy bookcase and dense quantities of books to absorb as much sound as possible, while also expanding across the wall as much as possible. But if you want your little library to stay quiet like a real one, then the right bookcase is the go.
Unlike their book storing counter-parts, glass display cabinets are terrible for soundproofing your room. Since most utilise panels of glass and most likely contain small items, once these units start shaking from noise, they’ll make an unnerving noise like a glass filled maraca. As such, we would recommend placing any display cabinets away from any area where it’s likely to be shaken, such as next to a door or close or a street facing wall. However, if you’re in a position where you want to quieten your display cabinet, a very easy way is to line the shelves with a drawer mat that should hopefully better grip the items while also giving them a softer landing that the wood or glass you cabinet may already use.
If you’ve got a lot of sound leaking from the outside in, installing a set of blockout curtains should definitely help in dampening the noise. They can also help in making a room darker, so they’re best installed in a media room or bedroom as once they’re shut, no daylight will leak in from behind these blinds.
You can also apply this logic if you’ve got a decorative tapestry as the cloth should ideally soak in a lot of sound due to the soft density of the cloth, or even for a pile of dressing gowns and coats hanging on the back of a door, a bit of fabric can go a long way to helping quieting any noise going in and out of a room.
If you’re coming from an older home with similarly older windows, then we’d definitely recommend having them upgraded ASAP!
A majority of the time, older windows are generally single glazed and as a result, sound passes through it as if there was nothing there. On top of this, windows in wooden frames grow and shrink over time, resulting in the frames themselves not fitting correctly within the window slot.
This results in two things happening: 1.) The open spots where the window should be will now let sound walk in without worry and 2.) The gaps between the window and the frame will give the window more space to move about, this means that if a large vehicle or strong gust of wind goes past, the window will clash and bang creating a whole ton of noise.
This is why we’d recommend upgrading your windows ASAP! Not only will it reduce the amount of noise coming in drastically, but it’ll also make your house warmer and also be a lot safer, as modern windows use safety glass which break into smaller fragments rather than larger “shards”.
A “white noise” machine is a device that emits a sound that essentially covers other more minute sounds. If you’ve got a smart speaker like a google or alexa, then great news! You’ve got one ready to go in your room, just ask for some “white noise” and it’s ready to go.
Another alternative however, is to put an air purifier or fan into your room. While this isn’t necessarily “white noise”, it still produces the same effect. The end goal here is to make a noise that goes “on top” of the offending noise, essentially putting the rug over a stain in the hopes you forget about it.
However, we also understand that this solution may not work for all so we’d recommend a.) trying different options to see which best works for you and b.) treating this as more of a “stop-gap” solution until you’re able to find a more permanent solution.
If you’re a musician, music lover or just some whose hobby produces a lot of sound. Then we’d definitely recommend installing some acoustic panels in the room where you’re most likely to make the most noise.
There are two ways to acoustically treat your room: One is with more “permanent” acoustic panels which are made from thick bunches of fabric moulded into a panel and are affixed onto the wall. The other is more temporary, with square pieces of foam that zig zag in height that are affixed in alternating directions for best effect. How the foam is put on however, is up to you as they can easily be held on with something as simple as command strips or blu-tack.
Obviously, this is not only the best way to soundproof a room, but also the most obnoxious. Hence we recommend this for those who know they’ll make a lot of noise or need a room isolated from outside noise. But for regular joe blogs, the above options are more than enough.
Hopefully by this article, you’ve managed to shush the sound that was keeping you up at night. It’s also worth mentioning that if your neighbour is the one keeping you up at night, it never hurts to ask them nicely to turn it down, or to send them this article in a passive aggressive manner. Either way, you should now have a quiet space for you to relax in or a place to let loose without worry of annoying your neighbours. So grab either your book or guitar and relax or shred away as your sound is kept separate from the other.
If you’re wanting to have your room quiet enough that you can hear a pin drop, then unfortunately the bad news is that this isn’t possible, unless you’re a sound specialist with exorbitant amounts of money.
However, if you’re interested in what a “completely soundproof” room looks like, then look no further. Called an “anechoic chamber”, these are rooms essentially filled ceiling to floor and wall to wall in the earlier mentioned acoustic panels to effectively make any noise from inside the room get swallowed up by the walls. As a result, these rooms are often eerily too quiet to the point where you’re able to hear bodily functions such as your heart beating and your stomach gurgling. Many people are unable to handle a few minutes in these rooms, let alone live in one so maybe it’s for the best if you have a little noise in your living room.
If you’re in a position where you’re unable to cover your walls in foam just on a whim, or the sound is infrequent enough to not warrant a whole room makeover, then our best recommendation is to soundproof your ears, not the room.
The great thing about the 21st century is the rise of earbuds in the mainstream. No more are you confined to the big construction ear cans you’d use with the lawn mower to cut out sound, disposable foam ear tips can be bought in bulk for cheap. Meanwhile, the rise of portable music listening has meant any variety of headphones and earbuds can easily replace your neighbours shouting with your favourite tunes within seconds, many now also come with built-in noise cancelling, in which the headphones produce a “negative noise” to what’s happening outside the headphones creating an eerily quiet effect.
If you’re not wanting to wear anything on your ears, you could also try see if the noise maker in your home could wear something on theirs? If you’ve got a guitarist or pianist in the home, most amps and keyboards offer some form of headphone jack for them to plug in and play away while not having everyone else listen to their practice sessions.
Other than this, our only other option would be to drown out the noise with more noise which we would advise against for two reasons: 1. If you’re having to turn up your TV to hear over a noise, think about what that might be doing for your hearing? And 2. Sometimes fighting fire with fire can create a whole inferno of a situation. So we always recommend speaking to the perpetrator to find a solution or just getting used to wearing headphones when possible.
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If you’ve got a pet that seems to make a point of ruining the resale value of your furniture we’ve got some bad news: it’s generally because they’re unhappy. Oftentimes, when pets are stressed or bored, they’ll look for the first way to release their feelings, which if you’re reading this article is most likely your furniture.
Animals can also act out as an attempt to tell you that something is wrong. If your cat is deciding that the couch is their new litter box, or if your dog has made a vengeance with any tables within biting distance, it may pay to take them to the vet to see if anything’s wrong.
Other times, it might just be your pet being a loveable goofball (among other words…) and you just need to teach them better. Whether its your new puppy being unable to control their bladder, or your perfectly *regular* cat being caught in a case of the zoomies, it’s up to you to teach your pets to know better. We can understand this is often easier said than done, but this is also part of the process of owning an animal. As such, we are also going to provide some options that should hopefully have your furry friend treating with the respect that you do.
The easiest way to stop your furry friend from destroying your furniture is to give them something else to put their energy into. Scratching poles are available for cheap from any general store and this singular purchase should hopefully give your feline friend a place to give a big stretch to their claws that isn’t the side of your couch.
If your canine friend is causing chaos, they’re most likely bored and need to let off some steam. So whether it’s taking them out for a walk, throwing a ball around your yard or giving them a couple rounds of tug-of-war, give them a chance to burn through whatever energy they’ve had built up throughout the day so that they’re tired when you are.
It’s now easier than ever to get quality pet toys for cheap, so be prepared to spoil your pet with anything you think they might fancy. If you got a pet thinking it’d make a nice accessory for your home, unfortunately these living beings have feelings, and if you don’t give them attention they will get bored. So spend some time playing with your pets and give them all the attention they need, even if you don’t have the energy. While you’ve spent the whole day slaving at work, they’ve most likely been sitting at the door waiting for you to come home, so don’t get mad when you brush them off after you’ve been the only person they’ve been waiting for all day.
A lot of the time, when animals jump up on tables and couches, they're just curious as to what you're doing and want to join in (or in the case of most cats, draw attention to them) as such, offering a nearby alternative can mean that both you and your furry friend are both happy and accomodated for.
If you've got a canine who likes to jump up on the couch to watch TV with you, an option is to provide them with their own "couch" such as a dog bed close to the couch so they can watch TV and still be close enough for any additional pets during the ad breaks.
If you cat likes to sleep on your lowboy near the window, consider placing a cat tree in the same area to give them an area to let off steam while also being able to chatter at the birds outside.
As you should know, Cats use scent to know who owns an area and in your home, they try their best to make sure it only smells like them. Thus, when your cat decides to make your furniture their scratching pole, they’re actually trying to “top up” their scent so that other cats know that they own your bar stools. As such, an easy way to quell this is by using an anti-scratch spray on areas they like to mark their territory. These work by throwing off their scent and instead replacing it with a smell that they hate, and as a result your cat should avoid the area like the plague.
Please note however that this product doesn’t work for all cats, as either they weren’t scratching to mark territory or just aren’t too fussed on the smell itself. As such, we must again direct to the above point and ask that you ensure your pet has other outlets for them to stretch their claws. We also feel it’s worth mentioning that sometimes cats just like to do things their way, and you just have to accept that your cat has decided that your prized buffet is their scratching board.
It’s always nice when your dog cuddles up next to you on the couch, what’s not nice however is the state they can sometimes leave the couch in afterward, covering the cushions with dirt and hair that after a while can leave them distressed and giving a smell that’s less than pleasant. Thus, our best way to prevent this from happening is to protect your furniture to keep your upholstery nice and fresh.
Now the term “protected furniture” may give you violent flash-backs to grandma’s house with her floral-pattern couch wrapped in plastic bags that you could never sit on and that you swear you’ve seen for sale for $20 at the local charity shop. But in the 21st century, protecting your couch is not only easy, but also not unbearably ugly.
The simplest way to protect your couch is to get a cheap blanket and lay that over the couch and call it a day. If the blanket gets mucky, no worries! Either toss it in the wash for a freshen up, or if its gotten too ratty, toss it out and get a new one. However, there are more eloquent options that are more “form-fitting” for the rest of the couch that can be had if you’re happy to put down the money. But in general, its easy to protect your sofa from your pets without having to resort to the traumatic cling-wrap couch of eras passed.
If you thought that this blog post would only be worried about the damage done by our mammal companions, then surprise, here’s some advice for those with birds, fish and reptiles!
While your docile little critters themselves aren’t doing too much damage to your furniture, their enclosures will definitely be making a large mark. Whether its a fish tank acting as a giant cup without a coaster, or your cockatoo deciding that white is a better colour for your dark stained buffet, they will make a mess one way or another. Thus, our best recommendation would be to get a place mat to put underneath their enclosure, whether it’s an old towel or something a little more upmarket, anything to protect your furniture from them.
This advice can also apply to your mammal friends also for feeding time, as a mat underneath their food bowls can make clean up as easy as a short trip outside and a quick shake to get off any loose biscuits or spilled water.
If you’ve made it this far, hopefully one of these tricks has helped in protecting your furniture from your furry friends. However, it’s also worth once again referring to the first point, if your pet started acting out all of a sudden, maybe it’s worth researching into why. While it may be nice to protect your couch, you may be looking at a pricey vet bill soon if your pet is trying to signal they’re not feeling too good. So in all, the main advice we’d give is to always put your pet first, because while you may be able to easily buy new furniture, it’s a lot harder to to keep your companion if you put off their problems for too long.
If your canine companion caused a catastrophe on your prized dining suite and the damage makes buying a new suite the easiest option, then great news! We offer a variety of oak and pine furniture for great prices!
If you’re reading this outside of New Zealand however, our best recommendation is to use our business as a baseline for what a “good” furniture store is. Some furniture store green flags include use of *true* wood for their furniture, not MDF, alongside quality customer service that won’t leave you high and dry when time comes for you to call in a favour.
The short answer for this is: you can’t. However, what you can do are find ways to minimize the amount your pet sheds.
If you’re in the market for a furry friend, research into breeds that have been bred to not shed. Gone are the days where you were stuck with hairless breeds if you wanted to avoid having a hairy couch, plenty of cats and dogs, big and small, are becoming more popular due to their lack of shedding so there’s a healthy market of future companions who won’t leave their fuzzy trace everywhere while also not looking like an uncooked roast chicken.
When it comes to pets that do shed, our best advice is to take care of their coat like it’s your own hair. Make sure to give them a brush regularly, and a trip to the groomers once it starts getting a bit long. Do note as well that animals begin shedding heading into summer, so use those clearer days to really let your friend blow off some steam, and in the process, some hair also.
If you’ve got a canine causing more damage than a natural disaster, or a feline deciding that the couch smells better drenched in cat pee, then our best advice, with a giant, neon-lit sign, is to look at the first point.
If you’ve got a giant German Shepherd that you’ve kept inside all day, of course he’s gonna let his energy out on your decorative pillows. Make sure you pay attention to your furry friends and give them all the love and care that they need.
It’s also worth mentioning that if your cat is making your living room their bathroom, consider why they might do so. Cats have an innate knowledge to use the litterbox as their toilet, so placing one in a quiet room away from most noses (and hopefully close to the door) should easily remove any of these issues immediately.
Different homes bring different layouts, some hallways act as a central spine to all the rooms of the house, while others are instead more “hubs” leading to a nest of bedrooms, as common in some two-story houses. So take note of where your hallway “starts” and “ends” and plan accordingly.
Also, note the width of the hallway and how it’s used! While it may be nice to place furniture within your hallway if everyone’s gonna stub their toe on their way through then what’s the point? Furthermore, you should consider the traffic of the area, is the hall connecting two lounges? What possible routes could people take when going through? If the hall table you’re considering is going to be placed at a possible chokepoint, we would definitely consider other more “discrete” options.
With these things laid out, let’s give some decorating ideas!
Regardless of the type of hallway, the bare minimum you can do to decorate one is to at least put up some art! Whether it’s family portraits, a knock-off mona lisa or a drawing your child made years ago, it all looks great when displayed proudly in a hallway.
We would recommend avoiding placing anything around any space where a door may open, especially glass picture frames. But otherwise decorate the hallway to your heart's content! Our main piece of advice would be to avoid placing anything in direct sunlight, especially precious family photos, as this causes the photos to bleach in the sun making the image wash out over time.
Now that we’ve got the easiest type out of the way, let's get talking about furniture. If your hallway starts from the front door, then a hall table is a must!
Hall Tables are great companions for your comings and goings throughout the day, whether it’s holding a bowl of keys to being a temporary home for the parcel you just received, a well-placed hall table will definitely make its worth in the headache saved.
As for placement, this obviously depends on where it’s being placed and what its purpose is for. If it’s being placed near a doorway, then we’d recommend a smaller table for filling the small gap in between where the door opens.
Otherwise, if the door opens to a T-intersection in the hallway, then we’d recommend purchasing a larger hall table. This way you can utilize the table as not only a parcel/key hub, but hall tables also often come with lower trays perfect for hosting shoes.
Either way, the hall table should either be discrete or make a statement when placed in a hallway. So whether it’s a shrine for family photos or just a small nook for holding miscellaneous documents, the table's purpose is up to you!
Similar to the Hall table, a buffet is great if you have the space. This option is more intended for larger more spacious hallways, common in newer homes with more open floor plans.
As such, the purpose of the buffet is similar once again to the hall table but with more storage. This extra storage is then great for items that don’t really have a place in any room of the home, such as board games or photo albums.
However, depending on how your house is laid out, it can also act as additional storage for a room. Such as a towel cupboard for outside the bathroom, or as a linen cupboard near the bedrooms for that seasonal change of sheets.
If your front door opens to a T-intersection in your hallway, then a large mirror can enhance the appearance of your space!
By placing the mirror in front of the door, you can make the illusion that your house opens to more than what is there, while also providing a great spot to quickly check your head for any stray alfalfa spikes or bits of food on your face!
As for the choice of mirror, we would choose something with a bold border, such as a thick oak frame or something with an accented appearance to really make a statement when someone opens that door.
If you’ve got a wide hallway with a view on one side, then definitely consider a bench seat so you can sit and appreciate the imagery.
Even if your hallway has a bit of a landing area, then try to place one in there so you can have a seat to put on or remove your shoes. The great thing about bench seats is there’s always one at any length!
However, if you’ve only got a very small gap at hand, a bar stool can act as a great alternative! The only thing separating a bench from a stool is width.
To round off this article, it’s always great to add any form of storage appropriate in your hallway depending on the space and location.
Whether it’s a shoe rack by the door, or a stand to hold your umbrellas, if it doesn’t really fit in a main room, then place it in the area that connects all of them.
Even if you’ve got a particularly narrow space in which you can’t place any furniture, a well-placed key rack on the wall can clear a lot of headaches in your home. Even just some regular command hooks can never go amiss for holding any coats and hats.
By now you should have your hallway succinctly decorated, either with furniture to maximise its utility or decorations to give it some personality. As such, we would also definitely recommend remembering that the main purpose of the hallway is for people to walk through, so test-run different places for things if people keep stubbing their toes on them.
No matter your end result, your hallway should now be a bit less barren. So whether it’s a bench seat to tie your shoes, a shelf filled with documents to peruse or a family portrait when you all went on that cruise, ooze in the fact that you now have a hallway utilised to its full use!
If your hallway makes you feel as if you’re descending down a claustrophobic corridor, then here are some quick tips on how to make your space seem wider.
If you’re wanting to do a full hallway overhaul, we would definitely recommend repainting the walls into brighter/neutral colours, adding vertical stripes onto the floor can also help to maximise the effect. If the hallway leads to the front door, you can try painting it into a feature colour to create a focal point.
If you’re looking for furniture to make the same effect, then something such as a hallway or blanket box can help create sightlines open while also creating a sense of depth. Once again, we’d also recommend placing a mirror within your hallway to really create a sense of space
Otherwise, we’d recommend against over-decorating your hallway, as the idea is to create a sense of depth and having items obscure that view can ruin that effect.
If you’re wanting to transform your hallway into upper-class royalty, then our main advice is to follow our advice but really focus on style. This means adding a statement piece such as a decorative rug or the aforementioned hall table to turn your hallway into a room in itself.
We would also recommend updating your lighting fixtures, such as a series of downlights or a centre-stage chandelier to add some drama to your space. Some decorative plants/flowers also can’t go amiss, especially if you’re able to take care of them or at least ensure they stay “fresh”.
But again, the best way to transform your hallway is to keep things sparse, a cluttered hallway can seem claustrophobic so keeping things minimal is always recommended.
]]>In this blog article, we’re going to go through what you should be picking the brains of the store attendant about before they have you thinking a new bedframe is a great idea.
We now live in a global economy, and that means where your furniture is made matters more than ever! So when buying furniture, make sure to ask the salesperson to name where the furniture is made.
While the location may not directly relate to the quality of the unit, it may give you a better idea of what you may be in for.
If the furniture is made locally or in a western/European continent, expect high quality and even higher prices. If it comes from a more exotic location, it may use a more exotic type of wood and use an unconventional styling, making this piece more intended to make a statement.
Meanwhile furniture made from eastern countries can vary wildly. If they’re made from good quality wood such as oak and pine, you could find yourself a proper bargain of a unit, while lower quality materials may provide lower quality furniture.
If you ask the salesperson where the furniture is made and they can spit it off the top of their head immediately, this is a good sign. Depending on what they say, it could guarantee that what you’re buying is a good investment, or at the very least, give you an idea of what you’re in for.
If they say they make it in-store, expect big prices and bigger wait times, as this generally means they make to order, but it could mean you get that feature dining table you always wanted!
If the salesperson tries to dodge the question or can’t answer it confidently, then we would dodge that store. You wouldn’t eat food if you didn’t know where it was made, so why would you trust a dining table where you don’t know where that is made?
This is going to be a quick slot but asking about the material is a great way to check if the furniture is worth buying or not. The main term we’re going to be avoiding is MDF! This type of wood is essentially just a thick and hard paper, which makes it great for keeping production costs low and that’s about it. We’ve already written a blog post discussing MDF and how it makes for a terrible furniture investment, especially from big box retailers that try sell MDF furniture at premium prices.
The main materials we would aim for is either pine or oak! Wood furniture is proven to be incredibly durable and able to last decades with minimal care needed. The best way we would recommend testing out the material quality of a piece of furniture is by giving it a quick heft test: if picking it up proves to be a struggle, then that means that whatever else the unit has to go through will struggle also. If you’re able to pick up the item and hold it over your head, even if it’s large, then take that item and promptly throw it into the nearest bin, because that’s probably where it’s headed in the next few years. But as the next point may mention, this weight test may not make the best judgement for a product's quality.
This guide should show you some great details to look for when buying furniture!
Let’s answer one thing quickly: You should not have to pay a premium for furniture that arrives flat-packed. *Mic Drop*
Flat-packed furniture is generally made to a very low quality and will start peeling at the edges and wobbling before you know it. Some flat-packed furniture can be all right, mostly if it’s packed as a unit body and you have to attach the legs with strong bolts, in this instance the unit is flat-packed to save on shipping costs and to protect the unit in transit.
However, if you’re buying something like a bookcase or chest of drawers, ensure the unit you receive comes fully assembled. From there you can look at other parts of the furniture to see if the unit goes from well-made to really well-made.
The best places to look for a unit's build quality is in the drawers and back panel. If the drawer feature lovingly made dovetail joining and are on either strong metal runners or feature some sort of guide, then you’re in luck. If the back utilises tongue and groove panelling to further reinforce the unit, then it is a good buy. However, if the furniture lacks either of these qualities, then we would definitely err on the side of caution.
It’s important to remember that while the art of haggling may be dead, salespeople are still more than happy to slip a deal if possible if you choose to purchase with them.
So when you’re shopping around for furniture, take note of what the salespeople are offering. Is it free shipping? Is it a hefty discount? Maybe they’re tossing in an extra item for free!
When a business is being a bit more strict on their pricing however, it definitely pays to ask why? Sometimes a firm price can be a good sign as it means the assistant is confident that their product is worth it.
Whether it’s a slim profit margin or just a high cost of materials, it pays to check if the furniture holds up to the firm price offered. While you may not be getting $300 of extra goodies, the extra $300 spent could mean that you’re getting a better product overall!
When buying new furniture, it’s always worth playing hypotheticals through your head and asking the sales assistant to see what they say just in case these happen.
If the item arrives damaged, how do you return it? Can you get a refund if you decide you don’t like the colour in your home? Questions like these definitely are useful to check as it’s better to have buyer's remorse and be safe than to be left high and dry with an item you don’t like.
Another thing to consider is you may have bought the item, but how do you get it? It’s more common than ever for businesses to only have show units in stock, meaning you could be waiting months to actually receive the item. So definitely check if you can get the item ASAP!
Furthermore, while an item may cost one figure, the cost for shipping could far outweigh the actual worth of the item. So make sure that you’re not paying an exorbitant amount for shipping or even worse, you have to figure out how to get that large buffet back to your house with your only car being a Fiat Punto!
By now, you should have all the tools needed to not be overwhelmed when buying furniture in person. Whether it’s a dining suite or a bedroom suite, don’t just nod your head to keep the conversation flowing, feel free to interject and ask questions! Think of the salesperson as a music conductor, if they’re confident enough to go freestyle jazz, then rest assured that this business is confident in their goods.
Don’t get caught making the same mistake many make every day: buying low-quality furniture from places that are simply trying to make a profit. Ask questions, pick their brains and make sure that the product you buy is an investment, not a purchase.
To answer quickly, yes and no. While you may not be able to coupon yourself to a free bedroom suite, it always pays when purchasing large amounts of furniture to see if the salesman can round off some numbers.
This obviously depends on the retailer of course. So don’t go into your big box retailers like The Warehouse or Kmart demanding a massive bedroom furniture discount, but if you’re shopping at a mid-tier or high-class furniture store, then feel free to bring out your full charisma to charm yourself some deals.
When it comes time to go into buying furniture, we would definitely recommend either in the early months of the year (January/February) or just before the holiday season (August/September).
This is due to how furniture, and in turn stock, works. As these months are generally a time where retailers try to purge old stock to make way for new looks. If you’re purchasing technology, then obviously a new model is better but when it comes to furniture, if it looks good and works well then that’s all that matters.
This purging of old stock also means that prices are going to be seriously slashed so that stock goes quickly. Depending on the situation, the retailer may even be kind enough to tack on additional benefits, such as a further discount or another item. So make sure to keep an eye out for sales around this time.
If you’re reading this post within New Zealand, then great news! Our furniture store sells quality furniture at affordable prices! If you’re questioning whether or not we know much about furniture, then you’ve read our blog post so you tell us.
Outside of New Zealand however, we would definitely recommend using our store as a baseline of what to look for. If the salespeople are more than happy to help and are knowledgeable about what they’re selling, then you’re in the right place! We’ve done enough slander about big box retailers, so we won’t go on about why you shouldn’t shop there.
]]>In this blog article, we’ll go through what you need to create the ultimate hobby room/man cave/she shed so that you can finally have a space for your inner child to roam free!
Everyone has a hobby that has its own needs and requirements: a gaming/movie room requires you to be able to sit for extended periods of time comfortably, a more creative hobby, such as lego or model vehicles requires a dedicated workspace, while a more passive hobby like a collection of media or figures instead requires lots of surface areas to display said items.
It’s also worth considering the space of the room and how everything should be ideally laid out, a window could make a great place to give a desk some natural light, or a great place for a chair to catch the afternoon sun for a cozy reading session.
It’s worth considering every corner of space for its potential uses or the obstacles it may cause, whether it’s power points or an in-built wardrobe.
As you may have noted in the previous section, there are different types of hobby room and how you might lay them out can differ.
As such, this next section will be split into three sections to represent the different layouts: The Media Room, The Creative Room and The Collection Room.
These three types should effectively cover the basics for each type of hobby and how you might treat the room for each.
Whether you want a dedicated space for gaming, or an at-home cinema setting up a media room is quite simple. We’ve actually already written a blog article going over some of the basics in terms of screen placement and snack table requirements.
As such, the main additional part we would recommend for this type of setup is a great couch.
Our main recommendation is to get something you can sit in for hours without getting uncomfortable, whether it’s a recliner or even a couch with a pull-out bed, just anything that will perfectly cradle you whilst you make your half-day Lord of the Rings Trilogy marathon (directors cuts of course.)
Outside of that, we would recommend decorating the room to fit the “vibe” you’re wanting to go for. If you’re going for a movie room, then get some framed posters of your favourite movies, if it’s a gaming room, then get some gaming merchandise, either of your favourite franchises or of your chosen console platform.
If you’ve got the money, space and care, a mini-fridge or drawer filled with your favourite drinks and snacks can elevate your media room to the next level.
Your hobby room should be a space where you let your inner child run free, so don’t worry if anything looks too gaudy to be displayed elsewhere, because this space is an extension of you.
If you want to take up the coolness factor of this room, consider replacing the TV screen with a projector! That way you can maximise your wall real estate while also fulfilling that prime media experience, especially for those avid movie watchers.
The great thing also is they now cheaper then ever, with this projector coming in at an incredibly low cost and able to have a Chromecast plugged right in!
Whether it’s making Legos or painting on canvas, a good art room should let your creative juices flow freely. As such, for sitting-based hobbies, we’d recommend a good desk that you can easily sprawl out into your workspace.
We’d also recommend plenty of drawers for said desk so you can have any and all useful supplies close by, whether it’s colouring pencils or sewing needles. It also pays to place the desk near a window if you can, so you can have a great view while giving yourself a moment to let the creative juices flow.
When it comes to decorating and accessorising this art room, we’d definitely recommend plenty of shelving, open wall space, or surface area to present your completed works with the respect they deserve.
If you need a lot of low surface area for hobbies such as model train sets we would definitely recommend keeping an eye out for off-lease office clearouts for any desks they might be selling, that way you can get a high-quality surface for a low-cost!
Other beneficial things we would recommend would be some form of smart device, either a smart speaker or Chromecast-enabled screen. For most, the smart speaker is a great choice if you just want some gentle music or ocean noise whilst you tinker away at your work while also having the capability of giving you other important info such as the weather or news.
But for hobbies that might need more visual help, we would recommend pairing a Chromecast with a smallish screen that you can easily keep on the desk or mounted on the wall, that way you can quickly search up a tutorial video on your phone and watch along without the limitations of the tiny phone screen.
If your hobby room is going to instead be more dedicated to the fruits of a concentrated hoarding addiction, then this is the part for you.
Already we’ve already done a blog post on how to present your collectibles but for a quick summary: Buy lots of shelving! Whether it’s cube shelving or a more decadent glass display cabinet, we’d recommend purchasing lots of the same type of unit so that everything looks synonymous with one another.
We’d also try place the shelving in a way that obscures the contents within from sunlight to prevent any unnecessary sun damage to spines and covers.
If the collection of items in question is something that can be used such as a book or vinyl, we would also definitely recommend a space where you can enjoy said item, such as the aforementioned reading nook or a couch placed at a premium listening distance for your audio set up.
Just some way to keep your collection contained within your wall, especially for fragile items that may risk getting damaged in the small trip between rooms.
No matter the room you're going for, it always pays to watch other people's own hobby room tours. This is for many reasons, whether it's for style inspiration or seeing awesome solutions on how you could present your collection, different people may have more experience or ideas on how they made their hobby room!
This video shows an awesome tour of this creators craft room, and could give you some smart ideas on how to go about making your own!
Obviously, everyone’s hobbies are different and the purpose of said hobby can vary, so we’d totally recommend mixing some of these room ideas to fit your needs.
If you’re a retro gamer, you might want to combine aspects of the media room with a collection room so you can have an all-in-one space for your game collection and where you can play them.
But maybe in the same instance, if you’re someone who collects retro games and also repairs them, then you can add a setup like what you’d have creative room so you can easily watch a teardown video if need be.
So to repeat, make sure the hobby room fits the needs for your uses!
By now you should have successfully converted that empty room into the hobby room of your dreams, now the only thing left to do is put it to use! So get crafting, gaming, reading or watching as you can finally enjoy a little sanctuary dedicated to your passion.
If we’re talking about a media room in this instance, invite some friends around for a movie/game night, maybe tonight you’ll finally watch that 3 hour arthouse film or put those party games to use!
Whether it’s shelving or a quality desk, you can’t beat our range at Mainland Furniture! All our furniture is made from either New Zealand Pine or American Oak and is made to last. So if you need plenty of bookcases or a fresh TV unit, then check us out!
If you’re reading from outside New Zealand however, we would definitely look at other businesses like ours. Purchasing furniture such as TV units and tables can be a losing battle when you buy from a big box retailer, as they use low-quality materials such as MDF that break down a couple of years.
Thus, look for high quality furniture made from real wood or other materials.
If your collection of items is bigger than what you have the space for then there are three options: Store it, Place it elsewhere, and Sell it! Obviously, we want to keep the final option as a last resort as no one wants to reduce the number of items in their collection.
When it comes to storage, this can depend on the item. For the most part, large plastic containers should be fine in most situations for things such as books or old pc game boxes.
However, other items may be too fragile or require special treatment when stored to avoid damaging the item in the long run, such as vinyl needing to be stored upright to prevent the vinyl warping over time, thus this might need some of your own research on how to store it away for a long time.
Then the only thing to do is find a place to store it, whether it’s an attic, basement or storage locker, just ensure that the items in question will be safe for long term storage and that the area doesn’t get too damp or humid depending on the weather.
However, if you want to keep the items in question on display in your home, then how you go about this is up to you. Maybe you keep a sample of your favourites out in the main room or sprinkled about the house.
If you’re a game collector, then maybe keep your most played consoles out and ready for when people come over and keep the lesser played stuff in the collection room, because more people are likely to want to play some PS5 rather than some old-school Atari.
When it comes to buying furniture, sometimes the price tags can give you a gut feeling of “buyer’s remorse” in the future. Especially from big box retailers, the price tag you see and the quality of furniture sometimes aren’t exactly 1:1. As a result, some people can be swayed into looking second-hand for their furniture. However, as this blog article will discuss, sometimes second-hand might need a second opinion.
This seems counterproductive: writing a blog post about why not to buy second-hand furniture then immediately saying to still consider it. But if you’re tight on a budget, looking for something vintage or a particular purpose (e.g. retro record cabinets and CRT TV stands) then second-hand for sure is your best bet. Our blog post on how to buy quality furniture definitely still applies to second-hand furniture and if you know what to look for, you can definitely score a bargain browsing the depths of Facebook Marketplace. But if you can afford it, we’d recommend buying new ones for the following reasons.
We’ve all been there, whether it’s a retro video game or vintage piece of clothing, we’ve all been excited about the prospect of getting an absolute bargain only to feel ripped off once it arrives for the item to be broken, damaged or in particularly bad situations, counterfeit! The same can happen with second-hand furniture, whether it’s a damaged corner the seller simply “forgot” to mention or that “all-oak” TV unit ended up just being an MDF unit with an oak-look sticker plastered on. Second-hand furniture can sadly be a game of buyer's remorse and catfishing until you find the “right” piece. But when you purchase straight from the supplier, rest assured that those professional photos and accurate product descriptions should bring you a product that matches the picture!
The other gamble of second-hand furniture can be the seller themselves, whether it’s the guy selling a broken TV cabinet for $300 cause “he knows what he’s got” or the person who asks for the money first and the furniture “later”, getting scammed online is a sad truth that comes with the territory of online marketplaces. There are plenty of buying guides online on how to safely purchase items from strangers, however, the safest way to purchase anything online is to purchase directly from the business itself.
Warranties, returns and refunds are all things you should be familiar with if you’ve spent any time in a retail space. Every business should have policies put in place to protect you as the buyer from unjustly being ripped off if your product is damaged or defective. But when you purchase something second-hand, you’re at the hands of whoever you purchased it off. They can’t swap the product for a new one, and it’s up to them whether they honour your offer of a refund or just ghost your request.
This is also just for immediate issues, if you run into issues weeks, months and even years down the line, a business is happy to try to remedy the situation in any way they can. Whereas who knows where this person on the internet might be at that same time, they could’ve skipped cities or even the entire country. Unless it’s a pop-up-style store, a business should stay around for long enough to take care of any issues that may occur in the initial purchasing period.
No one would try to sell something that they wanted, so when you’re purchasing furniture second-hand get ready to see out-of-style looks and gentrified types of furniture left and right. Only occasionally will you see something that’s in style being sold at a great price on the second-hand market, but even then the quality might be poor or the unit is damaged hence the fire sale. When you buy something new, you can rest assured that something should be new, in style and made to a high quality.
Style can be subjective however, some people love buying vintage style furniture, whether it’s 50’s retro or early-era style furniture. Styling like this can help, but you have to commit to the “vibe”, a 70’s colour scheme only works if the whole room looks like it was taken directly out of the era. So buying second-hand can be a great and cost-effective way to style an entire space with a vintage look.
Let’s say you’ve found your dream bedside on Facebook Marketplace, the colour is perfect, the build quality is excellent and the price isn’t an arm and a leg. You purchase the unit, take it home and are over the moon until you realise one thing: you really want a matching unit for the other side of the bed. When you purchase something second-hand in this manner, you’re essentially asking to roll your dice in the hopes of finding another unit that matches and is in good condition, and if it was lucky to find the first time, it’s gonna be a luckier find the second time.
But when you purchase from a store, you can rest easy that they should have multiple units in the same style, you can even purchase the whole bedroom suite! It’s very rare that a store will only have one of something left. But in the odd instance that they do, it doesn’t hurt to ask if they’re getting any more in, most stores are more than happy to take down a name and phone number to let you know when a fresh shipment arrives!
In most instances, purchasing furniture second-hand means taking your car to pick up the item and using your petrol to make the journey to get the furniture. This isn’t mentioning items that may not fit in your car (and the recent push for more economical vehicles makes this more of an issue than ever), which means either renting a trailer or asking a friend to give a hand for the weekend just to get the piece home. The cost and hassle can just not be worth it for the item in question.
This isn’t even mentioning purchasing furniture online and having it delivered! If finding the furniture only was a gamble, making sure the item is delivered safely is a whole new level of risk needed to be taken. Some damage can be easily mended by yourself, but other damage can essentially write off a unit, either from being too expensive to repair or just straight up being irreparable. This then goes back to your after-sale safety on whether you can get a refund or repair covered, as it is entirely up to the seller on how to handle the situation.
When you purchase something online through a business, picking the item is up to you and is more of a cost-saving method rather than a necessity. It’s now easier than ever to have an item delivered from one end of the country to another, and the benefit of going with a business is they can get exclusive delivery rates and charges, this then often means either discounted or even free delivery! New items should also already be packaged for transport, so rest assured that your item should arrive in one piece without any damage in sight.
If you’re buying a singular piece of furniture, sometimes you can get away going second-hand if it’s a particular bargain. However, if you’re moving into a new house or just want a complete room makeover, then you have to go with new furniture. As mentioned earlier, your odds of finding a matching piece of furniture are already slim, so finding a whole room suite of furniture in good condition would really be finding the needle in a haystack. But a store will always have a range of furniture that will all match a particular look, and in some cases, works better when paired together.
This isn’t also mentioning the potential deal you may get when purchasing a suite. Whether it’s a deep discount or some other form of saving, businesses prefer it when you purchase suites as they can easily ship a mass amount of product in one go. Purchasing a suite also means you can rest assured you should receive all the products available, if you purchase just a bed and bedsides but decide later down the line to purchase a tallboy you may be at risk of waiting a long time as that particular item had sold out in between when you purchased the items.
So whether it’s a new TV unit or a whole bedroom suite, by now you should be considering going “New” rather than used. The warranties, selection and buyer safety all mean that the mark-up in price becomes redundant compared to the peace of mind you’ll receive. It may sound like a broken record by now, but buying used can be a losing gamble, so if you want to avoid any potential run-around and disappointment, then the decision should be easy.
If you’re looking to purchase high-quality wood furniture, then our range at Mainland Furniture should definitely fit the bill!
However, if you’re browsing from outside of New Zealand or perhaps not interested in wood furniture, then we would recommend our business as a baseline for what you should be looking for: excellent build quality at affordable prices. Purchasing something from a big box retailer is where the horror stories of buying new come from, but purchasing from a business dedicated to great furniture at great prices means you won’t go wrong.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have to buy second-hand furniture (or anything second-hand really) our biggest piece of advice is to get information. Whether that’s more photos, videos or an in-person inspection, make sure that you know everything about the item you’re purchasing. It is now easier than ever to take a high-quality photo or video of something, so if someone flat out denies doing that then we would steer clear.
We would also definitely recommend trying to meet at a safe location when you do go to purchase. If it’s something small like a bedside, see if the person is happy to meet you somewhere in between like a mall or a parking lot, just somewhere public so you have peace of mind that you have public safety. If it’s something larger that may require special forms of movement, then we would recommend going to the seller's location versus yours so that you maintain your side of anonymity. Once again, if the seller refuses to cooperate to ensure you make a safe trade, then it’s not worth it.
When it comes to second-hand furniture stores, these can be a bit hit-or-miss. Ideally, you want to find somewhere that sells good quality furniture at low prices, as that’s the point of buying second-hand in the first place. However, you may find yourself at either end of this stick, with the store either selling good quality furniture at high prices since they claim it’s “antique”, or at a store selling furniture for dirt cheap because it’s either low quality or too ugly for anyone to want.
However, if you can find a place that does offer second-hand furniture with great looks at a low cost, then definitely check it out! You could find yourself a bargain piece of furniture that’s of higher quality than what you’d get at a big box retailer!
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When it comes to the namesake of the bedroom, making sure that the bed you buy for your child fits both theirs and your needs is vital. As such, we would recommend a good king single bed frame as the starting point for your search as to what to get. This is due to two main reasons, growth and space! Children grow faster than you’d expect (and the years go by quicker also), so giving them a bed with more space than they need means you can save yourself the headache of having to get them something bigger later, because later might be when they’re teenagers, and no one wants to fight that battle.
Furthermore, we’d recommend a bed frame compared to say a box bed as they provide extra storage for any assortment of items. Whether it’s toys, backpacks or just another area to play under, a bed frame means you can better utilise the surface area of where the bed is to great effect. The other benefit of purchasing a slat bed is they can be easily disassembled, so that when time comes for your child to upgrade their sleeping setup, the slat bed can easily be broken down and placed into storage or transported with no worries.
As to where to place the bed, we would say against the wall to provide as much floor space as possible. Children like to play, either with toys or within their imagination, so giving them as much space to play however they’d like can keep their mess out of other rooms in your house while also meaning that they better have to face the consequences of their eventual mess. Placing down a decorative rug can also help enforce a playspace by creating a soft sectioned area perfect for ground-based activities such as legos or toy cars (also keep in mind, the now infamous road map carpet is still available if your child is particularly fascinated with cars.)
A small hack to keep in mind as parents is to have the child’s bed positioned where you can view from the door, especially for younger children. This means you can check in on whether your children are actually sleeping and not staying up past their bedtime. So placing the head of the bed where you can view from the door cracked ajar can stop you from rudely interrupting when your child is actually sleeping.
When it comes to a home for clothes in your child's bedroom it’s worth considering two things: 1. children’s clothes are small, so you can fit more in a drawer, and 2. Children are constantly growing out of clothes, so they’ll never need a lot of clothes. As a result, if you have two children sharing a bedroom, then they can easily share a set of large drawers with some smart planning and agreement on who gets which drawer.
When it comes to actually purchasing the drawer, the main points we’d say are cheap and durable. Children will want to customize their furniture, whether it's a sticker or crayons, these drawers are going to get a new look no matter what. So purchasing something that can reliably handle the chaos of the kids while also not being a catastrophic loss if damaged is important. As such, we would recommend a good set of pine drawers as they are both well built while coming in at a low cost.
If you are in a smaller house that doesn’t have the privilege of a rumpus room, we would also recommend a place for storing their toys! Giving children a home to place their toys into can set in good habits of “placing things back where they belong”. Something as simple as a blanket box can provide a great home for stuffed animals among other toys, and remember when we mentioned about getting a slat bed for creating an extra space for storage? These low-profile containers are great for holding toys such as action figures or legos and slide neatly underneath the bed worry-free.
As for bedside cabinets, we would maybe skip the conventional style cabinet and either go for a small bookcase or some form of more “open” storage. Children don’t really need the features of the bedside cabinet, and would benefit more from having more places to store items such as books or plushies. We would avoid placing too many items like toys in this location as children aren’t the best at holding their restraint of deciding when’s bedtime and when’s playtime.
Considering the age of your child or their interests, a good small desk could be a good investment as they start to get homework or focus more on their drawing. As such, a small desk can provide a great home for them to properly focus on the work at hand without the distraction they may get working in the main lounge or dining room.
If you live in a colder climate, it may be worth also getting some wall-mounted coat hangers if the room doesn’t already have anything like it. In general, having places for your child to place items once they’re done with it is always a great idea, whether it's shoes, dirty laundry or even larger toys that might not fit within conventional storage.
While it may be easy to get carried away thinking of different ways to style the bedroom, keep in mind it’s also your child's bedroom and they deserve a say. Let them decide which toys get full display and which can hide away until playtime. You can even let them have a say on what furniture goes in, although we recommend filtering their choices so they at least match the look you’re looking for.
When it comes to decoration, your child's tastes and preferences are going to constantly change, so make sure that the room is able to keep up with these constantly changing likes. A pinboard can create a great place for the child to put up images of their favourite interests (especially since a colour printer can provide plenty of quick and easy posters) but it can also house drawings and art they’re particularly proud of. A child's bedroom should be an extension of their personality, so allowing them to express it how they’d like can ensure that they can fully grow out their tastes and interests.
By the end of this blog, you should have successfully created a space for your child to play, grow and hopefully go to sleep. Remember, a child’s bedroom is an extension of their personality, so don’t be disheartened if the setup you worked so hard to create gets wiped clean in couple of years (months even!), this just means your child and their needs are changing. Instead, take a mental snapshot as your kin goes through their childhood, one bedroom setup at a time!
In the 21st century, we are surrounded by screens and technology at all times, so it’s important to try separate screen time with sleep time. As such, we would definitely not place anything such as a television and games console inside your child's bedroom unless you want to be awoken by the sounds of Crash Bandicoot at 3 in the morning. Devices such as tablets and phones we’d also try to keep out of the bedroom before it’s time for bed as these can interfere with your child's circadian rhythm and as a result affect their sleep.
This advice also goes to the parents and teenagers also, blue light can affect the state of how your brain’s in, so while a late-night Netflix binge might send you to sleep, replacing that with reading a chapter of a book might provide you a better sleep overall.
In short, not really! Our brains are all wired in mysterious ways, and as a result they learn to associate areas with activities. This is why you get hungry in the kitchen and feel relaxed at home, your brains telling you what it thinks you should do in this scenario. As such, having your child play where they sleep can be detrimental as it sends mixed signals about what to do in the chosen room.
However, theory often doesn’t coincide nicely with reality. You may not have enough space in your house to have a dedicated “play area” for your child and that’s ok! In most instances, any activity that may leave your child wired will probably extend outside their bedroom as they want to run and play to their heart's content. Thus, we would recommend play like this extends outside their bedroom, and more relaxed play with items such as legos or action figures stays in the bedroom.
If you have multiple children in a small home, it can definitely be tempting to try lump them into the same room for the sake of convenience. Then you can have another room dedicated for anything else, such as an office or dining room. However, this should be common knowledge, but ideally, you should put your children first, even if you really want a hobby room.
But say your children have to share a space, whether it’s too many heads for the number of rooms or you genuinely need to keep a room separate for your at-home business. Then we’d definitely recommend pairing the two children that are most similar in age, or atleast the two youngest. This is just a piece of future-proofing for when the oldest child eventually becomes a teenager, and as a result, will want their own space. Whether it’s hanging out with friends, studying, or just taking a break from being social, teenagers can be extremely moody so denying them a space where they can get some alone time can lead to some heinous teen temper tantrums.
Pairing children of similar age also means you can more easily share things within the space, such as rules and toys. It’s easier to enforce a bedtime for the younger two children if they’re in the same room or to get them to share the same toys.
]]>Whether it got damaged in a freak flood, or you accidentally left the window open while watering the garden, there’s nothing more heartbreaking than seeing that timeless piece of wood furniture soaked and damaged! In this guide, we’ll discuss ways to help repair water-damaged furniture while showcasing ways to prevent it from happening again and other alternative solutions.
While we would love to say this guide will restore your damaged furniture to ‘like new’ condition, we’re also realists and understand that sometimes repairing something doesn’t necessarily mean returning it to ‘how it was.’ However, all this doom and gloom doesn’t mean that this process should be the end of the world if it doesn’t go to plan. Take this as a chance to either try a fresh new look or alter the use of the damaged item to give it a whole new life and role in your home. We already have a great blog post discussing some great alternative uses for various pieces of furniture around the home and should easily be applicable for the situation at hand.
Being a natural material, wood is designed to absorb water rather than simply ignore it like materials such as plastic or metal might. As such, this absorption of water means that the furniture can swell with too much water exposure. This can also lead to watermarks from where the water entered, with lighter watermarks meaning the stain is on the surface and can be easily removed, while darker stains mean the water has already infiltrated deep into the wood. Wood is also susceptible to mould and rot from too much exposure to a damp environment and is in itself its own issue. We’ve already written a blog post on how to remove mould from wood furniture that can quickly be summarized as such: Remove the furniture from the area, Vacuum the affected area then kill the mould with a household cleaner such as dish soap or vinegar, hot water and a hard bristle brush.
The final thing to understand before attempting to fix water damaged furniture is how different types of wood react. If the piece that got drenched is made from MDF, you’re best to cut your losses and purchase a new piece entirely as that piece is now gone. MDF is a cheap material that essentially acts as a thicker cardboard, using small wood chunks to make up the body of each panel. What this means, however, is that once this material is exposed to water it expands and puffs up like popcorn. This expansion is incredibly hard to repair without replacing the entire panel as any integrity the wood had has now gone into a powdery, brittle mess.
As such, if you’re dealing with a piece of furniture made from a more solid type of wood, such as Oak or Pine, your chances of restoring the piece in question are much better. This is due to wood being used maintaining some of its natural grain, which better handles the expansion that comes from over-exposure to water, and thus allows a little more leeway into how much water it can absorb before needing to have urgent repair.
If this is a situation where you’ve accidentally soaked a family heirloom sideboard or the dining table that was in the same room as the flooded sink. The best thing you can do is immediately remove the furniture from the offending area and to somewhere where it can dry itself out. Whether this is into a dry garage space, a sun-exposed deck, or just a spacious room with the heat pump on full blast, having somewhere to let the furniture air out can help immensely with stopping the piece from absorbing too much water and ballooning.
If the piece also has water visibly on it, definitely give it a thorough dry with a towel. This will help prevent the watermarks as mentioned above while also aiding in airing out any surface possible. If the cloth in question is now soaked from the amount of water cleared, we’d definitely recommend replacing it with a new one and letting it dry out, as this may turn the drying process into a Sisyphean process.
If the unit in question has started to puff up any amount, we would recommend apply some additional fixings to any areas that may have bowed out from the additional moisture. We would mainly focus on back and bottom panels alongside anything else structural as the integrity of the unit is crucial. If we’re talking about a chest of drawers, we wouldn’t stress too much about any individual drawers as these are relatively simple to replace for the most part, whereas the body of the unit is the irreplaceable part.
If the unit in question is something such as a dining table, that’s either been overly waterlogged from a flooded floor or the top has been ruined from a lack of coasters. A quick way to rejuvenate the table top to as new is to use a belt sander and a finishing sander (e.g. sand paper of a very high grit). The belt sander is to remove just a small layer from the surface that should ideally remove any ring stains, scuffs and scratches, while the finishing sander helps restore the smooth finish before you coat with your chosen paint or varnish. This is also a great time to tweak the look of the unit if you want to, as you can easily apply a lighter or darker varnish to the unit in this process. Give that Oak coffee table a rimu look, or make that white bedside black, the choice is yours!
If your piece has expanded any amount after being exposed to water, when drying it you may notice the wood may start to split and crack once it begins to shrink to its regular size. If this the case, for smaller cracks we would recommend applying some wood filler to the affected area. Wood filler does as the name states, fill in the bits between the wood to make the surface seamless again. Take note of the type of filler you’re purchasing also, as different fillers are made for different types of woods, and the wrong kind of filler can stick out like a sore thumb. For larger cracks, however, we would recommend first trying to push the edges of the crack together, either with wood glue and a clamp or in worse scenarios screwing the two sides together. Then we would apply the filler for the shrunken gap space (note: if you’ve had to screw the piece together, you can use a bit of wood filler to conceal where the screw went in.)
If you’ve gone the route of repair and restore, we would definitely recommend some form of protective layer for your furniture. This should ideally mean that if your roof ever leaks or any form of liquid is spilled on the piece, it should ideally sit on top rather than absorbing into the wood. It’s a simple step but can quickly cut out any headache from any unexpected leaks and spills.
As mentioned above, sometimes the process of repair can be an absolute mountain compared to what it is that you’re trying to repair. If something seems far out of your realm of expertise or is too precious to trust in your clumsy hands, we would definitely recommend calling an expert. It’s ok to call for help, especially in a situation where you may be stressed out and have other, more important, situations to handle. Make sure that the repairman you call for is someone who can be trusted to do a good job, no matter the situation, as there’s nothing worse than paying for an expensive repair job that truly does look like something you could have done yourself.
However, it’s again important to remember when something is too far gone. Flood damaged furniture that’s been fully submerged is often a sign that it is just easier to buy something new than to worry about the rigmarole of trying to find someone willing to fix something that may as well be a game of furniture hot potato. Nothing is really meant to last forever, and trying to repair something in a way reminiscent of the Ship of Theseus can cause all sorts of philosophical questioning on if it really is the same table.
Hopefully, this guide has helped alleviate some of the panic you may be feeling at this moment. Whether you’re pulling your pants up and giving the repair a shot or you’ve accepted your loss and are now looking elsewhere, this guide should help in clearing the racing thoughts that may be going through your head. Who knows? Maybe all you needed to do was just wipe off the watermark and call it a day! Wood furniture is excellent at being resilient in even the most harsh environments. Either way, hopefully, this guide provided the answer you were looking for in these stressful times.
If you’re in New Zealand and need to purchase high-quality wood furniture, we provide excellently made pine and oak furniture at great prices! However, outside of New Zealand, our best answer would be to look for a business similar to us. Make sure they have good reviews, staff that are happy to answer any and all questions and their products are made from real wood rather than cheap MDF. Large “big box” retailers will often sell you cheap, flat-pack furniture that may look nice, but is not designed to survive even the smallest amounts of wear and tear.
When it comes to furniture made from metal, plastic or glass, our best recommendation is to just keep an eye on them. These materials are obviously more resilient than wood against water, but each still has their own pitfalls in their own way. Glass’ appearance can be altered by water and metal furniture can rust if not taken care of quickly, but these have quick and easy remedies that at most just require some elbow grease. As such, our best recommendation would be to dry the furniture as much as possible, either with heat or towels. If you feel like it, you can also apply a coat of water-resistant paint if it helps keep your mind at ease.
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This one is obvious, but most people underestimate how important it can be! Sideboards offer a lot of extra storage, it’s kinda their whole deal. Why this is important, however, is they can offer this storage while being in the main room and looking good doing so. Whether you’re filling them with board games in the living room, dinnerware in the dining room, or even just miscellaneous items in the spare room, a good sideboard should effectively create a massive home for a large number of items.
Alongside being another place for storing items, a sideboard is another place for displaying items. Sideboards in general are great areas for hosting a variety of items on top, whether it’s family photos and decorations, or maybe you keep the top of your sideboard clear until dinner time, where you can then host a variety of drinks and snacks on the sideboard while keeping the main meal on the dining table. A good sideboard should essentially act as the inanimate waiter for a room.
Combining the last two points into this one, a sideboard can also act as a great home for a TV unit if the circumstances are correct. Whether it’s a TV on a wall, or the secondary TV that doesn’t get all the fancy devices, a sideboard can act as a great alternative to a TV unit due to its spacious top surface while also providing plenty of storage for other purposes. Most people use TVs now in a way that doesn’t require many large additional devices such as DVD players or Skyboxes, so a sideboard is a good way for making a shared home for a TV, especially if you’re limited on space and would rather a home for more useful items rather than just entertainment boxes.
We’ve all seen them, feature walls with striking bold colours that immediately give a room a certain personality. They give your home the extra flair to truly showcase your taste, but they’re also a pretty daunting choice. What if you stop liking the colour red in 5 years? What if the giant elephant mural just ends up looking tacky instead of spiritual? That’s where a sideboard comes in. Sideboards come in many shapes and sizes and thus there is most likely one that fits your styling choice, as such, you can use the sideboard as a ‘proof-of-concept’ before you fully commit to the look. Whether it’s 70’s chic, traditional and rustic or sleek and modern, there’s a sideboard to fit the style.
Furthermore from the above point, sideboards come in a variety of shapes and sizes so there’s ought to be one to fit within any space in your home! Whether you want a pine unit with lots of drawers or a small oak cabinet for a handful of plates and bowls, there’ll be a sideboard to fit your needs.
Now that we should have successfully sold you on to why you need a sideboard, it’s now up to you to figure out what you need the sideboard for! Is it the trusty dining room, dinnerware servant? Is it the feature piece holding all your favourite knick-knacks and memorabilia? Or maybe it’s just a giant space for all the board games, old technology devices and old VHS tapes you’re too scared to throw out “just in case…” Whatever your need for it may be, there should be a sideboard to fit it!
If you’re within New Zealand and interested in purchasing a sideboard then great news! You can purchase a sideboard from us! All our sideboards are made from hard-wearing New Zealand Pine and Oak meaning they’re designed to last decades! If you’re reading from outside of New Zealand however, we would then recommend purchasing from a business similar to us, a business that sells quality furniture, made from real wood at reasonable prices! Other big box retailers may charge you a pretty penny for a unit made from cheap material that will only last a handful of years. So feel free to use us as a baseline for your purchasing standards.
Put simply: build quality! Is the sideboard made from real wood such as pine and oak, or is it made from MDF? Does the back of the unit feature tongue-and-groove back panelling or is it just a thin sheet of plywood? For the most part, any furniture made from good quality materials will be made with proper wood-crafting techniques to make the unit last.
Additional features to keep an eye out for are ways for the cupboard doors to lock into place and internal shelving that’s easily removable. These are great features to take note of as one ensures that the cupboard doors should never open unexpectedly once the hinges get a bit worn, while the latter is more a quality of life feature to ensure that you can place whatever you want inside, no matter the size.
We get it, your prized prize collection deserves a full, front and centre display in your living room and the opaque drawers and doors of a sideboard are just not going to cut it. In this situation, we would then offer a variety of different options to fit these needs. We discuss these options in the following blog post with a variety of choices at a range of price points.
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In 90% of cases, the living room coffee table will be surrounded by couches on at least two sides. This makes sense as that’s what coffee tables are for, a place to host things you don’t want on the couch. So then it only makes sense that you should match your coffee table to your lounge suite because a couch/table combo that pairs nicely should feel seamless!
When it comes to the length of the table, it’s recommended to try to aim for at least two-thirds the length of the largest sofa. Doing so means that everyone on the seat has easy access to the contents on the table while also meaning that you’re not stuck for long doing that awkward shuffle between the couch and table as you try to leave your seat. You should also try to match your couch to the table’s height as well! Most coffee tables are around 45-50cm so your couch seat should be around 5-7.5cm taller, that way it’s less of a bend to reach any snacks on the table while also being the correct height to kick your feet up too! (with shoes removed of course.)
This part might initially answer itself: Coffee Tables are used for Coffee, duh!? But what else are you going to use it for? Like any type of table, the potential activities that can be done on a coffee table are limitless. Are you the home of the weekly casual poker tournament? Are you someone who has to have the remote for every device connected to the TV at hand at all times? Are you someone who likes to leave coffee table books about your interests out in the open so people think you’re smart and sophisticated? Because depending on how you answered any of these could determine the type of table you get!
For the most part, there are three types of coffee tables: Single-tier, Two-tier and Drawered. Single tiers are perfect for those with maybe a handful of magazines, a TV remote and some coasters as their simple design also means they can easily be put anywhere. Two-tiered coffee tables are much the same with a lower shelf that’s perfect if you need some extra storage for items such as board games, jigsaws or photo books you might want to be kept close by. Finally are drawered coffee tables, these are perfect for those with a small collection of remotes they want to be kept at hand as they offer an assortment of drawers that keep the contents hidden from plain sight! (Bonus tip: keep a small tray of batteries/ charging cables for these remotes in the drawers too so they are also close at hand when the occasion arises.)
Obviously, there are tables in-between these, and your needs may not be this simple either. However, it’s still worth considering the features you’d like your coffee table to have before buying, as it may kill two birds with one stone in some situations.
This is the one category where we can provide a definite answer, if you are to purchase a coffee table make sure it is made from real wood! Not another material such as ceramic or glass, or a cheaper wood such as MDF. A good real wood coffee table is all you need!
Now to explain why: wood such as oak and pine are extremely resilient and can easily withstand whatever’s thrown at them. In the living room, the coffee table is the most likely to be thrashed from day-to-day use, whether it’s from the metal buttons of the person who decided to sit on there “just for a minute” to the constant spillages and crumbs from whatever's been eaten on top. Thus, the great thing about a wooden coffee table is stains, scratches and other forms of light damage are easily fixed with either wood filler, varnish or just hot soapy water and some elbow grease. Other materials bring their own complications into their care and end up making the table feel less like a table and more of an ornament that’s there “just for looks”. So if you plan on actually using your coffee table, we’d definitely recommend a wooden one.
While a good coffee table is always nice, it might not work perfectly for your situation. Your living room may be narrow due to living in an apartment or similar so the space between couch-table-TV may just be too much of a squeeze to be worth it. In some instances, the amount of stuff you may want stored in/on the coffee table may have it be a game of I-spy and be more hassle than it’s worth. Just because everyone else has a coffee table doesn’t mean you have to!
Side tables are a great alternative for those who’d like a coffee close by and need some storage for any extra remotes. They’re also far cheaper than a coffee table and are recliner friendly if your situation requires some maxin’ relaxin’. Nests of tables are similar in that you can keep them couchside for arms-reach convenience, but are also extremely versatile for adding an extra table/chair where needed. Your living room should fit your needs, if you don’t really need a coffee table then you don’t need one. You can also consider mixing and matching between alternative tables and the coffee tables too! Whether it’s using a nest of tables as the main table set or just using a small simple coffee table with side tables flanking the couch, it pays to get creative to get your living room set up just right.
However, there are other options that are great alternatives to the standard coffee table. A blanket box still provides a large flat surface area for your drinks, but the top also raises for a large spacious opening. This could be great for those who want to keep large items such as old TV devices like DVD players and games consoles that are unsightly when left out in the open, but you may want to be kept close by for those special occasions. Even a shorter bench seat could function well for those who are limited on space and need something to cover the length of the couch in a small width as possible. Remember at the end of the day, all you’re purchasing is four legs with a surface on top, so anything can be a coffee table if you’re clever enough.
While it may be appealing to purchase a coffee table that comes in a unique shape or has stunning looks remember you’ve still got to use the coffee table. You’re gonna have drinks spilled on it, people will have to walk around it, and at some point someone’s gonna bang their shin on it. As such, we’d recommend just purchasing a coffee table with a simple square or circular shape. This way the table is for sure going to be functional within the space it sits, rather than having someone needing to reach further than they need to cause they got the wrong end of the triangle table.
Hopefully, this guide has aided in helping you purchase the correct coffee table for your situation. Whether you got it for afternoon tea chats, a place for board game night, or if you skipped the coffee table entirely and purchased something couch-side for that ultimate viewing experience. You should have purchased something that fits for your needs perfectly! Now your living room should be the place where you can finally live how you’d like. So do that it is that you can now do! Your living room should now be completed to your content.
If you’re reading this within New Zealand, then good news! We offer a great selection of coffee tables among the other alternative options made from real wood at affordable prices! If you’re shopping from outside of New Zealand however, our best piece of advice would be to look for a business like ours. Shopping from a big-box retailer can sometimes be a losing gamble as the price-to-quality ratio of the furniture can sometimes be disappointing, even if it’s from the expensive guys. Make sure you’re able to look at and inspect the unit yourself to ensure the quality is something you’re happy with, as many places put big prices on furniture made from low-quality products, such as MDF.
This one’s obviously up to personal choice, but we can still offer some ideas. The first thing you should definitely consider is some quality coasters, this is not only for the longevity of the table but also to make you seem like a reformed member of society. We’d also recommend some good coffee table books or magazines, especially if it’s on an interest that you enjoy! Whether it’s the Beatles, your favourite sports team or just the history of sewing machines, people enjoy thumbing through a good coffee table book regardless of the content.
]]>When it comes to bedroom furniture, simple is the best way to go: somewhere to put your clothes, somewhere to put stuff you keep beside your bed and somewhere to go to sleep. But sometimes simple isn’t enough! If you’ve just moved into a spacious master suite and feel like your room’s a little sparse on furniture, we will offer some great alternative items to add to your bedroom!
While it would be amazing to only need one layer of bed sheets year-round, the unfortunate truth is that at some point you’re going to need to remove or add an extra blanket onto your bed for a comfortable sleep, this is where the Blanket box comes in!
Placed either at the foot of your bed or in its own little nook, a blanket box adds a great space to store any extra blankets and pillows you might want to be kept nearby. Whether it’s a big bulky mink blanket or just an extra set of sheets so you don’t have to stress about getting your set dry by the end of the day, a blanket box can make a treasured addition to any bedroom.
Its possibilities don’t just stop with linen, however! Since it’s just an empty box, anything can be stored within a blanket box’s confines. Extra shoes? Put them inside! Toys for a children’s bedroom? Swallowed with ease! Invaluable items you want to be hidden from the public eye? Put them within! Blanket boxes add that little amount of extra storage to keep your home tidy and your mind at ease.
The beauty of the cube is its simplicity: it’s a cube! Four walls to contain any variety of items for any purpose. However, the beauty of the cube is when you start to think outside the box!
With simple flat surfaces, the outside of a cube can be used just as well as its outside with some clever thinking! Using the cube as a low bookcase? Put some flat pillows down and place it near a window to create a small reading nook! Have it standing tall as a display shelf and plant home? Put some command hooks on the side and now you have a home for your coats and jackets. When you think outside the box, a simple cube can transform into any variety of purpose-fit furniture with ease!
This one seems odd but once you add it, you won’t live without it! A spare chair can fill the role of many objects in a pinch without you needing to worry about the clutter of keeping each item the chair takes place.
An extra chair will have you sorted for a variety of situations such as needing an extra chair at dinner, needing to reach somewhere a bit too high, needing a seat to put on that stubborn pair of shoes, a quick home for your laundry when you can’t be bothered putting it away. A spare chair will always be at the right place at the right time if it’s in your home.
Having a large bookcase in a central area of your home is always great, a place to showcase the little library you’ve accumulated over the years. However, not every book is ideally placed front and centre in your living room (a certain series from E.L. James comes to mind here.)
Having a small bookcase in your bedroom gives you a home for any books you intend on reading in the near future or want to be kept close at hand. In a children’s bedroom particularly, a small bookcase means you can keep The Hungry Caterpillar away from your copy of 1984. Bookshelves can also make great places to stash other things, such as a daily pair of headphones or your prized coin collection.
However, another alternative reason to look into a bookshelf is for a shoe shelf. If you’ve got a large collection of footwear, a good bookshelf can make a great display for all the shoes you could wear for the day!
It’s debatable whether this one is optional, because how else are you meant to know the outfit you chose for the day is fire or if it looks like you were dressed by a toddler? A good mirror that lets you see your figure from head to toe will always be a great addition to any bedroom.
Outside of dress ware, mirrors also have plenty of other benefits, such as artificially increasing the space in your bedroom and with correct placement, adding additional light through reflection. Furthermore, smart placement means you can use the mirror as a soft security device to quickly tell when any roommates are peeking through your door when you want some privacy.
Hopefully, this guide has helped you in some way! Whether it was filling in that empty corner or bringing an extra amount of organization and storage for your bedroom, these items are all great additions to a bedroom depending on your needs. Your bedroom should reflect you so having a bedroom to fit your needs is a start to making your sleeping area your own!
If any of these items, in particular, have tickled your fancy then good news! We have all of these items available on our website right now!
However, if you’re reading this from outside New Zealand, we would again recommend looking for a good-quality furniture store that uses high-quality materials for their furniture.
When it comes to decorating your bedroom, we also have a blog post detailing the do’s and don’ts of bedroom decorating.
However, for a quick rundown, we would recommend considering the amount of space you have on hand and making logical placements for where each piece of furniture should go. This means that if you sleep with your partner, place your bed in a location where both parties can get into bed with ease and don’t place your chest of drawers in a location that’s just begging for a toe to be stubbed on it.
]]>If you’ve browsed through any charity shop or old couples garage sale you’ve most likely seen it: that piece of furniture that’s been gentrified or has lost its use due to its purpose no longer existing. However, this units life shouldn’t end in a landfill! It can still have some purpose in a modern home with some know-how and out-of-the-box thinking! We’ll help generate some ideas on how you can make some purpose-made furniture for fractions of the cost.
One way or another, you’re going to end up with a set of drawers that just doesn’t quite fit your needs. Whether it’s a childhood set covered in stickers from your angsty youth, or a set given by an older relative that looks like only clothes with frilly lace should sit within, their purpose doesn’t just stop with clothing! We’ve already done a blog article on the many ways you can re-use a set of drawers, from a TV stand to a toolbox! A chest of drawers is only limited by what you want to put inside it!
While they may serve their purpose best at holding your night water and socks, bedside cables are actually great for a variety of purposes! Replace the socks with TV remotes and batteries and your bedside cabinet is now a couch side companion for your extended Netflix binges. Their size also adds to their versatility as most bedsides are made low so you can reach your items in bed. However, this height also makes them great for a bit of under-desk storage for extra pens and documents.
If you’ve recently upgraded your TV, or you’ve found an old unit intended for CRTs in a charity shop, old TV units can actually be used for far more than their title implies!
For newer style TV units, they can easily be repurposed as a low sitting bookshelf. A good strong TV unit made from a material such as Oak could even pull double duty as a bench seat with some cushioning on top. The great thing also is most TV units allow you to adjust the height of the shelves, meaning you can better hold whatever items you want resting inside.
For older CRT style units, the same idea of bookshelf transformation still applies, with the appropriate limitations. However, another great idea is turning the unit into a hi-fi shelf! Since these units were intended for larger devices such as VHS players, their cavities are much more spacious thus making them a great home for a small collection of vinyl, while the top surface has more than enough space for your amplifier and turntable. While some audiophiles may turn their nose up at the lack of noise isolation this set-up may offer, for a beginner, this should be a great starting home for your collection as you build up your collection.
This one is more of a logical conclusion than a complete reconstruction, but still a great idea. If you see a good hall table with plenty of surface area above, consider transforming it into a small desk! In the 21st century, most of us use mainly our laptops for all of our work and only need extra desk space for our arms and our caffeinated beverage of choice. So the transformation from hall table to work desk may be minimal, but easily done for cheap! Plus, a hall table is always going to look more stylish than a drab old desk.
A good buffet or wine rack is always welcome when done right in a living room. However, all that storage can seemingly go to waste when sitting in a charity shop, so adding some extra functionality to that storage is a great way to transform that buffet into something special.
If you’ve got a bit of extra cash, simply adding a granite top or some other form of protective layer to the surface area of your buffet can transform it into a great kitchen bench! With all the extra functionality that a buffet could provide, such as storage for all your pots, pans and cutlery! If you want to make the unit extra special, if the central opening has enough space, rout a small gap along the edges of the granite top and section of the central opening to create a nifty knife holder!
The other way to transform a buffet is to turn it into a bathroom vanity! With selective cutting to allow the sink and associated plumbing to flow through the unit, you can transform your buffet into your daily prep station! We’ve also included wine racks or buffets with open flow gatherings into this option as those gaps meant for holding bottles and vases can easily be repurposed to hold towels and toiletry bins!
Before doing these transformations, we would highly recommend checking the material of the unit itself is fit for this style of purpose. You want to make sure that your chosen material is sturdy enough or water-resistant enough for its chosen purpose. As such, we would definitely recommend a hardwood such as Oak for this situation due to its vigorous durability and flexibility.
Sometimes when looking at second-hand furniture you may notice a piece that while the body may be ruined, but those drawers are actually in great shape! In this instance, see if the store will let you take what you want or take the ruined unit at a discounted rate, because even those drawers can come into use without their associated unit.
If you’ve got a big pantry filled with herbs and spices, consider just laying the shelf in the pantry as is. Now you’ve got a home for your paprika and cumin and a way to easily remove all of them without needing to scrounge through the pantry! Even with some small pieces of timber, if you place the drawer on the wall with the handle facing downwards, now you’ve got a small wall shelf to place in the hallway, with a hook below for keys and scarves!
Lots of parts of furniture can easily be repurposed for other uses, it’s up to you to come up with how to use them! Could you turn those cabinet doors with the intricate engravings into something special? Or can you remove those dining table legs and put them onto something that better fits your needs? So long as the removal isn’t overly destructive you should be in the gold!
Whether it was a piece gathering dust or a diamond in the rough found in a charity shop, hopefully this blog has given you the inspiration to let your creative juices flow and create something truly unique! Don’t let a piece of furniture’s intended use fool you, at the end of the day all they are is wood panels for whatever use you need.
Also give yourself a pat on the back, by repurposing this furniture you’ve successfully stopped another piece of furniture meeting an early demise in the landfill. We’ve already written a blog post about why purchasing cheap new furniture can be harmful to the environment, so by instead purchasing something second-hand to fulfil that purpose, you’ve successfully saved money and the environment!
We would initially dissuade you from purchasing new furniture for customization. This is because ideally in this situation you want a good piece of furniture for as cheap as possible so you can focus on putting the money saved into upgrading the piece. When purchasing new, you often have to choose between purchasing good or purchasing cheap.
While there may be some middle grounds (such as us 😉) we also wouldn’t recommend trying to alter new furniture because it defeats the point of purchasing new furniture. If you damage the unit in the process of your transformation, you aren’t likely to get a refund from the store you purchased the unit from. Even if you do as clean a job as possible, the store isn’t going to want your unit with your alterations if you choose you don’t like the furniture in the end. By purchasing second-hand there’s no warranty or refund policy, but the cost should ideally be so minimal that this doesn’t matter, and if you decide you don’t like the unit you can easily trade it into another charity store with little to no harm done to your wallet or dignity.
The answer to this depends on your situation, capabilities and what it is you’re adjusting the furniture for. If you’ve got the tools, know-how and furniture at hand, then in true kiwi spirit “mate, do it yourself”. Custom furniture is to fit your wants and needs, so getting someone else to make it can lead to all sorts of miscommunication between your ideas and their execution.
However, if you don’t have the tools or know-how, asking someone for help can be beneficial. Obviously, if they can make the adjustments then you’re in the green, but it also pays to have someone qualified give their two-cents if they think the adjustments aren’t gonna work. In this situation, we would also recommend someone you know and trust, whether it’s a skilled family member or friend or even a business you have a good relationship with, being able to convey your ideas and have the other party properly understand how to execute them is vital in these types of scenarios.
As mentioned above, the main materials we would recommend for transforming furniture are oak and pine furniture. This is due to their relative malleability and durability for any situation, alongside being easy to re-paint to your desire. Other materials such as metal and glass aren’t easy to adjust from their original forms and can easily break in ways with no easy way to fix the product without serious metal working skills. However, we also don’t recommend all wood products either, MDF is commonly used in cheaper furniture but is vastly less durable compared to it’s pine and oak counterparts.
Whether you’re a student cranking out a 3000-word essay hours before it’s due, a misplaced employee who’s now working from home, or just someone who live-streams their face for 12 hours a day, having a quality desk is always important! A quality desk setup means that you can work longer, be more productive and have more space for whatever you need on your desk at all times. In this blog we’re going to show what to look for when buying a desk alongside helpful items to have nearby for whatever purpose.
Buying a desk seems like a simple task: buy the first thing that has four legs and a top surface. However, buying a bad desk that doesn’t fit your needs will have you wishing you put more thought into your purchase, and a good desk will have you working like a clockwork machine. So before you purchase your new desk, we’d recommend considering where you plan on putting the desk and choosing an option that’s appropriate for your needs!
The smallest of the three main types of desks, Writing desks are great for bedrooms and dorms for the use of study and schoolwork. Their compact size makes them great for being tucked into a corner without using up too much unnecessary space and instead just gives a small surface area to work on a laptop and a book or two.
The size of a writing desk, however, is also its biggest drawback. Since it’s so limited on space, you’ll have problems with bumped knees, small workspace, and knocking off items onto the floor. As such, these desks are mostly intended for those limited in space or for occasional use, such as in a children’s bedroom or a spare room.
The most common type of desk nowadays, computer desks are incredibly simple, with just four legs and a ton of space for your PC and peripherals. Computer desks are great for anyone who plans to work at their desk for an extended period of time as their added surface area means you can be more productive and do more at your work. You’re not having to be stingy on desk space with where to put your cup of coffee compared to a writing desk. Due to their versatility, computer desks are also readily available with a variety of shapes, namely L and U Shaped, alongside great Quality-of-life features such as cable management holes.
However, this simplicity can also be the downfall of computer desks. If you plan on keeping any important documentation or miscellaneous items such as pens and staples, then you best be looking at getting some shelves to keep nearby! This can sometimes be of benefit, as it means you can choose to get storage to fit your needs and not be dictated by what the desk manufacturer chose to pair with that desk. But it’s always annoying to have to look elsewhere if you’d like to get storage alongside your desk.
The final desk to be mentioned are executive desks. Often made from higher quality materials such as Oak, executive desks combine the large surface area of a computer desk with the added storage of a writing desk. The storage in particular is designed to make the desk as much of an all-in-one setup as possible, with many including keyboard trays and desktop cubbies so that as little cable management is exposed as possible. As such, executive desks really are a jack of all trades and are perfect placed in the center of an office for use in meetings/interviews and other executive uses.
However, executive desks are also incredibly bulky. So they’re not ideal if you’re limited on space or if you plan on moving it a lot. They are also incredibly to specification, so if you’re not a fan of the drawers in the desk or want a filing cabinet, etc. then you’re better to go the above route of a computer desk with separate storage bought elsewhere.
While it might be all well and nice to buy a nice desk and purchase a cheap $20 chair to tide you by, getting a quality chair for your desk will make you able to work for longer as you’re less likely to get uncomfortable due to either bad back support or terrible cushioning.
Thus, we would recommend when purchasing an office chair to consider the desk it’s going with and how the pair will work together. While it might be nice to have fancy armrests on your computer chair, if your desk requires you to tuck nice and close then they might quickly become a nuisance. Consider the movement of the chair too, as some chairs don’t come with wheels (or the wheels included may as well be immobile) which if you plan on purchasing a wide desk can quickly become a nuisance as you have to hop around from one side of the desk to the other. Make sure your desk and chair mesh well, because you can’t use one without the other, so they have to be a great team to begin with.
Depending on how you plan on using your desk, you’re most likely going to need at minimum some pens and paper. Obviously, if you purchased an executive or writing desk you’ll have some storage included. But if you need plenty of books and folders for reference, then having a bookshelf nearby is handy.
If your desk is more intended as a home for your computer, then having some appropriate shelving where you can store related cables and accessories is always super useful. You can also clear some headache by storing items such as blank usb sticks and different types of cables into labeled snap lock bags. This removes any unnecessary tangling and also slightly increases the surface area of the chosen item, making everything easily accessible.
We’d also definitely recommend some form of bin nearby, 6 out of 10 professionals have admitted to eating at their desk and if you’re cranking into a 6-hour study session then some good snacks are a must. Even outside of the realm of food, you’re likely going to have notes that you’ll scribble down and throw out once you’re done with them, so giving them a home can help keep your desk from looking like a confetti catastrophe.
Now that we know what we need for our setup, we now need a home for our office! Where you place your desk can quickly alter how you use your setup and what else you can add to your workstation.
Obviously, we would recommend placing your desk near a window. If you’re working for hours on end, it can be nice to have a view of the real world either as inspiration, an eye break or a check-in with reality. However, with our technology-powered work ethic, we’d also recommend placing the desk either perpendicular or facing out towards the window to avoid glare. However, we’d advise towards perpendicular for a later point.
You also want to make sure your desk is somewhere you can fully assess your environment and away from doorways so you’re not going to be unexpectedly walked into. Placing your desk in a claustrophobic corner of the room behind a door can quickly impact your emotions as further enforces the bleak feelings of doing work rather than motivation and energy.
On the topic of energy, you’ll also want to have a power outlet nearby so that if you’re work sessions risks being cut off early from a dying laptop, you can easily resuscitate it with the nearby charger. It’s also nice to have a multiport coming out from said outlet, as you’ll never know what accessories you’ll add to your setup in the future.
Remember when we mentioned that we’d recommend placing your desk perpendicular to the window, this next point is why. If you’re someone who has a lot of notes and memos, placing a pinboard behind your desk can be a godsend. This gives you a home for anything that you need to check daily or remind yourself for later. If you’re working from home, your roommates will also thank you as the pinboard adds a small layer of soundproofing for the rooms connected by that wall.
Speaking of speaking, if you're the type to use a headset regularly at work or as part of your elite gamer setup, installing a command hook to the side of your desk can give your favourite pair of cans a home so they’re always ready at all times. Command hooks and cable management dots are also great for holding odd cables that you frequently use, such as chargers and HDMI cables for portable setups. A good lamp also can’t hurt, especially for those late-night study sessions.
If we’re talking desk setups, we have to address the RGB elephant in the room. If you’re a gamer and need some extra pointers to take your station to the next level, then this part is for you!
To add some extra bling to your desk, Led strips are incredibly cheap nowadays and you can easily buy one to line the trim of your desk to add a back glow to your desk to reduce eye-strain while also giving your set up that extra pizazz.
A good mouse pad is always good too! Purchasing a nice XL mouse pad to cover both your mouse and keyboard ensure they’ve got a good surface area to stick to while also adding a bit of extra comfort to your forearms.
Now that you’ve found a home for your workstation and threaded your chargers between the desk and the wall, you’re now ready to enjoy your new study station. Hopefully, it brings you inspiration, drive, and energy to your work ethic, and if not, well at least you’ve got a nice place to drink coffee and play solitaire. Whether you’ve got a small nook or a centre stage battle station, it’s your desk to your liking and a home for you to put your brain at work, even if it is just watching funny cat videos.
In recent years as more people have taken up office jobs and are in situations where they’re spending hours upon hours sitting at office equipment. Obviously, sitting all day is not exactly the best thing for your body, so a trend of “ergonomic” office furniture such as standing desks and kneeling chairs has come into vogue.
As such, these options are great for keeping your body happy, whether it’s with better posture or by just keeping the body more alert leading to boosted productivity. However, the issue with these “ergonomic” answers is they are incredibly pricy and are an acquired taste. But if you’ve got cash to splash and want to keep your back healthy for years to come, then they’re definitely worth looking into.
Like “ergonomic” furniture, as PC gaming has exploded in recent years, a trend of special “gaming” chairs and desks has risen as more people get into the hobby. However, unlike “ergonomic” furniture, “gamer” furniture has no benefit to you or your gaming performance. A lot of it is just marketing, and the money spent on furniture in this category is better spent buying something quality and worthwhile, even if it is lacking RGB.
Depending on your living station, you might need to mix your work area with your sleep area. However, we would strongly recommend that if you can, move your desk out of your bedroom into its own separate office or something similar.
This is due to how our brain works and understands areas, as such your brain will make you feel particular ways depending on where you are, such as hungry in a kitchen or comfy in a living room. However, when you mix your work area with your sleep area, your brain gets confused and doesn’t quite know how to react. So if you’re a late-night worker, your body will struggle to get to sleep once you finally get into bed and vice versa.
We’d also simply recommend removing any form of unnecessary screen and light from your bedroom as it can mess with your circadian rhythm, again causing you to struggle to get to sleep.
]]>So the time has come, you’ve upgraded from that old clunker of a TV unit to a new, sleek screen that’s going to be described with a number preceding a K. But before you sit down to watch the latest Netflix binge, take a look at your current setup. That old TV unit won’t do, it might fit the TV but it might not fit the needs of the TV. We’re going to go through a handful of reasons why you should upgrade your TV stand when you purchase a new TV!
TV stands are generally made for the era of TVs they were made in, so if you had a CRT before then that new TV will definitely not fit on that small square of space. However, if you’re coming from a more modern TV, then the stand might just fit on that platform but there is a catch.
Obviously, TVs from the late 00s and early 10’s were just starting to become HD, as such they would try to keep screen sizes small to maintain a good picture quality. However, as screen fidelity has increased, so has screen size with modern screens reaching triple digits in size!
What this means is that while your TV unit may be able to hold your new screen, the viewing angles may be all off with the center of the screen being above your relaxed viewing angle. Hence why we would recommend getting a new stand that’s better suited for the viewing angles of your new larger screen!
It used to be back in the day, that to watch a movie on your TV you’d need the following: A TV, A VCR Player and the remotes for both devices. Thus, TV units would provide large caverns for the VCR to be placed within, alongside extra shelving to hold a handful of favourite movies. TVs themselves were large enough to act as shelves, with plenty of people putting their old NES’ and Ataris on top of the TV for that cartridge loading action.
But nowadays, our ways of consuming media are very different. Smart TVs and streaming devices mean that you have access to a variety of services that give you enough movies to watch across multiple lifespans all while being controlled by one remote or even your smartphone. Meanwhile, gaming devices are switching to digital storefronts harder than ever, meaning that the era of physical media is coming to a close as streams and downloads takeover.
What this means for your TV unit is its priorities are far different from how they were. TV units are now more low-profile with more spaces to hide the rat's nests of cables protruding from the back. They’ll also have more space on the top of the unit for not only your TV but additional accessories such as soundbars and extra controllers for your gaming devices. As such, when upgrading your TV and TV Unit, consider doing an audit on the devices connected to it, because when was the last time you actually used that dusty VCR player?
Take a look at that new TV you just bought, look at its thin and sleek design with a screen that goes to the very edge of the border. Now, look at your old TV unit: the glass, magnetic-locking doors, silver trim that screams “I’m futuristic from the y2k era”, and an all-encompassing frame style because who would need a TV larger than 24 inches? Yeah, we’re gonna need a new look.
Modern TV units are far more accommodating to the looks of new TVs. With neutral looks such as black or natural wood, alongside smaller cavities for your devices to fill the slot rather than sit within, and gone are the slightly tinted glass doors in favour of far more opaque doors made from the same material as the unit to properly hide whatever mess lays behind them.
While this might seem a bit counter-intuitive the point remains, with the way modern TVs are heading, does your new TV have to be on a stand? If you’re just using your TV to watch Netflix and that’s it, then a TV stand might not be your best solution!
Consider what you’re going to use your TV for and what you need for it. Most people are content with just the TV and a soundbar and that’s it. TV’s have most commonly used apps built in such as Netflix and Youtube, while the soundbar is to increase the volume to your setup and can really be put on anything with a flat surface.
So rather than looking for a TV stand, consider alternative solutions such as a wall mount for your TV and a hallway table or buffet underneath. It might make your set-up more inviting and clear some floor space for storage of other items, such as dinnerware or board games.
While it might be inviting to just toss that old TV and cabinet first consider the other opportunities it could be used for. Think of other rooms in the house that could benefit from having a TV there such as the kitchen or guest room. If you upgrade both the TV and TV unit, that means that a different room can now host the old TV setup!
Even if there’s no room in your house for the old setup, it’s far easier to offload a TV and TV unit to someone else, especially when they are paired with each other. Search on Facebook Marketplace and other second-hand storefronts and you’ll see plenty of TVs selling for good money. The phrase always has been “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure” so take advantage of giving someone a complete setup for a deal!
Now that you’ve chosen a new TV unit for your setup you can now kick up your feet and watch that Netflix series you plan on binging! Get your snacks, get the TV settings just right and relax as you now no longer have to worry about your TV and TV unit getting along like tuna and jam. Your TV and TV unit should work together synonymously, and not have one be held back by the other!
If you’re reading this article from within New Zealand then great news, we provide an excellent range of TV units in a variety of styles for a great price!
However, if you’re not a fan of our styles or live outside of New Zealand, we’d recommend going to a dedicated furniture store or at least someone who sells high-quality furniture!
When it comes to purchasing a TV unit, we would recommend a natural material such as oak or pine. This is due to their high build quality and great looks alongside the fact they don’t attract dust. A black glass TV unit may look good now but give it a week and you’ll find it caked in a fluffy coat of dust.
If there’s one material we would recommend avoiding at all costs it’s MDF. This type of furniture is available from most big-box retailers and is made from a hardened mix of wood shavings. As such, MDF furniture breaks down quickly and is often unrepairable. We’ve already written a blog discussing the negative impacts this type of furniture has on the environment and why it’s a bad investment in general.
]]>With the power of the internet, an ever-growing global marketplace, and delivery speeds that are faster than ever, there’s now less reason than ever to leave the comfort of home to buy something.
However, sometimes our midnight impulse purchases can lead to major buyer's remorse! Whether it’s the awkward call to have the item returned, trying to on-sell your hasty buy onto whoever wants it, or worse yet, living with the consequences of your actions as you stare at yet another reason you shouldn’t be left alone with money.
These issues become more apparent with buying furniture online. This isn’t just a gadget that you’ll throw out in a year's time, furniture is intended to be used for a long time, and buying the wrong thing can sting horribly. In this guide, we’re going to cover the do’s and don’ts when buying furniture to ensure you make the right purchase the first time!
Whether it’s a small bedside cabinet or a gigantic oak credenza, all furniture is going to take up space. So before you go trigger happy buying the first piece that appeals to your eyes, think about the area you’re buying for. There’s no point buying a large dining table if half of it is going to be squished up against the wall with no way to easily access those chairs.
We’d recommend measuring the area you’d like to use up, even if it’s just the width of wall space, this at least creates a baseline for what you’re looking for. Once you’ve found a unit you like that fits the width, find the product's dimensions and measure them out. We’d also recommend using masking tape to create a visual of the space being used, there’s nothing worse than buying a bedside that’ll have you bumping your elbow each morning, or a hall table you stub your toe on when you walk in.
Sometimes websites don’t show the product dimensions, or the dimensions might not be ultimately 1:1 with how the product is in reality. That’s why we’d recommend trying to call or email someone at the company you’re buying from to see if they can clear your concerns, if you’re looking at a reputable company they’ll be happy to answer your questions ASAP!
There’s nothing more disappointing than purchasing something that looks amazing online, but once it arrives at your doorstep the reality kicks in and the glamour is gone. This stings more with furniture since it has to mix in with the rest of your room, as soon as something doesn't match it sticks out like a sore thumb.
When purchasing furniture online, we’d recommend viewing it on as many screens as possible. This is due to different screens displaying colours differently, your phone may emphasize certain colours while your laptop mutes them. Obviously, the differences may be subtle, but this can definitely help when you want to make sure the item you see online is the one you get on hand.
Alongside different screens displaying in their own way, don’t forget that product photos come from a camera. Most product photos are shot in extremely controlled environments meaning that again, colours can be completely different to how they are in reality. We would recommend emailing or even video chatting with a representative of the store to show how the unit looks in the store and on a different camera.
On this note, we would recommend that the best way to see the “true” look of the unit is to see it in person by visiting a local showroom, but we’re also aware this defeats the purpose of online shopping.
While it might be easy to buy something online, the hardest part is getting it delivered. It always pays to check how much it will cost to deliver the product to your location, cause while you might be getting a steal on a dining suite, you may end up getting robbed once it comes to paying for shipping. As an example, our business ships products for a flat rate for urban areas, this means that if you purchase either a bedside table or an entire bedroom suite, the shipping stays the same.
It also pays to consider the cubic meterage of an item in comparison to where you’re shipping it to! Shipping companies like delivering as many products as possible with as few offshoots as possible. If you’re asking for a dining suite to be delivered to a location in the middle of nowhere, delivery costs are going to soar quickly. It’s worth asking the company you’re purchasing from if they can deliver to a local depot, as this will lower shipping costs considerably and will only cost you a bit of your time and petrol.
However, sometimes furniture can be shipped for a fraction of the price you expect. If you’re purchasing from a big-box retailer, this is most likely due to the product arriving as a flat pack. This can act as a double-edged sword, as flat packs mean you can get your product shipped for cheap and also reduces the risk of damage as the product can easily be shipped laying down flat against a surface. However, the con of flat packs is that the build quality might not be quite as good as a pre-built unit. This is due to the units having to be designed in a way that’s simple enough for the standard consumer to make the unit without any woodworking experience, but as a result, lacking quality features such as dovetail joining and tongue and groove back panelling.
Since you’re most likely not going to see this product in person till it arrives at your doorstep, the build quality of the unit is going to be up in the air until your receive it. However, some clever detective work and knowing what to look for can quickly dictate whether a product is going to be built to high quality or not.
The first thing you’re going to want to scope out is the material! Most reputable furniture stores will have a simple material label on the product page. The main materials you should be looking for are Oak and Pine, this is due to these woods being relatively sturdy, even pine with its lighter weight. What you should avoid however is products labelled with MDF or generalised terms such as “Wood” or “Metal”, we’ve already written about MDF and its role in the trend of “fast” furniture and we’d avoid generalised terms for a similar reason, it shows the store doesn’t know what material the product is made from!
A picture tells a thousand words, so make sure that when you’re looking at a piece of furniture you have a short novel's worth of photos to look at. If a unit has drawers, do the images show how they open? Are they on metal runners or do they open without any assistance? Take a look at the edges of the drawers, can you see dovetail joining or is the front of the drawer simply nailed on? While you might be limited on what information you receive from online shopping, you can generally tell the quality of the unit based on the number of photos the store provides, if a store only provides one photo for a chest of drawers, they must be hiding something somewhere.
If you’re really unsure about a unit you’re purchasing, feel free to ask for help! No one wants to waste their time and money waiting for something that’s not to your requirements, and stores don’t want this either! Returns immediately cause trouble and cost money to ship back to the store.
If you live out of town, see if you can send a friend into a store to view the product with their eyes. Get them to inspect the unit from head to toe, and send through as many photos and videos as possible, the internet not only made shopping easier but also proper communication. It costs nothing but a small amount of time for a friend to send through a video tour of your unit that can quickly answer whether or not a unit is worth looking into.
It also never hurts to email the store or call for more information. Ideally, if you have a question, the store should try to clear it as soon as possible. Even if it’s a simple answer, knowing a store is responsive to any concerns shows that for the most part, they are confident in their product. If a store gives an automated response or simply doesn’t respond in an appropriate amount of time, then can you really trust that the product they send is going to match the one you see online?
At this point, you should be confident in purchasing furniture online! Whether your mouse is hovering over that ‘Buy Now’ button, you’re actively waiting for you parcel to arrive, or you’re staring at the package on your doorstep right now, rest assured that if you followed this guide correctly you should have purchased something great! Enjoy as you’ve now unlocked another level of at-home reclusion as you now live independently away from the bustle of the city and malls.
The gamble of any online purchase is are you actually going to receive your product as intended. Whether it’s damaged, the wrong item, or no item entirely, online shopping horror stories do happen and can happen to you if you’re not careful.
However, don’t let this put you off purchasing anything online. So long as you’re purchasing from a reputable seller that upon purchasing gives you some form of tracking your order, you should be safe. In terms of damage/missing parcels, these are most likely due to the carriers and not from the company themselves, so make sure to file a complaint with an explanation/photos and they should be happy to make things right. No store can survive on only angry customers.
As for wrong products, this is simply a case of a return. While it might be annoying, if you’re able to take the item alongside a physical copy of your receipt to a store that has the item you want in stock, you should be able to get a return within the hour. Otherwise, contact the company and let them know the situation and they will sort it ASAP. Again, stores don’t survive with angry customers.
A quick way to tell if you can trust a company or not is through reviews, either through google or on the company's own website. Reviews obviously show if a customer was happy with their experience with the company or not, however, also take note of whether the reviews follow any trends as many businesses use bots to artificially inflate their review scores. So make sure that the reviews seem genuine and actually talk about the products, a store rated 4 out of 5 stars with 2000 reviews, in general, is more trustworthy than a 5-star business with 50.
If you live in a location that’s not registered on a company’s shipping service, don’t give up just yet. Often times this is due to their system simply not covering every area possible, or being unable to honor the shipping cost of the product.
In this instance, feel free to message the company to send you a quote for shipping. Many times, companies are happy to work with you in order to ensure you can purchase the product you want no matter the location, sometimes they’ll even offer to cover some of the costs if the shipping is a lot.
]]>The look of a unit can drastically change the look and feel of an entire room and when not done correctly, can stick out like a sore thumb! This blog is going to cover what to think about when purchasing a unit and what red flags you should be wary of to avoid purchasing that ‘timeless’ piece that has aged like milk in the year!
]]>When it comes to purchasing furniture, the thing that will always be at the forefront of your mind is looks! Whether it’s how it looks in your home, or how the paint job will look in 20 years, it’s always about the looks. But that brings up the question, what look should you be looking for?
The look of a unit can drastically change the appearance and feel of an entire room and when not done correctly, can stick out like a sore thumb! This blog is going to cover what to think about when purchasing a unit and what red flags you should be wary of to avoid purchasing that ‘timeless’ piece that has aged like milk in the year!
It’s definitely worth noting before going down the fashion and design rabbit hole that your personal taste always matters the most. Don’t feel pressured into buying any piece of furniture that you don’t truly love, it’s your money being spent on your home so you should love it!
This also applies to the function of the furniture also, because what’s the purpose of purchasing a stylish TV unit if it can’t fit your TV or media boxes? Never follow design trends that won’t work for you and, like the fashion industry, avoid living a ‘use it until its dated’ policy on your furniture!
One of our recent blog posts covers why “fast furniture” is doing incredible harm to the environment, and why you should always consider purchasing for the “long term”. With that out of the way, let’s tackle the meat and potatoes of this blog!
When it comes to pointing out style, it’s always worth setting down some ground rules for what classifies as ‘Traditional’ and what classifies as ‘Vogue’.
Traditional furniture is generally quite curvy through the use of bevels and ‘accents’. Vogue furniture on the other hand is quite stark and minimal, with a lot of right angles, squares, and flat surfaces.
In terms of color, Traditional units will always try to accent the wood, either by leaving the wood with its natural look or giving it a stain to slightly alter the look of the wood. Vogue furniture on the other hand generally uses either unnatural or muted colors and tries to obscure the grain of the wood for the overall design of the unit.
This description will obviously always have outliers and rule breakers, so a good rule of thumb is to think of who’s house the furniture belongs in. If that chest of drawers looks like it would belong in a Victorian household, then it’s traditional. If it looks like it belongs in a beach-facing multi-million dollar villa that was built in the last 20 years, then it’s Vogue.
When it comes to traditional furniture, it will always ‘work’ with the space it’s given. Traditional furniture is named so because it’s the traditional look, when you think of a chest of drawers you’re most likely thinking of a traditionally styled chest of drawers. As such, traditional furniture is great at becoming part of the environment it’s in.
Vogue furniture however is the Fonz, it’s cool, it’s hip, it’s always going to be the centre of attention no matter where it’s placed. As such, you should consider vogue looks for things such as TV units or sideboards where if it wasn’t already going to be the center of attention, you’ll now know for sure it is.
If you’ve got a relatively new house, the ‘traditional’ looks of traditional furniture will look weirdly out of place. Since they use such time-tested design ideologies, in a modern home it could look as though it stepped out of a time machine to be in the room.
Vice versa for vogue furniture in a “classically” styled home, the unit would look like a spaceman in the stone age. However, vogue furniture also has more risk due to it becoming out-dated as time goes on. If you take a trip into any charity or second-hand shop, you can find plenty of examples of ‘new-look’ furniture left behind from the passage of time.
That’s why we would recommend that if you are interested in a piece of vogue furniture, we would recommend going for something that will in time be upgraded or replaced such as a TV Unit or desk.
While this post makes it seem like traditionally styled furniture is always the go, that isn’t always the case. If you commit to a vogue style, you can often make it work even decades once they’re out of fashion. There are plenty of examples of ’50s-themed dining areas and 70’s retro living rooms that work because the person creating the area is committed to the style.
So unless you have absolutely zero sense of taste and decided you’re going to theme your living room based on contrasting colours and styles, doubling down on a look can pay off even in the long run!
It’s easy to get scared when buying furniture, especially for an empty space, as that piece of furniture can quickly dictate how a room appears for years to come. But so long as the furniture functions how it should and you like the look then it should be fine.
When buying anything, you should be thinking for years ahead and not just for now, so make sure that TV unit you’re purchasing is going to work for any future TVs in years to come and that you’ll be happy waking up to that headboard 10,000 mornings from now.
Quality furniture shouldn’t age as rapidly as something like clothes or electronics, so if you like the look then go ahead, don’t let the fashion trends of now and soon affect how you love your furniture in those periods.
When it comes to furniture, the looks to always avoid will be apparent as soon as you look at them. Think of your floral printed couches at your grandparents that were always wrapped in plastic. 90’s era TV units that were clearly designed for big chunky CRTs and not modern flat screens or “computer” desks that are designed for old desktops and the use of discs for storage.
Pieces like these have been gentrified over time as their looks and uses have become increasingly redundant as times have changed. However, due to their low-cost (oftentimes free), some know-how and a can-do attitude could have you making custom pieces out of furniture like this that’s truly unique.
Obviously, the look of your house will massively dictate not only which furniture you should buy, but how the rooms in your house are laid out in general.
However, when it comes to theming your room around a particular look this can go one of two ways. If done correctly a ‘themed’ room can look great, especially when striving for a particular look. As mentioned above, there are plenty of examples of ’50s-themed dining areas that look great even today due to their commitment to the bit.
Where theming might go wrong is when it’s particularly overdone, such as every piece being baby-blue, or exactly the same style and shape. But if you’re intending for your room to have a niche theme, like an 80’s video-rental store for your VHS collection or a high-class Victorian dining suite, then go for it!
Notice how before we said that “oak furniture should be considered an investment”? We weren’t kidding when we said that, oak furniture is built to last! If you look for a high-quality piece with features such as dovetail joining in the drawers and mortise and tenon back paneling, then expect that piece to last for years to come.
When it comes to furniture, the amount you pay should always reflect how long you should expect the unit to last. If you paid only $100 for a TV unit, expect it to start breaking down in a couple of years whereas if you spent $800 for a TV unit that unit will last for many decades let alone years.
While it might be appealing to go for that flashy desk made from cheap wood, those looks will quickly go once the unit starts deteriorating. Most cheap furniture is made from MDF and only achieves its looks by using ‘wood-style’ decals on each surface area. But after some use, these decals peel and rip revealing the ‘true’ look of the wood underneath.
However, an oak desk will always look great since the manufacturers know it’s designed to last. Often times oak desks will be styled in a ‘traditional’ look that while a bit plain, means that the desk will always look great, no matter the room, lighting, setup, or placement.
Great looks will always be appealing, an elegant black glass table can really become a showpiece of whatever room it’s part of. However, this elegance can quickly be cut short in only a couple days once the table accumulates some dust, now you have imprints of whatever was placed on the table before the dust collected. This isn’t also mentioning the accumulated fingerprints and skin markings from use, you best stock up with the glass cleaner because you’re going to be cleaning this table a lot!
But if you chose to purchase an oak table, however, the most cleaning you’ll have to do is the occasional dust when you notice it. The obvious rebuttal here would be cleaning water marks left behind from un-coastered cups, but the great thing about wood furniture is this can quickly be remedied with a bit of varnish and elbow grease. Furthermore, we’ve never heard of an oak table shattering because it was left in the sun for too long, just saying.
The other great thing about Oak furniture is its ability to be tweaked to the owner's liking! With either a bit of know-how and some DIY-knowledge or giving a call to a professional, you can quickly alter the looks for your needs. Want a darker stain on your golden-Oak coffee table? Just give the table a light sanding and apply a different stain! Not a fan of the handles it shipped with? Just take a trip to the hardware store and get some new ones (granted they fit the holes left behind or you have some filler).
In more destructive customizations, you can quickly add engravings and bevels if that’s something you’d like or adjust the height of your desk if it’s just a little too high. We’ll obviously recommend purchasing the perfect unit before you consider the above, but the fact that it’s an option is the benefit of oak!
For whatever reason, you might have to sell a piece of oak furniture, be at ease knowing that you’ll be able to recoup some of your cost when the time comes to hand it over. Due to the above reasons to buy oak furniture, oak furniture is able to hold its value since it is so desirable. While you might not get that original $800 you bought the unit for, you can quickly sell the unit for $100 on Facebook marketplace guaranteed. Compared to cheaper wood furniture, especially MDF, oak holds its value far more as it will have a life span far longer than other pieces of furniture!
Oak is a slow-growing wood, and as such is grown on controlled plantations with each tree being used for a purpose. Since oak furniture is also easily available second-hand, that also means one less dining suite to the landfill once it’s no longer in need. It’s also more fire-resistant than most woods, so in the instance that your house catches fire and leaves your invaluable oak sideboard a bit charred, by sending it to a quality restorer you can rest assured that your piece will return like new with a bit of TLC.
Oak furniture is designed to avoid the landfill at all costs, and with its great looks and build quality, you’ll have no reasons outside of personal to ever consider throwing one of these pieces out!
If your budget allows for it, an Oak piece of furniture will always be a great investment! Its high build quality, great looks, and low maintenance make them excellent for taking up permanent residency in your home. Whether it’s a TV unit, chest of drawers, or even a bed frame, oak furniture will never fail you in your day-to-day living. Then when the time comes to pass the piece on, either to a relative, offspring, or internet stranger, rest assured they won’t be calling back anytime soon to complain that it’s broken on them unexpectedly!
As a luxurious and long-lasting material, Oak brings a heavy price. As such, for those on a budget a good piece of soft-wood furniture made from Pine can bring amazing value. A good pine unit can bring a lot of the great build quality of an Oak unit but for a fraction of the cost!
As such, we would say that for furniture you always get what you pay for! So if you want a long-lasting piece of furniture, the more you pay should generally equal how long the piece will last. So skip the budget $100 MDF rubbish if you want to get your money’s worth!
If you’re in New Zealand and looking for oak furniture, then we know just the people to go to for quality oak furniture. Outside of New Zealand however, we would definitely recommend going for your brick-and-mortar furniture stores compared to your big box Ikeas and Wal-marts. Talk to the staff there and figure out how they get the furniture/ how it’s made, if they can give a definite answer then you’re in luck!
For those looking for second-hand deals, Facebook Marketplace and other online buy-and-sell services such as eBay and Trademe are great for finding absolute steals from people who are moving house and simply want the piece gone! You can also try local thrift shops and donation centers to see what they have available, however, the prices at these places can vary wildly and may not match the actual quality of the piece!
]]>As the sunsets sooner and the windows cover up with condensation, nothing beats hopping into a nice warm bed after a long day in the bitter winter. Sometimes however, the bed won’t hit the spot as frozen sheets and frosty pillows can quickly turn a comfy sleep into an icy nightmare! In this blog post we’re going to cover the main ways you can turn your bed into the cozy cot you won’t want to leave in the morning.
While this guide is made to tell you how to warm your bed specifically, the bed is only a small part of your house. If your whole house is feeling like the interior of a fridge, it definitely will pay to properly warm and insulate your home in the winter. This guide from the New Zealand government discusses how to insulate and warm your home in a way that will save you power by using more “passive” and long-lasting solutions.
Remember, a warm home is a healthy home, and a healthy home is a happy home. Cold and damp homes can bring in a variety of illnesses and promote mold growth which spirals into its own variety of effects on your health. So warm your house before you warm your bed, and hopefully you’ll need to spend less time in your bed sick!
While it may be appealing to get the biggest and thickest blanket you can find to drape your bed with, getting three sheets that are equal to one thick blanket may prove to be a better heating alternative. This is due to the layers trapping air and in turn producing heat. Layers are also better as if you get too hot you can easily remove a layer or two to reduce the heat while removing a single large blanket also removes the single source of heat for the bed!
Adding a mattress protector can also help add a bit of heat to your sheets, especially if your mattress isn’t providing enough warmth from underneath.
On the topic of layers, tucking your sheets can quickly toast up your bed with minimal effort. Conversely, leaving your sheets open to the forces of the elements can quickly add a chill into your sleep that you may not want.
If you sleep on a box bed frame or a similarly “open-ended” style bed frame, tucking your sheets in may be easier said than done especially if you have a heavy duvet. The best way to ensure your sheets stay tucked in then is to purchase a bed with a footboard of an appropriate height, this gives you a bigger anchor point to tuck your sheets into while also minimizing the ways a heavy duvet can slip off your bed.
While it may look luxurious to have shiny sheets covering your bed, if they aren’t retaining heat then it might be time to look elsewhere. Flannel sheets are readily available from a variety of retailers and are excellent at providing warmth for your bed. Also, a new duvet made from natural materials, such as wool or feathers, can provide excellent heat while also providing excellent material breathability so you can keep warm without breaking out into a sweat.
While this final tip might seem a little obvious, the right type of warm drink can not only help increase your body temperature but also assist in making sure you get to sleep easier! A good Chamomile, Peppermint, or Valerian Root Tea 30 minutes before sleep can quickly reduce stress and increase your quality of sleep! Even a quick mix of magnesium and hot water can help relax the muscles and send you to sleep dozy and comfortable.
Hopefully, by the end of this guide you should be warm and cozy in bed! Bundle up in those layers and relax. Enjoy your warm drink of choice as you enjoy doing a bit of reading (or one last episode, we won’t judge) and get ready for a great night’s sleep! (or just a day lazing in bed!! Again, we won’t judge.)
In short, Yes! But the reasons and effects of it can vary wildly from setup to setup. However, if you’re sleeping on a mattress on a wooden, or even worse, concrete floor, then your bed is going to be extremely chilly. This is due to the fact that heat rises, so the air on the floor is cooler than the air higher up, alongside the poor heat retention of surfaces such as polished wood and concrete. In this instance, purchasing a bed frame can improve the warmth of your bed drastically!
If you can afford it, electric blankets are excellent for warming a bed when used correctly. Ideally, an electric blanket should be turned on 30 or so minutes before bed and turned off once you get into bed. However, the warmth and timing is an art that you need to find out as it’s to personal preference. Obviously, electric blankets cost a lot, not only for the initial buy but also due to their use of power. Hence, if you turn them on when you know you’re going to bed very soon, you’ll minimize the amount of power used to properly warm your bed.
When it comes to the dangers of electric blankets, they should be treated the same way you would an electric heater: don’t leave it on overnight and don’t leave it on when you aren’t there to check on it. If the cords are damaged or frayed, then don’t use it at all and place it into your nearest appropriate bin.
Normally, a mattress makes the bed warmer and is generally not the issue in a cold bed. However, an older mattress can cause issues due to it not breathing properly due to old springs. This means that in your efforts to warm your bed you may accidentally create an overheating nightmare as your bed will trap too much heat and struggle to breathe it back out. As such, if you find yourself sweltering hot in the middle of winter with even the thinnest of blankets to cover, a new mattress will obviously lead to better sleep year-round.
]]>In this constantly growing state of alienation caused by long work weeks and our newfound addiction to technology with smartphones and Netflix. Sometimes it’s nice to sit at a table and enjoy a meal with loved ones with the only distraction being the food on your plate. This guide should hopefully act as a great rule of thumb to ensure that everyone gets a seat at the table.
When it comes to dining tables, wood is the best material overall due to it not being affected as heavily by temperature and robust build quality. While materials such as metal, glass and ceramic may look stylish the truth of the matter is that they’re awful to dine on.
If it gets cold where you’re from, that top surface can quickly become an ice rink meaning you won’t want to place your arms on top. Furthermore, materials such as ceramic and glass can be irreparably damaged and are extremely fragile. Thus we recommend wooden dining tables for those planning on actually using the table for its purpose, as they require minimal care, are built for centuries, and are less likely to freeze your elbows in the winter.
Before you even consider going out to buy a dining table, it’s definitely worth measuring the area you are planning on placing it first as no one likes having to squeeze into their seat and having to recreate 127 hours to get out.
As such, depending on the planned layout, we would recommend giving around 90-100 cm of space between the table and the nearest obstacle. This should provide plenty of seating space while also meaning that anyone can easily scooch by if placed near a walkway.
We would also recommend placing the table as far away from any doors that may collide with the table regardless of the clearance when “tidy”, as we are only human and sometimes we struggle to maintain “perfect” appearances.
If you want a dining table but don’t believe you have the space to put one, this guide should help in getting you thinking creatively about the space you’re working with.
You might think buying a table is a simple equation: just buy the first thing that has four legs and a piece of wood on top. But in fact, the type of dining table you purchase can quickly alter how you might consider using the table.
The most common type of dining table, rectangular dining tables are the most versatile in their use and functionality. Perfect for hosting around 6 people or more depending on the size, rectangular tables are great as they can easily host either dining chairs or a bench depending on their use. They also offer a great amount of surface area for people to eat their meals while having the main dish on the table as well, without needing to over-extend to reach. However, while rectangular dining tables are great for their space, that is also their biggest downfall as they require a decent area in order to be properly used. Their shape also makes them awkward to place against a wall as they may either take up too much wall space or jut out too much from the wall. However, if you have the space and the need, there is no wrong in purchasing a rectangular dining table.
Probably the second most common type, square dining tables are great for smaller homes and smaller groups as they mostly always host four people max. The square design also means that they’re always symmetrical so you can easily place them against a wall without the worries that a rectangular table may bring, while also meaning that each guest gets an equal amount of space when seated. However, since squares are equal, that means that getting a square dining table to fit more than 4 people can quickly take up a lot of space. Since square tables are generally smaller also that means they’re mostly paired with dining chairs rather than benches.
Round dining tables are great alternatives for those who may live alone or with their partner, but require the flexibility to maybe host 1-2 extra people due to their lack of edges. As such, round tables are perfect for hosting a handful of people for a small meal or a rotation of people having breakfast, but if you are looking to use one for larger meals you may be better looking elsewhere. The circular shape also heavily limits the seating possible as dining chairs are the only real seating solution possible with this setup, however, the circular shape also opens up where the table can be placed without needing to worry about how far it will stick out or needing all edges available to be seated. The final flaw of a dining table depends on the design, as the circular nature means that any areas of support may be unevenly spread leading to the table flipping if too much weight is applied on one side.
The final type of common wooden dining table are extending tables. These are great if you need to seat upwards of six people but want to minimize the amount of surface area used. These tables extend either from a butterfly opening in the center or from a surface that slides out from the edges underneath. As such, extending tables generally host the same pros and cons as rectangular tables but with the added benefit of the extendable length. However, another con of extending tables is their general instability compared to their fixed counterparts, as not only are the extension parts of the table affixed to metal hinges and fixings but when extended the tables support becomes far more central making them prone to tipping when too much weight is applied. However, if you need a table that is flexible for expanding to seat more while taking as little floor space as possible, then an extending table is your best bet.
What’s the point of purchasing a table if you are unable to sit at it? If you’re in the market for a dining table make sure that you have seating in mind as different seating solutions can provide for a variety of different groups of people.
The most basic and obvious, Dining chairs are perfect for hosting a singular individual. However, when purchasing a dining chair consider your options in terms of build quality. What material is the chair made out of? What support does the chair provide, both for your back and for the chair itself? A good dining chair should be made entirely from a solid material such as pine or oak and feature bracing on the lower part of the legs to avoid them breaking if someone were to tip in their chair.
Dining chairs can also be bulky to store as their back supports will reach higher than the table itself. Good dining chairs can also quickly explode in price if you are buying multiple, so make sure that if you’re buying a lot to try get a bulk deal or have them included as a suite deal as part of the table.
If you’re looking to seat a lot of people with a singular chair, then a bench seat may be a great choice. Depending on the length, a bench seat can easily seat between 3-6 people depending on the length and can fit neatly underneath the table itself. Benches are also versatile as you can easily place them underneath a windowsill when not being used and simply move it over once meal time starts.
However, benches generally don’t feature any form of back support making them uncomfortable for longer meals unless you plan on placing them against the wall.
As such, we would mainly recommend bench seats as a way to add extra seating to a table or as a way to host large amounts of small children at larger family gatherings. But as such, benches aren’t ideal as a main seating solution due to their lack of back support.
The final type of seating solution is upholstered dining chairs. These are like regular dining chairs but feature some form of extra cushioning, either on the seat, back, or both, but still feature many of the pros and cons of regular dining chairs.
As such, the main things to look for remain the same regarding build quality and support, however, it’s also worth noting the material of the upholstery. Is the seat covered in fabric or leather? Is the cushioning soft or feel tight like you’re sitting on a trampoline?
Upholstered seats are also more prone to wear and tear over time so make sure that if you have any pets with sharp claws that they stay far away. The same pricing idea applies for upholstered dining chairs also, so if you can get them as part of a suite or cheaper in bulk, then do so.
While you may have sorted the type of table and how many you want seated for dinner, choosing the right material can really make or break a dining suite.
A table made from bad material can cause all sorts of issues, such as bad build quality, uncomfortable seating or a table that goes from fash to trash without proper upkeep.
As such, this next portion will focus on the two main types of wood materials that we sell while again going through their pros and cons.
The more studier of the two, Oak dining tables are hefty and robust. Thus, for the purpose of longevity, an oak dining table will definitely be unbeaten.
However, this excellent build does come at a cost: the cost. Oak furniture does cost significantly more than pine furniture, so if you’re the type to pinch pennies, then these aren’t for you.
Oak furniture is also generally made with a soft-touch finish that is lightly textured. As such, if you’d rather a smoother surface we’d also recommend looking elsewhere.
In a head-to-head comparison, a pine dining suite would easily lose to an oak dining suite, especially in terms of build quality and durability.
However, where the pine suite prevails is in price, as a pine dining suite is much cheaper compared to an oak suite. But don’t let this comparison sway you, as a good pine dining suite can make an excellent investment if it’s made with excellent build quality in mind.
The surface texture is also sometimes preferred due to its more glossy finish making the table smoother to touch than an oak set.
So if you’re not planning on putting your pine dining suite through the wringer, then you should definitely expect an excellent experience from a pine dining suite for years to come.
If you’ve made it this far, then you should be ready to purchase the dining suite that suits YOU. Obviously, there are a variety of home and living situations that might affect the type of suite you purchase, so don’t take this guide as gospel.
However, what we hope you’ve found by the end of this guide is a dining suite that ticks all the boxes you’re looking for and is now ready to seat the family around the dinner table for their favorite meal.
Don’t feel ashamed if the table isn’t used for every meal, even if it’s being used as an impromptu laundry table, at least it’s being used and at least it looks good doing so!
Obviously, if you’re planning on using a dining table you should expect some spillage on it. Whether it’s gravy from a roast or spilled milk, cleaning a wooden dining table is nothing to cry over.
Simply create a concoction of dish soap and warm water, then wipe the surface with a damp cloth dipped in the solution. However, for sticky spots from spilled soda or ice cream, then our guide should help in getting rid of those.
Again, the great thing about wooden furniture is its relative easiness to repair. If your table or chair has been scratched over time from back pocket buttons or jewel-encrusted bracelets, to repair it simply requires a trip to the hardware store and a glove.
Simply purchase some wood filler from your local hardware store (make sure the filler colour matches the type of wood of your table), then put on a rubber glove and smear the filler over the affected area and let it dry. It’s as easy as that!
Congratulations you’ve now brought a dining table, a place where the family can all come together for a moment to enjoy each others company. We’d recommend obviously cooking a meal that everyone will enjoy, such as these nachos, or perhaps setting up a board game that everyone will enjoy like Monopoly!
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For the most part, fast furniture comes from sources similar to where fast food comes from, big name locations that pay a lot for advertising and multiple stores within an area. For New Zealand readers, think The Warehouse and Kmart, locations that sell a variety of items outside of just furniture and will always have plenty of stock on hand. It makes sense that people buy furniture from these locations because for the most part, it’s cheap, readily available and often comes in a variety of styles. Thus, this type of furniture is often very common with those who live in rental properties or university dorms and is fine for this purpose. However, the issue comes when these people move into their first homes and need furniture that will last them for years to come.
The issue with fast furniture is the same as any product that is cheap and mass-produced, the overall quality isn’t great. While that TV cabinet might look great now, in two years time, the poor build quality will mean the cabinet doors may stop closing properly and the finish of the unit may start peeling because, surprise surprise, it’s actually a sticker covering the true material underneath. Most furniture from stores such as these is made from MDF, a mix of true hard and softwood fibers to create panels that essentially act as a wood casserole.
Because of this, MDF is cheap to purchase and can easily be made to fit for purpose since its artificial creation means that workers don’t have to worry about knots and gnarls in the wood. However, as a user of MDF, the shortcomings outnumber the benefits as MDF’s design means it’s incredibly absorbent, something which is not ideal for furniture. What this means is that if your house gets humid or damp, then the MDF is going to absorb this and over time lose its integrity, causing it to puff up and flake like paper (which is essentially what it is, really hard and thick paper.)
As mentioned, MDF furniture is great for short-term use such as in flats and dorms due to its cheap availability and ability to be cycled through multiple people in its lifespan. But for long term use, this can cause issues as once MDF starts to fail, it’s hard to fix and often isn’t worth the cost. This means that a lot of MDF is destined for the bin once it reaches this point and herein lies the issue.
Say an MDF TV unit lasts 5 years before failing, Consumer.org.nz says that on average a TV should last 7-8 years, even rounding that to 10 years that’s still two TV units before you need to upgrade your TV. MDF is very hard to recycle, so that means that every time you purchase a TV, you need to accommodate for 2 TV units that will go straight to the landfill.
MDF furniture also has no resell value because of this, so even if you have a perfectly fine MDF bookcase, you’re better to try run it into the ground than to try to sell it off when the time comes. Increase this issue tenfold for all the sales of these products that these big-box retailers make and you can see why this causes massive issues for the environment.
The most important way to avoid purchasing fast furniture is to not buy from big-box retailers. Obviously, it’s easier to say this than to put it into action, but the best way to avoid a problem is to start from the root. When it comes to purchasing furniture for your home though, we do have some answers!
If you’re looking for new furniture and have a good budget, then obviously going to a store that specializes in furniture is your best bet. We have a full guide that goes through what to look for, however, the main detail to look for is if the store either specializes or sells furniture with nameable materials. If the website or person in the showroom can clearly tell you that a bedside cabinet is made from oak, then you’re in the right place. The main drawback to this method is cost as quality furniture costs as much as the material it’s made from. However, you should also view this furniture as an investment.
Using the example above, rather than expecting two MDF tv units per TV, a quality oak cabinet can outlast 2 or 3 TVs with proper care. Even if you need to upgrade your TV unit, quality furniture holds its value more, so you can easily sell that oak cabinet for a significant amount extra than if it was MDF. Speaking of reselling, this then leads onto our next point.
If you’re in a position where buying new furniture is out of reach, buying second-hand is your next best bet. With services such as Facebook Marketplace, it’s now easier than ever to find the items you want second-hand at great prices. Again, following our guide linked above, if you know what to look for; you can easily get an absolute bargain on a piece that should last you far longer than an MDF piece.
In your search for second-hand furniture, you might stumble across a piece that may fit your needs but looks a bit worse for wear. Well, don’t write it off just from this first impression! If the piece just needs a lil TLC and some know-how, you can quickly save another piece of furniture from ending up as landfill! It also pays to give old furniture like this some extra thought, as you can easily convert any old piece of furniture to fit your needs with the correct know-how. Here’s a guide we wrote on how you can reuse an old chest of drawers in a variety of ways.
As distressing news of the ever-impending climate change and the global push to be more green continues, making the right choice matters more than ever! As such, you should be thinking about your furniture in the same way, and that if you make the right choice now, you’ll be making a better future with less waste for future generations. It might be more inconvenient, or more expensive, but rest assured that your purchase should last for generations and not weeks. We’ve only got one floating rock in space to live on, so it's for the better that we respect our living space by respecting our living space with quality wood furniture!
While it’s agreed that MDF is not friendly for the environment, there are also other materials, that while long-lasting, also have negative effects on the environment. The main two culprits are metal and plastic furniture, as the production of the furniture requires more harsh processes to be used, alongside the fact that both materials are not renewable. As such, wooden furniture is considered to have the least impact on the environment due to its relatively simple production, alongside wood being a renewable resource.
All this talk about the negative effects of MDF furniture may have you wanting to clear your hands of your dirty purchase, and to that we’d say no. Part of trying to reduce our environmental footprint is minimizing waste, if your first thought is to dump that perfectly fine chest of drawers simply because they’re made from a “dirty” material is only adding to this problem. If you use your MDF drawers to the end of their life, then that’s one less unnecessary chest of drawers that needed to be produced
]]>Whether the piece is a bit past its use-by date, or it’s covered in stickers from your y2k era angsty self, it’s a bit of a shame to just throw out what is an easily restorable piece of furniture.
So if you’re in this predicament and have a bit of TLC in your heart, then give these creative ideas a shot!
If you’re a bit of an around-the-house fixer-upper, or you’ve got a grease monkey in your household, an old but still function chest of drawers can easily become a great home for all your tools, screws and associated paraphernalia!
If this sounds like a great idea for your garage then here’s some main upgrades we’d recommend for your setup!
There’s nothing worse than opening up a drawer and seeing a magic eye of assorted items strewn about everywhere. As such, getting some foam to create cutouts or even some drawer liners can help keep a tool chest organized and tidy
Sometimes, all you need to fix a product is just one screw but a messy drawer can quickly turn that screw into a needle in a haystack. Thus, to prevent as many headaches as possible use jars to effectively organize and label your fasteners for quick access. How particular to get is up to you, if you want to label them as particular as “75 x 3.15mm Stainless Steel” or as roughly as “Skrews” the amount of headache is your choosing!
Granted, if this chest of drawers was in a bedroom that also featured a TV, it probably already served this purpose. However, with some simple tweaking, you can quickly turn that low boy into a pretty sweet entertainment setup with a couple of quick tweaks!
If you’re using these drawers for a games/theatre room, then you’ll understand that cables and remotes can quickly build up. Like the tool chest suggestion above, clever use of snaplock bags, cable straps and cut outs can quickly turn those top two shelves, usually used for socks and underwear, into an all-in-one accessory hub that will remove the headache of finding another HDMI cable for whatever device needs to be plugged in!
If your chest of drawers aren’t on metal runners and instead simply use gravity and will to stay in the main body of the unit, then this next trick will have you turning those spacious drawers into a glorious home for your devices with much more airflow than any TV Unit.
Simply measure out the dimensions of the space left on the unit with the drawer removed, then purchase a clean piece of plywood, thick enough to hold the weight of the devices and clean enough so that your devices aren’t sucking up any unnecessary wood chips (here’s a great guide on how to apply varnish to your plywood for your convenience.)
While you’re preparing your shelf, use a hole saw on the back of the unit to create cable management holes for your devices, depending on the cut it may be worth giving the edge of the cut a quick rub with high grit sandpaper to avoid damaging your cables. Then just install the shelves into the unit, plug in your devices and you should be all good to go!
Like the TV unit suggestion above, with some simple tweaks a Lowboy can quickly become a fully-fledged hall table or buffet depending on your needs. But this quick tweak can also give that lowboy a new lease of life.
To repeat the previous suggestion, turning those drawers into open shelves is an easy, weekend project that can turn that handful of drawers into a singular, spacious cavity for any shoes, umbrellas, and decorative vases you choose to store inside.
The added benefit of reusing an old chest of drawers is you can choose the amount of shelves you may want! All you need to do is make as many shelves as you desire and place them in a way that fits you.
If you’re choosing to use this lowboy for use as a buffet/sideboard, then it might pay to look into ways of covering the contents inside. If you’ve got the know-how, you can easily install some cupboard doors into the unit.
However, if the contents inside are unlikely to fall out and the design of the unit allows for it, consider installing a curtain above the main shelves of the unit to obscure the contents of your new buffet from the world.
For whatever purpose you’ve made it, your old chest of drawers has had a fresh breath of air given to it. It’s now ready to live another 20 years with a new life and a different purpose.
You too can feel proud of yourself, for not just your DIY-prowess, but for also helping the environment by reusing a piece of furniture that might’ve been thrown out before it truly had to.
So enjoy your new creative reuse of that chest of drawers with the knowledge you helped make this world a better place by just that small amount.
If you sticker-bombed your chest of drawers as a young, rebellious teen and now want the remnants of your angsty youth removed the solution is quite simple. To begin, if you can easily peel off the sticker without resistance or it ripping then go that route.
However, for more stubborn stickers then this tip should help. This comes from our own blog post so follow that if you want a more in-depth explanation, but if you want a quick explanation then continue reading.
Firstly, soak a cloth in vinegar. Then, lay the cloth over the chosen sticker for 5 minutes. Once the appropriate amount of time has passed, peel off the sticker using a scraper or something similar (an expired gift card works great in a pinch). Repeat the above steps if the sticker is stubbornly holding its place, then when finished, wipe the surface down with wood polish to revitalize the offending area.
If your chest of drawers has been through a lot and is covered in scratches, scrapes and dents and you’re not planning on re-painting the unit then there’s a variety of options you can go through to rebirth your unit.
If your unit has small scratches on it, then our own guide will help cover some household solutions to keep that unit looking as close to new as you can. If your unit is dented, however, then fill the affected area with water, then cover the unit with a soft fabric and use a clothes iron to steam the dented area and restore the area back to normal.
If this article has given you the inspiration to purchase a second-hand unit but don’t know what to look for in regards to a unit worth restoring, then our guide should help you make a better-informed decision on what furniture deserves a second life, and what stuff is destined for the landfill.
First off, let's get the most important item sorted first: where are you presenting your items? While you can easily keep your items stored in plastic containers, this can quickly become a nightmare depending on how you’ve organized. So a good shelf is a must, whether its a bookshelf, a display cabinet, or a set of floating shelves, if they look good and they match your needs, that’s all that matters. Depending on what it is that you are storing, we’d also recommend placing the shelves away from anything that may harm your chosen item, such as obscuring the spines of your media from direct sunlight to avoid sun damage. Regardless, let’s cover some different types of shelving and the pros and cons of each alongside what they're suitable for:
In most instances, these are the most obvious solution for a quick and easy solution for presenting collectibles. Floating shelves and cube shelves are quick and simple solutions that are easily found from most hardware/general department stores available at a variety of prices.
This is great for things such as miscellaneous collectibles or growing collections as you can easily purchase what you need easily and the design won’t change. They’re also often available as flat packs meaning you can easily ship them in for cheap.
However, therein lies the issues with simpler solutions like this: they’re made cheap. Often units like these are made from MDF or particleboard and are flat packed to keep prices low, but this then puts the build quality of the units into question, as any major exposure to liquid or an overly damp/humid environment will see these units puff up and lose all structural integrity. Since they’re flat-packed as well, that means the shelves are held together by screws and screws alone, meaning that it’s risky to place anything heavy on top at risk of the unit breaking under the weight. There are outliers, such as the cube shelves we linked above that are made from Oak and feature dovetail-joining, however, these are outliers and not the norm.
As such, we’d recommend shelves like these for smaller collections of lighter items, such as small book collections, lighter ornaments and photo frames, and small CD/DVD/ Game collections. However, make sure the depth of shelves works for what you’re storing and especially for floating shelves, avoiding storing anything fragile from any height to avoid the unit breaking from a fall.
The most obvious solution here, bookshelves offer a lot of display area and are available in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit plenty of needs. This also means it’s far easier to find a good unit for cheaper as bookshelves are less likely to be mass-produced into flat packs, and will often either be shipped as complete units or if they are flat packed will use metal framing to better support the shelving.
However, bookshelves are often not designed like floating/cube shelves, meaning that if you purchased a bookcase 5 years ago and want another one from the same manufacturer, you might run into trouble finding a unit that matches your current shelf. As such, we’d recommend purchasing a unit to fulfill your needs and more to avoid this issue if it arises. If you’re purchasing this unit for a growing collection, such as vinyl or other collectibles, we’d even recommend buying two units if you can and keeping one in storage for when the time arises due to the constantly changing tastes and preferences of the general public.
Also, just because they’re generally built better doesn’t mean they all are, make sure the bookcase you’re purchasing is going to hold what you want it to without fear of the shelf breaking under the strain. Bookshelves are also designed to have an open front, so we’d again avoid placing fragile items on them, especially in high locations, to avoid having your delicate and timeless ornaments forever broken and gone to time. Thus, we’d recommend bookcases for larger and heavier items, such as vinyl collections, larger figurines, and larger collections of media such as books and games.
If you’re displaying items that either cost more than the shelf you’re placing them on or are priceless in terms of sentimentality, then a display cabinet is what you need. Like a bookshelf, display cabinets come in a variety of shapes, sizes and styles to fit your needs, and have plenty of the same pros and cons of a bookshelf also, those mainly being build quality and risk of being unable to purchase the same unit again.
However, display units still have their own sets of pros and cons, namely price. Most display cabinets will be made with a lot of glass, which means not only will the unit cost a lot due to its use in making the product, but it will also mean the unit may cost more to ship due to its incredibly fragile nature. This leads to the other issue with glass, it’s fragile, meaning that not only could you wait weeks to receive your unit only for it to arrive with a shattered panel, but if the unit is ever damaged, such as it falling in an earthquake, then it’s going to break in a dangerous, messy and costly demise.
The other minor con that will depend on what you are storing is the fact display cabinets have doors, which depending on your chosen item could cause trouble as the doors mean that your item has to fit within a square area, unlike ‘open shelves’ which allow a small amount of overhang.
Thus, we’d only recommend a display cabinet for collections that deserve it such as priceless ornaments and picture frames, or one-of-a-kind collectibles that cover the cost of the shelf alone in price. This also means we’d recommend properly securing these shelves to avoid any damage to the items inside which we will cover later on.
Now that you have your chosen shelf, let's get storing your goods. Obviously, some simple rules will apply here for your chosen items, such as storing books, music, and DVDs with the spines facing outward so you can quickly and easily browse your collection, furthermore on the topic of music, ensure you’re storing your vinyl with the spines in a vertical position to avoid warping and damaging your collection. When it comes to ornaments and photo frames, make sure they’re placed so that everything is visible to those who want to view them. We’d also recommend placing items that are taken out often closer to the front to ensure that you don’t accidentally knock something you don’t intend to.
Now for the main event that you read this article for, presenting your collection with the style it deserves. This is obviously up to personal tastes, preferences, and capabilities but it’s also important to follow some key rules to turn your collection from a scrambled pile to an archived collection worthy of placement in a museum.
This one is a bit odd to explain as it’s to do with how your collection is setup in the first place, but when done right can take your collection to another level. If you’re a book nerd or gamer and have a specific series that you particularly love, then organize them together on their own shelf. If you’ve got family photos organize them into different types of groups, so if you’re of the age that your children now have children, organize the photos so that each family is grouped in their respective area. It obviously depends on how you want to organize them and the collection you’re handling, but making sure that your ornaments are organized so that like-for-likes are at least near each other can quickly minimize the headache when someone asks to see something that you can’t quite immediately locate.
This is obviously for collections of media such as books, games, and music and it is a given, but it’s still worth saying: ORGANIZE YOUR COLLECTION ALPHABETICALLY OR IN A WAY THAT MAKES SENSE! You may understand your cluttered chaos but any guests that want to browse your collection to see what you have are going to play an i-spy to find the piece they want to see. If you’ve got a small collection, keeping things alphabetical should suffice in quick organization, but for larger collections, that’s where you can have fun finding ways to catalog your collection. For music and movies, you can organise them into genres, such as horror and action or metal and jazz. For game collections, you can try keep consoles and even manufacturers together, so a whole shelf for Playstation and another shelf for Nintendo and another for Xbox etc.
Another part of the organization aspect is little accessories that let you better organize your collection. If you’ve got a massive collection of vinyl, consider getting some cardboard spacers that poke out slightly from the rest of the collection to segment the collection into each letter. If you’ve got a large library of anything, chances have it there’s a seller on Etsy or Aliexpress with something to help organize your collection that tiny bit easier, such as end labels, display stands, and protectors.
This seems a bit redundant; decorate the decorations, but when done right it will elevate your collection from a bunch of stuff to a prized and curated catalog. One super simple way to decorate your shelves is to add backlighting, the recent trend of LED light strips to illuminate your shelves is a fun way to make sure your collection is the center of the room it’s within. If you’re storing your collection on a waist-high shelf, consider placing coffee table books related to the collection on top. Whichever way you choose to decorate your shelves, ensure there’s a reason for someone to either look at or go to the shelf you’ve chosen.
So now you’ve done it, you’ve successfully created your shrine for your passion. Now you have a place to host everything you love so now what? Admire it! Cherish the memories that the photo frames and ornaments bring. Put on your favorite album or movie to honour your collection. Celebrate that what you love is now on display for everyone to see and that they now have a home.
Sometimes your collection is less an expression of size but rather a handful of items that have some significance to you. Thus when it comes to presenting items such as these, we would definitely recommend either a smaller shelf, or in some cases, wall mounting the items to give them their own “space”. This idea can also apply to larger collections of items, especially vinyl, as people will select their favourites and give them special residency in a location separate from the rest of the collection to signify that the chosen items are “important”
Dust will always be an inevitability, and while there may be some preventative measures to minimize the amount of dust that accumulates, you will never be able to escape it. However, choosing a display cabinet over open shelving, and making sure that the cabinet is away from any major sources of airflow, such as doorways and windows, can help try to keep your dust accumulation to a minimum. However, for a more general guide on how to prevent dust build-up, this article should help in trying to keep your entire house spic and spam.
]]>Whether you need it for the big game, or you’re a gamer who needs one for their big gaming session, a great TV setup is fundamental for making sure that any viewing experience is enjoyed to the fullest! So if you’re working in a cramped corner or a spacious family room, this guide should have you ready for when game time rolls around!
Unless you’re still rocking the radio broadcast, you’re most definitely going to have a TV screen for your entertainment set up. As such, the ideal placement of your screen is integral for an amazing viewing experience!
In modern society, the TV is the current replacement for what the hearth was in traditional times, a place of warmth and light the whole family could gather around, so keep this in mind when you place your gargantuan 80” OLED screen into your living room!
Ideally, your screen should be viewable by all from their respective angles and it should be able to be viewed without any awkward distension of the neck, remember you’re going to have to view this TV for as long as what you want to watch is on, so make sure you’re comfortable when you put on the 11-hour Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended cut.
If you’re in the market for a TV, here are some key points in what to look for:
While you might have the screen set up, what’s the point of great picture quality if you can’t hear what you’re seeing? As such, a great speaker setup is imperative as sound is 50% of the viewing experience.
With TVs getting as thin as they are, the speakers in these units are often after-thoughts and sometimes omitted, with many recommending exterior solutions such as a soundbar to boost that sound quality significantly! These plug directly into the TV and provide just the extra sound and bass that your TV speakers can’t achieve!
With all this new technology, however, comes an additional cost: where do you put it? TV Units are great for hosting your TV and all of its associated accessories in one tidy hub. Even if your TV is wall-mounted, a TV unit provides a necessary home for all your speakers, entertainment boxes, and a landing area for any remotes while keeping your home looking professional.
As such, a good TV unit should ideally be able to house not only your TV, but your devices as well. We’d also recommend giving your devices as much air as possible when placing them inside their selected cubby, especially games consoles, as dust is easily collected within the devices and in time makes them overheat.
Good TV units should also feature cable management holes at the back so you can easily arrange the wires into one, clean mega-cable leading to the TV. You can check out our full range of TV units if you’re in the market for one, or need an example of what to look for.
Now you’ve got your screen set up, it’s time to do the seating arrangement! As mentioned earlier, the TV has replaced the hearth in the family home. Thus, when arranging your living room, your couches should ideally encircle the TV as that is most likely to be the center of attention in the room!
However, this doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice the accessibility of the room to get that perfect viewing angle, just so long as you aren’t trying to view the TV from a 45-degree angle you should be alright.
Also, consider which chairs/ couches you have available and arrange around them. So if you’ve got a massive 3-person sofa and two matching chairs, give the sofa the best viewing angle and the chairs can flank the sides of the sofa. This is obviously because the sofa seats the most, so more people are easily able to have a great viewing experience!
However, keep in mind when arranging the living room that you won’t be watching the screen at all times. Sometimes, you might just be having a quiet chat with a friend or hosting a board games night.
So make sure that your layout also doesn’t prevent conversation, this means having chairs face each other in a way where you can easily make eye contact with other patrons in the room.
If need be, make sure you have access to chairs that one can easily pull up and join in with the rest of the group also. Whether these are chairs from the dining table in the same room, or beanbags stuffed into a corner of the room, always make sure your living room is ready for any additional +1s.
Now you’ve got the seating arrangement set up, it’s time to find a home for your tables. Ideally, you want your table close by so you can easily reach for any drinks and snacks while also preventing any spills onto the carpet.
As such, a good coffee table is ideal to have somewhere central to all chairs, while also providing a good amount of surface area for all your snacks, drinks, and any feet resting from the couch.
It also pays to note the height and storage of the coffee table, as you ideally want the coffee table about the same height as where your legs are on your couch, and storage is important if you want to host an impromptu board game night after you’re finished watching what was on the TV.
If you’re in the market for a coffee table, then view our full range to see if we’ve got something to your liking.
Now, if you’re a true couch potato and want that full Maxell experience, then you might consider some couch side cabinetry.
Depending on the purpose of the cabinet and how much storage you may need, something like a bedside cabinet, despite its name, can make for an excellent couch side companion to host your drinks and snacks while keeping them in close proximity.
They are also excellent for any TV-related items, such as batteries, odd and end cables and adapters, and that remote for the old DVD player you don’t own anymore but don’t have the courage to throw out (hey, you might need it someday.)
Cabinets like these are also great for hosting odd and end electronics that you may use on the occasion, such as a lamp for reading or a Bluetooth speaker for some background music.
So now you’ve done it, you’ve set up your TV to perfection. Now you should be sitting in your chair at the perfect viewing angle, favourite snacks and drink close at hand and ready to sit for however long and enjoy your perfect viewing experience.
Whether you’re clocking in for the big game, or you’re experiencing the latest game release day one, you are ready to reach a level of entertainment quality that is unmatched anywhere else and personalized just for you. Now sit in your king's throne and revel in the glory that is your ultimate viewing setup!
If your entertainment setup is for movies or video games, then you most likely have a collection of physical media that you want close by for when their moment arises.
As such, an immediate solution would be a DVD rack that you can easily place next to or near the TV so you can easily have a full view of your collection close at hand.
However, sometimes your collection can easily exceed shelves like these after a year or so of collecting. As such, we would also recommend a large bookcase with additional shelving underneath for assorted accessories.
Again, however, if you’re someone who actively collects your chosen media, we would also recommend shelves that you can easily have access to more of to create a more synonymous shelving experience for your collection.
This issue is more common with gamers who will have different devices for different games, but it can still happen for the general screen watcher. If you’re in a position where you have too many devices for different jobs then there are plenty of solutions.
If you simply just have too many devices than what your TV has in ports, a great solution is to get an HDMI splitter that will allow you to connect however many devices to one central point before going to the TV as one cable.
However, for the gamers, this may have issues in input latency arise, so make sure to either read the product description or selectively choose which devices to have to go through this solution.
If you’re in a situation of having too many devices to fit into your TV unit then this is where the answer gets a little hairy. Depending on the device/ format it plays, you may be able to consolidate your devices down into using a singular device.
This means that if you have a Blu-ray, DVD, and CD player, then keep the Blu-ray player as it can play both DVDs and CDs. Many games consoles now also play these types of media, so consider purchasing a media remote for these devices so that those maybe not as literate with game controllers can still watch movies with ease.
Sometimes, the best room for watching your media may come with a catch, which most often is glare from either natural or unnatural sources. In this instance, there are several solutions to removing glare from your screen for different situations.
If the glare is coming from outside light from a window, then installing some black-out curtains will quickly control the lighting in your room. Otherwise, you can try installing the TV in areas where it is obscured from the light yet still visible, this may mean strategically placing a bookcase beside the TV, or placing ornaments on the window sill to block as much light as possible.
If the light source is unnatural, however, this is where options get a little complicated and costly.
A quick solution is to place some neutral lighting behind the TV to create a backlight, known as bias lighting. Whether it’s installing an LED strip behind the TV or just placing a lamp as close to the back of the TV as you can.
Otherwise, you can try either positioning the TV or the offending light away from each other. However, oftentimes this isn’t possible so again, our best and easiest solution is to just turn the lights off and revel in the darkness.
]]>Your bedroom is important to get right, as you’re going to be spending a lot of time in there, it needs to be organized in a way that makes sense while also giving yourself plenty of floor space for when you need to get ready.
It’s also your personal space so it also helps to decorate in a way that fits you and your lifestyle. As such, this guide should help in trying to organize and decorate your bedroom to fit YOU!
This question seems simple at first but it can quickly dictate the what and where of how your bedroom is laid out. Yes, it may be your bedroom but it’s the factors outside of that statement that affects how your bedroom is laid out.
Do you share the bedroom with your partner in your home? Are you staying in a shared space such as a flat or dorm? Are you living in a rental property where the property manager can easily red or green light the changes made to your area?
These are important things to question as they can easily impact your room layout in drastic ways.
Again, simple question but integral to getting your bedroom laid out in a way that avoids any headaches of bumped drawers and cramped spaces. List out the items you have or desire to be placed in your bedroom and place them in a list of essentials.
As an example, if you were living in a space where you only had your bedroom for your personal area, then your list may go as follows:
This may be a good time as well to participate in some Marie Kondo and spark joy by cutting out any unnecessary clutter.
If you’ve got piles of clothes that are past their use by date, or worse, never been worn, then it’s time for a trip to your local donation center for a drop off.
Now that we’ve organized what needs to go in the bedroom, let’s figure out how much space we have to work with.
Measure out the room, either roughly or accurately depending how good your measuring eye is, so that you can know the amount of square usable area you have available.
The term usable is important here as ideally you shouldn’t be placing items where they can’t and shouldn’t such as in front of doorways or in your roommates area if you have one.
It can also pay to take note of your available wall space as you may be able to utilize some of it for additional storage. By the end of it, you may have something that roughly looks as so:
This drawing should also act as a great moment to mention that if you have/can find services or software that allow you to get a layout of your room, use it!
Because, unless you’re a true interior decorator or architect, they are going to do a much better job than you will. Regardless, using a guide as such is an easy way to measure out what should go and where.
Also, take note of power outlets as in our technology-driven society you ideally want to make sure that you are able to effectively use them without needing to awkwardly reach for your phone on the charger or risk someone standing on your laptop that’s charging on the floor.
When it comes to decorating a bedroom, it makes sense to place the bed first, it’s the only piece of furniture that truly needs to be in there for a room to become a bedroom.
When it comes to placement however, this is where your sleeping situation will come into question again, are you sleeping by yourself or with your partner? What type of bed do you have? How do you like to sleep?
If you’re sleeping by yourself, you can easily place your bed against a wall to make an easy arrangement that provides maximum floor space, however, if you are sleeping with a partner then make sure they too can easily get in and out of bed with ease, unless you can live with your partner’s constant resentment to you for your bedroom arrangement.
It also pays to note the environment of the bedroom, if you’re staying in a central town apartment along a busy street or you’ve got some particularly noisy neighbours, then it may pay to have the bed as far away from the disturbing noise as possible.
Alongside needing a bed, as a human, it is definitely recommended that you wear clothes and thus a place to store them. Therefore, you most likely have a chest of drawers either in the form of a tall boy or lowboy and need a place to put them.
A good idea to follow is that you should be able to open the drawers with no obstruction and still have space to get dressed in front of the unit. Depending on your situation also, you should be able to easily be able to access the drawers quickly from when you get out of bed, in case you need to quickly need to put on a t-shirt for a surprise morning courier delivery or a frantic wake-up when you wake up late for work.
When it comes to no’s when placing the item in the room, ideally you should stray away from placing the unit in front of windows as this unnecessarily blocks sunlight into the room, while also exposing the unsightly back of the unit to the world.
It also pays to stray away from having the unit away from any windows at all as you are more than likely going to get dressed in front of the unit, thus you want to avoid having any nosy neighbors watch as you choose your outfit for the day.
If you’ve got a lowboy, a great idea is to place it in front of your bed to simply extend the shape of the bed within your room. The only issue with this placement method is that it severely limits what you can place on top of the lowboy, especially if you’re a particularly restless sleeper.
However, this technique creates a nice barrier between the foot of your bed and the rest of the bedroom and opens up your wall space for any mirrors or hanging shelves.
If you’re lucky enough to have a bedroom with a wardrobe and the drawers fit nicely within said wardrobe, place them in there. This saves a massive amount of floor space in your bedroom while also fully utilizing the wardrobe.
Adapting your wardrobe to be able to hold a majority of your clothing is ideal, as using them to only store shoes and coats is wasteful for the maximum amount of storage this type of space can hold.
In this ever-increasing abundance of screen-watching from services such as Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube, it is more than likely that you will have some form of screen, such as a TV or computer within your bedroom.
As such, if you’re a late-night binger or someone who falls asleep to the cool-blue light of your favourite podcast, screen placement can really make or break a bedroom setup.
Screen placement is an important thing to get right as there are a lot of factors involved in what makes a screen placement “good”. First off, who’s going to be viewing the screen? If it’s just you in your bachelor pad, then place the screen wherever is comfortable for you! Sleep on your side? Place it to whatever side you sleep on most.
Where this gets complicated is if the TV is for a couple, then this is where we get into a bit of audience analysis as your viewing habits should dictate where the TV is placed. If you both enjoy watching shows together then ideally you should try placing the unit as close to directly in front of the bed as you can.
However, one of you views the TV more than the other, then they should obviously have the screen on their side of the bed so that the sleeping partner can easily turn around to avoid the glow of the screen.
Now that you’ve decided where to place the screen, now it’s time to figure out how to place the screen. Ideally, the TV should be angled to where is comfortable for your neck in bed so you can avoid any awkward conversations about why your neck hurts the next day at work.
As such, a great solution is to place the TV on top of your chest of drawers as they provide great height and are more than likely always going to be in your bedroom. However, this does limit the usage of the top surface area of the dresser as they are great for holding any daily essentials.
You should also show caution placing anything expensive on top of dressers in general, as their frequent use means that anything placed on top is at risk of falling off whenever their drawers are shut, if it’s a can of deodorant falling off then no biggy, but a 32” TV is an entirely different story.
Thus, if you’re looking for a true ‘one and done’ placement for your TV, then definitely consider picking up a wall mount as they free the TV from taking up unnecessary floor space and instead use up the ever-abundant wall space.
Unfortunately, if you’re renting the location or are uncomfortable drilling holes in the wall, then this solution is out of the question but this idea should be the main thought floating in your head when trying to place a TV is to take up wall space over floor space.
Your bedroom shouldn’t be the main place where you watch TV, so its placement shouldn’t be as prominent as the other necessary items in your bedroom. Place the TV where you can see it, but don’t try to make it the main focus of your bedroom.
When it comes to storing everything else that you don’t need in your room but want in your room, this is more a question of what it is and how much you need it.
As such, this is where this guide is unable to provide genuine answers because we aren’t you, what we might deem as invaluable could be priceless to you. Regardless here are some minor pointers:
Obviously, if you’re dealing with a teenager with too much money or you’re a uni student who needs a quiet area to do their assignments, then a computer desk setup is essential for making sure you can easily get work done ASAP.
As such, the main takeaway from a desk setup is to make sure you can easily get in and out of your workstation with ease as obviously you function better when your body is comfortable and are able to sit for longer periods of time.
When it comes to placement, try to make sure that any light in the room comes adjacent to where your screen is to avoid unnecessary glare, whether that means placing the desk in front of your window to give yourself an inspirational view or tucked into a quiet corner with posters to give you the inspiration the choice is yours.
We’d obviously also avoid placing the desk in front of any walkways so you don’t get bumped when someone walks in to check how you’re doing (which is normally ‘not good’ if someone just shoulder-checked you.)
As mentioned earlier, also make sure that your desk is placed near any power outlets so that you can charge your laptop when necessary and finish your essay in lamp-light, not candlelight. Ideally, place the desk close to the power outlet too to avoid an anaconda of power cables leading to your study center.
To avoid the top of your desk looking like a spaghetti junction, we’d also recommend some cable management solutions to stick on the side of your desk such as these so that your chargers have a place to stay when not in use or velcro-straps such as these to tidy the back of the desk into a tidy ponytail.
If you’re a massive book nerd, vinyl collector or enjoy having tons of trinkets to show off to your friends, then you'll need a shelf to properly display these to the world… of your bedroom.
As such, make sure that your location fulfills the needs of your hobby, so place items away from sunlight if they’re susceptible to sun damage, and make sure they’re not getting too hot/ cold for the area they’re placed in.
When it comes to truly storing them, make sure the unit fulfills your needs with room to grow. The point of collections is to grow them, so what’s the use if you need to purchase another unit within 6 months.
Buy a unit that will allow you to grow your hobby, either with one expensive purchase, or something cheap that you can buy plenty of and rearrange to fit. If the situation suits, we definitely would recommend some wall-mounted shelving due to its low cost and ready availability while also keeping valuable floor space clear.
If you do have to use a floor unit, also make sure that you use the top of the unit to its full potential, especially if it’s not suitable for storing your hobby. Whether, this means using this area as a location to charge your laptop or maybe it can function as a quick makeup station, make sure that any empty surface area is given a purpose.
In this guide, you may have noticed a recurring theme of ‘use your walls, not the floor’ and that’s for good reason, at minimum your wall-to-floor ratio will be 4:1!
So use those walls to your advantage, before you put up any wall art think of what else could be on those walls instead. Command straps and hooks are amazing for a variety of purposes, whether it’s a cheeky place to hang your headphones or you’ve got a series of them hung up for your hats and jewelry. They really provide a simple solution to a variety of problems!
Once again also, wall shelves are excellent at storing things while leaving you valuable floor space to move about, whether it’s for books, shoes or knick-knacks, if it gets them off the floor then it’s worth it!
If you’ve done as much usage as you can for using your wall to it’s full advantage, now you can start with hanging up your wall art. However, make sure that you place up your most “functional” wall art up first, this means things like mirrors, calendars and cork boards before you get to hanging up any posters and tapestries.
Make sure that things like your calendars and cork boards are also somewhere usable too, as there’s no point having a calendar when it’s July and you haven’t changed it since January.
So you’ve placed down all the necessary items, and the stuff that is essential for your living arrangement. Now, it’s time for the stuff that you don’t want to throw away, but don’t need ready at all times.
Whether it’s a box full of sentimental birthday cards or filled with random cables and old electronics, it’s nice to be able to store them so you know where they are but aren’t constantly reminded they are there.
As such, this is where your bedroom’s setup may come into play. Does your wardrobe have a shelf that’s just a bit too out of reach? Does your bed have a big space underneath collecting dust bunnies? Or maybe your room just has a nook that you can’t really use for anything else?
Because ideally, these awkward places are where you should be storing these items, out of sight but still on the mind. Make sure to place them in climate-proof containers to keep the goods safe, you can also use appropriately sized snap-lock bags to further protect the items and also a great time to organize items such as cards and cables into appropriate categories.
If you’re dealing with electronics, make sure you can safely remove any batteries still in said electronics to avoid them corroding and either damaging the electronic or worse, combusting and causing a fire.
If you’ve made it this far, then congratulations you’ve done it, you’ve officially moved into your new bedroom!
You may need to make some final adjustments and tweak things a bit more to get them right but other than that your bedroom is complete and everything should be in its right place.
Now that you’ve got your killer bedroom setup, it’s time to take a quick nap, moving is exhausting work and you’ve earned it. Go lay down in that bed and revel in your new glory that is your bedroom.
The quick answer is No, technology and especially blue light from screens can easily cause disturbances in your body's circadian rhythm making it more difficult for your body to sleep.
You may not notice it also but speakers hiss a white noise when they have power surging through them alongside all the power LEDs lighting your room with a faint glow even when the lights are off.
As such, we would recommend minimizing the amount of technology as much as you can. However, humans are also creatures of arrogance and sometimes it’s nice to fall asleep to an hours-long The Office binge-watch.
So we’d say keep the technology to what you deem necessary, having a phone by your bedside can sometimes literally mean the difference between life and death if the situation arises and some people can only fall asleep to white noise.
The main point we’d say is to separate where you sleep and where you work/play as much as you can, while it might be nice to have a cozy gaming session in bed, what is not nice is laying in bed wired because your body can’t separate playtime from sleep time.
As such, if you have an office or play area where you can do the associated activities then do them there and keep your bedroom for sleeping as much as you can.
When dealing with children, make sure that their priorities are also kept in line with your requirements for setting up a bedroom. As such, make sure that if your child has a prized stuffed animal collection or a small library of picture books that they are kept close by.
A great storage solution for a child’s bedroom would be a blanket box to keep their toys within as this also teaches them a great ethic of putting their toys away after playing while also giving them a place to put their favourite plush toys and a blanket on top when it’s time for bed.
However, children also don’t have as much self-restraint as adults, so try to avoid placing electronics such as TV’s and games consoles in their room if you want them to sleep properly.
It pays to also teach children to separate sleep time from playtime so they learn to respect their circadian rhythm and don’t end up wired in bed as you might be.
Part of being a fledgling couple is learning to compromise, and when you’re having two people’s stuff into a single bedroom this is integral to learning how to work together.
Thus, ideally in this bedroom scenario, each individual should have their own 50% of the room to work with, however more often than not this isn’t how it turns out. Thus, when organizing a bedroom for a couple, make sure that each individual is treated fairly with their necessities.
This means making sure both people can access the bed without having to clamber over each other, that you can access all your drawers with ease and that both individuals feel respected in their space.
Sharing a bedroom means sharing your personal space, so make sure one person isn’t over-represented in this space to avoid the other feeling othered in their own space.
If you’re viewing this site from within New Zealand, we’ve got great news as we sell a great range of quality bedroom furniture for low prices!
However, if you’re viewing this outside of New Zealand, then we would recommend buying high-quality, wood furniture from a reputable source.
Especially when it comes to purchasing a bed, we would recommend buying something that’s going to last you a long time, you can use our guide to help you buy something to last you for years to come!
]]>When it comes to sleeping, the last thing you want from your bed is for it to squeak, creak and groan throughout the night! Even if you try to keep as still as possible, a squeaky bed will find a reason to make noise in the middle of the night.
It puts you at unease for the structural rigidity of your bed and it can irritate roommates throughout the night (it can also be a bit awkward if it’s a couple sleeping in the offending bed.)
The good news is that you’ve come to the right place to solve this issue once and for all!
Put simply, your bed frame is squeaking because either a bolt has come loose or the bed frame/ slats have slightly warped.
As to why this might happen, a loose bolt comes from general use of getting in and out of bed, but can be exacerbated from excessive weight on the bed, both in general and having weight placed on areas that strain the joints.
Other causes can come from unnecessary strain, such as children jumping on the bed or constant lifting of the bed for whatever reason.
When it comes to a warped bed frame or slats, this happens from a change of humidity altering the shape of the wood. This can either come from the bed being in either a particularly damp or a room with an altering humidity.
As such, avoid placing beds in humid/ damp environments to prevent this from happening.
However, sometimes this can be easier said than done, so consider other types of bed frames such as metal or box bed frames if this type of warping is unavoidable.
When it comes to silencing a squeaky bed, there are a variety of methods you can undergo to prevent this from happening. These range from cheap and simple, to more specialty solutions that might require going to a hardware store.
As such, it’s worth trying each of the solutions to see which works for you.
Before we get to fixing, however, we should probably figure out where it is that we should focus on. If you’ve got keen ears, you should be able to roughly isolate where the bed is squeaking.
Then it’s a matter of experimenting on why the squeak occurs, does it happen when you move even a little bit or only when you really fling yourself? Does the bed seem to shift at all when weight is applied or does it stay the same?
It’s important to answer these questions as it will quickly cut down what could be hours spent with other fixes to the 10-minute job you actually need to do.
This one is the most obvious, but if you haven’t already, TIGHTEN THOSE JOINTS! Plenty of times the simplest solution will be what solves your problem.
So remove your mattress and twist those bolts clockwise till you can no longer.
To really make sure the bolts aren’t the issue, use WD-40 or a similar lubricant to tighten the bolts further, if you’re an individual who might have issues performing this task, call in a strong relative/neighbour who is happy to assist you in this situation.
Certain wooden bed frames have slats that allow you to screw them in for added rigidity. While making the bed harder to disassemble, this can significantly help in quieting a creaky bed.
If the slats to your bed frame don’t have holes to screw them in, consider this as a possible solution, however, we would also advise trying other, less destructive, methods before going this route.
If you don’t want to commit to screwing in the slats to your bed frame, you could try cushioning the area where the slats and frame come in contact.
For this, you could try lining the bottom of the slats with blu-tack or attaching fabric such as old socks, shirts, and rags to the end of the slats for an easy, noise-canceling solution.
However, make sure not to add too much fabric to avoid making too much of a lump underneath your mattress.
If your bed is on a wooden or tile floor, sometimes the squeaky culprit can actually be the bed legs. Try adding some padding between the bed legs and the floor in the form of an old t-shirt, towel or some carpet off-cuts to soften the connection between the two.
On the topic of bed legs, if your bed is on wheels sometimes these can also be the culprit due to old bearings. Try lubricating them with WD-40 or replacing them entirely if you believe they are to blame for your nighttime squeaking.
While normally a fix for metal bed frames, lubricating a wooden bed frame is a valid and possible solution! However, rather than using metal lubricants such as WD-40 or grease, you can instead use wax or soap (They don’t have to be expensive either, cheap soap or wax from a candle will do just fine!)
To lubricate, dismantle the bed so you can easily access all points of contact between the bed’s different pieces, then get your chosen wax/soap and rub it onto the surface area of the contact point on both pieces.
If you’ve tried everything to fix your bed, or you’ve tried nothing and you’re out of ideas, then sometimes the best answer is the easiest, just buy a new one. If you don’t know where to buy a bed frame from then clicking HERE might help.
If you also need help with buying a bed frame, then this guide HERE may also help.
In conclusion, fixing a squeaky wooden bed is a simple fix, however, the difficulty is figuring out what part of the bed is squeaking. Sometimes, you can try every fix under the sun to no avail and other times all that needs to be done is another quarter-turn on a single bolt.
Regardless, it’s up to you whether the amount of effort you may need to fix the bed is worth the amount of irritation the offending squeak causes, which for most sleep-deprived individuals is always an exasperated: “YES!”
If you’ve figured out that it’s the mattress and not the bed that’s squeaking, the simple solution is to simply flip the mattress. This will give the mattress a new breath of life as the previously unused other side of the springs in the mattress are now instead being used. Rotate the mattress 180° for maximum effect.
However, this solution is only temporary and will eventually lead to the mattress squeaking once again. If you’ve flipped and rotated the mattress to every possible position and it’s still squeaking, it might be time for a new mattress. If you need a mattress then luckily we know just the right people to buy from.
When it comes to preventing a box bed from squeaking, unfortunately, this is where solutions become few and expensive. Box beds begin squeaking for the same mattresses do: old and worn springs.
However, unlike a mattress, a box bed can not be flipped for obvious reasons, and rotating may possibly be out of the question as the frame may have the hardware for installing a headboard at one end of the bed, making for an unsightly scene when out in the open. As such, the only real solution to a squeaky box bed is to buy a new one.
]]>In short, Yes! However, removal of the mold may not save the furniture, as the piece may have been damaged beyond repair. So while it may be easy to remove the mold, consider whether the piece is recoverable enough to save it from its moldy demise.
If you’re not prepared to repair the furniture, or the effort outweighs the cost of the unit, then luckily we know just the people to sell you some replacement furniture.
As you’ll see most of these products can easily be purchased from most general goods stores and supermarkets, making this process easily do-able.
Mould is a fungi, thus it spreads through spores in the air. As such, when removing mould you should move the affected furniture either outside or at least to a well-ventilated room to prevent it from spreading even more within your house.
Taking the unit outside can also effectively work in killing the mould as the sunlight and heat help dry out the unit, weakening the mould for when it is eventually cleaned
We would also recommend putting on as much protective gear as possible at this point to prevent the mould from spreading onto you
Now that the affected unit is in a well ventilated location, vacuum the affected area to remove any loose spores. We also recommend vacuuming the surrounding area in case they have been affected too.
Once you feel as if you’ve vacuumed enough, take the vacuum and it’s contents outside to safely dispose of the contents. It’s also highly recommend to seal the vacuumed contents in a plastic bag to avoid any spores escaping
At this point you should have a better understanding of how much the mould has affected the furniture. Is the mould new and is only sitting on top of the furniture, or has the mould had it’s residence for some time? How far has the mould truly spread on the unit? If you think you can successfully remove it, then proceed with this tutorial. But if you think the unit is too far gone, then it probably is.
This next step depends both on how much mould you have to kill and what materials you have at hand.
If the mould is relatively light, you can easily use a spray bottle filled with warm, soapy water (dish soap, not hand soap) and a soft-bristled brush such as an old toothbrush to scrub at the mould until it has been successfully cleared then dry the surface with a towel.
If the mould is more stubborn you can try mixing equal parts distilled white vinegar and warm water in a spray bottle then spraying this combination onto the affected area and leaving for an hour. Then wipe the area with a moistened cloth before drying it with a towel.
If that is not enough however, it’s time to bring out the big guns. By combining a tablespoon of borax with a cup of water, apply this solution to the affected area with a soft-bristled brush. Scrub until the mould is gone and only the borax solution is left behind, then dry the area with a fan or dehumidifier leaving the borax solution on the unit as this will prevent any future mould growth.
If cleaning the mould was ineffective, then you can try carefully using 100-grit sandpaper to remove the mould from the affected area, then vacuuming the area to capture any loose spores.
However, at this point reconsider Step 3 because if you have to sand an amount that would make for a noticeable blemish on the unit, then it might be worth cutting your losses and simply replacing the furniture.
Mould thrives in moist and humid environments, so if your furniture is in a particularly damp environment, such as underneath a window that often gets condensation, then mould is likely to take up residence on your furniture in this area.
This Stuff article shows the many places where mould can grow without you thinking about it
To prevent mould growth, simply make an environment where mould cannot thrive. This means moving furniture away from damp walls to provide proper airflow. If necessary, consider a dehumidifier to help dry out a room further preventing mold growth. If your house has any leaks at all, definitely make sure to fix them.
When it comes to the furniture itself, coating the furniture in a protective oil finish, and drying any wetness from the wood as soon as possible should definitely help in protecting mould growth
Mould is something you do not want in your home, period. It can cause various health effects and in some cases these can be long-lasting and possibly fatal, so you want to get rid of mould ASAP.
This document from the Bay of Plenty DHB goes into further detail regarding this issue.
Yes, vinegar is safe to use on wood furniture and using it won’t damage any finishes or warp the wood. It’s also great due to it’s easy availability, deodorizing capabilities and non-harmful effects on humans and animals. You can also use lemon juice or a combination of the two to create a powerful cleaner also!
If somehow you don’t have either dish soap or white vinegar in your house. There are plenty of other ways to kill mould, the simplest being sunlight, which can easily kill mould in the early stages by simply moving the furniture outside in the heat.
However, you can also use water in combination with either baking soda, chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, bleach or lemon juice to create a solution to your problem. You can also combine vinegar, water, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of baking soda to create a potent mould remover.
We will also clarify now: DO NOT COMBINE BLEACH/CHLORINE AND VINEGAR, THIS CREATES DEADLY CHLORINE GAS, IF YOU DO THIS ON ACCIDENT, LEAVE THE ROOM IMMEDIATELY!
Mould can be hard to detect until it’s too late due to the fact that it often grows in locations that are out of general view and grows gradually. However, one giveaway is the smell, as mould should smell like moist soil.
While you may not be able to smell this personally in your house, if you have guests complaining about the smell in your house, then that’s a sign that you should either A. Check your house for mould and if there is no mould then B. Figure out where that bad smell is coming from.
]]>This may seem like a given, but having the right tools before you do a job can save a lot of headaches down the line. If you’ve got a free-standing headboard, then all you will need will be a set of working hands and a bit of strength to move the bed out from the wall.
However, for a mounted headboard, make sure you have the correct type and amount of screws/washers you need. Many manufacturers will also include smaller tools such as Allen keys and even small wrenches as well to save some headache, however, we would also say that using your own tools is also beneficial as they are more likely better made and will avoid unnecessary strain and hand cramps
These mounting points are typically found at the top of the bed frame, if you’ve found them either at the bottom or side of the bed frame then do we have news for you!
If you’ve got a wooden base bed, these should be clearly visible screw points, whereas on a box bed these points will be obscured by fabric and need to be made accessible by tearing the fabric at these points (as such, mounting a headboard to a box bed might not be the best solution and a free-standing headboard is heavily recommend as discussed below.)
It may also pay at this point to measure the distance between the mounting points to see if it’s the same as the headboard.
Now, this next step depends on the type of headboard you are installing. If you’ve got a floor-standing headboard, then just lean it against the bed and you’re ready to go.
If you’ve got a headboard that attaches via struts, then we’d recommend laying the headboard face down, then with the supplied screws and washers, attach the strut legs to the headboard body. Then you should be able to lay the headboard against the bed and proceed to the next step.
Now that everything is ready, locate the mounting holes in the bed frame, if the bolts are already inserted, remove them now. Next, line up the headboard with the mounting points in the bed frame.
Then simply secure the headboard to the bed frame, make sure to tighten the bed frame so there’s no wiggle room between the headboard and bed, but avoid tightening too much as this could thread the screw and create issues when removing the headboard in the future.
Before you tighten the headboard and call it a day, inspect how the headboard looks attached to the bed frame to make sure it’s attached “correctly” (even try ‘sleeping’ on it). Is the headboard sitting too low or too high on the bed frame? Simply loosen the back again and shift the headboard till it fits right.
This is also a great time to look at other issues that might arise from attaching a headboard such as how the headboard rests against the wall in its final position, or if the marginal increase in length causes issues within the room layout.
These are small things but it’s ideal to make sure that the desire of having a headboard doesn’t interfere with your enjoyment of the rest of your room!
If you’ve attached your headboard with zero issues and it looks great in your bedroom, then congratulations, you did it!
Now enjoy a complimentary nap in your fresh-looking bed.
Headboards were originally intended to seperate the bed from the wall as earlier homes had terrible insulation making walls massive attractors of the cold. However in the current day, headboards are more intended to give your bed a more focal look and add some extra style into your bedroom. Here's another article discussing other things to consider when purchasing a headboard.
If you want to add a headboard to your bed frame but your bed has no holes to attach one to, or you don’t want to risk damaging your bed in the process of doing such, we would highly recommend looking into a free-standing headboard.
These are, as the name implies, free-standing, and sit wedged between your bed and the wall. This makes them a great non-committal and versatile option as well for those who might be in the process of buying a new bed frame or people who live in rental properties and as a result move houses often.
When attaching a DIY headboard, the same rules apply. Make sure the headboard size is the same as the bed frame it’s attaching to, and line the mounting holes of the bed frame with the appropriate holes on the headboard.
Make sure that if it’s a free-standing headboard that it clears your bed frame and mattress. Most importantly, if it’s you that is making it or someone else, make sure that the build quality is good enough.
A headboard has to be able to survive a night’s sleep, so make sure the build quality is enough to last a thousand’s worth.
Attaching a headboard to a metal bed frame is a little different but the fundamentals are the same!
As the title implies, remove anything extraneous from the bed frame (e.g. the mattress, sheets, bed skirts etc.) Then, move the frame away from the wall where you want to attach the headboard.
Now, move the headboard where you would like it within the room and make sure it stands up straight (feel free to bring in an extra hand for this step to really make sure.) Line up the headboard so that the holes on the frame line up with the bolt holes in the headboard.
As mentioned earlier, many bedframes will have bolts pre-installed in these holes so remove these first.
On one side, press the frame firmly against the headboard. Then drive the bolts through the headboard so they poke out through to the bed frame.
Then attach the nuts to the bolts and tighten as much as you can. Repeat on the other side of the bed and your headboard should be installed.
After attaching the headboard, replace the items removed from the bed and lay down on it to ensure the headboard is attached correctly and make sure the headboard has no wobble or added creaks.
If the bed has passed this test then congratulations, you have successfully installed a headboard to your metal bed frame.
In short, yes a headboard can be attached to any bed frame given the sizes match. Where things get more complicated is whether the bed frame has the appropriate mounting solution. If your bed frame has no mounting holes, or are obscured by fabric like on box beds, then a free-standing headboard is what you’re looking for. If your bed frame has a mounting solution, then you can purchase any type of headboard, given that the headboard is the same size as the bed.
First, it’s worth checking all the joints of the bed frame itself. Are the wheels/feet screwed on tight? or are they all there? Are all the joints of the bed secure with no give? If all of these are a yes, then a mounted headboard may add some more rigidity to your frame. However, other solutions such as adding felt pads to the bed legs might provide a better result.
There are headboards that do attach to the wall rather than the bed. These are often seen in hotels/motels where the bed won’t be moving often. While looking clean and not damaging the bed, these also have their own cons, namely that they screw into your walls. Not only does this limit your ability to move your bed around the room, but it also creates another debate on whether you would like to risk damaging your bed frame, or damaging the walls of your house (if you live in a rental, these would definitely be a no go depending on the landlord.) However, if you would like to attach a headboard to the wall, here's a guide to show you how.
A bed frame isn't just a place for your mattress to call it's home. It is usually a focal point of your bedroom.
]]>A bed frame isn't just a place for your mattress to call it's home. It is usually a focal point of your bedroom.
So if you're after a warm, welcoming, natural feel - you should opt for wooden bed frames - especially when modern interiors can appear cold and sterile.
While you can use a mattress without a bed frame, a bed frame will make your time and experience with the mattress more worthwhile and less of a headache.
Alongside the above reasons, using a mattress without a bed frame is like listening to a radio with a lousy signal, It works, but a proper set-up would make the experience much better.
A bed frame won’t make an old mattress with broken springs feel brand-new, but what a bed frame will do is properly support the mattress and make sure that the user is getting the total usage out of what their mattress can provide.
Upgrading your bed frame can also provide comfort in a mental sense, as a newer bed frame will creak less and be less likely to have worn out screws for the joins.
However, to truly increase the comfort in your sleeping experience, the mattress will be the more important of the two. If a new mattress is what you think you need, check out our range!
A sign of a quality bed frame is its slats and how they are designed. A majority of our bed frames have slats that range from 6.5 to 8 centimetres; this is an ideal distance as any further puts more strain on the mattress, putting it more at risk of tearing and wearing down quicker.
This one is obvious but should still be mentioned, but a bed made from cheap material will always feel cheap. When buying a bed, consider the material it’s made from as better material will always result in a better bed resulting in better sleep.
All of our beds are either made from high-quality New Zealand Pine or American Oak.
This one’s a given but bears repeating. Look at how the bed itself is constructed.
How are the head and footboards connected to the side rails? Is there a central beam underneath the slats to ensure they don’t sag? How is the central beam itself supported? Questions like these are usually a great indicator of a bed’s quality and if it is a worthy investment.
For more tips, especially if you are looking at a box spring bed, check out the following link!
Before you go out to buy a bed frame, there are some things to consider first:
Is this bed frame a new purchase or an upgrade? What size mattress do you sleep on at the moment?
These things are essential when buying a bed frame because if you’re simply upgrading your bed frame and don’t need a mattress, then make sure you’re buying the same size of bed again. However, if you have neither a bed frame nor a mattress, then the world’s your oyster!
Why are you looking into getting a new bed frame? Think about the issues you have with your current bed and how a new frame would solve them.
If your current bed is creaking, then make sure to buy a bed with better support so it makes less noise; if it’s too small, then consider moving up a size, if you don’t like the style, then applaud yourself for changing your tastes and buy a bed that’s more YOU!
What’s the space of the room you are working within? It might be appealing to go for the biggest bed you can afford, but if it doesn’t fit in your bedroom, then what’s the use?
Measure the area where you would want the bed to be and consider your options from there. Most furniture websites should have the dimensions on the product page, or you can use the handy chart below to help aid in your buying decision.
This one is obviously on personal taste, but how does the new bed frame look? There’s no point going for the cheapest bed frame available if it’s painted neon-green and has a giant sad clown painted on the headboard. Make sure the bed you’re buying suits the room you are buying it for!
For more info, especially for non-slat bed frames, check out this link!
Size |
Mattress (cm) |
Bed-Frame (cm) [approximately] |
Single |
920w X 1880L |
1000w X 2000L |
King Single |
1070w X 2030L |
1200w X 2200L |
Double |
1370w X 1880L |
1500w X 2100L |
Queen |
1530w X 2030L |
1700w X 2200L |
King |
1670w X 2030L |
1800w X 2200L |
Super King Bed |
1830w X 2030L |
2000w X 2200L |
Unfortunately, unless it’s completely destroyed, it can be hard to tell when you need to replace your bed frame. However, if you feel your bed frame is failing, here are some key things to check.
If your current bed frame creaks and groans throughout the night (and keeps you up!!), then it could be worth looking into a new frame with better build quality and support that will stay quiet whenever you move around in bed.
Does your mattress sag in the middle when you get into bed? This could be a sign of a lousy bed frame, either from a broken/ missing slat or a failing joint on the frame itself.
As mentioned, the number one sign it’s time to replace your bed frame is if it’s damaged in any way, whether it’s a broken slat, a worn-out joint, or a cracked headboard, a damaged bed frame can have issues ranging from it having a blemished appearance, to completely falling apart in the middle of the night.
In conclusion, pick the bed frame that suits your needs and fits within your requirements. A more expensive bed frame won’t turn an insomniac into someone who sleeps 18 hours a day, but a better bed frame will better support your mattress and increase the mattress’ longevity. As such, if you are looking at purchasing a new mattress, it is definitely worth looking at upgrading your bed frame to ensure you get the most out of both.
If you are reading this article and live in the New Zealand region, then good news! You can buy a bed frame from the very site you are reading this on!
However, if you are reading this outside of New Zealand, our answer would be to check the local furniture and bedding/mattress shops in your area.
This depends; bed frames are vital in ensuring you get the whole life out of your mattress. So, if you’ve spent a pretty penny on a new mattress, then it is very highly recommended you get a bed frame to match. However, if all you can afford is a $50 mattress that’s on its last legs and it’s on a properly maintained surface, then a mattress on the floor is perfectly fine.
The opposite, actually! A good slat bed will better support the mattress and in turn your back. A majority of the responsibility, in this case, will be on the mattress on healing your crookback. However, a slat bed will ensure that the mattress can better support your figure and make sure your mattress works at full effect longer.
For seeing how other beds treat you back, this link goes through other types of bed so you can choose the right one for you!
If we are talking about buying new, this can obviously vary from retailer to retailer, but in general, a basic fabric King box bed frame will run you around $500 NZD. In regards to a bed from our range, a king-size Pine bed-frame should run you around $750 NZD while the stronger Oak will run for twice that.
When it comes to second-hand, this is more of a wild west in terms of pricing and value for money. As such, we would heavily discourage buying a second-hand bed frame from a cheaper retailer as the lack of warranty, and already low build quality could easily turn the bed into more of a headache than it’s worth.
This depends on the quality of the bed frame itself. If it’s a cheap bed frame from a large retail joint such as The Warehouse in New Zealand or Walmart for you Americans, expect your bed frame to last only ten years. However, if you buy a high-quality bed frame from either us or a similar store, expect the lifespan of the bed frame to reach the 30, 50 and even 80 years mark!
How the bed frame is treated will also obviously affect its lifespan. Practising your belly flops on the bed will obviously strain the bed frame a lot more than getting into it normally, even if it’s a lot less cool.
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