February 24, 2015

Fluid Assembly Furniture?

Fluid Assembly Furniture from Self-Assembly Lab, MIT on Vimeo.

Fluid Assembly is part of a research project conducted by MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab looking at autonomous construction in complex and uncontrolled environments (water, air, space etc). In this experiment different components are released into a basin of turbulent water. Each item is completely unique from one another and has a precise location in the final arrangement. The process was videotaped over 7 hours, after which a fully constructed, precise chair was developed. The chair was selected to show differentiated structures as opposed to repetitive growth or self-similar structures. This experiment points towards the idea that one can self-assemble arbitrarily complex structures from furniture to components, electronics / devices or other different structures.

Wow!

Posted in All Things Considered, Paris
Tagged ACS Nano, Advanced Light Source, AZ Electronic Materials, Fluid Assembly, Furniture, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MIT, Molecular Foundry, Self-assembly, Self-Assembly Lab, uncontrolled environments, Wired (magazine)

November 27, 2013

IKEA Small Spaces – Living Together in a Small Apartment

Ikea advertisement in Paris subway.

On an apartment renovation in Paris, it is not unusual to have a chambre de bonne or maids room that is part of the project. This room is usually on the top floor and is many times very small. In this video they have a number of great ideas like keeping a couch off the wall in favor of movable chaise lounges, a dual use table on wheels and a projection TV screen that comes in the form of a roll up blind attached to the ceiling. If you are looking small space design ideas we hope we helped you out. 😀

Posted in IKEA, Renovation in Paris
Tagged Apartment, France, Furniture, Ikea, Ile-de-France, Paris, Square metre
Leave a comment

November 12, 2013

IKEA’s Living Billboard Bathroom Advert In Parisian Campaign

IKEA EXPEDIT (Photo credit: tomas carrillo)

Yesterday someone somewhere in the world Googled “ikea paris france shower public” and ended up spending some time on our Paris Renovation Apartment and Home Improvement blog.

Is that cool or what?! 😀

The above video was first in the search results. IKEA actually created a ‘living Billboard’ at Gare St. Lazare.

They created fully functional bathrooms and rose them up like billboards. Then they hired actors to interact with the space to showcase how a small room can be maximized using IKEA furniture.

In Paris, your apartment along with your bathroom can be painfully small as opposed American standards.

So you gotta love IKEA.

And you gotta love WordPress.com.

Posted in Bathroom, IKEA, Shower
Tagged Apartment, Bathroom, Billboard, France, Furniture, Ikea, Ile-de-France, Paris, Renovation, United States
Leave a comment

November 5, 2013

IKEA Nanny Banned Commercial

Français : Dans le magasin IKEA de Roques (Haute-Garonne). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In America, IKEA furniture is almost somewhat of a novelty. But after one spends enough time in Paris, it is clear how precious every square centimeter of your living space is.

As a result, there are very few companies that can inspire more renovation ideas than IKEA. The ingenious use of space as illustrated here in the above sightly risque video is the core competency of IKEA.

It use to be rare when furniture informs the choices you make as you choose what and how to renovate your home or apartment.

But the solutions provided as far as style, ease of use and price point in terms of total renovation costs makes IKEA really hard to beat.

Not to mention this video is pretty hilarious.

Enjoy! 😀

Posted in IKEA, Renovation in Paris
Tagged Business, Furniture, Home and Garden, Ikea, IKEA furniture, living space, Paris, Renovation, square centimeter
5 Comments

October 30, 2013

IKEA – Refresh Your Bedroom

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When renovating a home, whether you realize it or not you are always thinking in ‘zones’.

There is a zone to store materials and a zone to store tools, you need a wet zone to access water, a zone where to stage the debris etc…

These zones should not conflict with one another and should be organized to maximize work flow.

Here Designer Dad Stephen Saint-Onge from IKEA asks ” Do you want to change your life?” And then continues, “Good design does have the power to change you life.”

He asserts that the by looking at a bedroom in ‘zones’ that are pleasing to the eye as well as functional, one can increase the pleasure of using that space thereby giving you more comfort and rest which in turn, adds more vitality to your life.

Makes sense.

Change your room.

Change your life! 😀