furniture

Lounge around in levitating Hoverit chair

If you like to feel that you're above other people, the Hoverit lounge chair might just be for you.

Using repelling magnetic forces, the Lounger lifts you up as it levitates above the structure's base--just a few inches up, but up nonetheless.

The limited-edition handmade chair by British company Hoverit measures about 6.5 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet and comes in clear acrylic, though there are customization options. You can select different shapes of cutouts for the seat--circles, hearts, droplets, or slots--as well as mats to soften the acrylic blow. And the company said it will soon have a range of accessories, including cushions.

Hoverit describes lounging in its patent-pending chair as floating on a cloud. Watching a demo of it (video below), that description doesn't seem so far off. If you're concerned about the hovering part getting pushed out of line from the magnetic field and thus causing you to go kerplunk, stabilizing poles appear to keep that section where it needs to be.

Ubergizmo, however, poses some pertinent questions, such as whether it be can swayed from side to side to emulate a hammock tied between two trees.

Unfortunately, we haven't had a chance to test the chair--and probably won't ever, as it costs $8,350. … Read more

LP storage, retro style

Records are skinny things, but once you have more than 100 or so they start to take up a lot of space. Some vinyl philes just leave them on the floor, or lean them up against furniture. Yuch! The nice folks at Atocha Design build gorgeous hi-fi furniture. Each piece is made to fit your needs, contact Atocha Design to get a price quote. Finish options run to American Maple, Walnut, Oak, and Bamboo; handles are solid brass. Atocha Designs are hand crafted in the U.S.A.

A table that thinks it's a storage shed

The summer months are waning, but if you're anything like me, you'll continue eating outside until the evening frost calls for winter coats. Whether I'm on vacation, on my day off, or on my lunch break, it's tough to find anything as instantaneously liberating and relaxing as eating outdoors.

If you have a deck or patio and you share my sentiments about al fresco dining, then, chances are, you own deck furniture. But, what happens to your blessed table and chairs in the winter months?

I don't have a deck, or a patio, or a … Read more

IKEA to sell solar panels?

IKEA plans to pour $77 million into clean-technology start-ups within the next five years and could add "green" goods such as solar panels to its inventory, according to Cleantech Group.

The four-person, 50 million euro IKEA GreenTech fund has been operating for eight months, the report said. And it could invest in up to 10 fledgling companies in the next few years, perhaps first in Europe, where IKEA rings up about 82 percent of its sales.

Efforts to commercialize new and affordable green technologies within several years could lead to IKEA selling the resulting products among its growing … Read more

How to put a computer in your coffee table

Despite their functionality, not all built-in computer desks need to have a minimalist or futuristic design. In fact, if Vanity PC has its way, computing will blend almost seamlessly into furniture of the most traditional origins.

At first glance its offerings look like a throwback to the faux armoires used to conceal ridiculously bulky tube TVs in the living room, but Vanity PC goes beyond that. Not only does it integrate the computer into all manner of furniture--including a coffee table, as pictured here--but it also builds the technology directly into the pieces, such as an LCD underneath a folding desktop … Read more

A Danish chair you won't find at IKEA

There have been other multimedia loungers that hang screens precariously overhead, but usually they try to pack in as many functions as possible for entertainment or even (gasp) work. The "Surf Chair," however, keeps things simple: It just lets you lie back and immerse yourself in the Web.

That simplicity contributes to the classically clean lines of Danish design. And don't worry about all those cords tethering the peripherals in the photo; it actually won the "Internet Collection" competition of the Scandinavian Furniture Fair a few years ago, according to BornRich, so the gear should … Read more

Photos: The high-tech future of furniture

Last week in New York, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair showcased the tip-top of modern design. More than 600 exhibitors displayed contemporary furniture, flooring, lighting, and accessories and included a fair share of tech-oriented, futuristic and energy-saving devices. To see what they had to offer, click here.

Giant NES controller as coffee table, storage

20-year-old Australian Kyle Downes just finished building his most recent Ultra Awesome project: A massive working Nintendo controller that doubles as a coffee table and triples as a storage chest.

Built from a desire to improve G4TV's similar design, Kyle printed out a picture of an NES controller on A4 sized paper for the measurements and cut the whole thing out of 4mm Medium Density Fiberboard.

The result is every gamer's dream. It's another tribute to retro tech and the perfect piece of furniture to match your race car bed and sofa cushion forts.

This week in portable home furniture

I have at least a good half decade--maybe more--until I become a stadium-chair-toting soccer mom.

And I hope that when I get there, these nice people, or someone, is making this into a real product by then. OhGizmo has a link to this designer briefcase-cum-folding-chair, which is a great way to disguise the fact that you're carrying a chair with you.

It's a regular hard-shell briefcase with nylon straps that make it attachable to something sturdy enough to hold your own weight. Then you can sit and enjoy. I should also mention it's an art project (from … Read more

Anatomy of an IKEA product

Over the years, I've bought and built a lot of IKEA products: chests of drawers, office tables, bedside stands, media centers, glassware cases, and so forth.

Once, to make a little money, I even hired myself out to build some bookcases for a busy friend.

IKEA, as you probably know, is a furniture-retailing-industry phenomenon; millions of people buy its products because they're generally inexpensive and easy to put together. Plus, they almost universally come with everything you need to get going.

Almost every time I've put together an IKEA product, I've wondered as I sifted through … Read more