Archive for the Lifestyle Category

The Industrial Furniture Phenomenon

Perhaps a lesser-known style than retro or vintage, nowadays more and more chic interior designers are incorporating the usage of industrial furniture into their designs. It is common knowledge that, as a society, we are well adept at making that which is old new again. This is oft demonstrated when people are willing to spend copious amounts of time and money to find and obtain antique and vintage furniture pieces to complete and/or compliment their home décor. This tendency to recycle old ideas and incorporate the past into the present is rarely as apparent as when discussing the phenomenon of industrial furniture.
With industrial furniture, many items that may have once been considered unsalvageable or even to be junk can be recycled into attractive and fashionable furnishings. Items that were once destined to rust away in a scrap yard are now being salvaged, restored, and incorporated into beautiful and distinctive pieces of furniture, many so unique they could easily be considered art in and unto themselves.
They key to beautiful industrial furniture is to utilize old industrial machinery in a way that is both eye catching and functional. Some of the most attractive and sought after pieces of industrial furnishings are old industrial light fixtures and bases of large industrial machinery. You may find the bases recycled into table, chair, or lamp bases. They are always cleaned up and beautifully restored. There are many companies out there that make and sell custom industrial furniture. While the price may be higher that other contemporary forms of home furnishing, you are always guaranteed a unique and eye catching piece.
An alternative to purchasing premade industrial furniture is to seek out and find old industrial machinery scraps yourself, and use them as a starting point to create your own designs. Many times, you will be able to find a reputable restoring company that specializes in making these old pieces like-new. After you have beautified your industrial machinery find, you can then choose to either incorporate it into a piece of your own design and construction or contract the design and construction of your new industrial furniture to an individual or company that specializes in such work.
To see examples of this phenomenon please visit www.elemental.uk.com

Vintage Verses Retro Furniture

If you are looking for a new look for your home, you may be considering vintage or retro furniture. But, what is the difference between the two? In order to ensure that you get the best deals available when shopping for vintage furniture or retro furniture, it is important to understand what each one is and how to distinguish between the two.
Vintage furniture is furniture that is less than 100 years old (as opposed to antique furniture which is over 100 years old). On the other hand, “retro” refers to things associated with or revived from the past. This means that retro furniture is generally copied from vintage furniture, while not necessarily being vintage itself. Basically, in order to be considered vintage furniture an item must be from the 1980’s or earlier (but not more than 100 years old), while in order to be considered retro furniture, and item needs only look like an item from an earlier decade.
In fact, most “retro furniture” items are merely brand-new reproductions of true vintage furniture. This explains the large variations in price between seemingly similar vintage and retro furniture items. Generally speaking, items that are truly “vintage” will be more costly than items that are simply labeled “retro.”
When visiting furniture stores or galleries, one of the surest ways to ensure that you are getting a fair price on an item (other than doing your homework beforehand) is to ask the salesman or gallery owner to specify whether the piece is truly vintage furniture, or if it may be more accurately described as retro furniture. It is possible for an item to be vintage as well as retro, or retro as well as vintage, but that is not always the case, and assuming that a furniture item is both rather than either/or may cause you to spend unnecessarily on something just because you do not fully understand what you are looking at.
One of the best ways to fully understand the differences between retro furniture and vintage furniture is to check out the web sites of reputable vintage furniture or retro furniture dealers. Most of them have clear descriptions of both types of furniture, as well as links to external sites and sources that can help clear up your confusion. Or, you could simply make a trip to a local vintage or retro furniture dealer.
To view a comprehensive collection of both, you must go to www.elemental.uk.com

Wedding & Party Planners

BEAU BELLES
The Beau Belles site is great for browsing through the various weddings they have done and to read the feed bac fom their clients.

If you are planning to get married and don’t know where to begin, or you need some independent advice to put everything together, then the Beau Belles site is the right place to begin. They understand the importance of your wedding day, how daunting the planning can seem, the problems that can arise and the excitement a wedding brings.

Whether you simply need an extra pair of hands on the day or a fully designed and organised wedding, They provide a personal and flexible service adapted to your needs, saving you money, time and stress along the way.

Beau Belles wedding planning, designing and co-ordinating business is based in Birstwith, 5 miles from Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Being so centrally situated I cover weddings throughout Yorkshire and the North of England
www.beaubelles.co.uk

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