Human Dimensions to Furniture Making

Have you ever wondered how furniture should be made or arranged keeping our body dimensions in mind? For example, how much distance should there be between a sofa and your coffee table or how high should a dinning chair be in proportion with the dining table? This is called Anthropometrics – study of human dimensions. In this case, we will incorporate making furniture with anthropometrics to build and use furniture efficiently.

Seating
Depending on where you are sitting, the chair is designed so that you can sit upright or sit back. If you are lounging, the chair is made to recline or while dining, the chair is made upright to help a slight forward motion.
Further, if your feet are unsupported, the body loses stability leading to discomfort. Hence, a bar or some kind of a support is required to help maintain comfort while seating. On the other hand, if the seating is very low, the legs may extend forward which is fine for lounging but not for dining.

Tips while making or choosing Furniture
1. Seat height for dining chairs should be at least 18 inches high.

2. Seat height for lounge chairs and sofa should be at least 16 inches.

3. Knee space under dining table should be a minimum of 12 inches, though 14 is better.

Spacing Requirements while Arranging Furniture
1. Allow at least 24 inches between the side of the bed and the wall so you can get in to make the bed and change the sheets.

2. A dresser and the foot of the bed should be at least 42 inches apart so you can open the drawers easily.

3. Sixteen to 19 inches between sofa and the centre table will give you enough space to get around the table as well as be able to reach it for access.

4. A passage or a hallway created by a wall and the back of the sofa should be 30 to 36 inches wide.

5. Give yourself 36 inches from the edge of the dining table to the wall for easy access in and out of the chair.

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Trends in India

Living in the modern times, touch of old mixed with new, creates some kind of eclecticism. You could have your contemporary sofas alongside your antique ones and still make it look trendy, or rather the right word to be used is retro. This aesthetic trend of mix and match has been circulating not only in India but all over our globe. In this article I will be writing more about the newest furniture accessories, colours, textures and fabrics.

To talk a little about the latest trends in furniture - a low sofa with white or shades of white simple cotton upholstery accentuated with bright decorated pillows is in vogue. Leather has also made a strong statement this year with its bright to subtle shades of colour. To give your home the look of its own, having an accessory piece of furniture, may it be a mini-bar or a few ottomans or book rack, shows style, and an inclination and openness to the ever changing fashion.

In colours, a drift flowing towards earthy colours like terracotta or a stone-finish look is in style. Green has been a dominant colour of this year. The deep vibrant green with tinge of pumpkin orange or bright reds has been in fashion. On one hand the earthy look steals its place and the other poises for the daring colours like pink, luxurious violets, turquoise, deep cinnamon, etc.

Texture has touched every feature of design, may it be wood, fabrics, floors... just everything!! There is cracked texture on furniture to create an old, worn antique look, or a sand sprayed stone finish stool embellishing the garden and so on. We see a lot of weaves and motifs in various other applications.

Furnishing plays a very importing role in enhancing or beautifying furniture, homes, etc. Motifs in bold colours are seen to be eclectic. A lot of focus has been given to weaves and the natural fibres which is the in-built beauty of the fabric. Combinations of bold and sheer fabrics are used in curtains and linens. Roman blinds have also made a mark in the contemporary world.


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5 Home Remedies on maintaining wooden furniture

All of us want a neat and tidy home. Now the question comes, how do I do it? Some things come easy like dusting and mopping but there are those little irritants which will never make your furniture look clean no matter how much time and effort you waste in maintaining them. Here are some of my 5 Home Remedies on maintaining wooden furniture.

1.Removing water marks. To remove water marks from your wooden furniture, massage mayonnaise into the marks and leave it overnight. To make it work even better, you can add to that a little bit of salt. Just work the salt in with the mayonnaise—it will give it a mild abrasion. The next morning, wipe off the mayonnaise and the marks will be gone. You can also substitute petroleum jelly, butter or margarine for the mayonnaise.

2. Always wipe of any water spilled over wooden furniture. If you have a gray mark, it means moisture is trapped beneath the finish and can be removed using tip no. 1. A black mark means the moisture has penetrated all the way into the wood -- that's the more difficult kind of mark to remove.

3. Petroleum jelly is really good for furniture that has dried out. Rub it in and leave it overnight or longer and then buff it with a soft cloth. Never buff furniture with paper towels because they will scratch the furniture.

4. Making your own furniture polish. All you need to do is combine one fourth cup of white vinegar and one cup of olive oil in a clean container. Shake well and rub the polish on the furniture with a soft cloth. Wipe it off and then buff the surface with another soft clean cloth.

5. A quick way to care and pack your furniture if you decide to move it put on socks on the legs of the piece in order to avoid breakage or scratches.

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Why Kondratiev doesn't Compute

Kondratiev theorists always dust off the basic "innovation comes in long waves" argument when times turn. The new wave (or "tool") cycle has run its course; it'll be 50 years (or whenever ) until the next one. New tools? Try genomics (largely an effort in computational analysis -- not wet-lab stuff). Or nanotechnology (see above), or, semantic analytics, or human factors, or financial engineering (I know, bad words just now; just wait a couple of years). Wondering about Clean Energy? While I'm sometimes skeptical, algae and other oil substitutes offer promise. Want to solve the energy conundrum? Figure out how to put well-heads on a few "black smokers" under the sea. Tie that with distribution and a big part of the problem is solved. Paying attention to clean, potable water? You better be. What about space? Try quantum mechanics at zero-G, then talk to me about new tools.

The simple fact is, we have never lived in more exciting, promising times. And we would realize it if we weren't so glued to the 'disasters of the day'. I am as guilty as the next; too many train wrecks vying for our attention; easy to become disillusioned about our sorry state.

Still, technology is - and has always been - about the application of new tools to old problems, whether solving Maslow's hierarchy of needs, or anything else.

Think about it for a half hour, and you will come up with many more great opportunities. We're still a lot closer to the primordial swamp than we are to Star Trek, no matter how much we wish it were not so.

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