The demand for reduced living space creates a need for multifunctional equipment
BY PEDRO ARRAIS, TIMES COLONIST
The demand for reduced living space creates a need for multifunctional equipment
The demand for reduced living space creates a need for multifunctional equipment
BY PEDRO ARRAIS, TIMES COLONIST
New lines of condo furniture include coffee tables and ottomans that can serve as storage space.
Photograph by: Lyle Stafford, Victoria Times Colonist
The furniture industry is experiencing a growing T demand for pieces that serve more than one purpose.
An aging population combined with the spectre of rising costs are behind the trend toward downsized living areas, and the greatest challenge involved is how to do more with less.
Smaller living areas have caused people to rethink their furniture needs. Disposing of some furniture is an option, but the solution many people are turning to is multifunctional furniture.
Some furniture items have always been multifunctional. In many homes, a dining room chair is moved to another room - to a home office, for example - to serve as an occasional chair until needed for large dinner parties.
In many households, the dining table might function as a task desk by the family before and after dinner.
"People expect their furniture to do more," says Dana Wright, merchandising manager for La-Z-Boy Furniture. "They are looking for a simpler life and their motto now is: 'Less is More.' "
She says the trend toward multi-functional furniture began sometime in the 1990s as homes began to get smaller. Styling changes, such as a move away from a separate living and family rooms to a streamlined great room in houses, meant reducing visual clutter.
Nowadays, ottomans invariably double as storage binsm, and coffee tables have drawers for remotes and magazines.
"It is an ongoing evolution," says Wright, who has seen many of the changes in her 15-year career. "At one time there was only a television to contend with. Now we have large flat-screen televisions and gaming consoles to contend with. All those components and controllers need to be hidden away."
The latest multi-functional piece of furniture in the store is a reclining chair with a cooler built into one of the armrests. She did not want to specifically mention which gender the chair was targeted to.
It is easier to adapt to small living spaces if the furniture is smaller as well. A regular couch is typically 216 centimetres long. An condo-size couch can be a mere 198 centimetres.
"Manufacturers typically put straight and narrow armrests instead of wider, more traditional rests on condo-size couches. That makes the difference in width not that noticeable but it fits better in smaller spaces," says Love Dodd of Dodd's Furniture. "Some bottoms flip up to reveal storage underneath, some have a chaise on one end and others can recline. It is all about catering to different needs."
Even the traditional hide-a-bed, the original multi-functional piece of modern furniture, has evolved.
"Our hide-a-bed couch separates into two chairs, which can face each other, turn and swivel," says Chris Morton, assistant manager at Nood Furniture. "We carry furniture with more European sizing, with smaller dining chairs and slipper chairs with no arms."
The electronic age has also meant people are looking for elegant solutions to recharging all the electronic devices they use during a day. Complex docking stations with hidden power bars are now disguised as bedroom night stands or kitchen sideboards.
Furniture is not the only item that is being asked to do more. Increasingly, interior designers are also being tasked with coming up with multi-purpose rooms.
"It comes up all the time," says Cydney Hellier Gray, principal of an interior design business that bears her name. "The classic scenario is for a condo's only extra room to be a TV room, a den, an office and a guest room when called upon. It all comes down to how you use a given space."
She advises people to build more custom cabinetry to take advantage of 'dead' space in a room. But she also warns multi-functional pieces should be used in proportion to a room's dimensions.
"I am not a fan of wall beds," she says. "They tend to make a room look smaller because of their bulk." She tries to keep furniture under 91 centimetres (36 inches) because it visually preserves a sense of volume in a room when a person can see the wall. Any higher and the piece of furniture dominates the room because it eats up a person's sight lines and makes a small room look smaller. She says folddown beds work better in larger spaces.
"It all comes down to a sense of balance and proportion."
parrais@timescolonist.com
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