If you live in LA, chances are that you're like us in that you subscribe to the "tiny living" principle. Let's face it, land ain't cheap here and most of us have to bear with our smaller-than-desirable living space until we make it big. Consequently, we're always looking for ways to save space, multipurpose, and increase storage.
Folding Wall Seat
So when we saw Scandinavian Design Center's Nautic Folding Seat we immediately imagined what it would look like in our tiny landing, just inside our front door. We envisioned folding it down to put our shoes on, then flipping it up and out of the way when we were done. Brilliant.
While we're in love with the design of this seat, it's hefty price tag is quite a deterrent. (Ahem…tiny living means tiny salary). But being the enthusiastic DIY-ers that we are, we were motivated to find a solution.
We found these Folding Shelf Brackets from Rockler that we thought we could attach to a square piece of wood. Since it's a small seat, splurging on an exotic wood might still keep us under budget. Although it may not turn out to be as minimal and pretty, we think it's a more practical option.
Anyone have other ideas?
-Sabrina
Comments (6)
Daily Email
Top Tours
- Jaime and Carleton's Backyard Palm Springs
- Jennifer's Art-Filled East Austin Home!
- Alysia's Treehouse by the Lake
- Moses and Jamie's Whimsical Modern
- A Mid-Century Modern Musicians' Loft
Top Posts
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I could see it being used as a shower seat. I'm not sure what type of installation it could handle, but it would be great to fold it down and have a ledge to shave your legs on!
view nestinteriors's profile
The folding L Bracket is EXACTLY what I need for my kitchen. I wanted to have a foldable shelf for some extra counter space.
view mva1201's profile
Its cute, but I would be afraid that it couldn't hold a lot of weight.
view bluebelle's profile
Be sure to anchor the hell out of it; people are heavy, especially when they "plop down" on a chair rather than easing themselves onto it.
I'm not saying you need giant bolts -- just be sure you get into the wall studs on both sides.
Having said that, folding shelves & chairs rule. One thing to watch out for is the back of people's clothing rubbing on the wall and marking it up (belts, poorly-dyed clothes, etc.). It's not tough to fix, of course, just a mild irritant.
I think next time I might mount things such that the "back" area is unusually durable, and try to hide it by working it into a paint pattern or something (eg: vertical stripe that happens to be the same width as the chair).
...that way I could use super-durable paint on that area, and conceal the change in tone/gloss.
view minimalia's profile
I bought a Samuel Heath folding seat. The intended application is for a sauna, so it's made of iroku (African teak wood).
http://www.samuel-heath.com/shbrowser/Products.aspx?ParentId=P203
I had it installed in my tiny foyer for tying my shoelaces.
The contractor had to reinforce the wall by removing a large portion of the 3/4" drywall, then screwing a sheet of 3/4" plywood across three studs in place of the missing drywall. Then everything was mudded over, and the drywall refinished, sanded and painted. Then the seat was screwed into the reinforced wall.
Yes, it is expensive. The seat costs around $300, plus about $1000 of labour.
But the wood and silver anodized aluminum looks modern and blends in well with my modernist interior. It looks high-end.
view artist's profile
I had something like this custom-built for my entrance hallway, since I'm a shoes-off household.
But after many years, I had it taken down. Even though it was very well anchored, most people felt nervous about sitting on it.
view Jeri Dansky's profile