Fronteir Furnishings

The economical and green housing featured in Dwell, Newsweek, Architectural Digest, whatever, are about as frugal and eco-friendly as buying a new Prius when you have a perfectly good 2004 Civic sitting in the garage. These magazines have the daunting task of featuring something new, some kind of upgrade, when the obvious solution is making do with what you've got. But you can't sell magazines telling people to do nothing, go borrow a library book and drink tap water. I'm not suggesting that our current furnishings are completely guilt-free. We did have to buy a bunch of stuff 'cause we were not about to ship containers of furniture to Guam or drive around for months searching for that perfect garage sale with that perfect dining table. We tried, and then we heard horror stories of couches filled with roach's nests. I am also embarassed that as a furnituremaker I failed to build any of our furniture. But hey, tools cost money - and so does wood. So here's what we ended up with. Suggestions are welcome.

Entertainment center. Yes, those are cinder blocks: $1.29 each at The Depot. That TV/DVD/VCR was free courtesy of Dave Wilson. And yes, the fan is absolutely necessary to the enjoyment of any entertainments.





Couch. That's a $59 queen sized sofa bed - top that Ikea. That glass lamp, which we got at Kwong Hwa furniture superstore, was $20. Its box doubles as a stand and get this, it's got two switches, one for the main light and another that turns on a nightlight inside the glass base. We didn't even know that when we bought it. That one's coming with us.



Office #1/ Dining Table/ Kitchen Counter/ Room Divider. Five piece beech set: $140 on sale at Kwung Hwa. Proving once again that the kitchen is the focal point of any household. Especially when that kitchen gets wireless.



Queen Sized Bed/Potential Sofa #2. Also $59. Yes, it is always that well made.

OK, so our current furniture is not ideal. Our backs will feel much better a year from now. But we're young and maybe a bad back's worth it if we can afford that mill loft in Oakland, especially if Anthony Morrow's still killin' it.