Are you failing to get the most out of your living space? Feeling a little over-cluttered and short on storage space but unsure how to rectify the situation?
At RB12, we believe every living room can receive some sort of revamp, upgrade or declutter to transform it into a stunning yet practical space that the whole family can enjoy.
We’re pleased to present various living room storage ideas and solutions for you to consider. From adding additional furniture to ways to make the most of space, let’s explore your options for easy, practical, and aesthetically pleasing family storage ideas.
There are countless ways to maximise your space and add smarter storage to your living area. From floating shelves and bookcases to sideboards and storage cupboards, there are plenty of options to consider to find the perfect storage solution for you.
Install Shelves
Shelves are a great way to add extra storage to your living room. They work to create additional storage space by utilising wall space instead of adding excess clutter to the floor. This provides more storage without oversaturating your living space with additional furniture – ideal if you’re working with a smaller living space without free room for sideboards and other storage units and you’re wondering, “How do I organise my small living room?”
Whether you opt for floating shelves, floor-standing bookshelves or any other shelf style, you’ll be provided with functional storage space that adds to your room decor. Ideal for storing a range of items, shelves are multi-functional living room storage options that can help expand your available area by using free wall space.
Shelving units and bookshelves, such as the Miniforms Matassa bookshelf, are also a great option if you cannot utilise wall space with regular shelving. The open-space shelves are large enough to store various things beyond books, making them the perfect go-to for visible storage and decoration.
Console tables provide easy storage around the perimeter of your living room, offering up extra drawer space and an additional surface to house any tabletop item you might want to keep close at hand or make an aesthetically pleasing flat layout with.
Console tables don’t have to follow the traditional Victorian-esque designs either. Today, you’ll find various styles and designs of console tables to browse through, so regardless of whether your decor is modern, vintage or Art Deco, you’ll find the right one to suit your taste.
If console tables don’t provide enough storage space for you, then sideboards may be the perfect answer. Sideboards provide multi-functional storage and typically comprise drawers, cupboards and sometimes even shelves, depending on your style choice.
Sideboards don’t have to be the big, bulky, Victorian-style furniture that typically comes to mind. Modern, contemporary sideboards make the best of using up your room space more subtly and aesthetically pleasingly whilst maximising storage space efficiently.
You can never beat a good storage cupboard for effective living room storage. Whether you’re looking for space to store children’s toys, books, paperwork or more, cupboards provide the perfect space to hide your belongings from sight. Cupboards offer efficient, hidden storage, ideal for minimal clutter and decor.
Cupboards are available in many styles and designs to suit your living room interior. They can be wall-mounted or floor-standing and are available in corner-shaped styles to use your living room shape best.
Discover living room storage ideas at RB12.
Living room storage can be difficult to master; you want to add extra storage space without increasing the furniture in one room and add to the decor without overcrowding it.
Our range of living room storage at RB12 has something for every living room decor style to provide top-quality living room storage for all of the family. Creating a tidy, organised space with ample storage has never been easier than with our top-quality range of living room storage.
As always, our sophisticated, contemporary designs will enhance your home and make it the perfect, tidy space that still offers functional storage to suit your family. Find the best range of living room furniture in our range today and transform your living space into a stylish but practical hub. Many of our storage solutions are fully customisable and tailored to suit any home. Contact us for a free design service and find your perfect storage solution.
Slow living has been everywhere recently. Its rise has been incredibly fast for a movement all about keeping it slow.
You’re probably asking yourself the same questions as we have at RB12 about this blossoming movement. Don’t worry. We’ll guide you through it all right here.
So, what is slow living, and how does it impact luxury furniture? Let’s find out.
How did the slow movement start?
Slow living originally began in 1986 when Caro Petrini protested against the opening of a McDonalds in the beautiful city of Rome. Soon a movement against fast food started to make people sit up and notice.
By 2004, the slow movement was created by Carl Honoré, who wrote the self-help and improvement book, In Praise Of Slowness: Challenging The Cult Of Speed. Soon the principles of the slow living movement began to be applied to lifestyle, sport, fashion, and more facets of our daily lives.
What is slow living?
Contrary to its namesake, slow living has nothing to do with moving at a slow speed.
Slow living encompasses a mindful approach to creating a lifestyle in line with your values. Self-reflection and self-awareness are key to slow living. These purposeful choices involve taking into consideration your wellbeing and the planet.
Consumers have been experiencing life in the fast lane since mass consumption became mainstream in the eighties. Convenience was prioritised above all, and with everything being so quickly produced, culturally, we became accustomed to hyperconsumption.
What is the slow living aesthetic?
In a nutshell, slow living means finding a balance and focusing on what matters most. Instead of achieving a goal quickly, sometimes it is necessary to go slower to do something better long term.
Slow living begins at home. Our homes are where we spend most of our time and should be where we feel safe to be ourselves, free from stress.
There are various ways to incorporate the slow living aesthetic into your decor. Think neutral tones and repetitive patterns that are not too harsh. Pops of colour can be incorporated into the slow living aesthetic but should not be overbearing. Think cottage core meets modern, clear spaces.
Arranging your furniture to create a harmonious atmosphere is a good place to start. Apply feng shui principles that ensure your home is free from clutter and arrange your furniture to create a smooth transition between spaces.
Is slow living sustainable and eco-friendly?
When slow living was primarily associated with food, it began with the acronym S.L.O.W: Sustainable, Local, Organic, and Whole.
These principles can also be applied to furniture. Eco-friendly, sustainable furniture represents all the ethos of the movement.
Caring for the environment and people is truly important in slow living. Sustainably sourced and high-quality materials made locally and in fair working conditions are at the heart of both the slow living movement and many of our favourite furniture brands at RB12, such as Armadillo, Gan, and more.
How can I incorporate slow living into my home?
Slow living means making conscious, purposeful decisions to benefit your well-being and then the environment. To truly slow down and create the ultimate slow living sanctuary at home, here are our top six tips:
Invest in higher quality luxury furniture.
High-end furniture is pricier but cheaper long term. It is usually handmade by artisans in local communities and craftsmen who have been refining their art for generations. You can often customise high-end furniture to suit your needs, and each piece is truly unique.
Consume less.
Less is more in the slow living movement. Investing in key staple pieces of furniture made to the highest quality standards allows you to enjoy it in your home for years.
Consider upcycling and repairing existing furniture.
If your furniture shows signs of wear and tear, it may be better to have it repaired. The main essentials like sofas and armchairs can be reupholstered depending on the material and damage. Good quality furniture can always have a quality second life. If the damage is a slight chip, don’t worry, it signifies that a piece is well-loved.
Buy sustainable furniture.
Sustainably made furniture is key to slow living. It’s often handmade but is also created using materials that can be recycled. Any natural fibres like leather or wool in sustainable furniture are ethically sourced, and their origins are clear to us as consumers.
Choose limited edition furniture.
Limited edition furniture gives you the luxury of being one of the lucky few to have got your hands on a special piece of furniture. Not only will your home appear more unique with limited-edition finds, the smaller batch numbers mean that less energy is required to create the furniture.
Shop local.
Slowing down our spending habits will reduce waste and our carbon footprint. Try to shop locally wherever possible or at least from an area that would not require your furniture to travel too far via delivery. If you can’t find what you’re looking for nearby, consider investing in furniture by a design house that gives back to its’ local community.
Slow buy and invest in sustainable luxury furniture at RB12
At RB12, we’re proud to work with the best design houses, craftsmen, and furniture designers to ensure your home can be your own sanctuary that embodies your values. Explore our luxurious high-end furniture collections and invest in sustainable home furnishings available at RB12 online.
As we move into 2021 we are excited to put a spotlight on some of our stunning new furniture suppliers that have joined the RB12 family of brands this year. As you know we are crazy about Italian furniture, with its rich history of ornate design can be traced back to Roman times. But from 1901 onwards it took on a more contemporary style which made it what it is today with a global reputation of artistic vision, innovation, practicality and quality. Italian furniture is all about having space to eat, socialise and gather as a family while in keeping a distinctive style. This means that a lot of products become multi-functional but with a huge scope for personal aesthetic preferences.
Albaplus
This leads us onto our first new supplier Albaplus; a producer of stand out designer chairs and tables. They understand that the term ‘designer’ can be perceived as expensive but they prove otherwise. As manufacturers of designer furniture they have spent a huge amount of time as highly-skilled professionals studying and finessing every last detail of their products. This leaves you with a piece of furniture superior in quality and with a first class finish.
Studio Pang are a design studio who worked alongside Albaplus to create one of their stand out pieces, the Maui chair. It is a strong piece with a lightness of design which creates an extremely elegant chair. The design is available in 5 styles including one perfect for dining, two for lounging, a high stool option and a sofa. They come with a variety of leg options from ash wood to metal, giving you plenty of style options to fit your desired look.
Albaplus only use materials of the highest-quality that provide a distinctive, luxurious finish and create a warm and homely feel.
Cattelan Italia
Cattelan Italia are another new furniture supplier we’ve brought in that are truly masters of their craft. They were founded in the 1970s and are known for producing influential and cutting-edge furniture designs. Their designs are frequently eye-catching and instantly become a focal point in any space. With a rich design history they continue to innovate, and their 2020 collection focusses on elevating those significant details such as the materials, finishes and shapes.
At RB12 we love the Freeway bookcase from Cattelan Italia. It is a modular wall or ceiling hanging bookcase designed by Giorgio Cattelan. The design is a stunning storage solution for your personal belongings. It can be used as a divider to break up the space in a room, but because of its open design does not close off or darken your interior.
Being a modular system you can make it bespoke to your space and choose between lipped shelving, display boxes and varying sizes in brackets and pillars. You can choose from a clean titanium or a bronze embossed lacquered steel finish. You can also select containers in titanium or bronze embossed lacquered wood and stunning fumed glass (a process where the glass is made by putting precious metals between the torch and the glass, releasing fumes that leave a beautiful iridescence!).
Midj
Midj are also joining our portfolio of furniture suppliers, they successfully brought their work from artisanal production to an industrial level, making sure to retain the craftsmanship that isn’t always translated into larger-scale manufacturing.
Italian furniture is about bringing friends and families together (usually with some delicious food involved), so we have selected a new fixed dining table to showcase this new brand. The Lea table has four simply styled legs and a barrel shaped top which comes in either a ceramic or wood finish. This design encompasses Italian elegance with a family-friendly dining experience. With thin lines it gives a contemporary feel, and we can see it being used in a range of different spaces offering great functionality.
The Lea table base is available in a steel finish and you can choose between white, sand, grafite, black or brown, proving again how flexible this piece is. The table top has a variety of options too, including flamed wood, lacquered wood, Venetian glossy ceramic and ceramic marble effects, all in a range of different colours.
Ekip Italia
Founded in the 1900s in the upholstery furniture manufacturing district of Puglia, Italy, our next introduction is Ekip Italia. Now in their second generation, they are determined to look forward and avoid repetition of past styles, making their furniture products more original and contemporary with every new design.
The Butterfly sofa by Ekip Italia is a stunning piece focused first and foremost on comfort. Its slanted arm rests are just exquisite – one look at them and you want to sink back, swing your legs up and snuggle in for the evening. Even when sitting upright in this sofa the reclining headboard can be lifted to offer ultimate comfort, but any mechanics are hidden elegantly leaving a linear, smooth design.
Meme Design
An innovative new company also joining us is young and dynamic Italian furniture makers MEME DESIGN. They produce trendy furniture and accessories that are certainly bold, but always purposeful and practical for a multitude of living spaces. They use iron, a material present in nature and transform it into soft, sinuous shapes. They are proud of their ‘made in Italy’ status which means they have a passion for things done well and with beauty, and a care for the relationship with the piece to its surroundings.
We’ve all learnt this year how important outside spaces are, and because of this we have decided to highlight MEME Design’s new outdoor table range, Ermione Outdoor. This collection of metal tables was designed by Gianmarco Codato and Luciano Tevisiol and they have a light yet solid structure.
This design is treated by a cataphorensis process where it is coated by electrically charged particals, giving it a high resistance to atmospheric forces and corrosion. This process is followed by painting and is available in 15 vibrant sample colours. There are three different sizes to choose from; 50cm, 65cm and 90cm in width and varying heights. You can even bring this style indoors with their interior version.
Sancal
Italian furniture is by no means the extent of our furniture appreciation at RB12. One of our newest suppliers is Spanish manufacturer Sancal. They have a unique approach to design which makes their products fun and stimulating. They are committed to working with external designers to enrich their ideas and take them outside of their comfort zone – something we can safely say their furniture itself does NOT do.
They embrace joyful, bright colours which celebrates their versatility of upholstery. They have a strong sustainability ethos utilising solar panels, avoiding noxious chemicals, creating ageless products…you name it, they’re thinking about it.
The Mosaico bench is a great example that showcases their work. Working with studio Yonah, a company based in Valencia, they created this piece inspired by their hometown city which is renowned for its ceramic tiles.
The base made of ash is available in five different sizes which can then be topped with either marble or wooden benches crowned with soft upholstered cushions. There is an optional back piece which can transform it into a mini-sofa, and with a variety of different additions you can customise this modular piece to suit a range of spatial configurations.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about some of our new suppliers and have been inspired by some of their stand-out pieces. Look out for next months article where we will be focusing on the new years home accessory trends and highlighting some more of our new additions to RB12.
