We’re well and truly into December and so the Christmas countdown begins! Have you ordered the turkey and wrapped the presents yet? If you’re having people over to visit or stay, are you equipped with enough seats, dinner plates etc? If anyone is staying with you for the holidays, you’ll need to prepare those temporary sleeping arrangements.
I recently took a look around my local branch of The Futon Company in Manchester and was really inspired by their range of cleverly designed furniture and stylish storage options that are ideal for compact living.
The shop is located along the city’s famous ‘Deansgate’ (just a two minute walk from the Deansgate tramstop) and is part of an exciting and popular leisure and shopping destination, known as The Great Northern. This former historic railway goods exchange is now a fantastic destination for a day out with the family; with a great selection of stylish shops, bars and restaurants – plus a cinema and bowling alley so there’s plenty to see and do.
The Futon Company Manchester store was brimming with great design ideas and products at surprisingly affordable prices. The shop frequently has ex-display items which aren’t available online, so for anyone local or if you just happen to be in the area, it’s well worth a visit as you may snap up a bargain. I’d urge you to pop in and take a look anyway, as I can’t share everything here in this blog post, but I’ve picked out some of my favourite pieces with Christmas and the New Year in mind. There’s gifting ideas and items to make your home ready to welcome guests over the holidays, plus inspiration for improving your home in 2019.
Sofa Bed
Not everyone has the luxury of a spare bedroom when guests come to stay. So instead, it would make perfect sense to opt for one of the fantastic Switch or Twingle sofa beds that the Futon Company is famous for.
My bug bear with traditional sofa beds is that they are often uncomfortable and over priced. For occasional use, you don’t want to spend a fortune, so something like the Oak Switch Sofa Bed (above) is a great value, well made and comfortable option. Looking a lot more stylish than many sofa beds on the market, this cool design doesn’t take up too much room, yet it seats two as a sofa and can transform into a single bed. I also like the fact you can make a chaise longue by dropping one arm down – plus there is the extra option of adding storage underneath with a handy trundle drawer. Such great versatility!
Moonrise Dressing Table
If you do have a spare bedroom, but it’s maybe a bit on the small side, this is the perfect dressing table. I’ve never felt I could justify having a dressing table in my own bedroom, despite it being a double room, because of a large bed and lack of floor space. That was until I saw this Moonrise dressing table at the Futon Company, Manchester. It’s really compact and does everything you want a dressing table whilst taking up hardly any floor space. It looks really lovely, too with that gorgeous circular mirror and handy little drawers. Teamed here with the 4 legged Como stool, it’s such a great design!
Storage Solutions
One of the main focuses of my blog has always been storage; I love a good storage solution and not surprisingly the Futon Company Manchester has many fine examples in its store. From a slim profile side table/wine rack combo known as the ‘Vodka Table‘ to modular stacking cubes that are really affordable and can be configured any way you please.
I think this company also excels at versatile clothing and shoe storage, whilst their lean-to ladder desks are inspired, making good use of vertical wall space with their handy shelves. Despite this, they somehow manage to still look extremely minimal – a very cool design that would work exceptionally well in a teen’s bedroom or a home office.
Decorative Elements
I discovered a great choice of affordable home decor pieces to accessorise your space with. Faux plants, mirrors, colourful tableware, embroidered cushions and contemporary rugs – all those important finishing details that really make a house into a home. I also think these items would make fantastic gift ideas.
There are some gorgeous wooden toys and stocking fillers such as cute piggy banks and cool animal head accessories, or smaller animal head hooks at just a few pounds each. I love how this company puts a fun element into so many of their practical items!
The Futon Company Manchester is somewhere I will definitely be visiting again for my own storage needs and when I simply need a bit of home inspiration. I was really impressed by the compact and stylish designs on offer; I really do think they corner the market extremely well when it comes to modern and affordable small space living.
Temporary Beds & an Instagram Giveaway!
Another thing I spotted was a great choice of roll out bed options, such as the ‘Bed in a Bag‘ for those overnight visitors and occasional kids sleepovers. Easily folded up and stowed away, they are modern and look super comfy (coming in at a great price point, too, when you want to keep costs down and don’t plan to go to the expense of buying an actual bed.) And this is your chance to get hold of one, courtesy of The Futon Company Manchester. They are offering a fantastic Bed in a Bag as a giveaway prize – just head over to the #tidylife instagram page for more details.
I hope this blog post has given you lots of ideas for Christmas gifts as well as improving your home in the New Year with the Futon Company Manchester.
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© Copyright 2018 Antonia, All rights Reserved. Written For: Tidylife
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