Great link ML. I also followed one from there I linked below that if you keep watching their slide show puts up some pretty interesting Murphy beds. Definitely caught my interest.

Here is a link that might be useful: More Murphy beds

I think its a good thing that a lot of these stores are starting to cater to our small home needs. I have a tiny living room, so with my full size couch, chairs need to be small and storage is of the utmost importance.

I think its a good thing that a lot of these stores are starting to cater to our small home needs. I have a tiny living room, so with my full size couch, chairs need to be small and storage is of the utmost importance.

Several other stores also offer smaller-scale furniture. Check for "apartment-sized furniture." I know Crate and Barrel carries some, and Jordan's Furniture, a local chain here in the Boston area, has a whole section devoted to smaller furniture.

It also helps to check measurements. When shopping for a new sofa, I realized that some stores carry what they call "loveseats" that are wider then the "sofas" at other stores! I find it helpful to ignore the names the stores give the furniture pieces and focus on the actual size of the piece.

Ikea is the best for storage--I just wish they had more things that fit my style.

I agree with camlan. Ikea has some great ideas, but they just don't fit my style.

In my living room, I'd like to put four small swivel arm chairs. Then people can swivel around to look at the person they are talking to, or over to the tv, or around to the kitchen.

However, right now my living room has large furniture overflow from the den. :(

that's a super idea marti!

Marti, I'll send you a picture of the swivel arm chairs that we have, which are small ones, upholstered.

Ours came from JCPenney's, but I'll never order anything from them again. If it is IN STOCK IN THE STORE, and you pick it up yourself that might not be so bad. But out of three different orders I placed with them, they didn't know which end was up and it took months and months for the orders to ship. Even one order which they said was available from a local store took a week for them to find it, and the friend who'd offered to pick it up for me was aggravated at making two trips to bring it home.

However, that said, you can probably find some swivel club chairs that are small, sort of barrel shaped as I remember, and they are really handy. I have 3 such swivel rocking chairs upholstered ones, and they work great, because DH likes to turn to watch the garden but also turn to watch TV, or then swivel around and chat with visitors on other occasions. PERFECT because they are small scale.

I love small house efficiency ideas!
Some of the favorites in my house are: 2 reclining loveseats instead of the standard 1 sofa 1 loveseat configuration. My short legs get the luxury of reclining without having to store an ottoman.
The television that hangs on the wall with an articulating wall mount so I can swivel it to watch from the kitchen.
Little stereo speakers mounted on the same wall as the TV, with the cords for both the speakers and TV running down the inside of the wall, underneath the house and then back up into the closet under the stairs where the stereo/DVD player sits. The old floor speakers took up valuable floor space and always collected fur like crazy. We have a decent sized CD collection because DH doesn't like the sound of MP3's, so we have 2 300 CD disc changers that store most of the collection. I spent a fair amount of time alphabetizing and organizing the discs, but it was worth it to get the shelves of music out of my living area and into a closet.
We mounted an IR sensor on the wall so the remote controls can still talk to the various equipment. We have had this set-up for several years, so technology has probably made achieving this result much simpler.

marti- I've always loved that concept. It's so adaptable. When looking for a swivel/rocker for the nursery, I discovered that you can buy the base hardware and put it on any chair. Just something to keep in mind in case you find a chair in the size/style you like that doesn't swivel....yet! :)

Young Gardner. That is good to know about the swivel hardware. Going to look into that.