Casulo Apartment in a Box

Reader and faithful commenter Caroline sends us the perfect solution for the portable apartment.  Casulo, is a small box that includes all the neccessities.

A box with the base area of a euro-pallet, only 90 cm high. Inside: a armoire, a desk incl. container, a height adjustable stool, two more stools, a shelf, a bed with mattress.

All together to set up without any tools in a few minutes and without leaving any piece over. Alternatively to disassemble, ready to remove, without additional packaging materials but protected perfectly – impossible? Well, it’s not!

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Bachelor Pad: Drinking Water in Style

A lot of up and coming locally focused gourmet restaurants here in the Denver are serving their water in empty wine bottles.  Deciding to take this practice in my home, I’ve collected a few been saving a few clear glass wine bottles from hitting my recycle bin.  Armed with three bottles I decided to do some experimentation. Read more

onelessdesk: OMG

I never thought I’d see the day when a desk got me all hot and bothered (who am I, Greg?!), but literally this thing gives me butterflies.

In my new place, space is at a how you say ‘premium’.

Heckler Design’s “OneLessDesk” with its 1.5′ collapsed footprint is almost 50% less than my current set up.

$899 seems a well, let’s face facts not SMALL price to pay for such perfection, but if as their web site says it truly is ‘the last desk I’ll ever own’ it may still be a bargain.

via the constantly brilliant Thrillist

Bachelor Pad: Balcony Furniture

With spring ushering in longer days and warmer weather, I’ve started looking to spend more time on my balcony.  Fantasies of drinking rich coffee, eating crisp garden salads, and sipping a glass of a big red wine preoccupy my mind.  Looking around though, I see that most people fortunate to have balconies keep them like I do, sorely neglected. Read more

Bachelor Pad: Fresh Cut Flowers

I was 21 years old when I stole my dad’s copy of Andrew Weil’s holistic health book, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health.  Somewhere between spending time in parks and eating flax seeds, the book recommends buying fresh flowers on a weekly basis to brighten the home with this natural example of beauty.

This practice is not to be exercised without caution.  When I first experimented with this, I was with a girlfriend of two years at my side.  The day I started to bring home flowers she greeted me with discontent.  She wondered why that after 2 years of dating, the first time she sees me with flowers, I had bought them for myself and not her.  Read more

bachelor pad: magazine stools

I’ve been putting my old periodicals to decent use as occasional source material for UM, but perhaps they’d be even handier as impromptu furniture.  Design Crack has a link to Arik Levy’s “Stool Wraps” which are (thankfully) less bodily-function related than they sound:

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Bachelor Pad: Making a Temporary Home

Having done a fair amount of traveling for periods between a few days and a few months, I’ve picked up a few habits along the way on how to make a temporary space one that I enjoy. Read more

Bachelor Pad: Metal Desk Chair

I’m currently sitting in Baton Rouge in an almost sterile animal hospital apartment.  While it’s nothing shy of an awesome experience to be literally living in a zoo, it’s not quite the place to talk about the compelling interiors.  So, I’m going to take this time to answer a question from Cash.

The other day while drinking through some not-so-great domestic organic wines he asked me what kind of chair he should get for his computer desk.  He wanted something metal, small and light weight, and around a few hundred. Read more

Bachelor Pad: The Entry Way

The biggest improvement I’ve made in both the functionality and the mood of my apartment is creating an entry way. Apartment Therapy, which I got this and many other good ideas from, calls it a landing ramp, and for good reason. However, I prefer to think of it more as a runway, because it is both collecting things as I come in the door, as well as a providing things as I am often running out the door. Read more

Bachelor Pad: 3 Quick and Easy Ways to Improve Your Bathroom’s Appearance

My bathroom used to be the most neglected area of my home.  In the washrooms of my younger years I would haphazardly throw in a few cheap towels from Christmas, an umatched bath mat on the floor, and a semi-clear/semi-moldy shower liner hanging from 75% of the hooks.  Now walking into my restroom I’m surrounded by matching modern towel sets, ginger lime scents, stainless steel trays, and a giclee print of a dahlia.  While there are infinite things you can do to a bathroom to improve it’s appearance, there are three easy things I think most men could handle in a half a day. Read more

Bachelor Pad: Kitchens and Bathrooms

So far in the Bachelor Pad cleaning series we’ve covered dirty floors and dusty surfaces.  The last big things we have left are usually the most neglected areas of a man’s home, the kitchen and the bathroom.  Trust me, I’ve been in your bathroom.  It’s disgusting. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Luckily, these two are the easiest to clean.  If the floors were cleaned while mopping and vacuuming the rest of the house, the job is already halfway done.  The only thing you have left are the specifics to that room.

Most people already know how to clean their kitchens and bathrooms, it’s just a matter of getting around to it that seems to be the issue.  We’ve taken each room and isolated a few simple focal points to help get them clean. Read more

Bachelor Pad: Dusting

Continuing on the theme of cleaning as the best investment in improvement, this week we are focusing on dust. Few things degrade the appearance of your place like a film of gray on all the things you own. Before cleaning it and preventing it, first we’ll discuss what it is and why it’s not good.

Dust mainly comes from us. Our skin cells fall off, die, fly around, and land in various places in around the home. While airborne, the dust becomes a pollutant irritating lungs, nasal passages, eyes, and settling in the lungs. While on the ground, it creates offensive piles that act as breeding grounds for dust mites. Read more

Bachelor Pad: Clean Floors

What’s the chances of you roll’n with me?
Back to the crib, show you how I live,
Lets get drunk ‘n forget what we did.

T-Pain

Ever since I moved into my new apartment, I’ve been obsessed with creating an environment that is functional, impressive, and uniquely me. It’s not finished yet, but my place already gives off an aura that separates itself from most peoples dwellings. Being unique and having attention to detail are all things Urban Monarch, so today I’m introducing a new weekly feature to share a few of the tips I’ve picked up along the way.

Before we get into the finer points of using an accent color, hanging art work, or buying designer furniture, there is a first step that almost everyone can benefit from. For the first month of the new bachelor pad feature, I’m going to talk about cleaning. It is surprising how much a freshly mopped floor, dusted shelf, and clean bathroom will instantaneously transform a home. To tackle the biggest area first, I’m going to start with the floors. Read more