Matroshka – Extremely Compact Furniture for Compact Living

Living in a tight single, student or commuter apartment? Always confronted with furniture dilemmas such as: "I can place this or that here…but not both"? Want to invite some people over instead of spending money in a restaurant or pub (it is a recession, you know), but don't have room for all the chairs you'll need? Well, it's not only IKEA that has creative solutions – here's a preview of the ingenious, space-saving Matroshka furniture concept.

Multi-Chargers for Electronic Devices Compared

We've discussed in a few other articles several multi-chargers for electronic devices. Two of them charge a lot of devices simultaneously. Another one adapts to almost any outlet and is most suitable for travel. All of them have the benefit of only using one power outlet in your home to charge different devices and to reduce cable clutter on your desk. The following table compares the different options. If you know another one that stands out of the crowd, you can let us know.

Click on the names in the table heading to read about the individual solutions.

The Five-Device Recharging Station from Mundi

We've already covered the ChargePod, which charges six electronic devices simultaneously. Although we found this to be compact and useful, the devices, with their short charging cables, are still lying around on the table while charging. In contrast, the five-device recharging station adds the convenience of a holder for each device.

ChargePod - Charge Six Electronic Devices With One Charger

Electronic devices are proliferating in every household. On the upside, most have now started using rechargeable batteries instead of disposables. On the downside, now you have a charger for each device, requiring a mains plug per device and causing a lot of cable clutter. And when you go on travel, you have to drag the whole set with you. This ChargePod multi-charger promises at least some improvement.

Tip – Store Your Car Rooftop Box

Ijust love car rooftop boxes. They are light, relatively affordable, dry, and aerodynamic, and when you open them they offer a surprising amount of storage space that you would never suspect looking at them from the outside. The drawback, as with many other storage and transport solutions, is that they take up a lot of space in your home when you're not using them. Here's a solution.

Racor Heavy-Lift Storage System – Garage Ceiling Becomes Storage Space

Finally, a way to put your garage ceiling to use! Have you ever thought about the use of space in your garage? You park one or two cars in there on a spot where, usually, you never walk because when you're at home, the car is too. How about making some use of the space above your car, then?

Tip – How To Hide Your Audio&Video Components Out Of Sight

I'm a fan of good music, and I do value a good-quality hi-fi & multimedia installation at home. But unless you're a fan of a pile of dust-collecting, flashing square boxes in your living room, AV components are not the prettiest of objects to have in your home. Unless you can shell out the money for a designer Bang & Olufsen installation, of course, in which case you can skip what follows, since you obviously want your investment to be seen by everyone.

Conceal – Invisible Bookshelf Glues Your Books To The Wall

Magic? A work of art? A visual hallucination? It's none of those things – this is simply the Conceal "invisible bookshelf" from Umbra, making your books appear as if they're glued to the wall. An ideal, space-saving, and simply cool solution for your living room or bedroom.

Wireless Bedroom LED Reading Light

For those visionary people among you who have already foreseen cable ducts at the head end of your bed, it's a piece of cake to install a reading light. As long as you manage to connect three mains wires to a lamp, of course. So far, the other lights we've reviewed – like the Lili Lite - have had to be content with wires hanging off the wall. This wireless overbed lamp at least overcomes this problem. It uses LEDs instead of bulbs and can therefore be battery operated.

Lili Lite – Bedroom Bookshelf and Reading Light in One

In my bedroom there's always a pile of books and magazines waiting patiently to be read, collecting dust under the bed, or falling from the night table while sleeping. Sound familiar? Well, now there's a solution. The Lili Lite is a simply cleverly designed bookshelf plus reading light to mount on your wall. Besides the fact that it looks really attractive, it also saves you space next to your bed.