Functional Design was named in memory of my friend and business associate, Larry Furth, who owned a furniture and floorcovering store, Functional Designs of Reno, NV. This project began in 2003 as a simple search for components to build myself a new computer. Although I had assembled several computers for friends and family, repaired and upgraded many other PCs, (more…)
The vision I had for my bedroom remodel was along traditional lines. Although my apartment is a low-slung tri-plex, built in the 1990s here in the real Northern California – Feather River Country – I felt that I could give it a classic and metro-stylish look of elegance. Furnishings play a big role in that end and I have accomplished it even while on a very limited budget. One of the elements of this design was to have a traditional looking round oak side table, instead of the standard bedside end table.
I prefer to shop locally, but there are very few furniture stores in Plumas County that carry quality furniture. I looked, but finally had to spend time searching the Internet for what I wanted. I found what I wanted on Amazon.com for less than $150.00. This Oak side table is an excellent addition to my bedroom. The actual color of it is lighter than the image on Amazon depicted and slightly darker than the thumbnail image of the grain pattern they showed. It’s a beautiful golden oak color and (more…)
In my years of working with adults with developmental disabilities, I also dealt with many people with physical disabilities and with mental illness. Sometimes, they had all three! One thing I learned for sure is that you don’t have to have a developmental disability to have other disabilities. People who have an onset of a severe physical disability, whether it’s an obvious disability such as the loss of a limb or your sight, or less noticeable such as heart trouble or the loss of lung function, can easily slip into depression. And depression is serious stuff.
We all get “depressed” at times, but (more…)
Nearly all the commonly used message boards allow the use of what is known as an “avatar.” These are the little pictures that you see next to the member’s names in the message thread. Many of the message boards I have been involved with offer a list of interesting avatars that you can set up in the user control panel. You can choose from a couple dozen or even hundreds of pre-selected avatars, or you can upload one from your computer, or point to one of your own located on your website.
Avatars are so popular and forums so prevalent that there are websites solely devoted to offering you a huge assortment of avatars. Some are free, some you pay for, some are plain and simple, some can be joined with frames and other image elements. They come in many sizes, but usually will not exceed the dimensions most common message boards allow. Here (more…)
This is a review of the Baldwin Hardware Flush Mount Door Pull I purchased for my bedroom closet doors and a pocket door. In my bedroom remodel, I used metal accents with a Venetian Bronze finish. I searched Google Images until I thought I found the door pulls what I was looking for.
Some things you have to see in person to fully appreciate their suitability. The Baldwin Hardware Flush Door Pull in Venetian Bronze (more…)
Three years ago, one of my doctors at the Veterans Hospital in Reno, NV told me I had 2, maybe 3 years left. I am very happy to be here to show you that doctors ain’t always right.
Yes, I still do have COPD (Emphysema). Some doctors call it late stage, some end stage, others call it severe COPD. Whatever stage it is, it means that they have prescribed for me the last, best drugs and treatment to extend my life – and my breathing – as much as possible. There is no cure, (more…)
You could say the problem with my bedroom is that it’s too small. Trying to move around in my bedroom is difficult – I keep bumping into things. The bed, the dresser, the other dresser, the end table and them damn posts that stick up on all four corners of the bed. I tried to solve the problem a while back by cutting the 2 posts off the footboard part of the bed. I turned a $1200.00 bed frame into a mistake that’s worth 50 bucks now, if I’m lucky.
But wait… maybe it’s not the room’s fault. True, it is only 11′ x 12’6″ (not counting the 2×8′ closet), but that’s not nearly as small as some bedrooms I installed flooring in over a 35 year span. Maybe the real problem is my continued insistence to stuff all the big furniture from my old house into this much smaller space. And I’ve been living like this for nearly 4 years now. Well, not like the mess you see in the pictures (more…)
I’m starting a new project, a small storage unit attached to the side of my apartment on the back patio. Wait just a darn minute here, you say? That’s right, I’m not so bad with tools. Did I forget to tell you I did flooring for 35 years? Have I not mentioned… well, no, I haven’t written about my little projects here yet. Sorry. I’m kinda jumpin’ around here because last year I did a major remodel of my main living space. And just a month or so ago I finished building (more…)
My old body could eat junk food on a regular basis because my work installing floor coverings ate up a big portion of the calories I took in. I could stay up past my bedtime too. My after-hours activities ate even more calories - dancing (I loved dancing), bicycling, making love and even shopping. And I could get by on…
Just the way I had spent most of my days the last 3 years, in early May, 2009, I was holed up in my cave of an apartment waiting to die. I was told I had end-stage Emphysema and not a lot of time left. I didn’t know anyone by the name David Bromstad then.
But that day in May was the beginning of something that changed the way I felt about my life and what I wanted to do with at least part of what I had left of it. The credit goes to David Bromstad, interior designer and host of Color Splash (more…)