High-tech toys and gadgets abound and are more readily accessible and less expensive than ever for people who want to channel their inner James Bond.
We have entered an epoch in which sandwich-thin, large-screen plasma TVs disappear into the footboards of beautiful beds, and ceiling fans save energy by optimizing the rate that sweat evaporates on the skin.
Cleveland Park resident Akio Tagawa got his fix with a $13,000, brilliantly designed fold-down that your grandmother would recognize as a Murphy bed.
“I looked everywhere,” said Tagawa, 41, a pension fund consultant with a 1,300-square-foot apartment. He did not want a guest room dominated by a bed and did not need a couch. He was searching for something so subtle it bordered on invisible, a superior sleep unit without the faults, such as metal crossbars pushing through a thin mattress.
He found it at Resource Furniture in Manhattan, N.Y., which specializes in “transformer” furniture. The store also has a sleek, futuristic coffee table known as “The UFO.”
Resource sold Tagawa on the LGM, a bed in the wall made by CLEI of Italy. One moment it is a bookshelf, and then quicker than you can say, “Mr. Mustard in the Library with the Candlestick,” the shelves vanish behind the wall space to reveal a queen-sized bed with a deluxe foam mattress. Nothing has to be removed from the shelves.
“I just give it a little push,” Tagawa said, “and voila!”
Resource co-founder Ron Barth brought it back down to earth. “These are real beds designed for everyday use … the dimensions defy all precedents in wall beds with cabinets [no more than] 13 3/4 inches deep … virtually half the size” of anything comparable.
After a comfy night’s sleep you can wake to a “Jetsons”-style “Clocky,” an $8.95 alarm on wheels that scoots away when you reach out again for the snooze alarm.
Later in the day, while you’re at Nationals Park watching the home team lose another game, you might get a call from your house. A service called eSecure from Protection One can automatically send a text to your phone to report an opened door, a flooded basement or high levels of carbon monoxide.
If the situation is less than serious, your phone will allow you to unlock a door from across town or across the country to let in the neighbor who’s going to walk your dog.
“[It’s] security at your fingertips,” said Protection One President Richard Gunsburg, “and keeps you connected even when you’re thousands of miles away.”
Have more cars than garage space? Try a home garage elevator known as Phantom Park. Drive your 1972 Plymouth ‘Cuda into what appears to be a standard two-car garage. Hop out, hit a button and down she goes, like Maxwell Smart in a phone booth, making room for your Ferrari. Repeat the process in the adjacent spot, and four cars are safely parked in a space presumably for two.
BOX
Camouflage for the plasma screen
electrokinetics.com
Cutting-edge ceiling fans
bigassfans.com
Resource Furniture
resourcefurniture.com
Video for Resource bookcase bed
resourcefurniture.com/space_savers/lgm_video.php
CLEI designs of Italy
designerpages.com/products/manufacturer/clei-srl-italy
Phantom Park
aclifts.com/parking/pss-7
