Maybe this is another version of the indoor swing, I don’t know, but there’s something magic about this suspended furniture. It’s by architect Robert Bernstein and was profiled in the NYT style section a while back. Bernstein’s philosophy is that “if people walk into a space and it makes them smile, it opens them up,” and that seems true. The furniture opens up the whole room, too, because the lack of heavy legs makes the space seem airier. But Bernstein’s main motivation was to encourage socializing around a table, with narrow areas that allow people on opposite sides to stand close to one another. His term for this effect is “anti-wallflower design.” Interestingly, this furniture actually doesn’t swing or even wobble, in contrast to swings. The sleeping platform and blue dining table/desk/work area are apparently as steady as a rock, steadier than most tables. PS The fishbowl is hanging too, but apparently the fish weren’t so happy.

A swing inside the house changes everything. Yes, not everyone has a ceiling high enough for a swing, and yes, most of the photos we found of indoor swings pictured them in lofts, and in lofts you can do many things indoors that people normally do outside. Actually, though, a normal 8′ ceiling is high enough for a regular kids’ swing. And there’s always the more adult alternative of suspending furniture, such as the hanging daybed in the Casa Redonda hotel in Puerto Rico, above, which could easily be hung indoors. And in the photo of the old gentlemen on the daybed in South India (click below), a regular wooden settee has simply been hung from the ceiling – legs and all. Anything is possible. Most ceilings have strong enough joists to hang a swing, but you need to make sure you’re using at least a 3″ – 4″ screw with eyehook and a strong rope, cable or chain. Thanks to Flickr for many of these shots.

Sources:

1 and 2: An incredible Danish house seen on emmasdesignblogg and Remodelista.
3. Daybed swing at Casa Redonda, Puerto Rico. Swinging furniture is more common in the tropics, and that’s probably because air flow past the body is particularly welcome in the heat – the swing becomes a substitute for a fan.
4. Beautiful walnut indoor swing (unknown source). There’s something touching about a swing wide enough for two.
5. Raven, one of Bjork’s tour stylists, swinging in a friend’s NYC Chinatown Loft. Found on Flickr, this shot is by Brian Liu of toolboxdc.

More indoor swings:

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