5 Things You Can Do To Survive and Thrive

Mike at the Landfair Retail Focus has posted about 5 Things You Can Do To Survive and Thrive in Today’s Challenging Economy! Written by George Whalin, President and CEO of Retail Management Consultants, it offers five tips:

Be True to Your Principles.
Take a Critical Look at Every Expense.
Support Your People.
Get Closer to Your Customers.
Fix What’s Broken.

Good advice from an expert.

Bev & Mike
Landfair furniture + Design Gallery

Tom Ford

For my birthday, Mike bought some Gwen Stefani "Lamb" perfume for me.

Last week, after visiting the Nordstrom's perfume section, I came home smelling like Tom Ford, the perfume! It was in my hair and on my neck and on my pillow where Mike could smell it during his afternoon nap. Tom Ford, it turns out, was nominated The Menswear Designer of the Year by Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).



"Lamb" has company on my vanity. Mike bought some Tom Ford "Black Orchid" for his sweetheart!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Frederick Cooper Pendant Lamp Wins Award

Metropolitan Home magazine in their Year's Best Design 100 have selected Alexander and Meagan Julian for creating a winning pendant for Frederick Cooper.

The editors considered all items in the "art of making" which include architecture, interior décor, home furnishings and gadgets.

The pendant is a reductivist take on one of the Julians' favorite textile patterns. The work is hand cut brass with a rich bronze finish. The white linen drum shade provides texture to an otherwise sleek silhouette. View this pendant and other Julian designs at www.frederickcooper.com or download the brochure.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery is proud to have Frederick Cooper lamps as a vendor.

Bev & Mike

The Landfair Retail Focus Is About Rising Costs Of Furniture

Over at The Landfair Retail Focus, Mike has posted about the Rising Cost Of Metal In Furniture and its implications for future furniture.

Portland Coffee Tables

The Oregonian's HGNW has an article today written by Nanine Alexander entitled A Table For Your Coffee, And More. The article has pictures of eight coffee tables that offer "...a place to set items you want within easy reach, a drink, a magazine, the remote control." Alexander doesn't mention my main reason for a coffee table, a place to rest my feet in front of the TV.

The article pictures all the coffee tables that are in the Portland area! Remember that old Johnny Carson routine. Johnny's sidekick, Ed McMahon, would repeat that remark: "All the coffee tables that are in the Portland area!" Johnny would say, "Wrong horses' breath!" So here are a few more that you can find on our showroom floor:

Global Views 8.80818 Surfboard Cocktail Table 60"L x 28"W x 19.5"H Retail Price $1,050.00

Sherrill CTH 310-822 Small Oval Cocktail Table Wooden Occasional Tables W28 x D20 x H21 Retail Price $920.00

Hammary Opus Collection Round Cocktail Table W38 D38 H19 Retail Price $599.00

Moondance 2 x 2 Cocktail Table 2 cushions with Bellagio Crosta leather 44 1/2"W x 44 1/2"D x 15 1/2"H
MSRP: $1,199.00

Hudson Street Warm Cocoa Oval Cocktail Table One stationary shelf 46"W x 28"D x 19"H
MSRP: $929.00

Alexander lists a few things to consider when you buy a coffee or cocktail table. My main hint: If you are going to prop your feet on the table, make sure it doesn't have a raised lip. Otherwise, it will be very uncomfortable on the backs of your feet.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery has all these tables on the floor currently. Come in and sit a spell.

Bev & Mike

Design Star 3 on HGTV

The third season of Design Star 3 on HGTV premieres Sunday June 8th at 9pm.

I just took a look at the competitors and only a few are designer "want-a bees", meaning they don't have any formal training.

Here's a rundown of contestants:

Trish Beaudet - Owner and Designer of Finishing Touches Interiors by Design, Inc.

D. Paul DeRouen - Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Profession: Architectural Designer

Matt Locke - Bachelor's degree in history from Princeton. Current Job: Designer

Michael Stribling - Interior design major from Wade College. Current Job: Interior Designer/Business Owner

Jennifer Bertrand - Bachelor of Arts in education with an emphasis in ceramics; master's degree in teaching and leadership from University of Kansas. Current Job: Interior Decorator/Owner of Bertrand Designs

Tracee Dore - Bachelor of Arts in interior design from the University of Kentucky. Current Job: Residential and Commercial Interior Designer and Builder/Renovator, Tracee Dore and Company

Jerome Scottie Miller - Master of Science in civil engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. Current Job: Regional Property Manager at Charlotte/Mecklenburg County Schools.

Mikey Verdugo - High school diploma from Hialeah High School. Current Job: Police Officer

The winner will host their own show on HGTV. In addition, starting June 6th, viewers can begin entering for a chance to win a $5,000 shopping spree to Sears or a $5,000 gift card from Lumber Liquidators.



If you want to root for someone local, I'm afraid Matt Locke's home is the closest: Los Angeles, CA. Go Matt!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Bridget Otto Thursday

What a nice way to begin the day. Open The Oregonian and see a picture of Beverly Landfair gracing the pages of HGNW.

Photos by Marv Bondarowicz THE OREGONIAN
Moving to the Pearl Design Center allowed Bev Landfair to more than double the space for her store, Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery.

It's an article by Bridget A. Otto on the Pearl Design Center.

In early 2007, the question was asked, "Why doesn't Portland have a Design Center like San Francisco and Seattle?"

Debbie Madden, whose husband, Mark, is a principal in the development company Stark Group LLC, had spent an entire day crisscrossing the greater metropolitan area to look at fabrics and furnishings. After cruising nearly every county -- and enduring a car accident to boot -- she lamented Portland's lack of a design district where a person could see all these things at once -- hopefully without incident.

So, in classic Portland fashion, Stark Group bought a city block under the trusses of the Fremont Bridge and transformed buildings that once housed Quimby Welding into the Pearl Design Center.

Photos by Marv Bondarowicz THE OREGONIAN
Studios and storefronts now occupy the Pearl Design Center. The space used to be Quimby Welding.

Set between Northwest 14th and 15th avenues and Northwest Raleigh and Savier streets, the approximately 34,000-square-foot showroom and studio space opened last spring and is about 60 percent full, says Tami Wood of Stark Group.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery, a showroom of furniture, fabrics and accessories, is its largest tenant. A handful of other businesses -- Architectural Elegance, Quince Flowers & Events, Studio Olivine, Northwest Framing Commercial, Progress Construction, Intrinsic Design and WDC Properties (which manages Stark Group) -- are scattered about the complex.

Bev is excited about the opportunities to be part of a Portland Design Center and is enthusiastic about the coming housing planned for the Pearl.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Copy Successful Designers

Nika Stewart has an email that echoes some of the thoughts of KP in The Luxury Consumer Part 2: Interview With Kathie Pozarich

Stewart, Designer' Success Coach, tells us "if you want to run a successful design business, copy what successful designers are doing, and you'll achieve the same success." So, what are successful designers doing? How do they work, think, act? Here are Stewart's three traits that are common to successful designers:

Successful designers have systems
What do you do when a call comes in? When you measure a room? When you hire a contractor? Do you have specific steps to follow for every part of your business? Or do you wing it? I used to! But I learned that "winging it" leads to chaos and confusion, and you certainly can't grow from there. Successful designers handle each part of their business the same way every time. They follow a system for everything. Systems lead to consistency, organization, and effectiveness.

Successful designers study marketing
Unfortunately, being a terrific designer doesn't necessarily make you successful. In order to succeed in business, we need to be super marketers. Successful designers are either great at marketing, or they hire people who are. The most lucrative design firms actually spend more time and energy on marketing than they do on studying design.

Successful designers are detail- oriented
This may seem obvious, but are you doing it? Successful designers take care with every detail of the business - from all aspects of office work to each element of design projects. This doesn't mean they do it all themselves (in fact, profitable design companies delegate a lot of the details.), but they always make sure that every part of their business - down to the smallest details - supports their exceptional image.

Lots of great advice!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Bridget A. Otto Thursday

Bridget Otto shows how two professionals, Jon and Julie Nordby, owners of Nordby Design Studio, solved the design problems of a house bought by ex-Minnesotans Keith Halasy and Erin Tripp. They loved the view through the large windows and the acreage.

Unfortunately, he says, the execution of the design was not very good. Take the relationship -- or lack of it -- between the living room and adjoining TV/office space, which was accessed from a hall around the corner from the living room.

I love to read about the design process and the problem resolution. The clients are happy and have handed out NORDBY DESIGN STUDIO cards to all their friends.

NORDBY DESIGN STUDIO
The team: Jon and Julie Nordby
Years in business: Jon has been an architect for 20 years. Julie has been an interior designer for five.
Specialty: The ability to bring the perspectives of both an interior designer and an architect to the job.
Contact: 9900 S.W. Greenburg Road, Suite 285; 503-968-8906; nordbydesignstudio.com

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Good Friends

I consider myself fortunate to have so many close friends. These three women have been my close friends since the eighties (Gail on the left), since the seventies (Sandy on the right), and Marsha in the middle since first grade. That's me in the yellow coat.

The four of us have been in a book club for too many years and recently, Gail moved to Boise. Do we replace her? We decided no, we will just all fly to Boise once a quarter and have our meeting there.

It's not all work. Here, we visited a winery and posed in the sun.

The book club has been wonderful. We've each read books we might not ever picked up, both fiction and non-fiction, our friendship has deepened, and we are the richer for it.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Time For Outdoor Furniture

I know summer is going to be here soon and I want to get the deck outside looking good.

Heather at The Inside Store-y has some tips on cleaning the furniture that you will lie on to get that suntan and sit on to chat or eat that BBQ:


5 piece teak set in Bali design by Faraway Furniture.

Cleaning Methods

It's as simple as soap and water. It's all you need for most outdoor furniture. You may want to ...pick up a power washer.

She covers cleaning

• Acrylic Cushions
• Resin Furniture - Resin furniture is easy to clean. Spray off dirt and grime and let dry. If there are scuff marks, use a gentle abrasive to remove. To remove mildew, follow the instructions above.
• Wicker -You can use a hose or pressure washer.
• Wrought Iron, Steel Frames & Aluminum -Use mild soap and water to clean.
• Fabric
• Umbrellas
• Wooden Furniture

Faraway in About Teak has a lot on its website regarding teak care including this bit of advice:

The only maintenance we recommend for your teak furniture is occasional cleaning. This should be done with a mild soap (such as gentle hand cleaning soap) and warm water to preserve its natural elements.

There are some new ideas in outdoor furniture from The Modesto Bee, for example:

Chat tables are new this year, says Jan Booth of Patioworld in Fresno. These tabletops are higher than coffee tables but lower than dining tables. "It's high enough that you can put a cup there, but it's not like sitting at a dining table," she says.

Mesh on metal or wood pieces: Patio pieces that have mesh-type material over metal or wood frames also are popular.

"You can lay a towel on it or go without a towel, and you can lie on it. You don't stick to (the mesh), and it's very comfortable. You don't lie there and get sweat on your back and tush."

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Get Your Chi Moving

Lalainya’s Weblog caught my eye with Feng Shui for Summer! My first thought was "I didn't know we could use Feng Shui for a season." My second thought, with the cold spring we've been experiencing, "What's summer!"
Dragon devas writes

When a residence or business is blocked by clutter, emotional residue, incompletion, or actual furniture placement, a less than excellent quality of life is experienced.

The blogger Vikki Anderson writes about chi or positive energy that needs to get stirred around. Here are some of Vikki Anderson's summer tips to bring about positive energy:

• Keep a small overnight bag packed for you and your family and place it in your car’s trunk. If an unplanned getaway or you get an overnight invitation for your kids (or an emergency arises), you will have all essentials already in the car and ready to go.

With all the earthquakes in some parts of our country, this is a great idea for any time of year.

• Let the light into your home. Put up sheer curtains or pleated shades that can be opened from the top or bottom so you can maximize the sunlight and immediately feel re-energized.

• Hang beautiful chimes from your deck, trees or house gutters for a melodious sound to relax and calm you. Always have a book on hand that you’ve always wanted to read and didn’t have time. The sound of the chimes will de-stress you and you will be learning from or enjoying a good book at the same time.

We have a wonderful wind-chime on our deck outside our bedroom. Every time Mike hears the soft, gentle chime he gets a smile on his face.

• Have your home and deck power washed. Then you can seal your deck for many hours of fun without damaging it.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

domino's Top Ten Decorator Tricks

Domino, The Guide to Living With Style, is a magazine and website I visit frequently.

Domino is published by the people that publish Concierge, Epicurious, Men.Style.com, Style.com, Wired.com, Lipstick.com, NutritionData, YM, Allure, Architectural Digest, Brides, Condé Nast Portfolio, Cookie, Glamour, Golf Digest, Golf for Women, Golf World, Gourmet, Lucky, Men's Vogue, Self, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and W.

Most of us subscribe to one or more of those magazines or pick up a newstand copy from time to time.

The latest issue has an article that caught my eye: domino's Top Ten Decorator Tricks. Here are their ten tips:

1. invest in the best
Instead of filling a room quickly with things you can afford, enjoy the process and slowly add pieces you absolutely love.
2. borrow your own clothes
If you love the hue of a blouse (or anything smooth-textured), bring it to a paint store to be scanned and reproduced.
3. lighten up
Reflective, sparkly fabrics and wallpapers draw light into any space.
4. work with what you've got
Play up a room's assets. If it has high ceilings, put up really tall curtains. If it's a dark box, don't try to alter it—painting it bright white will only make it seem dingy; instead, go for cozy.
5. lights!
Even in small rooms, aim for at least three light sources—ideally a floor lamp and matching table lamps—to banish gloomy corners.
6. go antique-chic
Invest in one fabulous antique per room, to set the tone for the entire space.
7. think outside the welcome mat
Don't neglect your entryway! Think of it as an appetizer for what comes next. It should reflect your home's overall style but also contain something special, so guests want to see more.
8. collect more
Collect something that speaks to you. No matter what it is, there's impact in numbers.
9. skirt the issue
Skirted tables in offices or entryways can hide all manner of ills: shoes, kids' backpacks, mail—even filing cabinets.
10. beyond wallpaper
Upholstering, rather than papering, walls yields a layer of softness and luxury for about the same price.

I particularly like 8. collect more. We recently had dinner with Cheryl and David Leland in their beautiful condo. In every room are framed art pieces or art pieces from places they've visited. The design of the rooms reflects colors of their favorite places in Mexico.



When Mike and I visited Italy we purchased a small painting from an artist in Florence. It was titled "Door of the Supplicant". We had it framed and it hangs in our living room. Not only is it a wonderful painting and not too expensive, the framing was more, but it brings back fond memories.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Dan Carithers In Atlanta Home Tour

"You need $4.1 million for the keys, but only $20 for a tour of the Regents Park home..." The posh development in Atlanta was chosen by Southern Accents magazine

...to establish an elegant alternative for urban dwellers. Made up of 23 luxurious town homes and flats, the development has the familiar feeling of tradition with modern-day conveniences.

(The) magazine called on renowned Atlanta interior designer Dan Carithers to oversee the home's interiors. A walk through the home is a visual feast of design finery, with everything from floors to ceiling provided by vendors like Stone Age Designs and Hickory Chair. Carithers' own furniture line by Sherrill Furniture is on display throughout the home

Several things stand out in the tour and the photo tour here:

• Fabric, fabric, fabric: Carithers uses repetition of fabrics on linens, upholstery and walls.
• Seats for all sizes: Little ones like luxury, too. Throughout the home, child-size chairs were sprinkled among traditionally sized pieces.
• Button-tuft this: Carithers' use of button-tufted pieces gives the home an instant dose of comfort and glamour.

Bev & Mike
Proud to carry Sherrill at Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

What’s The Difference Between Wicker And Rattan?

Over at Home Accents Today, Mike has posted an article entitled What’s The Difference Between Wicker And Rattan?



The post features pictures of Palecek wicker furniture all available at Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery.

Bev & Mike

Is Your Wallpaper Running?

We don't know how it's done, but this is the latest lighting technology, wallpaper light:



Hat Tip: Engadget

KP Design And The Luxury Consumer

Over at Home Accents Today, Mike has written a two part article about the luxury consumer.

In part 1, the luxury consumer is defined, here by Relish as those with household income between $250,000 and $500,000 and the extremely affluent as those with a net worth of $10 Million or above.



In part 2, Mike interviewed Kathie Pozarich, Portland interior designer to the luxury consumer and learns what it takes to be successful in that market. She offers tips, also, to the new up and coming interior designer.

KP Design Group, Inc.
Kathie Pozarich, Interior Designer
Tel: 503.635.3400
Email: kpdesigngroup@comcast.net

Mike writes three times a week about retailing and furniture and accessories at Home Accents Today in a blog entitled The Landfair Retail Focus.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

News From Market

From FURNITURE Today,

Sam Moore is taking a dozen of Hooker’s best-selling dining and accent chairs and making them available in 25 finishes, more than 800 fabrics and 100 leathers. The program also offers contrasting seat and back fabrics, contrasting pillows, nail-head options, welts, fringes, cords and tassels.

Also new for Sam Moore this market is about 20 frames, seven benches, three upholstered headboards, and 73 fabrics targeting interior designers.

From FURNITURE Today, Hekman is making a major contemporary style statement with its Asher Benjamin collection, designed by Peter and Meg Strattner, creators of the Crate and Barrel look. The clean-lined design for Hekman features American Cherry veneers with walnut accents and a natural cherry finish.

Retailers have been requesting more modern looks, said Neil McKenzie, Hekman’s vice president of product development.

“Not to say that the traditional look is going away, it’s just that there is a niche in the marketplace that is evolving and becoming more evident as this customer gains economic power,” McKenzie said.

“I think what’s happening is we’re slowly seeing a transition to another generation of potential customers. It’s a customer who is more interested in an urban lifestyle within their home than an actual urban geographic location. It’s cleaner lines, cleaner finishes and less encumbered.”

McKenzie added that Hekman still sees lots of customers who want more traditional home office looks and scaling. But he said that creating more modern looks with a compact scale, a good functionality story and clean lines makes sense in this changing market — without compromising quality.

Like Hooker and Aspenhome with its small-scaled Kensington home office introduction, Hekman continues the push into smaller functional desks this market, offering 48-inch and 60-inch footprints.

Those sets feature classic traditional and transitional designs, but are scaled down.

“I’ve had customers saying they’ve seen a transition in customers desiring smaller desks. Is it the economy where a smaller desk is less expensive? I don’t know. We know the request is real and it’s going from coast-to-coast,” McKenzie said.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery is proud to feature Sam Moore and Hekman in our showroom.

Bev & Mike

New From Jimmy Choo

American Idol is dominating the TV and now Jimmy Choo has this for you Idol fans:

Jimmy Choo's Idol shoes

WHY: Because it's high time we owned something this lethal. Not only do we adore the platform sole, the thick heel actually renders these...comfortable. Weird, we know. In true chicette fashion, these look best with tattered cutoffs or a miniscule mini. Talk about illegally chic. PRICE: $775

Back in August we posted about Mondrian Art.
Jimmy Choo has this for you:

Spring/Summer 08 sees the introduction of the new 'Mondrian' heel. This distinctive graphic heel gives an architectural boldness and a modern edge to designs from peep toe pumps to strappy platforms. PRICE: 375 Euros

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Start With Art! Seminar

Suzanne Gallagher, author of "The Fine Art of Wall Design", will inspire you on April 26th with creative tips and valuable interior design nuggets about art imagery, framing design and placement!



Begin your design project poised for success. You will learn how art can be the catalyst for the design of your interior spaces. It can also be the focal point that pulls your existing design elements together.

Saturday April 26th 10:00am to 11:30am

Door Prizes and Refreshments!

$10 Space is limited REGISTER SOON!

www.walldesigndiva.com 503-579-2787

Special added incentive: Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery offers 20% off purchases the day of the seminar.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery