Bridget Otto Thursday

Can we get a hooha! for Bridget Otto Thursday? Hooha!

Her latest article is in today's Oregonian Homes & Gardens section entitled Pattern Recognition. She writes

Decorating with patterns takes an even hand and a trained eye.

Designers with the magic touch talked with me about what it takes to pull multiple patterns together to make one fabulous room, and I'm here to pass along their wisdom.

She interviews several designers including our friend Jim Yockey and finds that while rules can be restictive, there are themes:

"The first is scale," says Jim Yockey, showroom manager at Linde Ltd., a to-the-trade-only designer showroom in Southwest Portland. Especially when mixing patterns. If every pattern vies for attention, the designers agree, it's like a room full of toddlers all screaming at once. No one gets noticed.

Another friend of Landfair Furniture is Kimberly Jaynes:

"The eye wants rhythm and bounce," says Kimberlee Jaynes of Kimberlee Jaynes Interior Designs Inc. "What's interesting in the room is the play off one pattern to the next. If there isn't contrast, then it all becomes one big mess."

Sharon Tjader has some input about rhythm:

Contrast can come in solids, too. A solid-color wall or carpet, or even the tiniest muted print that looks almost solid, provides needed contrast when you're working with patterns, says Sharon Tjader of Design Concepts of Oregon. It also provides a place for the eye to rest. Or as Tjader says, a pause in the rhythm of the room.

"Design is all about rhythm," she says.

Bridget devotes the rest of the article to the use of color and explains a color wheel:

If you work within the colors of the feature -- or dominant -- fabric, then your guidelines are readily set.

But, if you want to cross over to harmonizing colors or contrasting colors, then you need to understand the all-important color wheel.

As usual Bridget gives us much to think about as we look at pictures of decorated rooms in magazines or tour places like the Street of Dreams this next month.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Bridget Otto Jim Yockey Kimberlee Jaynes Sharon Tjader
Bev & Mike

To Market, To Market!

Bev is off to Las Vegas tomorrow, Wednesday, for the Home Furnishings Market. "I am excited to see Dinec'," she says. Dinec' is relaunching the company at market after seeking court protection and then being sold to Bermex in April.

Dinec' will be offering three new bedrooms and 10 new dining chairs. Apparently they have simplified their offerings and stress that they are one of the most personalized manufacturers. In addition, they are broadening their focus from purely contemporary to a mix of offerings, by adding some traditional.

She's excited about leaving with her sister Carol Brandis , but first she and I get to celebrate 14 years of marriage tonight with dinner at standing room only Nuestra Cocina at 21st and SE Division.

Bev will be visiting Hekman, Palecek, CBK, Mirador and many others. Speaking of Mirador, they will unveil more than a dozen TV cabinets some able to handle 60 inch flatscreens.


She will have all the "dish", when she returns to the store on Saturday.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

ASID IP Focus: Merridy Gerlach

IP Focus
By Mike and Bev Landfair, Allied Member ASID

This quarter the IP focus is on Merridy Gerlach of Tufenkian Artisan Carpets. The interview took place in the Tufenkian showroom on 21st and W. Burnside. When we walked in, two golden retrievers greeted us. Henry is the lighter colored golden, ten years old, and Lucy is darker and eight years old. Merridy is a beautiful, tall blond, co-manager, who has been at Tufenkian’s for nine years. She stays fit by moving carpets around, walking her dogs and gardening.

Merridy has been an IP member since 2003. She has been highly involved with ASID, and was on the board last year as the IP Representave to the Board. She was in charge of the planning of last years's Vendor Fair in Ashland. She also regularly attends member meetings and has been a great support to the Chapter.

We discussed Tufenkian and discovered that there are three Corporate showrooms in the country: Manhattan, Los Angeles and Portland. There will soon be one in Dallas, Texas. Our first question was “Why Portland?” Tufenkian Carpets has been an established showroom in the Portland area for over 25 years, originally carrying carpets from all over the world. When David Tufenkian prepared to retire from the showroom in Portland in 2002, James Tufenkian, who is the Founder of the Tufenkian Corporation based in New York, realized that the Portland Showroom was such a fixture with the designer community that the relationship was too important to disrupt. The Tufenkian Showroom is now focused on the carpets that Tufenkian produces. The complete collections of the Tufenkian Tibetan and Armenian Carpets being made are displayed on racks, which makes it very easy to review the selection.

The carpets are magnificent, hanging on the walls like fine art. Still made in Nepal and Armenia the time-tested way by citizens who benefit from Tufenkian’s business philosophy. Special training, higher wages, work places with modern amenities, health programs and schools for local communities and a ban on child labor are hallmarks of the Tufenkian way of doing business.

“It is a wonderful place to work”, says Merridy. “Not only do I get to be a support system for designers, using my creative abilities as much as are needed, but I know that Tufenkian is supporting the people that are involved with our product. We feel passionately about making a difference in the places where our carpets are made.”

When not working, Merridy spends time with her husband Doug and their families which both live in the Portland area, gardens, travels (she would love to visit Nepal and Armenia) and reads. Two of her most recently read books are Sight Hound by Pam Houston and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

In addition, Merridy is a Tellington Touch Practitioner. The Tellington Touch is a holistic approach to helping animals get back in balance physically and emotionally.
We mentioned that we have a golden named Ralph that we rescued and live in Merridy’s neighborhood. In Merridy’s case, dog people are good people!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Merridy Gerlach Tufenkian Artisan Carpets
Quarterly ASID IP Focus Bev & Mike

1.25 Million Coming to Portland

We are going to need all those condos according to David Nielsen of the Home Builders Assn.. In New Home Monthly, a special advertising section of The Oregonian, he writes

Contrary to those who thought that Metro's growth projections were inflated and thus no Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) expansion was needed in 2002, Metro now acknowledges that they underestimated how quickly the million new residents would come to Portland.

The numbers now say that the population increase expected in earlier estimates will be here 10 to 15 years sooner (emphasis added)

Here are Metro's projections:

1.25 million more people in the Portland Metro area
700,000 new jobs, increasingly service-sector jobs not manufacturing

That is equivalent to squeezing an additional 450,000 households, or two cities the size of present-day Portland, into a metropolitan area that is already 80 percent developed.

And you thought traffic was bad.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Portland David Nielsen Urban Growth Boundary Bev & Mike

New Condos in Portland are Green

Today, New Home Monthly, a special advertising section of The Oregonian, is an interesting article about the lengths designers and builders are going to make "Green" the South Waterfront condos in Portland.

South Watewrfront Condos reach for the sky but design favors the Earth by Jeff Kuechle tells us soecial roofs of dirt, gravel and plants capture as much rainwater as possible before it reaches the river.

"Anything up to a heavy rain will be absorbed," said Kelly Saito of Gerding/Edlen, co-developer with Williams & Dame of the River Blocks at South Waterfront, a project that includes The Meriwether, John Ross and Atwater Place condominiums.

Kuechle tells us that is just the beginning of the green amenities.

"The doors and cabinetry have agrifiber cores, a type of fiberboard made from wheat straw or sunflower-seed shells and formaldehyde-free binder, covered with a thin veneer of hardwood," said architects Bruce Brown and Kyle Andersen of GBD Architects.

Other features include floors made from sustainably harvested, golden-brown merbau from Brazil. Floor-to-ceiling windows have high-performance glass that limits solar gain while admitting as much natural light as possible, cutting down on the need for electric lighting and helping to keep the units cooler in the summer.

Bottom line the condos are expected to use 30 percent less water and 35% less energy. You can read the whole article here.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

South Waterfront Portland Condos Jeff Kuechle Bev & Mike

Casket Furniture

Browsing the net, Mike found this unusual and possibly "green"idea:

At CasketFurniture.com, our products can last you a lifetime, and still be the perfect vehicle to carry you to the great beyond. Whether it's a couch, shelf, or end table, our products are designed to blend effortlessly into most contemporary interior designs. Every product can also be transformed into a high-quality casket at your time of need.

Extremely contemporary design combines metal and wood to create this timeless masterpiece. This sofa will always provide you with the ultimate place of rest, whether its taking a load off, or doing the final send off.

It almost takes your breath away!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Casket Furniture Green Furniture Bev & Mike

A Wooden Severance Agreement

Hat Tip to Footnote.org for this furniture related item: a strange severance agreement that includes the office furniture.

The former chief legal officer of Mannatech (MTEX) asked for — and received — her office furniture as part of her severance agreement. That’s in addition to a consulting agreement that will pay her $10K a month for the next year. Oh, and there’s also her company car thrown in for good measure. But both of those are pretty standard compared to the office furniture, which the filing very specifically spells out as consisting of "the executive desk, executive chair and two side chairs".

Don't forget her computer. What's next?

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Severance Agreement Mannatech (MTEX Office Furniture Bev & Mike

Adding to the Blogroll: Article Dashboard

We added another resource to our blogroll Article Dashboard.

Article Dashboard is an online article directory for both publishers and authors. Formed in August of 2005, ArticleDashboard.com strives to become a leader in the world of online publishing by providing syndication services to website owners, ezine publishers, and more.

Here are a few of the directories:
Arts & Entertainment
Fashion
Food & Beverage (including Recipes and wine)
Health & Fitness
Home & Family (includes Interior Design)
Product Reviews (includes Book and Movie Reviews)

The Interior Design section has an article entitled Why Heavily Scented Candles? – Preserve The Aroma In Your Home

There is a difference between heavily scented candles, richly scented candles and triple scented candles. Many people believe that all three mean that the candle has a strong scent that will last until the candle burns out completely. For the most part, heavily scented candles means that a larger than normal amount of fragrance has been added to the wax in the candle making process. In general, one-half ounce is the normal amount of essential oil added to the melted wax. In heavily scented candles, this amount is tripled so that one and a half ounces are added.

There are many interesting articles and you can be an author for this or any other section. It is an excellent way to get name recognition. For fun Google your name or your interior design business. Many of you will find that you are not well known. You know who you are! This is an expensive way to communicate with potential clients.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Adding to the Blogroll: Home Decorating Reviews

Here's another new resource for interior designers, their clients and homeowners: Home Decorating Reviews (HDR).
What is special about HDR?

Home Decorating Reviews.com is an online magazine on interior design projects.

With detailed product reviews on a wide range of attractive and creative decorating products and accessories.

One of the first freebies we found at the site was this report

free with a free subscription to their newsletter!

The report covers care tips for Bamboo, Hardwood, Tile, Marble and Vinyl floors. I found much of the report informative with many useful tips to save us money. If you are like us, with too busy schedules, we have a house cleaner come in every two weeks.

Do our housecleaners know that using oil soaps on clear coat hardwood floors should be avoided because leave behind a streaky residue that can build up a dull the shine? Better to use mild pH balanced (ph7) household cleaner in a spray bottle.

Do our housecleaners know that vinegar, which is acidic, in water can etch or bleach our marble floors or counters; that removing gum from marble with something hard can scratch?

Do our housecleaners know that some harsh or abrasive cleansers can eat away at the finish of vinyl flooring?

For us, we feel this report is important enough to print and give to our house cleaner. Hopefully, all this information was included in her training. What? You say you don't know what kind of training she had. All the more reason to print a copy.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Adding to the Blogroll: DesignTalk

We are working on our Blogroll and investigating new resources on the web for interior designers and their clients. We have come across DesignTalk run by Karalee. On her blog she says

We’re about solutions, ideas, sharing and community. Whether you’re an experienced designer looking for home décor tips, or a college student trying to set up your first apartment, we have something for everyone.

Our articles focus on tips, suggestions and solutions:

One of the first articles that caught our attention was this one: Fast Tips for Selling Your Home. We are seeing some homes sitting on the market a little longer than what was normal and we're seeing signs that say, "Price Reduced".

Fast Tips for Selling Your Home has some suggestions about
1. What to subtract
2. What to add to get the house sold!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Gretchen Schauffler to Make Presentation

If you are a member of NWSID or a guest you are in for a treat at the NWSID General Meeting on July 13th. Gretchen Schauffler will be speaking.


Schauffler is the creator of Devine Color, a paint line, a color solution, sold at Miller Paint and many stores across the country and she says on her web site

I created Devine Color as my personal confirmation that wall color impacts the way we live. Backgrounds impart a visual .fragrance that makes a space unique and personal. I believe that our personal affinity for certain colors give us instant pleasure and we should give ourselves permission to live with them.

Like colors in a great painting, perfect color does not stand alone. It is the relationship and position of colors in an environment that makes it perfect.

Schauffler is an author of About Devine Color: When Color Sings, a seasoned speaker on the subject of color, an entrepreneur, and the subject of countless articles and national news stories.

Gretchen Schauffler was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where vibrant Caribbean colors influenced her personal palette for a lifetime. She moved to the United States to attend college where her diverse interests found her at four schools from New York to the Pacific Northwest, in programs as varied as architecture, fashion design and art therapy. She finally settled on a degree in graphic design from Portland State University.

After college, Gretchen's first career was in sales where she excelled, winning top honors at one of the world's foremost pharmaceutical firms. When her on-the-road career took a stay-at-home turn with the births of her two daughters, Gretchen put her schooling to work, experimenting with color and artistic multi-layer glazes for her own walls.

This led to her creation of original artwork - where her creative talent, combined with her strong sales background, yielded uncanny success. Her works have been displayed in numerous galleries, the Bellevue Art Museum and special ordered through Nordstrom. Gretchen was also much sought after as a faux finisher, creating a demand for her talent among corporate and residential clients.

All the while, Gretchen was still playing and experimenting with what would emerge as her one true passion: color. This - along with a steady flow of offers to duplicate her custom paint colors in private homes - is what led her to her lifetime vision.

Taking advantage of seven years' worth of art, color and design experience, she developed the 11 original palettes of Devine Color. Then the petite powerhouse used her sales experience and contagious enthusiasm to sign an exclusive 25-year contract to produce and distribute Devine Color with the respected Miller Paint Company, a 110-year-old manufacturer.

A self-confessed pop culture junkie, Gretchen lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon, with her husband and children.

The General Meeting will be held at:

Miller Paint co. International
12803 NE Airport Way
Portland, OR 97230
Social Hour: 5:30-6:30 PM
Host Presentation: 6:30- 8:00 PM

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Nanine Alexander writes about Mark Downing

Don't miss the article in Homes & Gardens section of The Oregonian entitled
Grace ingrained
Woodworker extraordinaire Mark Downing infuses his creations with elegance and a touch of whimsy by Nanine Alexander.

The first thing that caught my attention was a picture of a classic garden bench inspired by British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, built by Downing to fit a curved wall in a Portlander's garden. I found a picture of a Lutyens' designed bench:

Thakeham Bench

The Thakeham seat pictured here in English Oak was designed for the garden at Little Thakeham near Storrington, West Sussex. The rhythmical symmetry of the bench is typical of LutyensÕs love of form.

Downing's bench is in a salmon color or faded Chinese red. Beautiful!

Nanine Alexander writes

Mark Downing's woodworking shop in Northeast Portland stands as a demonstration of his many skills.

He built it from the concrete floor up. Painted a cheerful blue, red and yellow with cedar siding and shingles, it sits on a gray stucco skirt. Leaded-glass windows, cut by Downing, look out on bright perennials planted by his girlfriend. On one of the corbels projecting from the roof, he installed a miniature statue of a Chinese warrior, a note of whimsy that he believes deserves a place in design.

The smell of cedar sends a greeting and leads you into a shop so tidy it's almost Zenlike. Tools hang on the walls, awaiting their turn to put form to his elegantly designed furniture, cabinetry, garden structures and buildings.

His creations are evidence of that philosophy and the architects who have influenced him.

We have some wonderful artists in Portland!

Mark Downing may be reached at 503-709-4049
or craftmark@gmail.com

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Update: One more reason to read the article:
FURNITUREToday writes French-Asian Crossing by Tracy Bulla

West and East converge with streamlined grace, highlighting the opulent side of both cultures with admirable subtlety. A modern mixture of these seemingly divergent design genres results in sophistication and simplicity lined up next to vibrancy and complexity. Antiqued shapes reemerge dusted off and leaner, while motifs like birds, flowers and plants are a recurrent theme. Just like a coat of lacquer, eye-popping shades of chartreuse, orange and scarlet give the look a gorgeous gloss.

John Galliano and Haute Couture fashion show in Paris

Mike and I saw The Devil Wears Prada this weekend and it was a hoot, with some gorgeous clothes. You want to go shopping after this show, and if you take your significant other, he will gladly foot the bill if you look like some of the models in the show, although my husband does not want me to wear a size zero or a two.

This is the week of the Autumn/Winter 2006-2007 Haute Couture fashion show in Paris and couldn't help notice the fashion from British designer John Galliano for French fashion house Dior:

A model presents a creation by British designer John Galliano for French fashion house Dior as part of their Autumn/Winter 2006-2007 Haute Couture fashion show in Paris July 5, 2006. (REUTERS)


A model presents a creation by British designer John Galliano for French fashion house Dior as part of their Autumn/Winter 2006-2007 Haute Couture fashion show in Paris July 5, 2006. (REUTERS)

On second thought, Mike says I have enough clothes.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

The "New" Hekman Furniture Company

Last week, we sat down with Tim DeLauder, manufacturer's rep for Hekman Furniture, to preview the new lines and go over the offerings for Las Vegas Furniture show coming up in July. Mike had searched the Hekman web site for dealers in the state of Oregon and besides Landfair Furniture, which wasn't listed (and Tim says that will soon be corrected), we found only Kuhnhausen's in the Portland area. We seem to be selling more and more Hekman and Mike asked what has changed with the company.

Seems Hekman was very much an East Coast company in the past, meaning it's styles primarily appealed to that section of the country, and also it was known mostly as a desk company. About 2 1/2 years ago, new management came in and the company has become broader and more hip. Quality and design are now equal to Drexal Heritage.

Recently two collections, Metropolis

and Repertory

have been strong on major cities. Repertory even won the first annual Advancing Design and Innovation Award (ADI).

(Repertory) is a collection of 18 pieces inspired bu the Neoclassical and Empire styles. Using the classic forms of this period as a foundation, pieces are wrapped in leafy heart cherry veneers with rich walnut burl borders and treated to satiny silver hardware.

Now Hekman has introduced the Castillian collection:

The Castillian collection is oversized and lightly distressed featuring a finish that is soft and slightly tobacco colored. It is perfect for large rooms.

Another feature of the Hekman line are two new kinds of desks: Laptop Desks, built especially for laptops and the gear needed for laptops and "Sit to Stand" Desks, that convert from a desk at which you sit, to a desk that has a feature that moves and allows you to work while you stand.
One other kind of furniture is popping up and that is a piece that works with flat screen TVs. The piece looks like a credenza until the TV appears on top from inside. Or it may look like a bookcase sitting on a credenza. Interesting ways that fiurniture companies are responding to the new technologies.

BTW, you can see the Repertory Console pictured here at The Neighborhood.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Hekman Repertory Metropolis Castillian Furniture

Paul Klee Exhibit

Are you going to be in Washington D.C. sometime before September 10th? You might look in on the Paul Klee exhibit at The Phillips Collection.

...the Swiss-born artist's fame came easily enough in Europe -- where his career flowered in the decades before his death in 1940 from scleroderma.

[...]

When Klee worked in abstraction, as he did in "Gradation, Red-Green (Vermilion)," a 1921 watercolor on view at the Phillips, he never approached Kandinsky's bravado of color and scale. Klee's exercise in color and composition is much more intimate and subdued than any Kandinsky. Most of the Klees here are the size of postcards or notebook paper. (A few get larger as he approaches his final years. Most suffer a little for it.)

Klee and America at The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW, Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Sunday noon-5 p.m., through Sept. 10. $12 adults, $10 age 62 and older and students. Free to those 18 and younger and museum members. Call 202-387-2151.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Pauk Klee The Phillips Collection Washington D.C.

Tips for Entertaining at Home

In a column called Ask the Barefoot Contessa in House Beautiful, author Ina Garten answers questions about entertaining at home.

What's the best size table for a dinner party?
I like small parties. With 6 people, you can really get a conversation going. The ideal table for 6 or 7 is a 48-inch round, because everyone is equally engaged in the conversation.

Do I need to make place cards?
I don't think it's necessary to make place cards for a small party, but I do think it's important to have a seating plan. While we're having cocktails, I'll decide who are the two most talkative guests that evening and seat them opposite each other, which keeps the conversation flowing.

I have too many people to seat them at a table. Is it all right to have them eat dinner on their laps?
If you need to invite more people than you can seat at tables, and you just can't afford to rent them, serving dinner on your lap isn't ideal, but it's just fine. However, you'll want to plan the menu carefully.

I'm having 30 people for a fund-raiser at my house and no one will know each other. How can I be sure it'll be fun?
...the key is getting people engaged with each other as quickly as possible.

What if people ask to bring their children to a party?
Except for holidays, I don't think children belong at an adult party — and I'll bet the children agree! I don't know any 6-year-old who wants to sit through a conversation about Iraq.

It doesn't show much imagination to bring flowers or wine when you're invited to dinner. What's more interesting?
There's nothing wrong with bringing flowers or wine, but it's how you deliver them that can make a difference.

There's much more in the article than I've given a hint of. Check out Ask the Barefoot Contessa. She has some great ideas for your next dinner party or large event that you are planning. After all, we want people to have a good time. We would like them to want to come back again.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

House Beautiful Ina Garten Ask the Barefoot Contessa Entertaining

What is Synaesthesia?

Synaesthesia, a harmless condition that allows a person to appreciate sounds, colours or words with two or more senses simultaneously.


Murnau - Castle Courtyard I, 1908 by Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky is believed to have had synaesthesia.

In his case, colours and painted marks triggered particular sounds or musical notes and vice versa. The involuntary ability to hear colour, see music or even taste words results from an accidental cross-wiring in the brain that is found in one in 2,000 people, and in many more women than men.

Composition VII, 1913 by Kandinsky

Despite the lack of medical proof for Kandinsky's synaesthesia, the correlation between sound and colour was a lifelong preoccupation for the artist. He recalled hearing a strange hissing noise when mixing colours in his paintbox as a child, and later became an accomplished cello player, which he said represented one of the deepest blues of all instruments. Sean Rainbird, curator of Tate's forthcoming Kandinsky exhibition, says, "My feeling is that he was quite a natural at it. To have painted the largest work he ever made, Composition VII, in just three days, shows that this language was quite internalised."

'Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction, 1908-1922' is at
Tate Modern, London SE1 (020 7887 8888),
June 22-Oct 1.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Wassily Kandinsky Synaesthesia

The Neighborhood

The Neighborhood started June 10th and will run to July 2nd from July 2 - 11 am - 9 pm and is closed Mondays & Tuesdays. The Neighborhood was formerly the RE/MAX Street of New Beginnings.www.the

This year Suzie Buchanan of Buchanan Associates and Michelle Barnes of Timeless Interiors gave their time with the Wysteria. built by Homes with Style. Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery is proud to showcase some of our furniture that fits with the overall design.

The Wysteria


An English country cottage with established landscaping and modern appointments, the 2,850 square-foot Wysteria envelops visitors in warm, rich color and lots of light. The open floor plan extends to the home’s large, airy bedrooms, which quietly beckon you to sneak in a quick afternoon nap or a few chapters of your favorite book.

“The Neighborhood is more than a home show; it’s a gathering place where people can pull together fresh ideas for updating their homes, learn about construction and design trends, and while they’re at it, have a great time.,” said Dave Nielsen, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland. “Every home is unique and each showcases the true craftsmanship of Oregon home builders. This is our first such development in Clackamas County and we couldn’t have picked a better time to build in this vibrant, growing area.”

The Neighborhood is all about:

* Inspired Homes. Eight earth-friendly, fully appointed and landscaped homes by Sequoia Custom Homes, El Dorado Custom Homes, Buena Vista Custom Homes, Homes with Style, Teal Point Homes and Development, Schumacher Custom Homes Inc, and DreamHouse Construction.

* Ideas. The show presents creative yet realistic ideas that visitors can implement in their own homes. People looking to redecorate, re-landscape or redesign a home will find lots of inspiration and advice at The Neighborhood.

* Family. The Neighborhood is a fantastic event for all ages. Kids Weekend June 10-11 kicks off the show; ENERGY STAR weekend helps ring in Father’s Day June 17-18; and Outdoor Weekend June 23-24 highlights terrific outdoor living and entertaining ideas.

* Energy efficiency. Homes at The Neighborhood feature ENERGY STAR® qualified products exclusively. This reflects the growing interest among both homebuilders and homebuyers for new homes that build in energy efficiency measures such as increased insulation and ventilation, high-performance windows, state-of-the-art heating and cooling systems, gas appliances and more.

* Charity. The place will be rockin’ on June 19, when The Neighborhood hosts Rock the House, a charity event to raise money for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. Sequoia Custom Homes will auction its Doernbecher House of Hope live at the event, which also will feature a silent auction, great entertainment, and food and drink. Tickets cost $35 and can be purchased through Tickets West (www.ticketswest.com) or www.neighborhoodpdx.com.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery is proud to be involved in this event. We will offer special show pricing and will make a donation to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital for each piece sold.

Bev & Mike

Portland Condominiums

There's a new web site called
Discuss and Find Portland Condominiums.
It's advertised as:

"Your most important resource to find anything about Portland Condos and PDX lofts."

The site has information available about the new projects:

McCormick Pier
The Meriwether
The John Ross
The Strand at RiverPlace
Waterfront Pearl
McKenzie Lofts
North Park Lofts
Pearl District
Riverscape Townhomes
Old Town Lofts
Orenco Station Town Center Lofts Hillsboro
Portland Downtown Condos
Cascade View

Check out the site. In addition there is a news section. I would like to see the site have much more content, but they are doing it right by setting up useful links in the Portland area.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Portland Condos Lofts Portland Condominiums

McMahan’s to Close two Oregon Stores

FURNITUREToday reports that Top 100 chain McMahan’s will close a 16,000-square-foot store in Astoria and a 30,000-square-foot store in Salem.

“We’re going to be liquidating our inventory in an orderly fashion,” said Taylor Ganz, vice president of the Los Angeles-based retailer, which will have 17 stores in California and Oregon when the closings are completed.

He would not elaborate on the sales, except to say all three stores would be closed before the end of the year.

Ganz said the three closing stores were no longer profitable. “We’ve decided to put our resources in more profitable markets,” he said.

That will leave them with stores in Albany, Bend, Coos Bay, Klamath Falls, Medford, and Roseburg.

Of course, Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery will be happy to help residents of Astoria and Salem with their furniture and accessory needs.

Bev & Mike