Rowe: Fully Upholstered Accent Tables.

From Rowe, we have word of a new introduction at High Point, an extension of the upholstery line with the addition of the Iris collection of fully upholstered accent tables.

Stefanie J. Lucas, President & CEO of Rowe Fine Furniture says, "You can achieve a harmonious décor by accenting your sofa with an upholstered table or introduce pattern and color in a subtle way with one of these tables. It's a great way to add a designer accent to your room."

Prior to the debut of these fully upholstered accent tables, consumers would select accent tables made from numerous woods, other natural fibers like bamboo, various metals, glass and manufactured plastics. All of these options offered varying degrees of color, pattern and texture but with a fully upholstered accent piece, the consumer could select a fabric that would simultaneously add color, pattern and texture to the room décor. The opportunity to create a unique and exciting home décor just became more interesting.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
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"Spring Fling"

Remember, on April 30th 9:30 to 11:30am, Landfair Furniture will host the "Spring Fling" with a presentation by

• Corby Watkins-Mithoefer, Window Covering Specialist;
  
• Craig Hopkins, Upholstery Cleaning and Protection Specialist
• Scott A McKay, Mindfulness and Design from Duralee Fine Fabrics

Morning refreshments will be served.

RSVP to Beverly at 503-245-4222 Seating is limited

Welcome To Art & Design Matters

Have you read Art & Design Matters? The author is Alice Krueser, an ASID Industry Partner. Not only does she promote artists, but designers, who qualify. Seattle interior designer Faith Sheridan can be found on the site, but as far as I can tell, no Oregon ASID members.

If you are an ASID member, check out the site and submit your name for inclusion and enhance your web presence:

ABOUT THE DIRECTORY OF INTERIOR DESIGNERS:

If you are interested in being considered to be listed in our Directory of Interior Designers, email us your name, address, phone number, website address, a high resolution jpeg image of either your company logo or a room that you have designed, and a few short sentences that describes you and your services to info@ArtandDesignMatters.com. Being a member of the Directory of Interior Designers will promote your services and give you the opportunity to become our featured designer with additional exposure within our digital magazine titled “Art & Design Matters”. Email us and ask us how you can participate in the Featured Designer promotion.

This Directory of Interior Designers displays our ongoing dedication to strategically bring our art and design participants and viewers together to conduct social marketing through the support of our advertisers and our parent company Accessory Hut.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @landfairfurnitu

Z Gallerie Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Sadly, another furniture and accessories store has had to resort to chapter 11 reorganization. This time Z Gallerie, with 57 stores, one at Bridgeport in Oregon, filed chapter 11 saying "it was unable to pay its debts and lease obligations amid a three-year sales slump. About $12 million in debt is owed to 21 landlords." The company 78 stores but closed 21 of the worst performers. They also have focused on their relationships with vendors with lease payments taking a back seat.

The filing and restructuring "will allow us to eliminate certain lease liabilities from discontinued stores, and to continue to operate and serve our customers well," he said.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @landfairfurnitu

Vancouver's Koplan's Home Furnishings Closed Its Doors

Koplan’s Home Furnishings is going out of business. (Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian)

Established in 1948, 25,000 square foot Koplan's Home Furnishings in the heart of downtown Vancouver, Washington has closed its doors. Keith Koplan and his wife Merle Koplan operated the store and Keith was 2008 president of the Western Home Furnishings Assn. Julia Anderson, Columbian Staff Writer reported

"I didn't plan on this happening, just now," said Koplan, 67. "But we've been operating in the red for two years and we had to weigh that against our plans to retire. I had to ask myself how long it would take to make up for the losses we've been seeing. If I were 10 years younger, I could hang in there."

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @furnitureitu

John Thompson On Biedermeier

We like to bring to your attention blogs by local interior designers. In this case please take a look at John Thompson Designer, a blog by John Thompson who works at Wayne Martin.

Thompson has a very nice post about the Biedermeier style of furniture in classic design: Biedermeier Revisted. There are some great pictures of this classic style and this comment,

Biedermeier with its simple lines and honest construction was a reaction in it time against the heavily ornate furniture of it day. It's use of beech wood and veneered woods made it affordable. Timeless in it's appeal. it is a style of furniture that can be translated into the clean lines homes of today.

The pictures on his site are very good and most can be clicked on for a bigger view.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @furnitureitu

Free Twitter Power Webinar

Bev & I had a wonderful experience at the ASID Conference and Vendor Fair at The Resort at Welches, meeting designers and industry partners, sharing ideas and ways to build relationships to build our businesses. This morning I opened an email and discovered a webinar on the 7th just about Twitter.

Gail Doby, ASID, on Tuesday, April 7th at 6 pm Eastern, 3 pm Pacific, interviews one of the foremost experts and NY Times best selling author of the Adsense Code, Joel Comm, about his new book, "Twitter Power - How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time".

Sign up for the complimentary webinar Twitter Power Webinar now.

Twitter is the powerful viral marketing tool. As I shared with you, if you aren't using it, you are missing a very important and FREE tool that you can use a few minutes a day to create relationships with people that are looking for your services and new referral partners.

"Imagine if you had cost-efficient and fast marketing tools that met existing customers where they are and that also helped you acquire new customers. Imagine if you had the power to build a network of like-minded peers, a community of shared ideas and creativity. In Twitter Power, Joel Comm provides us with the tools, techniques and benefits for growing our network of resources to create even more fulfilling connections. He shows us the powerful uses of Twitter for brand expansion, building a community that ultimately enriches us personally and professionally and allows us to grow and contribute beyond ourselves." - Anthony Robbins - Author of Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.

Some people doubt the power of Twitter and think it is a silly communication tool. The majority of Twitter users are savvy adults that know the impact of keeping in touch with people. With today's electronic ADHD, short bursts are more effective than long messages - and Twitter dominates with 140 characters or less.

"If you want to learn what you need to know for your business to profit from Twitter, you will find it in the pages of this excellent guide." - Chet Homes, business consultant and strategist, author of the #1 business bestseller The Ultimate Business Machine

Sign up for the complimentary webinar Twitter Power Webinar now.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the top experts in the world!

Remember to mark your calendars for the Hands On Start A Blog with Faith Sheridan and Mike Landfair at CFM on April 22nd from 10:00 am to Noon The cost for the two hour meeting is $30 and $10 will be contributed to ASID.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
@landfairfurnitu

The ASID Conference and Vendor Fair

Here we are at Welches for the sixth annual ASID Conference and Vendor Fair. The event is live streamed. Below you will find a snippet of the conference:



Tomorrow, the whole event will be live streamed and the speaker is much in demand Thomas Schwenk, Eco Broker who will be speaking about Generations in the Workplace: Effectively working with Multi-Generational Customers & Employees

You may join in tomorrow by going to http://www.blazestreaming.com/events/asid.html to register. Learn more about the conference at http://www.asidoregon.org

BTW, if you stick around, Seattle interior designer Faith Sheridan and Mike Landfair, blogger at The Landfair Retail Focus at the Home Accents Today website, will be speaking at 1:30 about Social Media Networking – Learning the value of Blogging, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter & more.

Second Industry Web Summit Set for High Point

The upcoming Web Summit runs 2-6 p.m., Friday, April 24 and Leslie Carothers, principal of The Kaleidoscope Partnership, will be speaking about social media conversational marketing.

In addition to Carothers,

Mary Frye, president of the Home Furnishings Independents Association, the Dallas-based association of independent retailers, will emcee the Web Summit. FurnitureDealer.net founder Andy Bernstein will help furniture sellers eliminate channel conflict by converting online leads into in-store sales; and Chris Millet, senior business consultant for PROFITconsulting, will demonstrate how to analyze, measure and improve your ROI through eMarketing. David Lively of The Lively Merchant and Rick Doran of R&A Marketing will join the panel for a question and answer session to conclude the Summit.

"The feedback we received after the first Summit at the Vegas market was overwhelming," Lively said. "Our industry is eager to learn how to engage the online furniture shopper. Without an online strategy, it's game over."

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @furnitureitu

Kimberlee Jaynes And Calligaris

Here's the fun part of owning Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery: seeing how designers worked with furniture that was purchased in our store to meet their clients needs.


This photo is from interior designer Kimberlee Jaynes' website, Timeless Design For Inspired Living


Kimberlee writes

I started with the Italian white lacquered dining table and used a Danish modern 1960's buffet topped with a gorgeous piece of white Carrara marble. The host and hostess regency chairs are Italian black lacquer with black and ecru colored demi-slipcovers. The side chairs are brown leather. To keep it all from floating away, my client and I designed the multi colored striped rug.

The table is from Calligaris as are the regency chairs. We are so happy to see the completed design.

Bev & Mike
Follow us @furnitureitu

Faith Sheridan is featured today at My Design Secrets

Faith Sheridan is a top interior designer in Seattle and her work with Casa Montecito, a 2006 Street of Dreams home is shown at My Design Secrets. The article is illustrated with interiors and contains suggestions for using green materials.

BTW, Faith and Mike will be speaking with ASID members April 4th about using Social Networking in their businesses.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture |+ Design Gallery
Follow us @landfairfurnitu

extendoshop

To my husband, books are a necessity in a civilized society. And for a society to escape poverty, it must foster a value for learning and reading books. Michael has piles of books. When the piles get too large, he finally sells some on eBay or takes them to Powell's or just gives them away.

He has a fascination with bookcases and when Denis Rosmi emailed him about extendoshop, he called me over to take a look at their creative book cases. They fit most any ceiling height and can be used as a semi-permanent room divider in a condo or loft.





The main goal of the extendo design team is to offer products with a high design, technical and functional content, using only the highest quality materials with a low environmental impact (the materials can all be recycled).

The systems are not inexpensive, however they are fun, good looking and have a lightness about them.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @landfairfurnitu

The 3/50 Project

The 3/50 Project

Cinda Baxter has come up with a great idea: The 3/50 Project.

“We ask consumers to think about which three stores theyʼd miss if they disappeared, then remind them to return there,” explains Baxter. “Shoppers have become so rooted in thinking about the essentials that theyʼve forgotten about the little gift store on the corner whose owner remembers their name.”

“Fifty comes from the idea that if even half the employed population spent a mere $50 per month in locally owned retail stores, those purchases would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue,” she continues. “Thatʼs a huge impact for a relatively small investment.”

Which leads to a third number on the flyer, sixty-eight—the dollar amount that remains in a communityʼs economy for every $100 spent in locally owned stores. By contrast, only $43 per one hundred remains local when spent in national chains; little or no revenue results from online purchases.

If you are a retailer you can print a flyer that you can hand out to your customers, friends and acquaintances that explains the project and encourages them to support their local retail stores.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @landfairfurnitu

The Phillips Collection - “every piece a conversation.”

TODL.com reminded me today of the beauty of The Phillips Collection and how they are on the forefront of reusing materials and coming up with new look accessories:







For over twenty years, The Phillips Collection has brought the freshest and most exciting products to the marketplace. From sculpture to wall décor to vases, Phillips defines global style for the contemporary market. Each piece is as unique as the next, and you’ll find them nowhere else.

Landfair Furniture is proud to carry The Phillips Collection pieces.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @landfairfurnitu

Ren-Wil Featured At Home Accents Today

Home Accents Today features Ren-Wil as the Product of the Day:



We proudly carry Ren-Wil's products and can order over 2500 pieces of wall art to meet your design needs.

Ren-Wil began operating in 1967 and has advanced to become Canada’s leading producer of framed artwork, offering a line of over 2,500 pictures, mirrors, and lamps. Thousands of framed pictures and mirrors, produced each week in our modern manufacturing facility, are shipped to furniture, gift, and design shops as well as major chain and department stores across North America.

Ren-Wil also has a contract division that answers the needs of architects and designers, supplying art to hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and other institutions.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @landfairfurnitu

A sample Of Service

Explore The Pearl has an article titled A Sample Of Service and our own Miss Beverly is one of those interviewed.

Coromandel

We sat by the pool here in Pueblo Bonito Emerald bay talking with a woman from Las Vegas. The subject turned to furniture and she mentioned she had an antique Coromandel trunk that she really loved. That was a word we hadn't heard in awhile, Coromandel.



Coromandel is a decorative lacquer design developed in China that depicts figures or scenes etc. When we first started Landfair Furniture, one of our biggest sellers off the floor was unique Coromandel decorative trunks and boxes. They were end table height, perfect for a lamp and they could be used for storage. It was perfect for adding texture to a room. The trunks and boxes were great gifts for newly weds, or a spouse that is hard to buy for.



We still carry the storage boxes in our store. They are beautiful and brand new. If you can afford a good piece of furniture, buy a Coromandel Decorative Trunk - something you will value, that will become a classic. No matter how many times you change your design or the look of your home, this quality trunk will work.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
Follow us @landfairfurnitu

Quatrefoil Motif

At The Landfair Retail Focus, Mike has posted about the Quatrefoil Motif. You might find it interesting.

UPDATE 5/19/09: Emily Paben blogging at Wide Open Spaces has added more examples of Quartrefoil Motif. Some are just great examples of the design.

LDC Design Studio

We received a note from Joel Dessaules of LDC design studio

As you likely recall, we licensed our furniture line to BermanFalk a few years ago. They produced a limited number of items from our collection. BermanFalk is now out of business, but we have continued designing and manufacturing ourselves and we have a new exclusive showroom in Los Angeles.



New from LDC design studio is the Versailles Bed and Artemis Side Table. The bed is available in all sizes and an array of finishes and fabric options. The Artemis Collection includes the side table as shown, as well as a 6 drawer dresser and credenza all with optional inlaid marble top.

These will appear in Elle Décor and Met Home in March 2009.

We were sorry to see the upscale BermanFalk cease doing business, but we are happy to promote the quality prosucts of LDC design studio.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
@landfairfurnitu

New From Artisan House

We were very impressed last year at Las Vegas World Market with the metal wall decor of Artisan House. We wanted to share with you some new designs just introduced:

Shawn Coffey, head artist, christened the new design "Fontage" after the name of a font. "Like the piece itself, the word 'fontage' has a hip yet elegant, European feel about it..."

The power of purple is expressed in "Pixels," with a monochromatic look created by different shades of purple including deep dark purple and lighter pinkish purple.

The three-piece wall décor set called "Purity" also rocks a retro vibe, thanks in part to the shiny "river" that meanders throughout each piece and lends a sense of movement.

"At Last" has a mid-century modern design with three rectangular, elemental pieces connected by bearings that are welded and sealed at the joints. "When the bottom element is pushed, the other two play off its movement," says Coffey.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery
@landfairfurnitu