Decorating A Conservatory

We are delighted to have a guest blog post from Liberty-Belle Howard.

A conservatory is an addition to a home that is constructed largely of glass to allow sunlight to pervade the room, visually drawing the outdoors to the inside of the home. Historically, the conservatory was conceived and constructed for English aristocracy. Today, conservatories have become so popular that they are designed into the architecture of many new homes.

Whether a small conservatory is desired to accommodate family and a few friends, or a larger room is planned for extensive entertaining, it is the intent of the builders to design the structure so that it blends seamlessly with the rest of the house. Upon completion, it is left to the homeowner to decide how to decorate the conservatory. Even if a professional decorator is hired, there are decisions to be made.

In choosing furniture to fill the space, care should be taken that colours and fabrics will not be affected by all that lovely sunlight. Window coverings such as conservatory blinds, that will offer complete privacy when needed, should be considered. A variety of plants that will do well with an abundance of natural light, in a room that will be kept cool and comfortable will need to be selected.

Beautiful furniture that is made especially for conservatories is available in a variety of styles. Fabrics and finishes that will not fade in excessive light should be chosen. Lighter shades of colour are clean and airy and compliment the spacious feeling of a conservatory, and are least likely to show the effects of fading.

An excellent choice of conservatory furniture is also the kind of furniture that is durable enough to be used outdoors. Patio and garden furniture are manufactured in diverse materials, styles and colours, and can withstand weeks and months of constant exposure to elements of weather such as sunlight, rain and moderate temperature changes.

Wicker, cane and bamboo furniture are not only comfortable, they are durable and will enhance the décor of any area in the home. Metal outdoor furniture of cast aluminium, iron and steel are fashioned in gorgeous designs that will bring out pride of ownership for the homeowner.

Teak is another type of outdoor furniture that may be desirable in a conservatory. Teak furniture is stylish, comfortable and durable, but will need to be oiled periodically to keep the wood in good condition.

Conservatory blinds are specially treated window treatments to keep heat outside in summer, to keep heat inside in winter, to cut down on glare and to provide privacy. Some of these blinds are designed only for those sections of the roof that are glass, and are capable of blocking out a majority of overhead light if needed.

Common styles of conservatory blinds are pleated, Venetian and roller blinds. The lighter shades of colour of the side window blinds may be chosen to compliment the colours found in the furniture.

Conservatories bring the outdoors inside to be enjoyed in comfort year round. Good planning and design will make the most of the experience.

Modern One From Tufenkian

Always enjoy the new designs from Tufenkian:

"Planking For Moderately Mature Adults (R)"

At Build last weekend at Eagle Crest, this may have been the funniest video of the eleven shown. Enjoy!

Finalista de la Novena Edición de Jameson Notodofilmfest

At Build we learned how to create a three-minute video. Think that's not a lot of time, three minutes? Look what can be accomplished in 3:30:

Were You At "Build"?

We are here this weekend at a not to be missed conference at Eagle's Crest for interior designers, contractors and industry vendors. It's called Build, sponsored in part by NWSID, the NW Society of Interior Designers. Time was spent Saturday learning how to make and publish videos. Here's a snippet from the Group Six, starring Bev Landfair:

Put this conference on your schedule for next year and consider being a sponsor. We are having a great time and really getting to know a lot of people.

Blowout Sale At Landfair Furniture

Little Recovery Seen In Furniture and Home Furnishing Sales

Have you wondered why business is so bad in the furniture and home furnishing's industry? Hf Business refers to an Atlantic Monthly article:

Today, we learned that retail sales fell for the first time since June 2010. But one retail sector is quite used to seeing sales decline, even as they have begun to grow in other industries. Furniture and home furnishing sales fell much farther than broader retail sales and have yet to meaningfully recover. Their path has been a brutal one.

The chart shows that sales of home furnishings peaked in 2007. Interestingly, that's when Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery moved to the Pearl Design Center. We hear from lots of designers and we know it's tough out there.

The article goes on to say that home furnishings are geared to home sales and recent Case-Shiller statistics don't show any pick up in home sales.  That means "...since they aren't expected to rise again anytime soon, we shouldn't expect much sunnier days for furniture sales in the near- to medium-term either."

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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New From Bernhardt Interiors

The June 2011 issue of Architectural Digest features this ad from Bernhardt Interiors:



New items include the Halden Chairside Table,


the Maxime Platform Wing Bed,


the Candide Sofa


and the Cabrillo Mailhead Chest.

Come visit us in our showroom to see more of Bernhardt Interiors.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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Wow! Neato!

The Neato Vacuum Robot

Proud and Grateful

I Googled Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery this morning to see if there were any reviews of our business that needed a response.  I remember writing once that reviews can be both good and bad.  One hopes that all the reviews are glowing, but occasionally one could receive a bad one.  It's imperative I wrote that you respond immediately to a bad review.  Maybe, you can change an attitude or right a wrong.  Maybe, in the case of a bad review, your response is merely to tell your side of the story.

I'm proud to say that there were no bad reviews.  Actually there was only one review and that was our own review.  I should renew my efforts to get reviews posted to our site.  When my husband and I relax for a moment to reflect on the past ten years in business, we are proud of the business we've built and love the showroom.  I'd like to have even more furniture on the floor and represent even more vendors, but in these economic times I believe it prudent to run a little lean.

I have been posting on this blog since 2005 and each year have posted on average about 10 to 15 times a month.  In that time I have posted 35 pages of images.  I took a moment to look at some of those images.  There I am at the top.  Who will forget these images:











Thanks for reading and commenting on our posts and visiting our store. We hope to be here for you for many more years.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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eScape From Sky Factory

Every year for two weeks, we spend time at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Resort in Mazatlan, Mexico. We have the door open all the time we are in the room and we hear the ocean sounds; the waves breaking, the birds singing, the warm wind in the palms. We'd love to spend six months each year by the sea in Mexico, but it's not in our budget yet.

TODL today offered a solution to vacation-deprived owners of homes here in the fall and winter: Sky Factory eScape



An eScape window from Sky Factory runs about $9,000. The choice you have is of  the ocean with rising and setting suns in Hawaii, rippling brooks and wind through Aspens in the Steens and much more. Mighty nice solution until the next vacation!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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A Room of Your Own

We are pleased to present this guest post from Carlo Ruggiero in the UK: 

Innovative Bedrooms -- A Room of Your Own

Your bedroom is your personal space for relaxation and essential rest. If you are a part of a couple, that applies two-fold. Your bedroom should be the one area of your house or flat where you feel grounded, serene and secure. While current trends in home decor largely dictate the palette of colours available in bed linens and carpeting, it is up to you to supplement out-of-the-box home fashion with bedroom furniture, accessories and personal items that speak to your sense of self. This will help to create a truly personal and totally comfortable (yet contemporary) space.

The Basics

When you set out to transform an empty chamber into a bedroom, you may be faced with the aesthetic of the previous tenant or homeowner in terms of wall and carpeting colours. If these are neutral shades, such as white or ecru, consider yourself in luck. Contemporary decorating wisdom holds that neutral hues provide a crisp, clean backdrop for bedroom furniture, and you will save time and expense if the existing colours suffice. However, if you find white walls too stark, consider painting or wallpapering a single wall with an accent colour. Place coordinating accent rugs over the existing flooring to add warmer hues.

Contemporary Style Trends

To achieve an integrated, restful space, the best strategy is to select a particular trend or theme that you like and then apply your personal creative touch. Contemporary designers recognize several current trends in home décor, including:

• Minimalist – simple lines, basic shapes, neutral colour scheme, no frills
• Eco-friendly – furniture with natural, non-toxic finishes, unbleached linens, nature’s colour palette
• Organic – eclectic furnishings, natural accents such as fresh and dried bouquets, handcrafts such as pieced quilts
• Ethnic – furnishings made of exotic wood, vibrant colour accents, décor pieces from faraway locations
• Bauhaus – upscale and sophisticated with classic furnishings, old-world solidity and culture
• Country ranch – relaxed, carefree decorating look with rustic wood furnishings and down-to-earth accents such as bricks and stoneware

Furniture Selection

Your selection of bedroom furniture is critical to your chamber's utility and decor. Your bed is the focal point of the room, and as such it must be both aesthetically pleasing and comfortable. This is that all-important stage in organising your bedroom when you must make stylistic decisions.

If you are going for a chic minimalist bedroom, you might select a simple bed with a plain headboard, or you might choose a platform upon which you set your mattress. For an organic decor scheme, you should select a bed frame made of wood or another natural material such as bamboo. A Bauhaus look requires bedroom furniture with a classic, high-gloss profile that makes a statement of opulence. A country ranch style bedroom calls for such materials as distressed leather or chunky wood furnishings.

Despite what you may read in the home magazines, modern bedroom furniture need not be stark or uninteresting, unless you choose it for the express purpose of creating that particular style. Warm wood, padded headboards, even log furnishings have their place in an appropriate decor scheme.  
Carlo Ruggiero




Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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Spring Look At Precedent

Did you miss High Point?  Sherrill has been nice enough to film their showroom and show what's new this spring.  First up is a look at Precedent:



Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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Enjoy Nica-Art

Every once in a while TODL shows a manufacturer that catches my eye.  They show something unique or different from anything I've seen before.  That's the case today as TODL singled out Nica-Art:



Nica-Art's Chris Welke represents 44 artists from the unassuming town of San Juan de Oriente, in Nicaragua. After a very lengthy process of hand crafting pottery, burnishing and painting using the traditional “engove” method, then baking in kilns constructed of local materials, these artisans create uniquely beautiful pieces reflecting their collective spirit.





The Nica-Art website has a whole page devoted to how this pottery is made at Making the Pottery. It takes days and days, using primitive methods, to turn out such beautiful vases.



Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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BOORA

Bev has a particular affinity for BOORA Architects, since she worked at the firm for several years.  The firm caught her attention when on April 29th, the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) dedicated the  opening of eight new academic buildings on the 12.5-acre site that forms the new Knight Management Center campus.

Congratulations to Boora principal Stan Boles and all at BOORA for the most recent of four major Stanford capital development projects in which Boora has played a lead, or key supporting, role.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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Bed Bugs And Dust Mites!

Are you worried about traveling and coming home with bed bugs?  I am!  More and more places are having problems with infestations, even the nice places.  We are even told to put our luggage in the tubs of hotels and resorts, because bed bugs can't move on the slick surfaces.

Then there are dust mites that feast off the dead skin that we humans shed while we sleep.  And ick!, the dust mite feces are a primary allergen for asthma, eczema and atopic allergies.

Would you be interested in a solution?  Today I learned about ActiveGuard^TM mattress liners which were originally developed in an effort to create an easier and more effective alternative to encasements and a more accurate and longer lasting alternative to sprays and powders for control of dust mites and their allergens.  After extensive testing and field trials, ActiveGuard has proven to be an effective tool for bed bugs!

The mattress liners fit over your mattress and under your sheets like a fitted sheet.  They are a woven fabric that is soft and flexible and come in single, full, queen and king sizes.  Prices range from $99.95 for single to $124.95 to king.

Tell us.  Should we carry this product?  Would you be interested in bed bug and dust mite protection at those prices?


Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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We Love Lorts

Lorts has a blog that features Fresh {off the line} Friday. Each Friday Lorts brings to our attention items that have passed through the factory recently and captured their attention.Here is beautiful example of their Pure Technique, specified in a custom Sherwin Williams paint color and applied to their classic 9620 Chest.



Next, Lorts  has a brilliant example of ther newest leafing option-copper leafing.  When specified on a piece with as much detailing as the 9689 Chest, it really brings out the dimension and texture of the carvings.


 Finally, look at this Mantel cabinet,  The ways it can be fisnished are only limited by your imagination.


Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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It's Bridget Otto Thursday!

Bridget Otto talks with Noelle Penn today in In the mood for Color.

"I can't imagine how depressed I'd be to come home to beige walls," she says, her trademark laugh punctuating the comment.

We can't either and we were so glad to be invited to the unveiling of Bob Lahatt's work at his client's condo on Westover Sunday. Bob invited us to meet his client and to see how he used the Fabricut, Duralee and Sherrill fabrics. There were mkany people there we knew and the catered food was terrific. We loved lahatt's use of color on the walls and drapes, in the wallpaper and on the upholstered furniture. Here's some video of the rooms:





Bob Lahatt Lahatt Robert Interior Design
Portland, OR 97086 800-883-1859

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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A Fresh Look At Stanley

When "less is more," this is where to turn. Clean and architectural, Stanley Furniture's contemporary style combines texture, form and function to create a back drop for the modern lifestyle.

Equally at home in an urban loft or a smart, environmentally-aware home, this is contemporary that truly is for how we live.

» Watch the Contemporary Video

There Are Some New Apps For That!

Did you know there was a guide available which showcases the best property apps for the iPhone and iPad (many of which are design orientated):

From interior design ideas to fantastic DIY essentials, this hand-picked selection of apps will appeal to anyone with a flair for design and home improvement.

There's a Houzz app, an InteriorMag app, a Dream Home HD and many more either free or $.99. Have a look!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design gallery
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