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