Wall Design Diva, Suzanne Gallagher, Seminar and Book Signing

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a treat for you.

Prior to her appearance on AM Northwest KATU Channel 2 on October 2nd at 9:00AM, Suzanne Gallagher, author of The Fine Art of Wall Design will be appearing at Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery for her Start With Art seminar (Featuring ROMA Framed Art!) and Book Signing on Thursday, September 28th, from 5:00PM - 7:00PM. Refreshments will be served, but seating is limited.

In the words of Suzanne Gallagher:

Do you know where to start when tackling an interior decorating project? It can be a challenge. Don't design your room around the sofa... Start with Art! Art is the perfect inspiration for your décor. It reflects your personality, your style. You can determine the colors and style for your interior space from a piece of art that you love. Art is the glue that ties all of the elements in the interior space together. When the art image and color, framing design, and placement in your spaces work together, something terrific happens! It is called The Fine Art of Wall Design.

You Will Discover from the seminar and The Fine Art of Wall Design:

# How to select art images that work.
# Confidence in knowing where to find art.
# Basic understanding of art and value.
# The secrets to good classic art framing design.
# Simple design principles of placement.
# How to create PIZZAZ and "Ooh la la" in your interior spaces!

Where:
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery,
6140 A SW Macadam Avenue, Portland, OR 97201
When: Thursday, September 28th, 5:00PM - 7:00PM
Registration Fee: Free

Call 503-245-4222 or email Bev for reservations

Bev@landfairfurniture.com

Daniel Masters Of Hekman On Quality Woodwork

We see a lot of interest in Hekman Furniture via Google web searches at Landfair Furniture (Blog) and our other sites. I want to share some consumer information that will help you navigate our furniture store and others stores you may contact when you begin to shop for furniture for various rooms in your home.

Daniel Masters is the president and owner of Hekman furniture. He is a 29-year veteran of the furniture industry. As an expert, he has written many articles that will help you in your shopping. Here he is on the topic of: How can you tell quality woodwork?

I think it is really important for a consumer to stand back and look at what you are going to buy. Back up in front of the piece of furniture and touch it in the following ways. Run your hands across the top, underneath the edges, and underneath the bottom. What do you feel? The top should be smooth to the touch. When you run your hands around the edges or the sides, there shouldn't be a rough feeling. Sometimes, you feel scratchiness, almost like stubble of a beard. Those are indications that the furniture was not sanded. Now after you have looked at that and gotten a feel for it, you want to stand up to the top, come up and look at the top and inspect the top of the furniture. How or what does the top of the furniture look like? When you walk up to a piece of furniture, you look down at the top and what do you see? Well, here are some things that you should see. Is the wood on the top of the furniture? Can you see small little pieces of wood formed together with little finger joints? That's called finger joint construction and generally speaking, it allows you to use more small wood parts that make it more affordable. When you finish that wood whether it is a light finish or a dark finish, you should be able to see those little joints.

Does the top run very uniformly? Do the edges appear to run at different grain directions? In other words, are they running across and all of a sudden you look at the edge and it is running up and down. That would indicate that this has been neared top. At that particular point you could have two different constructions on the edge. It could be a wood construction that's well done. Or it could be what they call a filled edge, and that is just basically where somebody literally painted on a veneered look, almost sort of like a plastic type of feel to that look. All of those things are determining what the sale price is because there is cost in doing more work to create a piece of furniture. So when you look at that veneer top or wood top, how does it appear to you in looking down at it? Can you sort of pick the edges off? Feel the flip edges of veneers and that type of thing. So at that particular point you should have an idea of what the construction of the material is, or the tops of the furniture you are looking at which is the most important thing.

Right now each of those various constructions are fine. They are all stable. What really happens now is that as your furniture ages, it starts deteriorating. This is a real thing. A piece of wood is cut out of a tree and the tree continues to live in some vague shape or form in your home. It absorbs moisture. When your house is humid, when your house is dry, it dries. It expands and contracts even though it is not a living thing. Over time and usage, the things that are better-built are going to last longer. And so are you buying heirlooms or you are buying things that you want to just give to your kids when they move out on you?

Now, let's move on. When you see the color, does the color look uniform across the top? When you walk around the table, looking down again at the color, can you see shifting light? This would indicate flip in the veneers which is something that the salesperson should be explaining to you. Light will hit the top of the veneered table and give you a different color from different angles. But the most important thing is that when you are looking at this color on the retail floor, is the color uniform from piece to piece? In other words, do you have dark spots and light spots?

As a consumer, when you get that in your home, it is going to age differently. Over time in a home, light will come in and out and the furniture will get either richer or warmer or start to get bleached out. If you are going to start with somebody delivering furniture to your house that is not uniform in color and appearance, it is going to age just like different people age.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery always has a number of Hekman pieces on our floor and we invite you to compare the quality and the price. Do the "hands on" tests that Masters suggests. Did we mention the furniture is beautiful, to boot?

Bev & Mike

Hekman Furniture Daniel Masters Interior Designe Bev & Mike

Rowe Companies files for Chapter 11

There's good news and bad news today from Rowe Companies. In a press release Rowe said they are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Upholstery manufacturer and retailer The Rowe Companies, reeling from declining sales, import competition and lingering problems from a faulty enterprise resource planning system, said today it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and that it plans to sell its Storehouse retail division.

We expect no disruptions in service from Rowe at Landfair Furniture and there should be no effect on special orders.

Now for the good news. I looked at the Rowe site and discovered they are running a contest for a new sofa.

So, tell us a little about yourself and we'll put your name in the hat for a drawing to win a free sofa! The drawing will be held on September 29, 2006. No salesman will call and we will not share your personal information with anyone.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery is proud to carry Rowe Furniture as part of our commitment to provide a range of price points for designers, their clients and the retail public. While LF + DG specializes in working with the interior designer, we are open to the public and can provide as much design help as you may require. For those special projects ask about "referral to a designer" program.

Bev & Mike

Rowe Companies Rowe Furniture Upholstery Win a free sofa
Bev & Mike

Furnishings For Your Garage

A few years ago, Mike and I converted the detached car port into a garage that matched the style of the house. Since it was a one car garage, we wanted the space to be more than a place to park the car. We wanted a place to store used paint, gardening tools and fertilizer, the lawn mower and bikes. Like many people, we bought some of those shelving systems you can get at Costco and one of those metal tool benches. The tool bench has heavy particle board for the top and has since bowed from the moisture. The floor is the typical cement that gathers stains over time.

Designer Donya Wiland and her husband Craig have a two car garage and have three cars in it. An original Morris, a 1957 Chevy Nomad, which Craig is restoring and a red convertible Corvair. There is barely enough room to walk around the cars and Craig would love to have room for a shop.

At the dog park Helen and Joe are selling their home by Grant Park and moving to the South East part of Portland. Joe has a strong desire to have a multiple car garage with a shop. He figures if he doesn't restore the panel truck he owns, he never will.

Where am I going with this talk about the garage?

Well, there is a new company in town, Vault, led by Chad Haas that offers "An Ultra-Premium Line of Furnishings For the Dream Garage."



And you should see the color palette. In addition Vault offers flooring. To quote their web site

Every element of your home is a reflection of your lifestyle, including your garage floor. So, if you dislike coming home to an unattractive and dirty garage floor, we have the perfect solution. Our Garazzo™ flooring system will transform an ordinary concrete garage floor into a decorative statement that is difficult to stain and easy to clean.

Take comfort in coming home to the cleanest and nicest garage on the block.

Vault has broadened its product offerings to include carriage-style doors, flooring products, wall treatments and period furnishings – to put it more succinctly, everything needed to outfit the dream garage.

Now all the men I know will soon be saying, I want a bigger garage. I want a Vault garage!

Chad Haas is in Beaverton, OR and can be reached Toll Free at (866) 828-5810.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

"It isn't easy being green."

Kermit the Frog, in his latest commercial says, "It isn't easy being green." Bridget A. Otto in the Thursday Homes & Gardens section of The Oregonian sympathizes:

Consumers like the idea that bamboo grows so quickly, thus being sustainable. But, ...some companies in China are pushing the bamboo bandwagon off a cliff by selling products made from plants harvested at three or four years. If left to grow 10 years, bamboo's density improves, giving it the characteristics that make it as durable as hardwoods for flooring....

So, if you have to replace that dented and scratched bamboo floor sooner, is your use of a sustainable product for naught?

If you buy furniture made from reclaimed wood, is it still green if it's been trucked here from North Carolina?

It's about balance, says Alisa Kane with Portland's Office of Sustainable Development.

"For me, it's making sure that what I was purchasing was durable, and the resources were respected and the people involved were respected," she says. "Ask the question: Where did it come from; why do I need it; will it last?

We know at Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery that being green is more than a color. One of our many encounters with "green" came in an interview with interior designer Marcie Harris in which she said:

My interpretation of Green Design is that designers and architects need to be educated about the 'lifecycle" of the products they specify. This is not only the recycling capability of products, but thinking about what it took to make the product in the first place. Obviously we can't evaluate everything - but if more pressure were put on manufacturers from designers and architects regarding "green design", I believe the industry would react accordingly. I have a client with a child that came down with environmental sickness after they moved into their new home. The off-gassing of VOC's from the various products (osb board, carpet glue etc.) was enough to keep her out of one whole year of high school. This was 8 years ago and things are improving - but it is still a huge concern.

Bev & Mike

Green Bridget A. Otto Interior Decorating Design Bev & Mike

New Home Decor Blogs

Every week it seems that new blogs are springing up dedicated to interior design, furniture and accessories. Here are a few of our latest finds:

MoCo Loco - Modern contemporary Design.
Take a look at this hand truck/chair:

Is this for the co-worker not pulling his/her weight?

Funfurde - Funky. Furniture. And. Design.

Design*Sponge - Design*Sponge features store and product reviews, sale and contest announcements, new designer profiles, trend forecasting and store/studio tours. In addition, Design*Sponge features a unique section dedicated to covering student design, national and international design shows.

Trendir - Trendir is an online magazine about the latest Home Decor Products and Trends. We cover High-End Luxury products. Think of us as having both style sense and the ability to identify new and cool things. Just take a look at this most unusual kitchen sink:



Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Furniture Home Decor Interior Design Bev & Mike

New Textiles From Phillips!

From Phillips Lumalive a new fabric for clothing and furniture.

Lumalive textiles make it possible to create fabrics that carry dynamic advertisements, graphics and constantly changing color surfaces.

[...]

Lumalive fabrics feature flexible arrays of colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fully integrated into the fabric - without compromising the softness or flexibility of the cloth. These light emitting textiles make it possible to create materials that can carry dynamic messages, graphics or multicolored surfaces. Fabrics like drapes, cushions or sofa coverings become active when they illuminate in order to enhance the observer’s mood and positively influence his/her behavior.

It's not in the showroom yet, but count on it coming in the near future. You just need to be creative in how you use it.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Phillips Lumalive Light Emitting Fabrics Textiles Home Decor
Bev & Mike

Jimmy Choo

So what do the stars wear when they walk on the red carpet?
If you said Jimmy Choo you are correct. Many, like Charlize Theron who wears ‘Paris’ a satin sandal with ornate jewel detail set in antique gold, choose Jimmy Choo for the walk.

The mere mentioning of the name Jimmy Choo has women worldwide drooling. The Chinese born, London based shoe designer is at the very top of brilliant shoe fashion.

Now you can browse his collection and dream, dream, dream.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Jimmy Choo Fashion Shoe Designer Bev & Mike

Bridget Otto Thursday on Saturday

Bridget A Otto had a beautifully illustrated article, Mirror Mirage, in Thursday's Homes & Gardens section in The Oregonian.

Our mirrors remind us of who we have become, but

A strategically placed mirror won't make you look younger, but it might lighten that dark corner near the entry or make the small guest room appear larger.

You can even create the illusion of a window.

We learn from the article that Suzanne Gallagher's new book is out: "The Fine Art of Wall Design" (Alta Press, 2006).

Bridget quotes designer Patti Marvitz.

A reflection doubles what's in the room, so you'd better like what you see in the room.

Gallagher notes

And just as that mirror in the bathroom has a practical purpose, so does the pretty one in the front hall.

That way you'll never end up saying, "I didn't know that was sticking to my skirt!"

The Bridget Otto article also has some practical advice for hanging those heavy mirrors on drywall (see pdf).

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Fads or Trends?

The Sacbee has an interesting article about fads and trends entitled
Can you separate the oh-so-trendy from the tried-and-true timeless?
By Alison apRoberts.

...there are ways to identify style trends that are likely to have staying power.

Two current themes promise to wear well. One is the Arts and Crafts style, which hews to the traditional, yet its simplicity and use of natural materials make it feel up-to-date and timeless.

...the other style du jour as "sleek, modern urban loft design." Again, simple designs and natural materials can keep the style from looking dated.

I liked this idea

"The shell of your home is like your body and the furniture is like the clothing, and the accessories are like the jewelry...

To avoid fads buy a few pieces of quality furniture that is timeless and change small things around it; throw pillows, wall colors, accessories.

Then apRoberts remembers the fads and trends of the past and what is fashionable today

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Art Glass: Contemporary Assessories

From Home Accents Today, Art Glass: Avant Garde Art Glass by Kara Cox

With art glass maintaining its contemporary appeal, these colorful pieces add a touch of eye candy to the mod mix. Abstract designs grab your attention in electric hues of red, blue and green or with graphic touches of black and white. Art glass is an easy way to update the home with a touch of modern appreciation.

Global Views' tall oval bowl in a fiery orange hue has a playful iridescent touch.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery is proud to carry Global Views.

Bev & Mike

Art Glass Contemporary Interior Design Mover Mike

Swan, ID and Square Scoops

Yellowstone 056
Originally uploaded by gily122000.

Bev & Mike traveled over 1000 miles to see and taste the ice cream at Rainey Creek in Swan, ID.

The story is: In 1943 the owners decided to expand into selling ice cream and Gracie ordered an ice cream scoop from back east. When it arrived it was a square scooper and she was very upset. Her husband said why don't we try it. That happy accident and some great flavors like Moose Tracks, Cotton Candy, Play Doh and Huckleberry & Cream have attracted visitors from all over. The present owners may go through 30 tubs of Huckleberry & Cream a week, and some are so taken with the flavor that they will walk out if their favorite is out.

Swan can be reached on the road from Jackson Hole, WY to Idaho Falls. The Swan Valley is one of the prettiest we saw on our road trip to Yellowstone.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Yellowstone 055

Yellowstone 055
Originally uploaded by gily122000.

Bev in front of Rainey Creek in Swan, ID, home of the square scoop ice cream in a cone. She has been to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole and is on the way home.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

San Gimignano Is Under Siege

One of our favorite cities is under siege. Three million tourists come to San Gimignano each year (compare that to two million visitors to Jackson Hole) and they come in fast, take a quick picture of themselves against a tower and whisk out to another city in the triangle.

“Some people, jokingly, say that we have to get out of the ‘Bermuda Triangle,’ a reference to the hordes of tourists in sandals and shorts who migrate between St. Peter’s in Rome, the Uffizi in Florence and Piazza San Marco in Venice,” said Francesco Rutelli, deputy prime minister and culture minister.

In 2000, when Mike and I went to Italy to celebrate my 50th birthday, we flew into Venice, spent several nights there, drove to Radaa and spent a week there driving to the Uffizi in Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, and many of the towns in Tuscany, then we drove to Rome for another week.

If you have the time, I would encourage you to get to know these medieval towns, enjoy lunch and dinner there, sit in the sun and sip a cup of coffee, enjoy the Gelato, talk with the Italians, practice your limited Italian and marvel at the ancient buildings and the light.

“The problem is hit-and-run tourism, which doesn’t create wealth or guarantee the preservation of a beautiful but delicate city,” said Sabrina Benenati, the town counselor responsible for commerce and local productivity. “If all you want to do is get photographed in front of a tower, I’m sure there are computer programs that can do the same thing with no damage to the town and without spending much money.”

Don't be a hit-and-run tourist!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Do you love Watermelons?

Are you frustrated with the fruit because they roll around when you are slicing them? Do you hate it that they roll around in your fridge? Well Brazil has come up with



Square Melons!

Tesco exotic fruit buyer Damien Sutherland: 'We’ve seen samples of these watermelons and they literally stop you in their tracks because they are so eye-catching.

'Melons are among the most delicious and refreshing fruit around but some people find them a problem to store in their fridge or to cut because they roll around.

In Japan they sell for about $75 a melon. We'll wait until the price comes down.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Square Watermelons Watermelon Bev & Mike

Is it time for wallpaper again?

Pure Contemporary thinks so in We're Stuck on Wallpaper all over again!

Button Up from Tracy Kendall is a bespoke look with buttons (large or small, plain or detailed, delicate or chunky) and their holes sewn into plain or textured wallpaper.

Caroline Kooshoian writes

...wallpaper's surging toward a comeback, and it’s left the brash, fussy and fuzzy behind.

[...]

It gets bold with stark geometric prints, fun with abstract flowers and artistic in hand-painted sheets. But it's the organic warm looks in cork, wood, grasscloth, textiles, even mother of pearl and glass, that have helped lead wallpaper manufacturers to almost $8 billion in sales last year, and showed the faux finishing crowd that walls can shine with luminous depth sans telltale sponge marks.

Exciting isn't it?

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

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

New Uttermost Website

From Home Accents Today, Uttermost, a leading accessory and lighting manufacturer, unveiled an easy-to-navigate virtual showroom on its new Web site at http://www.uttermost.com/.

The new Uttermost virtual showroom is a great example of where art and technology have come together to create the ultimate shopping tool that meets the business needs of today's retailers.

The site has sophisticated yet easy-to-navigate search functionality to enable the user to quickly narrow down and access specific accessory categories and/or product information. They can access specific information such as product sizes or specific finishes and styles.

[...]

The Web site also caters to consumers and the company's internal sales force. Consumers can visit the virtual showroom to find out information on the newest home accessory products, and get tips from designers.

Speaking about Tips from Designers, The Uttermost Website has an informative piece about Designer Tips for Lighting and Lighting Fixtures. Some of the topics covered:

My room seems too big/small…. how can lighting help?

How can I use lighting to show off the beautiful decorative objects in my home?

What general rules should I follow to light the master bedroom?

I have a home office… how should I light it?

We carry the Uttermost products in the Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery. Take a look at the virtual Uttermost website. We can drop ship any style lamp or accessory to your home or office.

Bev & Mike

Uttermost Lamps Home Decor Landfair Furniture

BermanFALK Acquires LDC Design Studio

From FURNITUREToday comes news that BermanFALK has acquired the rights to produce the furniture designs of California-based LDC Design Studio.

LDC, a 10-year-old contemporary bedroom, dining and occasional furniture producer based in Palm Springs, will stay in business, and owner Joel Bessaules will continue to provide input on design, but its collections will be made at the Bermanfalk plant in Langley, British Columbia, said Gary Berman, vice president of marketing and sales for Bermanfalk.

He described LDC as a niche-oriented manufacturer with a regional presence in the U.S. Southwest, whose looks complement Bermanfalk designs.

The company hopes to expose LDC to an international customer base, Berman said. He said Bermanfalk also wants to develop relationships with what he described as LDC’s loyal customer base among designers.

“They’ve obviously got some terrific product. It’s very well styled and works along with our product well,” Berman said.

He said the purchase was completed in late February, and did not disclose a price.

Last year, Bermanfalk acquired Vancouver-based HOM Furniture & Design, a high-end company targeted to metropolitan markets. Berman said the goal eventually is to market the three companies under one brand name.

The LDC Design Studio bed in Espresso finish pictured above is part of the Chandler collection and comes in Classic Finishes of Amber Rift Oak, Chestnut Rift Oak, Dark Walnut Rift Oak, Espresso Rift Oak, and Ebony Rift Oak. In addition, there are Premium Finishes of Birdseye Maple, Zebrawood, Macassar Ebony amd Wenge.

With the loss of Dinec' bedroom furniture line, a result of the discontinuation as a result of Dinec's reorganization from Chapter 11, Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery will be pleased to offer LDC Design Studio as part of the BermanFALK quality furniture offerings.

Bev & Mike

BermanFALK LDC Design Studio Contempory Furniture

Palecek Outdoor Furniture

From Copley News Service,
Indoor-outdoor furniture should be weatherproof, stackable,
by Christine Brun.

If your place is small and has little space for storage, look for furniture pieces that work as well inside as out. That way, you expand your entertaining capability for every season.

Shopping for such indoor-outdoor furniture requires patience and restraint because some beautiful garden furniture would look out of place indoors. And the ubiquitous white plastic chairs available at discount and home-improvement stores definitely would not work.

Still, some of the features found in both of those options are worth trying. You need seating that is weatherproof and pet-friendly. Stackability is an added plus.

Palecek's Patio Stacking Chair is one handsome possibility. The body of the cafe chair is woven with high-quality UV-resistant plastic. A special coloring technique is used to create the wickerlike appearance over a frame of bent black rattan.

Investigate your finds carefully so you aren't in for a surprise when they are exposed to the elements. Although the Palecek chair is constructed partly of natural rattan, which gives the chair its genuine look, you might not want to leave it outdoors year-round. This chair would do fine for the season, and you'll get extra use if you buy plastic covers for all of your outdoor furniture.

Alfresco dining is also pleasurable in another Palecek offering, an aluminum-framed chair covered in an all-weather woven synthetic material that mimics the look of natural rattan peel. Aptly named Al Fresco Metro Chair, it is also conveniently stackable and has a more contemporary feel.

Shop with your pets in mind, too. Puppies chew on just about anything, so a metal model might be better for the household with pets.

Try to locate outdoor chairs that will be compatible with your existing indoor pieces. For example, if you already have wicker indoor dining chairs in a natural color, the Patio Stacking Chair would have the woven element in common.

Your eye will read the texture and color first before the differences in design detail hit your brain. In this way, whether you are inside looking out or outside looking in, if the colors and styles are compatible, the visual impression will be that the space is contiguous.

Another way to achieve this connection is to continue the type of flooring from inside to out.

The same rule also applies to your tables. A wood dining surface won't endure the weather, but make sure other finishes are visually similar enough to allow for design flow.

Christine Brun is a San Diego-based interior designer, member of ASID and author of Big Ideas for Small Spaces. cbaintdes@aol.com or to Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery carries Palecek indoor and outdoor furniture and accessories. We carry some items on our showroom floor have many more in catalogs that can be ordered, some in a variety of fabrics and leathers.

Bev & Mike

Decorating Dead Zones

It's Bridget Otto Thursday and her column today in The Oregonian's Homes & Garden section, concerns those hard to decorate little areas, she calls "Dead Zones".

Every house has one or two. Sometimes there are more.

We're talking dead spots, those puzzling areas that are often not furniture-friendly but look vacant without something. It can be a small landing on a staircase or a transition spot from one room to the next.

Mine's in the entryway. First off, there's no electrical outlet nearby, so a quick fix of adding light is out. Secondly, there is already a table off to the other side of the entry, so an additional table looks redundant and not very clever.

I've had a chair there for some time. Granted, no one sits in the chair, but it fills the void and acts as a catchall for coats and purses -- sometimes a good thing, sometimes not. I've lobbied for a decorative coat rack, but my husband thinks it, too, will become an eyesore filled with coats and umbrellas and purses. He may be right, but I'm not convinced.

A chair with some architectural flair and a tall back might fit the bill, but I haven't found it yet.

"You want something interesting, something different or edgy," says designer Beverly Landfair of Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery in Southwest Portland. Landfair, like many designers, sees these dead areas as great challenges and places to accessorize the home.

She suggests adding mirrors to make the area appear larger or brighter. She's also a fan of chests, available now in every style from traditional to contemporary. The end of a hallway is a great place for a tall chest, which can do double duty as storage as well as pull the eye down the hall, creating a focal point.

Like Landfair, designer Diane Keaton, of Diane Keaton Interiors in Beaverton, likes dead-space challenges.

"These are my favorite areas to deal with," she says.

To bring life to a dull spot, Keaton often adds artwork, from sculptures to paintings to photo groupings. For one client who had moved into a condo, Keaton punched up wall space above the kitchen sink with a large photograph that both harmonized with the Asian-inspired decor and provided an outdoor scene for an otherwise visual dead end.

In the hallway of her own home, Keaton filled a drab spot with two framed photographs and set a small stool with an upholstered seat under them. She balanced that at the opposite end with more framed photographs and a plant in a pretty pot on the floor.

In another client's home, she filled a vacant ledge with a grouping of three large, matching vases.

"It's a wow," she says.

Groupings of little things bore Keaton a bit. She operates on the less-is-more design philosophy -- fewer items, but big ones. "You want something to look at."

If the dead spot can be isolated, go for it and treat it differently from the space around it, says designer Kimberlee Jaynes. Make it pop with paint and/or bright objects or shiny surfaces. If it's possible, paint the ceiling in that area with a bronze metallic paint to reflect light.

If the space is dark and you'd like to hang artwork, Jaynes suggests frames that come with battery-powered lights, available at some Portland-area frame shops.

Jaynes, who owns Kimberlee Jaynes Interior Designs in Northwest Portland, thinks in terms of paint, texture and artwork when faced with "any dingy hole." All good ways to get ideas flowing.

Me? For starters, I'm going to beg my sweet husband to put in an electrical outlet to bring that dead spot to life.

Bridget A. Otto: 503-221-9527; bridgetotto@news.oregonian.com

Bev & Mike

Bridget A. Otto Beverly Landfair Diane Keaton Interiors Kimberlee Jaynes Interior Designs Home Decor Interior Design

Synthetic or Wood, How's Your Deck?

It's Bridget Otto Thursday and today Bridget writes about outside decking in a two part article. In the first part, she writes about choosing decking, wood or synthetic?

Synthetic decking, once the ugly stepchild that looked like the plastic used to make it, has grown up and is becoming a popular deck-building material.

One big advantage of synthetic over wood is maintainance

Although not zero maintenance, synthetic decking is very low maintenance -- especially when compared with a cedar deck that needs to be stripped and sealed yearly.

The second part of the article concerns inspecting your existing deck for safety.

Properly built and maintained, a deck will provide years of enjoyment. But as the years go by, weather and use can erode the deck's structural integrity.

Then Bridget goes on to tell us some things to look for that may tell us if we need to replace our deck or make repairs.

Clear debris. Debris acts like a sponge.... Be especially sure that there is no debris buildup where the deck meets the house.

Check for dry rot. Test wood for softness by poking it with a nail or a screwdriver.

Check the ledger board where the deck is bolted to the frame of the house. Bolts should be staggered one up and one down.

Make sure all fasteners are secure by giving railings and balusters a good shake.

Check that support posts are secure in their footings.

Bridget A. Otto can be reached at bridgetotto@news.oregonian.com

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Bridget Otto Wood Decks Home Decor

10 Tips: Carpet Colors

From House Beautiful, 10 Tips: Carpet Colors By carpet and textile designer Christine Van Der Hurd.

1. Go with your gut feeling when choosing a carpet. I think color is more important than design; if you don't love the hue, the pattern, however pretty, won't matter.

2. Consider whether you want your carpet to be a focal point of the room or to blend in unobtrusively. Highly patterned, brightly colored carpets obviously belong in the former category.

3. If possible, choose your carpet before deciding upon paint, upholstery and curtains. The colors in your carpet can provide inspiration for the color scheme of an entire room.

4. Before making a decision about carpets, think about whether dirt is a factor. Do you have small children or dogs? Do you entertain a lot? More pattern can help to hide daily wear and tear.

5. In rooms with lots of pattern and texture, it's generally best to choose a single-color floor covering ‑- but it doesn't have to be beige. Pick out a color you like from the curtains or cushions.

6. If you're trying to find a carpet that will work with fabric and colors already in place, consider custom design. It's not necessarily much more expensive than off-the-rack, and you will have a unique, perfectly matched piece.

7. Runners on stairs can introduce color and texture to the bland environment of a hall or staircase. A cotton dhurrie runner, for example, could be perfect for a beach house.

8. Offices don't have to have wall-to-wall industrial carpeting. An interesting rug that you like to look at can make the workplace far more inviting.

9. Children love color, so don't be afraid of using it in their rooms. Choose a carpet that is soft and comfortable to sit on, as they tend to really use the floor while playing. Sometimes the design on a carpet can even feed into activities and games.

10. If you don't want a pattern, but like a textured look, consider a natural yarn that takes dye unevenly. Another option is to look for carpets that leave the fabric knots looped, or uncut, which can add wonderful luster and texture.

We have many friends in the carpet business at Macadam Carpets, Trinity Carpets and custom carpet designers, to name a few. We would be happy to make introductions for you to insure you get the best service.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Christine Van Der Hurd Carpet Home Decor

BermanFALK Dining Table with Classic Lines

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery recently added BermanFALK and I was searching for a way to show the stunning dining room table with a four legged curved pedastal.


(Click on Image for larger picture)

You can see the BermanFALK table tends towards the traditional, has classic lines, but is “still modern”. The chairs have contrasting horizontal slats an interesting architectural feature. In this case they have chosen a striped mix of two shades of cream and mocha.

Bev & Mike

BermanFALK Dining Room Furniture

Dining Room Furniture Guide

Furniture WORLD has an informative article about Dining Room Furniture. While it is product knowledge for salespeople, it gives a good insight into how to spot quality.

Dining Chair Quality
Quality dining chairs feel heavy, substantial and rigid. Chair quality is easy to see and demonstrate since every rail, post and joint is exposed and easily examined.
Chair comfort is one of the most important indicators of good design. You should demonstrate how the design of the seat, back and arms contribute to seating comfort. Make sure your customers sit in each chair they consider purchasing.

Chair strength is extremely important, since dining chairs often take more abuse than any other piece of household furniture. They get knocked over, stood on, spilled on and balanced on their back legs. Poor construction integrity resulting in loose joints will certainly cause customer dissatisfaction, or injury.

Fortunately, most dining chairs are very well made. Box seat wooden chairs often have mortise and tenon joints or dowel joints joining leg posts, stretchers, back posts and rails. Corner blocks are used at stress points to strengthen the seat and the joint, especially where stretchers are not used. All joints should be rigid and the chair should not wobble.

Sloppy joinery and the use of filler to smooth out joints is an indicator of poor quality, as is the excessive use of nails and screws to stabilize a wooden joint.

Different wood species do not expand and contract at the same rates. This may cause problems at joints where two species are joined - but not necessarily. There are many fine windsor chairs, for example, dating from the mid 18th century which combine Pine, Hickory, Oak, Ash and others in the same piece.

Steam bent parts will generally be stronger than shaped parts or those made from several components joined by finger and laminated joints.
Finish quality can be judged by examining places near joints or carvings that are hard to reach and so require hand sanding - especially on chairs with posts, pierced splats, slats or turned parts. These areas should be smooth, evenly stained and free from excess glue.

Those seeking knowledge about dining room furniture should know that there is a fine glossary at the end of the article. The entire dining room furniture guide contains 16 pages of information on construction, styles and terms. The guide sells for $1.95 and can be purchased by calling FURNITURE WORLD Magazine at 914-235-3095 or email education@furninfo.com.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Dining Room Furniture Home Decor