Do you have a room in your home where you feel as though every time you step into it, it keeps getting smaller and smaller? Nowadays, when purchasing or selling a home, the emphasis is placed on wanting more space. And as we all well know, this cannot always be achieved, especially if you live in an older home. Here are some suggestions to help enlarge your seemingly dwarf-like space.

Be sure that the furnishings you place in the room are properly proportioned to the space. If your sofa or chair takes up half of the room, it will make the room look even smaller. Smaller sofas or chairs that do not have an over-stuffed look will work best. This also applies to any side tables that may look bulky or large. Instead, place dainty furniture in your space. Read more »

Before you decide to run to the store and buy new patio furniture, check your budget - and your design style.

Manufacturers are strutting out bold pieces that can do double duty indoor or out. Sectional sofas are taking center stage in collections. Overstuffed cushions, custom fabrics, tassels and trims are now becoming the norm alongside chairs that look like they belong in the family room and tables carved from glamorous granite slabs and manufactured synthetic stones.

The new “outdoor room” has taken on a new meaning with homeowners - it’s an extension of their home. Read more »

Furniture Row Cos., a Denver-based chain of home furnishing and accessory centers, wants to open its first Florida complex here.

Engineers representing the company recently applied to the St. Johns River Water Management District for approval of a stormwater management plan for two lots in the Interstate Commerce Park on North Tomoka Farm Road.

Bill McKendry, Furniture Row marketing director, said company officials were eager to get to the Sunshine State for a couple of reasons. “Obviously Florida is a growing state,” McKendry said in a telephone interview.

Also, the area is home to the NASCAR. Furniture Row is the sponsor of the No. 78 car driven by Kenny Wallace on the Nextel Cup series. Read more »

Furniturehomedelivery.com has announced that its primary objective is to offer a free catalogue for savvy shoppers looking for best merchants and best prices for furniture and bedding. Furniturehomedelivery.com is changing the way Americans shop online by making it easy to research and compare products as well as find the best prices all in one convenient site. Consumers can search over 20000 furniture and bedding products from top-name-brand stores to find the best price(s) through it. This upcoming site christened Furniturehomedelivery.com, has unique research technology that cuts through the Internet’s clutter of spams and ineffective information to deliver a furniture and bedding catalogue that helps users redefine and refine their shopping decisions. Read more »

Forget formal living rooms. Outdoor living rooms are what’s hot.

Decks are being replaced by large roof-covered patios partially walled by fireplaces or columns and sometimes accented with roof-to-floor curtains, creating living spaces with indoor privacy and outdoor openness.

These spaces are usually furnished with sofas, chairs and tables that are virtually indistinguishable from indoor decor. Yesterday’s plastic-webbing lounge chairs are long gone, replaced by overstuffed cushions, fringed throw pillows and ottomans that seat four or more.

“Customers are coming in who haven’t bought outdoor furniture in 10 years, and they can’t believe what we have now,” says Keely Anderson, co-owner of Inside-Out Home Furnishings in Brentwood, where “estate-sized” outdoor furnishings are in demand. “The fabric today looks fabulous, feels fabulous and is completely weather-resistant. We even have a group covered with an outdoor leather. . . There are just so many different choices for everybody.” Read more »

Severn Furnishing announced that it has updated its range of modern office furniture. The updated products are from the Stellar range and include the Stellar Xec and Stellar Director range. The Stellar Xec range is hand made by British craftsmen with bespoke options available. The Stellar Director range offers a range of different finishes in cherry, beech and wenga wood veneer with solid wood edge lipping.

Nigel Eldridge, MD of Severn Furnishing commented, “we are delighted to have extended our range of Stellar products. They really are some of the finest desks and office furniture you can buy.” Read more »

WoodMarc Enterprises, a manufacturer of residential bedroom furniture, announced Friday that it is closing its manufacturing facility in Winterset, eliminating most of its 114-person workforce.

WoodMarc is one of the largest employers in the town of 5,000, about 30 miles southwest of Des Moines.

“We’re going to weather through this,” Winterset Mayor James Olson said. “It’s a blow to us.”

WoodMarc said in a statement that it will remain in business as a furniture importer and will continue with its product lines that are currently made in China. Read more »

New furniture is easy to find. Antiques aren’t exactly scarce. But some people want a chair or a sideboard to perfectly match a roomful of antiques, or a chest of drawers that exists only vaguely in their imaginations, and those are the customers Kyle Smith is looking for.

Smith started his woodworking career as an Iowa farm boy near Audubon. At 28, he operates a start-up business, Smith Co. Artisans, out of his home in Windsor Heights. In between, he studied the craft of furniture making at the University of Rio Grande - it’s not where you think; it’s in Ohio - and worked with period furniture makers in Philadelphia.

Walk into his house and you’re surrounded by wonderful examples of Smith’s talent. Many pieces feature hand-carved details defining them as the work of a man who has thoroughly developed his skills. He’s in the midst of making and installing a fireplace surround, complete with carved flowers, as part of transforming the main part of the first floor of his home into a showroom. Read more »

The City of Middletown doesn’t have Wiedy’s Furniture to kick around, after all.

That job, as it turns out, belongs to the Town of Wawayanda and the state attorney general’s office.

Wiedy’s “store closing” sale has apparently run afoul of a law requiring a license for such sales. Merchants who ignore the law risk hefty fines and even jail time.

Thinking the store was within city limits, Middletown Clerk Charles Mitchell recently fired off a letter to Wiedy’s demanding compliance. Read more »

When manufacturers say “wicker,” they’re referring to every woven furniture product, said Georgel Miloje, of the marketing department at Designer Wicker & Rattan, a furniture manufacturer based in Orangeburg, S.C. Rattan is one of the materials most used for natural wickerwork.

However, demand for outdoor furniture made with synthetic materials is on the increase, and manufacturers are keeping pace. Miloje said his company sees surging growth in the demand for synthetic wickerwork, which people like because it’s weather-resistant. Read more »