Create the perfect Manhattan for a guest without measuring cups or shot glasses. All you need is this handy drink dispenser from Global Décor. It holds four, 1-liter bottles of alcohol or mixers, and rotates to allow home bar tenders to mix party-pleasing beverages without juggling bottles. The tool is made of sturdy aluminum with a a Read more »

Stanley Furniture 243-11-10 The sweet Cottage Revival China Cabinet features windowpane doors, curio ends and a mirrored back. Three adjustable glass shelves with plate grooves, as well as a plate groove on the wooden bottom, facilitate endless display options. And it’s available in all three finishes! Features: -Available in Copper Mountain Pine made with pine solids solids Read more »

Features The Manhattan 2 Drawer Night Table in Espresso Finish from Prepac features 2 large drawers, solid wood legs, a profiled Multi-Density Fiberboard top and drawer fronts, modern brushed nickel knobs, and smooth running drawers with metal slides and safety stops. The overall dimensions of the Manhattan 2 Drawer Night Table are H 24.5 x W 25.25 x D 15.75 (inches). Assembly required.
View product details at Amazon

Features The Manhattan 2 Drawer Night Table in Espresso Finish from Prepac features 2 large drawers, solid wood legs, a profiled Multi-Density Fiberboard top and drawer fronts, modern brushed nickel knobs, and smooth running drawers with metal slides and safety stops. The overall dimensions of the Manhattan 2 Drawer Night Table are H 24.5 x W 25.25 x D 15.75 (inches). Assembly required.
View product details at Amazon

With six months to go before the Red Hook Ikea is slated to open, the home furnishing giant has been quietly providing area residents with free job and computer-training classes.

The program, funded with $500,000 from Ikea and overseen by Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, has enrolled 188 students since August – and hopes to ready hundreds more for potential jobs when the big box opens in June.

“There’s a lot of potential in Red Hook and when the residents are given access to education and job training, they can really reach their potential, whether that’s at Ikea or elsewhere,” said Randy Peers, executive director of Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, who added that several students have already landed jobs outside of Ikea.

The program comes just as Ikea filled about 20 senior and midlevel management positions – with employees in California, Canada and Sweden taking the top-level jobs. Read more »

December promises to be a big month for 20th-century furniture and decorative arts at fairs, auctions, exhibitions and events around the country. There is even a floating art gallery involved.

Twentieth-century work will be featured on the SeaFair, a new, 228-foot, $40 million yacht designed to accommodate 26 art and antiques galleries from all over the world. The ship is docked at the Miami Beach Marina today through Dec. 9, with its own alternative to Art Basel Miami Beach. (Information on the yacht: expoships.com).

In New York, Antiques & Art at the Armory, a fair at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street, continues through Monday. At least six dealers are showing 20th-century works, including Jacques de Vos from Paris (specializing in Art Deco) and Jeffrey F. Purtell (vintage Steuben glass).

In from California, the Santa Barbara gallery Europa is displaying a red leather PK20 chair by the Danish architect Poul Kjaerholm (1929-1980), who is the subject of a new book: “The Furniture of Poul Kjaerholm: Catalogue Raisonné” (Gregory R. Miller & Company), by Michael Sheridan, an American architect and authority on Kjaerholm. While Fritz Hansen continues to manufacture Kjaerholm designs in Denmark, vintage pieces are more popular than ever. There will be two exhibitions on Kjaerholm, both opening on Dec. 15 in New York, at R 20th Century (82 Franklin Street in TriBeCa) and Sean Kelly Gallery (528 West 29th Street in Chelsea). Read more »

Create a contemporary setting in your living room, study, or office with the Manhattan Rectangular Coffee Table. Sturdy construction coupled with elegant style make this piece a must-have for any decor. Assembly required.

Everyone from top designers to top models has found success with namesake furniture lines (even Donald Trump lent his name to a new collection). Now, increasing numbers of designers want to get into the action, using show houses to showcase their work.

At the Hampton Designer Showhouse, which opens for tours Sunday, and the 2007 Hamptons Cottages & Gardens Idea House, which opened last week, the designers sprinkled their rooms with pieces from, or intended for, their own product lines.

At the Idea House in Amagansett, Nancy Corzine’s Hollywood-chic media room was awash in neutral fabrics and furniture from the designer’s own collection. “It’s hard to do a room in the basement. You want it to be light and comfortable,” says Corzine, who has showrooms in Manhattan and Los Angeles. So the designer upholstered the walls in her signature line of Ultrasuede fabric and selected a cozy-looking linen velvet couch. 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 »

Everything’s coming up roses at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, just concluded at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. OK, that’s an exaggeration. It wasn’t all floral, and it wasn’t all roses, but the recent decorative and back-to-nature trend in modern design is definitely, er, flowering.

From the three-dimensional flowers on Tord Boontje’s Little Field of Flowers rug collection for Nanimarquina (he’s the Dutch designer who started the ball rolling a year or two ago with his whimsically botanical chandelier) to the Le Fleur sofa by Pasquale Natuzzi, from the magnetic flowers of British textile designer Michelle Butler of Isolyn to the botanical inspiration of the new textiles from Rockville Centre-based textile company Carnegie Fabrics, flowers and trees are inspiring modern designers as they have designers throughout the ages. Read more »