The slump in the housing industry is knocking the stuffing out of furniture sales, merchants and analysts say.

A recent casualty is Domain, an upscale regional chain that is liquidating all 27 stores, including its showroom at the Promenade at Sagemore in Marlton.

“In the past year or so we’ve lost Levitz, Storehouse and Bombay Co.,” said Jerry Epperson, furniture industry analyst at Mann Armistead & Epperson in Richmond, Va. “It’s a very challenging time for the business.”

In a recent poll of dealers by Furniture World, a New Rochelle, N.Y.-based trade publication, 70 percent of retailers said orders were down. Read more »

Consumers looking to green up their patios with sustainable garden furniture have more products to choose from, but still face challenges finding them in stores, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

Crate & Barrel and Pier 1 Imports scored highest in the group’s first annual scorecard of major retailers of wooden garden furniture. Both, according to the survey, currently offer the largest selection of FSC-certified garden furniture compared with their total wooden outdoor furniture offerings.

Both clearly identify FSC-certified products in their catalogs and online and make sustainable forest management an important criterion for selecting product offerings. Conversely, Wal-Mart offers no FSC-certified products. Smith & Hawken and Restoration Hardware declined to participate in the survey. Read more »

William Bew White III has a lofty goal for the family business he founded in 1978: He wants to make Montevallo-based Summer Classics “the Ralph Lauren of outdoor furniture.”

White seems to be on his way. The company’s outdoor furniture line — which includes table and chair sets that cost $4,000 or more — is sold in 48 states and several foreign countries. Through retailers such as Williams-Sonoma and Restoration Hardware, sales are projected to reach $60 million this year and $76 million in 2008, up from $20 million just four years ago.

At that pace, White says the $100 million sales mark will soon be eclipsed.

“This is an incredible business that started from nothing,” he said. “We’ve grown it with people that believe in the business model and take ownership as if it were their own business.”

More growth is planned. White intends to open a large showroom in a high-profile spot along Interstate 459 in the Birmingham area, adding to the 11 the company already operates in places such as Huntsville, Gulf Shores, Nashville, Tenn., Charlotte, N.C., and San Antonio. Read more »

Outdoor furniture once meant woven plastic folding chairs with hollow aluminum frames. Or wooden picnic tables. Or white stackable resin chairs.

These days, the trend is to extend a home’s living space outside with furniture fit for Cleopatra – or Hollywood’s elite. It’s the resort-spa-luxury look on the deck, patio or pool.

Richard Frinier talks about it in a column posted on the High Point International Home Furnishings Market Web site, www.highpoint market.org. He writes of what he calls “Resort-at-Home” trends, “bringing the essence of world travel to our own backyards.”
Whether it’s a double chaise with canopy from Restoration Hardware’s Antibes collection or a Plantation Siesta and Canopy sofa from Gloster, the new furniture is designed to make you forget about folding furniture and plastic Adirondack chairs stacked high at supermarkets. 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 »

Outdoor furniture once meant woven plastic folding chairs with hollow aluminum frames.

Or wooden picnic tables. Or white stackable resin chairs.
These days, the trend is to extend a home’s living space outside with furniture fit for Cleopatra – or Hollywood’s elite.

It’s the resort-spa-luxury look brought home to deck, patio or pool.

Richard Frinier talks about it in a column posted on the High Point International Home Furnishings Market Web site, www.highpointmarket.org. Read more »

The straight line in contemporary furniture had become so taut, so hard-edged and brittle, it was bound to snap. The geometrics couldn’t get any more square, the legs any more straight or upholstery more taut. While beautiful in its simplicity, it had become so spare that there was no place left to pare.

It was only natural that the linear silhouette would begin to slither out of alignment. It began to bend slightly and, relishing the new freedom, the sinuous line began to undulate. The ramrod posture of the box became a curvy hourglass. What was masculine and bold morphed into something feminine and light. Read more »

The straight line in contemporary furniture had become so taut, so hard-edged and brittle, it was bound to snap. The geometrics couldn’t get any more square, the legs any more straight or upholstery more taut. While beautiful in its simplicity, it had become so spare that there was no place left to pare.

It was only natural that the linear silhouette would begin to slither out of alignment. It began to bend slightly, and, relishing the new freedom, the sinuous line began to undulate. The ramrod posture of the box became a curvy hourglass. What was masculine and bold morphed into something feminine and light.

The new furniture is decidedly womanly, with twists and turns, curls and loops, spirals and spins. It is light on its feet, barely touching the floor, as if en pointe.

One of the first to feel the need of a feminine turn was Lisa Versacio, who began West Elm for Williams-Sonoma, first as a catalog and then as stores that specialize in sleek, ultramodern furnishings for the home. Read more »

In the old days, when we needed furniture went to a family owned furniture store.

But now many of us shop from glossy mail order catalogs and home improvement chains.

Its affordable….but what exactly are you getting?

“We had it 5 or 6 months…And we noticed this crack on the face of it.”

Alan Layton couldn’t believe it: The table he bought from a popular catalog company was splitting. Read more »

The straight line in contemporary furniture had become so taut, so hard-edged and brittle, it was bound to snap. The geometrics couldn’t get any more square, the legs any more straight or upholstery more taut. While beautiful in its simplicity, it had become so spare that there was no place left to pare.

It was only natural that the linear silhouette would begin to slither out of alignment. It began to bend slightly and, relishing the new freedom, the sinuous line began to undulate. The ramrod posture of the box became a curvy hourglass. What was masculine and bold morphed into something feminine and light.

One of the first to feel the need for a feminine turn was Lisa Versacio, who began West Elm for Williams-Sonoma, first as a catalog and then as stores that specialize in sleek, ultramodern furnishings for the home. She was enticed away from the San Francisco-based retailer by Restoration Hardware to create a new company. Versacio named the new venture Brocade Home and launched the first catalog and Web site, www.brocadehome.com, in early fall. Read more »