This youth collection is offered in a rich deep walnut finish with beveled wood fronts on all drawers accented with brushed brass hardware. The Scottsdale Chair by Coaster is a necessary addition to the Scottsdale Desk and together they offer a stylish and modern approach to your kid’s bedroom decor. It features a soft and and Read more »

The $90 million, 26-acre South Coast Home Furnishings Centre in Costa Mesa is well on its way to a planned July opening.

The center, about a mile north of South Coast Plaza near Ikea, is about 75% leased already, according to Irvine-based developer Birtcher Development & Investments LLC.

The center is designed for furniture and home accessories showrooms in a mall setting—food court and all. It’s set to be landscaped with space for people to walk around and look at the water fountain, argue about the color of their new living room set, or sit on a bench and debate bathroom fixtures over coffee. Tenants include C.S. Wo, a Hawaiian furniture company, NW Rugs, Office Furniture Gallery, Faucets Galore and Flexa.

Faucets Galore just opened its first store at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach. Other center tenants: Wickes Furniture, Banner Mattress, La-Z-Boy, Creative Leather, Salmo’s Furniture and Munro’s Furniture.

Interior Surroundings, an upscale contemporary furniture store at The Market Place in Tustin, will be leaving at the end of its lease early next year and moving to the South Coast Home Furnishings Centre.

The center, in the works for three years, is looking for a few other tenants, said Bjorn Davidson, development manager for Birtcher. Read more »

Scottsdale Unified School District will ask voters Nov. 7 to approve a seven-year, $83.1 million capital override to fund technology upgrades and other district needs.

The override will be funded at $11.8 million each year and will have an additional tax rate of 25 cents per $100 of assessed value, according to district officials.

More than half the override amount – $45 million – will fund part of the district’s technology upgrade plan, according to Ernie Nicely, SUSD information technology director.

Scottsdale resident Mary Kincaid opposes the override because she believes it allows district officials to avoid accountability.

“The district management needs to be held accountable for its inability to live within their budget,” Ms. Kincaid said. Read more »

With their sleek black-and- chrome features, lightweight, flat-panel televisions are making striking statements in home décor. Lighter and thinner than clunky cathode-ray televisions, flat panels are affecting the design of media furniture, says Nikki DiBella, an interior decorator at Ikea in Tempe. Manufacturers are responding with consoles that are wide enough and just deep enough to accommodate these televisions. They’re also including adjustable shelves, storage for components and openings for cords.

Modular storage
Designed for a flat-screen TV, Expedit, from Ikea, has a reinforced back panel and extra shelves for display or storage. $199. Read more »

Furniture is taking on a regal air—from tall-backed dining room chairs reminiscent of kings’ and queens’ thrones to headboards that rival skyscrapers. And homeowners are gravitating toward tall, oversized furniture that makes their large spaces feel full of life.

“I think what happens here is the houses are almost grossly overscaled,” says designer Michael Ferguson of Wiseman and Gale, an interior design firm in Scottsdale. Instead of several smaller rooms, more homes have one large “great room” that encompasses a foyer, living room, dining area and kitchen. Using large pieces keeps the design in scale with the architecture, creating visual synchronicity.

However, the designer warns not to overdo it on large pieces. Vary the heights in a room, and keep tall furnishings away from the front entryway. Read more »

A large center of furniture and home décor stores being built next to Ikea will get its first tenants soon, offering southeast Valley residents more than Swedish furniture they have to assemble.

Emerald Design Center, being built in three phases, eventually will have 395,000 square feet, exceeding Ikea’s 342,000 square feet. The first phase is done, and store signs are up.

Stores are expected to begin opening in September, including two that are new to the Phoenix area: Norwalk – the Furniture Idea and EQ3.

Home-oriented businesses, in particular, are flocking to the region near Interstate 10 and Warner Road to capitalize on Ikea’s success. Emerald is just east and southeast of Ikea.

“The traffic flow is going to be huge, close to 700,000 people (a year) with Ikea,” said David Sellers, vice president of LGE Design Build, which is developing the center. Read more »

A large center of furniture and home décor stores being built next to Ikea soon will get its first tenants, offering Southeast Valley residents more than Swedish furniture they have to assemble.

The Emerald Design Center, being built in three phases, eventually will include 395,000 square feet, exceeding Ikea’s 342,000 square feet. The first phase is done, and store signs are up.

Stores are expected to begin opening in September, including two that are new to the Phoenix area: Norwalk – the Furniture Idea and EQ3.

Home-oriented businesses, in particular, are flocking to the region near Interstate 10 and Warner Road to capitalize on Ikea’s success. The Emerald center is just east and southeast of Ikea.

“The traffic flow is going to be huge, close to 700,000 people (a year) with Ikea,” said David Sellers, vice president of LGE Design Build, which is developing the center.

Sellers likened the area to a furniture row or district. Read more »

Global Surroundings LLC, an ecological furniture manufacturer that specializes in handcrafted Indonesian wooden furniture, has moved from Minneapolis to Scottsdale.

Since the company opened in 1998, owners J.L. and Jay Jackson said their business has expanded to California, Washington, Texas and Arizona, where the weather is warmer and customers are likely to invest in fine outdoor furniture.

Averaging 10 trips a year between the West and Minnesota to meet with retailers, J.L. Jackson said, “It’s too hard to sell long distance.” Read more »

The empty Super Kmart store at Baseline and Greenfield roads in east Mesa is undergoing a transformation and will soon become an American Home furniture store. American Home is based in Albuquerque, N.M., and was founded in 1936.

It has eight stores in New Mexico and Arizona, including three stores in Tucson and one store each in Prescott and Sahuarita.

The Super Kmart store had been under construction when Kmart went into bankruptcy protection in 2001, resulting in a cutback in operations and the closure of almost 400 stores nationwide. Read more »

Global Surroundings LLC, an ecological furniture manufacturer that specializes in handcrafted Indonesian wooden furniture, has moved from Minneapolis to Scottsdale.

Since the company opened in 1998, owners J.L. and Jay Jackson said their business has expanded to California, Washington, Texas and Arizona, where the weather is warmer and customers are likely to invest in fine outdoor furniture.

They were averaging 10 trips a year back and forth between the West and Minnesota to meet with retailers, J.L. Jackson said, “It’s too hard to sell long distance.” Read more »