Spotlight On Lighting

We received some lighting tips from Julie Johnson at Lux Lighting. There's some great information here about lighting your home interior:To Make A Room Appear largerUse wall washers on a large expanse of light colored wallUse up lighting to bounce light onto the ceilings and wallsCreate panels of light at one end of the room - your eye will be pulled toward it, making the room appear larger.To

New Products at Las Vegas

Home Furnishings Business has photos of new products at the Las Vegas show in late July. A small Arabesque table from Global Views offers an airy feel with a hand-tooled leather top.Hand-decorated wooden vases from Bard International appear to float on black pedestal bases. Suggested retail is $229 for the set of three.Part of the Candice Olson collection at AF Lighting, this clever lamp

SALI Interview Of Bev & Mike

Kathy Long of Passionate Interiors just lit up her MySpace page with an interview of Bev & Mike for Cascade Artisans Guild which is part of SALI. Founded in 1984, the Stencil Artisans League (SALI) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the art of stenciling Stencils include decorative painting, e.g.: faux finishes, murals and trompe l’oeil,

Hammary to roll out first retail display format

Thomas Russell at Furniture Today, writes that Hammary will show new contemporary collection.Hammary Furniture is rolling out a new retail display format for a contemporary style occasional and casual dining collection.The 40-piece Modern Hammary collection includes cocktail, end and accent tables as well as dining pieces, a low profile room divider and a sofa, chair and ottoman. Finishes are

Mondrian Art

What do you make of coincidences or are there such things? Beverly and I were talking and she used the word "Mondrian" to describe a design she had seen. I asked her for a definition because it was a totally new word to me.From Wikipedia: Piet Mondriaan (March 7, 1872 — d. New York City, February 1, 1944) was a Dutch painter. His paintings exhibit a complexity that belies their apparent

Duralee Acquires Cavalier Furniture

FURNITUREToday announces High-end fabric source Duralee has acquired Cavalier Furniture, a 40-year-old upholstery manufacturer in Cerritos, Calif.According to Cavalier's website, "Cavalier produces upholstered hand-tied furniture in fine fabrics and leathers of the absolute highest quality. Owned and operated by the Button family since 1964, Cavalier not only offers exceptional products, but

Sei Amici

Six friends had dinner Wednesday night at Iorio Restaurant - Southern Italian Cuisine. What a lovely little space on 912 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland, Oregon 97214.Michael started off with caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and hand pulled mozzarella. Two of us had the beet salad with dolce gorgonzola and three shared organic greens and candied walnuts. We loved the salads.

What is Blog Cabin?

Blog Cabin is DIY Network’s newest hit series, featuring popular expert hosts who pitch in to bring the Kinzel Springs retreat to life. Watch us build the cabin one blog at a time, then enter daily for a chance to win it!From February until early April, 2007, DIY Network.com invited visitors to vote each day on 13 design areas for a future cabin to be built in the Great Smoky Mountains. Thousands

High Point Market revamps Web site

The High Point Market’s Web site, highpointmarket.org, has been redesigned to improve its functionality and ease of use.The site will include guest columns by leaders from throughout the home furnishings industry, as well as clips from the weekly “High Point Market Live” video-cast.The market’s weekly e-newsletters will also be archived there under the “Industry Insights” tab. Site visitors can

The Landfair Retail Focus Debuts!

Mike is excited! He has been hired to post to a blog, The Landfair Retail Focus, on the Home Accents Today website. They have asked him to post to the blog at least three times a week. They rolled out a new website and his handsome face. appears on the front page along with his first post, Establishing My Credentials. Down girls! He is happily married for 15 years..He invites you to surf by

Adam Kalkin's Housing Solution

If you follow the trade deficit numbers as Mike does, you might know that the U.S. receives those big shipping containers full with consumer goods from all parts of the world, but especially Asia. The problem is, we tend to send them back empty. Now, hat tip to by Jennifer Chait at Off Beat Homes, one architect may have found a solution. Adam Kalkin has designed the Push Button House.The Push

How To Light A Room For Reading

This is sure to cause discussion at home. Elizabeth Bettendorf has written an article entitled Bookworms, illuminate yourselves on right light. Mike complains that there are few places in our home to read. He says it is too dark, too filled with ambience. His favorite place is the den with the TV off, but then that excludes me if I want to watch some Tivo'ed program. If he moves to the bed