Fresh Dirt On Jennifer Leonard!

Our friend Jennifer Leonard of Nifelle Design is singled out for special attention at Sunset Magazine's Fresh Dirt section By Jim McCausland.Visiting Jennifer and Justin Leonard’s garden in Portland yesterday, it occurred to me that this renovated garden is so inviting partly because it offers so many delightful places to sit.Here Jennifer is pictured with her dog:Jennifer is an interior designer

Two Takes On Martha Stewart Living Resignation

Susan Dickenson writing for Home Accents Today reported that the President and CEO of Martha Stewart Living, Susan Lyne, resigned and Mike followed up with some wall street takes on the resignation.Bev & Mike Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

New Products in Home Accents Today

Home Accents Today/Product Line features new products from a variety of furniture and accessories manufacturers. Here are samples of vendors represented at Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery:Chic cushionWoven of natural abaca, the Aqua Bead Circle pillow from Palecek showcases an embroidered bead design ($138).GOBLET-SHAPED VASEwith Brushed Silver Trumpet-Style Base and Turquoise, Beige and

Curb Side Furniture

Have you ever driven around the city and seen furniture sitting on the parking or next to the street with a sign that says, "FREE". My husband does all the time from his big yellow bus. So many times it rains, then the furniture is of no use to anybody.We recently donated a sleeper sofa to Oregon Community Warehouse. It was still in good shape, but we wanted a change in the den and with our

Cool Cat Furniture

So, you bought one of those sleek, contemporary, lots-of-glass condos in The Pearl or in South Waterfront. What are you going to do for your cat? Are you going to bring that carpet covered cat tower from your old home to the new digs?Is their an alternative? Decidedly, Yes! I received an email from Dan Lilly at Modern Cat Designs in Oceanside, CA about Designer Cat Furniture for the Choosy

Two New Posts at Home Accents Today

Mike has posted at Home Accents Today about his circuitous path to finding Abundance.He also posts about Nichols & Stone. Nichols & Stone, the only sizable furniture manufacturer still operating in the "chair city" of Gardner, is poised to quit making products from scratch. Nichols & Stone is a premier manufacturer of furniture and the only sizable furniture manufacturer still operating in

Bombay Co. News For Gift Card Claimants

Mike has written an important post, Bombay Co. Plans Repayment Of Up To 31.5 Percent To Creditors, that includes information about gift card claimants of bankrupt retailers like Bombay Co. that may apply to other retailers in Chapter 11 that offered gift cards and certificates.Bev & MikeLandfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Eleven Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Interior Designer.

Back in January 2006, we wrote a post entitled Eight Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Interior Designer. The eight questions were part of an article in Home magazine and we linked to the magazine. We like to link to an article and highlight several questions in our post, rather than list all the questions. That way people go to the linked site and we both benefit from the traffic. One of our

5 Things You Can Do To Survive and Thrive

Mike at the Landfair Retail Focus has posted about 5 Things You Can Do To Survive and Thrive in Today’s Challenging Economy! Written by George Whalin, President and CEO of Retail Management Consultants, it offers five tips:Be True to Your Principles.Take a Critical Look at Every Expense.Support Your People.Get Closer to Your Customers.Fix What’s Broken. Good advice from an expert.Bev &

Tom Ford

For my birthday, Mike bought some Gwen Stefani "Lamb" perfume for me. Last week, after visiting the Nordstrom's perfume section, I came home smelling like Tom Ford, the perfume! It was in my hair and on my neck and on my pillow where Mike could smell it during his afternoon nap. Tom Ford, it turns out, was nominated The Menswear Designer of the Year by Council of Fashion Designers of America (

Frederick Cooper Pendant Lamp Wins Award

Metropolitan Home magazine in their Year's Best Design 100 have selected Alexander and Meagan Julian for creating a winning pendant for Frederick Cooper. The editors considered all items in the "art of making" which include architecture, interior décor, home furnishings and gadgets. The pendant is a reductivist take on one of the Julians' favorite textile patterns. The work is hand cut brass

The Landfair Retail Focus Is About Rising Costs Of Furniture

Over at The Landfair Retail Focus, Mike has posted about the Rising Cost Of Metal In Furniture and its implications for future furniture.

Portland Coffee Tables

The Oregonian's HGNW has an article today written by Nanine Alexander entitled A Table For Your Coffee, And More. The article has pictures of eight coffee tables that offer "...a place to set items you want within easy reach, a drink, a magazine, the remote control." Alexander doesn't mention my main reason for a coffee table, a place to rest my feet in front of the TV.The article pictures all

Design Star 3 on HGTV

The third season of Design Star 3 on HGTV premieres Sunday June 8th at 9pm.I just took a look at the competitors and only a few are designer "want-a bees", meaning they don't have any formal training. Here's a rundown of contestants:Trish Beaudet - Owner and Designer of Finishing Touches Interiors by Design, Inc.D. Paul DeRouen - Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Louisiana at

Bridget Otto Thursday

What a nice way to begin the day. Open The Oregonian and see a picture of Beverly Landfair gracing the pages of HGNW.Photos by Marv Bondarowicz THE OREGONIANMoving to the Pearl Design Center allowed Bev Landfair to more than double the space for her store, Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery.It's an article by Bridget A. Otto on the Pearl Design Center.In early 2007, the question was asked, "Why

Copy Successful Designers

Nika Stewart has an email that echoes some of the thoughts of KP in The Luxury Consumer Part 2: Interview With Kathie PozarichStewart, Designer' Success Coach, tells us "if you want to run a successful design business, copy what successful designers are doing, and you'll achieve the same success." So, what are successful designers doing? How do they work, think, act? Here are Stewart's three

Bridget A. Otto Thursday

Bridget Otto shows how two professionals, Jon and Julie Nordby, owners of Nordby Design Studio, solved the design problems of a house bought by ex-Minnesotans Keith Halasy and Erin Tripp. They loved the view through the large windows and the acreage. Unfortunately, he says, the execution of the design was not very good. Take the relationship -- or lack of it -- between the living room and

Good Friends

I consider myself fortunate to have so many close friends. These three women have been my close friends since the eighties (Gail on the left), since the seventies (Sandy on the right), and Marsha in the middle since first grade. That's me in the yellow coat.The four of us have been in a book club for too many years and recently, Gail moved to Boise. Do we replace her? We decided no, we will

Time For Outdoor Furniture

I know summer is going to be here soon and I want to get the deck outside looking good.Heather at The Inside Store-y has some tips on cleaning the furniture that you will lie on to get that suntan and sit on to chat or eat that BBQ:5 piece teak set in Bali design by Faraway Furniture.Cleaning MethodsIt's as simple as soap and water. It's all you need for most outdoor furniture. You may want to ..

Get Your Chi Moving

Lalainya’s Weblog caught my eye with Feng Shui for Summer! My first thought was "I didn't know we could use Feng Shui for a season." My second thought, with the cold spring we've been experiencing, "What's summer!" Dragon devas writes When a residence or business is blocked by clutter, emotional residue, incompletion, or actual furniture placement, a less than excellent quality of life is