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This Issue's christopher_lowell Articles
The Future Of Furniture
As the physical structure of the new American home continues to rapidly change, how it’s furnished is changing, too. It’s not just about fickle consumer taste, but rather it is about how furniture has to work differently today than it ever has before.
Beyond the changing of today’s home construction, the factors of flexibility, non-gender-specific designs that represent both sexes, and furniture placement have taken us designers and manufacturers back to the drawing board.
Your Back Yard: The Last Resort
A picnic table and an umbrella plopped in the back yard for a few months filled the bill for traditional homes of the past. Today, having spent thousands of dollars at resorts, stressed-out homeowners are getting wise. Why only rent the “resort” feeling for a week when for the same money (invested up front) you can own the vacation experience every day? Outdoor spaces can be a true extension of the home and can stretch your communal living area. Done right, it will also increase the value of your home.
Can’t Build Out? Build Up!
I get hundreds of letters every year where people ask about their small spaces. And then I look at their enclosed photos. Time and again the same mistakes are made. A lonely group of pictures occupies an important wall while the rest of the room’s surfaces remain cluttered. Sofas are pushed up against the only uninterrupted wall in the space, wasting valuable real estate. Sofas are, in fact, finished all the way around so they can float in the center of rooms in conversation groupings--often anchored on an area rug…
The Floating Bed
Space-challenged master suites can stump many homeowners, especially since the queen-sized mattress is the average dimension-of-choice for most couples today. By the time you add a head- and footboard to it--it grows even larger. Then add side tables, a dresser or two, and somewhere to sit down, and suddenly small bedrooms become even more unmanageable.
Soup Kitchen Holiday
So right in the middle of wrapping up a very hectic year’s end, it dawned on me that it had been a while since my entire staff had gotten together to celebrate a job well done. Since we’re spread across several buildings and productions over several miles, we rarely are all in the same place at the same time. With them all disbanding globally for the holidays (me included), I knew I needed to throw a bash for these beloved people--and it had to be impressive; after all, I am in the lifestyle business.
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