21st Century Opens with a Bow to the Past.

Designers seek inspiration from earlier generations

FURNITURE MANUFACTURERS are making sure the past will not be forgotten when "Auld Lang Syne" ushers in the new millennium Jan. 1.

Trends that homeowners will be taking with them into the new century were previewed at the International Home Furnishings Market, held Oct. 14-22 in High Point, NC.

A sizable portion of the new collections was heavy on reminiscence, though many manufacturers included some more modern offerings as well.

Designers for the most part saluted the 18th century in spirit rather than copying earlier styles down to the last detail.

They used romantic flourishes to create the illusion of tradition, drawing inspiration from cottages, country estates and seaside villas in the British Isles and Europe. They used a wide choice of woods, including light and golden tones, modem finishes and more relaxed lines to adapt classic concepts to a more casual lifestyle.

Electronics Evolution

They also accommodated the electronic gadgetry many people hold dear by hiding home computers and large TVs behind handsome cabinetry.

In the 18-piece Irish Cottage collection at Hammary Furniture Co., slats of distressed New Zealand pine backed by a removable panel conceal TVs or reveal curios in an armoire.

The slats are also found in the collection's "Hen Coop Table." Other pieces, accompanied by printed historical notes, give ancient necessities like washstands and dowry chests new uses.

"We travel a lot and listen to our dealers," says Fred Preddy, president of Hammary, a LADD Furniture Inc. company. Feedback has indicated "the more romanticism you can put in it, the better. People like furniture they can describe and be proud of."

Well-known artist Bob Timberlake's Riverwood collection for Lexington Home Furnishings, part of LifeStyle Furnishings International, is named for his first studio and inspired by his own British Isles antiques.

Spice drawers accentuate a lingerie chest and an apothecary's chest. A carved sheaf of wheat atop a display case adds a decorative touch to relatively unadorned surfaces.

Pennsylvania House's Society Hill bedroom, living room and dining room collection, with its carved dowel headboard and foot-board, is English cottage down to its solid maple core. Golden highlights in the warm brown English Manor finish are meant to bring to mind the fading accomplished by generations of sunlight, says a spokesperson for Pennsylvania House, a Ladd company.

More elaborate pieces are inspired by life in the villas and country estates of Italy, France and England: The Lillian August Collection's nail-studded leather coffee table for Drexel Heritage Furnishings Inc.; Lexington's Mediterranean-inspired wrought-iron table bases and "iron gate" curio cabinet in its oak California Legacy collection; and a wrought-iron canopy on a caramel-finish, solid ash and pecan veneer bed in Bassett Furniture Industries' Olympia Collection.

Inspiration from Architecture

Drexel Heritage's 88-piece Insignia collection is inspired by the architecture of Greece and Italy. "The shapes of many of the dining room and occasional tables are influenced by classical urns and columns," says Fred Schubert, the company's senior vice president of wood design

Designers had a field day with romantic touches: hand carving including rope designs, imaginative use of wood grain, serpentine shapes in chests and tables, and mixing marble, glass, wrought iron and leather with wood.

JDI, crafted by Klaussner, sticks strictly to traditional in the details of its Fleurette occasional tables made of hardwood solids and ash veneers with washed nutmeg finish. Tables have decorative medallions; cabriole legs display hand-carved plumes.

Other manufacturers are taking classic designs that have been successful and reworking them to fit what they see as a trend toward more relaxed living. "We've taken 18th Century very casual," says Jack DeBonis, vice president of marketing for Kincaid Furniture Co., a La-Z-Boy subsidiary.

He's speaking of the company's Queen Anne-inspired Cherry Mountain collection of bedroom, dining room and occasional furniture. Kincaid is celebrating its 35th year with what it calls "a millennium makeover." A distressed, matte finish rather than a shiny gloss characterizes the solid cherry pieces. Four versions of beds are offered, including the traditional spindle but also other configurations, including massive posters in a rope design.

Designers' ideas in the year 2000 are writ large. As great rooms and vaulted ceilings have grown in popularity, so has the size of the furniture filling them. At Drexel Heritage, "the generous scaling of the [Insignia] collection adds strength to the design without overwhelming its surroundings," says Schubert.

Nightstands are no longer low and narrow with a skimpy surface. They're bedheight and many are bachelor's or gentlemen's chests with multiple drawers and a choice of marble or wood tops. One design by American Drew, a LADD company, has a pull-out shelf covered in laminate to hold drinks.

The massive headboards and foot-boards act as palettes for designers. One of the beds in the heather or light-finish version of Drexel Heritage's ash and ash-burl Insignia collection has matching pale leather inserts. A Masterpiece Collection oak chest by American Drew features white ash burl veneer with pecan accents in a patchwork design that wraps around the drawers and sides.

Putting Knotholes to Work

Lexington's Riverwood is made of European spruce, a tight wood with a golden finish whose tiny knots become part of the design. Hammary's Irish Cottage is of New Zealand pine, another golden wood.

Many armoires, other chests and tables are destined to lead double lives. People use them interchangeably in bedrooms, dining rooms and great rooms, furniture companies say.

The backs of many armoires snap out to accommodate a TV, and one patented Kincaid armoire lets you watch TV through a glass door that doubles as a mirror.

A Riverwood sofa table with a glass top can double as a serving table. A Riverwood kitchen cabinet with doors that open to reveal bulletin boards can also be an armoire.

Display cabinets and bookcases are "bunchable," often used in twos.

Perhaps the ultimate in "bunchable," though, are the home offices that even high-end manufacturers are including in their product lines.

Drexel Heritage introduced Home Components, including entertainment/ computer centers that match two popular collections, Bel-Aire in oak and Covington Park in mahogany. Lighted bridges with glass-front doors make the centers look like other storage pieces in the home when the doors are shut.

Bassett is introducing its e.plex collection of six mix-and-match pieces for a home office/entertainment center. Part of the company's Grove Park line, which harks back to Mission styling, it features rift-cut oak with leaded glass fronting its lighted bridges. Brackets allow the pieces to be solidly hooked together, and one credenza can either hold up to a conventional-sized TV or be removed altogether to accommodate a 50-inch projection TV.

RTA Innovations

RTA manufacturers, who often specialize in home entertainment and home office pieces, are presenting entire collections that make use of some of the design features of solid-wood furniture, like solid-wood feet, raised paneled doors with mortise and tenon joinery, coves and beaded molding.

Sauder Woodworking Co. introduced its "very cottage-y" Harbor Springs collection, with a finish of sweet maple with bethel cherry inserts. Sauder's Timber Inn collection added a new computer armoire and two entertainment centers in American Country style, including etched glass, iron hardware and a stone oak finish with distressed appearance.

Bush Furniture has a new Bayside line of entertainment armoires in antique white finish that have a "vacation home" feel to them, and plans to add home office pieces. Bush also is introducing a Lancaster PTV cabinet that accommodates a 70-inch projection TV.

O'Sullivan Industries is putting more desk space in its home office centers in response to customer demand, says vice president of marketing Mike O'Sullivan. Its entertainment centers are being made to accommodate 36-inch TVs, but not HDTV, for which he has seen little demand.

Ameriwood Industries, a division of Dorel Industries Inc., found its simulated antique oak entertainment centers and TV carts so popular it expanded the Passport line into bedroom and home office pieces. They are of engineered wood, with a trim of simulated wood carving made of embossed and hardened wood-particle filler set on an oak substrate.

Ameriwood is also giving distinctive touches like rounded pilasters, solid-wood handles and curving shelves to other designs.

A combination of new and old technology including soft forming, foiling and embossing is helping the company create pieces with more variety, says design development manager Neal Pugh. "They don't look like RTA."

Kids and Keyboards

With even elementary schoolchildren becoming computer literate, the market for home office furniture for young students is booming, manufacturers say.

Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. has expanded its Harmony line of youth furniture, first introduced in spring of '99. The modular collection now has 12 bedroom and study pieces that can be mixed and matched to suit individual taste. "It's something we've found a real need for," says consumer services manager Louise Follie.

The line is in maple solids and veneers and includes a standard-size captain's bed, desk, hutch, bookcase and closed and open storage. The finish is honey maple.

Lexington also has a computer desk with storage and display space in its line for young children called "Lexington Kids -- Pure and Simple."

Desks, bunk beds, chests, everything here is at a reduced height to accommodate children. Drawers are locked in so they can't be yanked out. A trundle bed reaches the same height as the regular bed, to be paired with it for sleepovers.

An emphasis on safety is paramount in the line, which comes in solid maple and white-painted maple. All corners are rounded. A low, two-drawer chest with knobs that small fingers can easily circle is offered as an alternative to the traditional toy chest with a finger-banging lid.

Next Market Is in April 2000

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL HOME FURNISHINGS MARKET of the 21st century will be April 6-14, 2000, in High Point, NC. It promises once again to be not only the biggest show in town but in neighboring towns.

Attendance at the Oct. 14-22 market was nearly 75,000, straining High Point's motel and hotel capacity and sending the overflow to rooms in Greensboro, Burlington and Winston-Salem, NC. They included manufacturers, sales representatives, retail home furnishings buyers and interior designers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.

Touted as the world's largest wholesale home furnishings show, with 2,400 exhibitors showing their new collections in 160 different buildings in High Point and Thomasville, NC., it was celebrating its 90th year. Its predecessor, the Southern Furniture Market, drew less than 400 attendees in the early years after its 1909 opening.

Organized by the International Home Furnishings Marketing Assn., an arm of the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn., the market is a preview of what consumers will be seeing in their hometown furniture stores, department stores and home furnishings specialty stores early next year.

It's also a prime social event, with manufacturers hosting buyers and media with showroom snacks and receptions.