Hot names, cool designs.

Consumers this season are being wooed with a double dose of reassuring familiarity and well known names promoting styles that hint at the past.

Domesticity-guru Martha Stewart, famous clothing and fragrance designer Oscar de la Renta, movie icon Humphrey Bogart and hip-shaker Elvis Presley were among those whose clout was felt at the October International Home Furnishings Market in High Point.

The legally-embattled Stewart and de la Renta were both on hand at the market to greet buyers, meet the press and generally promote the collections they collaborated on with manufacturers. The 200-SKU "Martha Stewart Signature Furniture with Bernhardt" features "Lily Pond," a collection based on the homemaking expert's Long island cottage, and "Skylands," a collection reflecting her more formal home inn Maine. Bernhardt Furniture has purchased a former glass plant near its headquarters in Lenoir, NG. The company reportedly plans to expand the plant to about 250,000 square feet for processing and staging imported Martha Stewart furniture products and do some light assembly of components. The Martha Stewart line is priced 20 to 25 percent lower than the usual price points at high-end Bernhardt. Like many of the collections shown, it places a heavy emphasis on storage space. All chests for dining use, including a Peconic hutch painted cream outside and gray inside, have built-in silver-cloth liners.

Century Furniture's 100-piece "Oscar de la Renta Home" is based on the designer's New York City residence, country estate in Connecticut and oceanside island retreat in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

More Star Power

Thomasville Furniture and Vaughan-Bassett Furniture patterned collections on the celebrated lifestyles of entertainment stars Bogie and Elvis, respectively. Bogie's collection is all '40s and '50s glamour--a sleek arrangement with contemporary overtones. Its "Hollywood Vanity" is a collection of sensuous wooden curves topped with functional glass and stone.

The October market marked an encore performance for Vaughan-Bassett's Elvis collection, which occupied its own 9,000 square feet of display space in the International Home Furnishings Center after being introduced last April in a portion of the main Vaughan-Bassett showroom.

The 50 pieces in the two original Elvis bedroom suites sold well, considering that they debuted last August in what Doug Bassett, vice president of sales, called, "a horrible retail month."

Dealers advised the company to concentrate on stand-alone pieces that shouted "Elvis." The company responded by pushing the collection to 150 items, including a heart shaped, silvery finish "Burning Love Cocktail Table," a "Blue Suede Shoes Sofa" with Elvis' signature sprawled across the cushions and nine versions of a reclining, massaging Elvis recliner.

"When 'Love Me Tender' comes on, hit your massage button," Bassett advised would-be movie watchers.

Pocketbook Concerns

Manufacturers responded creatively to lean economic times. Some entered new price-point territory, others emphasized their entry-level lines and still others designed for smaller-than-usual rooms.

Several emphasized their pieces' versatility, whether it was storage chests that could suit the kitchen, bedroom and living room or youth bed room furniture that could go in guest rooms and vacation cottages.

In his opening-day seminar sponsored by Canadian furniture manufacturers, furniture industry analyst W.W. "Jerry" Epperson pointed out that high-end companies were entering upper-medium-price companies' territory. Companies like Henredon, Century and Bernhardt "are offering Stanley-type prices," Epperson added.

The market showcased "the best values we've ever offered (as an industry)," Epperson added, on "the best products we've ever offered."

Lower prices are both a response to consumer caution and a reflection that low priced imports are getting a lot better in quality and are thus in wider use, he said.

For example, Lexington Home Brands has packaged 10 to 12 bedroom pieces from each of three well-known brands in a special LivingStyle package which will be the company's opening price point. Selected pieces are from the rustic flavored Bob Timberlake, the tropical-styled Tommy Bahama and the French/European-style Betsy Cameron collections.

Space-Conscious Design

Thomasville's "Attache" is smaller scaled than the company's Bogart collection or its "Palals Jardin" dining and occasional pieces. It is meant for younger consumers and the smaller rooms typical of apartment living.

Hooker also thought small with four new lower-priced bedroom suites that include twin beds and single dressers. "If you look at housing activity today, homes are larger, and there's an opportunity to furnish second and third bedrooms and youth bedrooms. There's also a tremendous amount of activity in the second home market," said Paul Toms, Hooker Furniture chairman and chief executive officer.

Though furniture sales suffered the past summer, housing remains strong, analyst Epperson said, and youth furniture is one of the brighter spots.

Children today, he said, "have grand parents who'll go out and spend ridiculously."

Several youth bedrooms, like Palliser's "Sandi," are versatile enough in design that they serve from childhood to adulthood. An entry level product in an Amaretto (cherry) laminate finish with wood knobs and metal accents, it includes a computer desk, a vanity, armoire and several choices of beds. The only piece not suitable for adults is a doll chest.

Growing Up Together

Perhaps the ultimate in bedroom suites that mature with the child, some pieces of Thomasville's "Emilia" for girls have intricate carved wood ribbon details that can be removed later.

Bassett is letting children help choose some of the design details in its "Simply Yours, Kids" bedroom furniture. The company has long offered consumers choices in components of upholstery, casual dining and home entertainment pieces. The youth bedroom furniture offers choices of finish, knobs, and feet (nickel, hand-painted and natural wood). Stores display samples, so parent and child can take off one knob and try another on a drawer front.

Palliser, a Canadian company known for drawing on European de sign, has two extremely compact youth bedrooms in "Terri" and "Riki." Storage and workspace surround the "island" bed in "Terri," a cherry-colored laminate, and the new corner loft bed in "Riki" angles one bunk above another.

"You're not taking up a lot of space," explains Mary Ann Stewart, Palliser's director of public relations/marketing. "That's an important plus in Europe, where rooms are smaller," site said.

No Longer Just RIA 

Bush Industries, which along with the rest of the ready-to assemble industry is branching out, into more elaborate styles, chose youth as one of the cornerstones of its new "Eric Morgan" line of furniture that is skipped already assembled, it will be sold through mainstream furniture stores including some mom-and-pop stores, said Ernest Artista, Bush vice president of corporate communications.

"Bush's primary channel for many years was home furnishings," Artista said, and now the company is shifting back from heavy focus on office superstores.

When Bush decided to go the pre-assembled route, it experimented with its "Skater" youth line, and also a couple of "Stratos" and "Citizen" entertainment centers. "We had to adjust our processing," said Artista, by beefing it up to withstand the rigors of shipping. Now the Eric Morgan line is concentrated on its "Young Living" bedroom group plus two sleek wood, glass and melamine entertainment centers.

Rather than shipping its furniture assembled, Bush competitor O'Sullivan Industries is trying to link its new targeted clientele of furniture and department stores and RTA superstores with commercial assemblers. O'Sullivan introduced "Century Park," an entertainment and home office group with details like pocket doors and lighted, beveled-glass curio cabinets.

Keeping It Clean

Designers have parents' welfare in mind when they put together many youth bedrooms. "Young Living" has a small table on wheels that doubles as toy storage, with colored boxes stacked underneath the top. "To get the land mines off the floor," explained Dave Boughton, eastern regional sales manager for Bush.

In response to parents' complaints about bumping their heads on an upper bunk when they sit on the lower with their kids, Stanley added an extra 5 inches of bunk headroom in its "Harbor Town" (cherry) and "Oak Harbor" (oak) groups for boys. Both groups have ample storage, a theme in both adult and youth furniture. A busy parent can toss toys directly into an open-topped chest, which is the bottom of a bookcase. A full-size lower bunk converts into a futon.

With consumers sticking close to home these days, bedrooms are getting extra attention, said Gary Hokanson, Stanley's vice president of design. Stanley used to offer two beds per collection, he said. "Now it's almost standard that we have four."

Bedside pieces often go far beyond the traditional night stand. Stanley's "Cottage Revival" has one bedside chest which is an old-fashioned secretary, with a drop-leaf writing surface. "A really nice place to write a note," Hokanson said. Henredon also has a large chest with mirror in its "In Concert" mahogany bedroom that can do double-duty elsewhere in the home.

For the Bedroom and More

Martha Stewart introduced her antique-inspired "Penobscot Secretary," not necessarily for bedside but with her signature drawer liners that can be removed, cleaned and reused.

Beds themselves came in all shapes, sizes and materials, with leather a strong favorite. An islands influence is an en during trend, Hokanson said, and Stanley's "Peninsula" collection showed a wood/raffia bed of cherry, maple and woven rattan. Martha Stewart harked back to the faux bamboo popular in the '30s and '40s for her "Tides Turn" bedroom suite of carved English sycamore. Stanley's Cottage Revival used a painted garden wire design for its Garden Gate bed.

Four posters with elegantly turned posts ranged in style from the spare and sleek mahogany "Hancock Park Poster Bed" in Thomasville's "Bogart" collection, to a pine "Yorkshire Market" bed by Broyhill that looks like it stepped out of the pages of English history.

Sauder added king headboards to four collections. Its "Parisian" and "Forest Hills" headboards contain storage; its "Mission" and "Cottage Home" headboards do not. In a move made to expand its range, the RTA company is offering wood cocktail and end tables in all four collections, with the patterned veneer surfaces matching the collections' simulated wood grain.

Work and Play at Home

Home is still considered a place to work, and several companies are adding new home office pieces. Hooker offers a mid-height corner computer cabinet in six styles and Stanley offers a "his and hers" "Companion Desk," for two people who want to look at the same computer screen at the same time. O'Sullivan Furniture continues to promote its digital dock technology, which allows accessories like digital cameras to be connected easily to an exposed, central CPU.

But home is even more a place to play, if the October collections are any example.

Hooker Furniture showed a new, fashion-oriented CD rack and also "Bunching Bookcases," a clutterbuster for those who find their relaxation in reading. Martha Stewart and Bernhardt showed a collectors' chest with removable boxes and shelves. Also, the Bogart collection's "Liberte Game Table" has a pullout checkerboard/chess board top.

Entertainment centers ranged front Hooker's "Slim Line," with a 3-foot-wide footprint, to home theaters with bridges that spread apart to accommodate sets in the 60 inch range. The latter included Sauder's new "Lockport" collection in American cherry finish.

And La-Z-Boy has taken the work out of relaxation. Instead of pulling a lever to lower a recliner back, now you operate a hand wand. The electrically-operated "Power Rocker Recliner" responds, giving you control over the pitch of the recline and the lift of the footrest.

"These chairs," said Greg White, vice president of merchandising, "represent the ultimate in comfort."

Speaking of the ultimate, among dining pieces, de la Renta's circular table stood out. Its eight swirl mahogany pie-shaped sections spread apart so that eight extensions fit between.