Spring High Point market: market mindful of history, but high on youth: both the young and old found items of interest at April's High Point market.

Young consumers were the object of attention at the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point in April, but their grandmothers would have felt right at home with several anniversary collections updated for the 21st century.

Consumers under 44 are responsible for half the furniture purchased, said Phil Haney, Stanley Furniture's executive vice president for marketing and sales. Collection after collection showed an attempt to appeal to that age group, with soft-edged contemporary styling, reduced scale furniture and versatility.

Consumers feel more comfortable with soft contemporary than with stark contemporary, said Morgan Flies, director of advertising at Lane Home Furnishings, as she showed the company's two new collections by Robert Idol, Pacific Heights and Union Square. Lane's Pacific Heights Collection, available in Santos rosewood, and the Union Square Collection, offered in cathedral cherry, both make use of richly patterned veneers and geometric shapes.

Stanley Furniture's Midnight Sun Collection, made from quarter-sawn white oak, demonstrates the company's "ability and desire to connect with the young consumer," said Haney. The soft, contemporary Midnight Sun, described as "low and linear," includes tables and chests with an asymmetrical, floating look.

Perhaps the closest to pure contemporary the new designs come is Kelly Hoppen's collection for Century. The British designer has used tropical flor-morado, white oak veneers, upholstery, steel and black glass to produce pieces with simple lines and an uncluttered feel. A wide ribbon of steel flows across dresser and chest tops, ending up as legs.

Anniversary Pieces

Tried-and-true with a modern twist characterizes several anniversary collections. Broyhill Furniture, which is celebrating its centennial, has come out with dining room, bedroom, upholstery and occasional furniture in the style of Sheraton, with a Little Hepplewhite and Chippendale thrown in. Ovals of okoume crotch veneer subtly enhance each piece, even the TV-centered entertainment unit that would have been unheard of 100 years ago.

Pennsylvania House, approaching its 60th anniversary, reinterprets its classic Hallmark Cherry collection, updating it with a softer, earthy-brown finish that allows the woodgrain to show. And 50-year-old Pulaski brought back its three-decade-old Keepsakes curio cabinets, with new Lighting embedded in each shelf so that display objects are lit from above and below.

In between the contemporary and the classic are handsome pieces which harken back to a romantic European and British past, including the campaign furniture packed by Britons as they colonized a large part of the world. Stanley's mahogany Barbados Collection, for example, with its prominent brass hinges, looks as though it is ready to be broken down and packed away for an ocean voyage.

Pulaski's Royale collection of bedroom, dining and accent pieces was inspired by Beaux Arts architectural elements found in medallions, crown moulding and ceiling tiles throughout Europe. Hookers Casa del Sot, described as "Sunbelt Casual," draws on Italian and Mediterranean influences. It includes bed room, dining, occasional, home entertainment and home office pieces.

Rustic styles are generally missing among the new furniture, as are overtly Asian styles. The bamboo and banana leaf of past markets also were not much in evidence.

Furniture that Fits

One trend of note is that many of today's new pieces are transferable from one collection to another. "Each piece stands on its own," said Kathy Mitchell, Hickory Chair director of wood products, as she introduced the 40-piece Alexa Hampton collection

The collection tries to avoid "matchy-matchy," she said. "We don't believe that's how people live." Thin stripes of different-colored primavera and mahogany decorate the top of one end table. The striped table encourages normally-reluctant consumers to mix finishes, she said.

There also was an attempt by manufacturers to accommodate all Lifestyles, including those crammed into small apartments, with Lots of storage and multi-functional pieces.

Storage/display ranged from elegant to utilitarian. The full-Length glass doors of designer Barbara Barry's oval china cabinet for Henredon are bisected with elegant wood curves. Glass shelves with walnut edges are set in a walnut interior.

At the other end of the price range spectrum is Sauder's EZ Cube, a modular collection of basic cubes, with or without doors, available with dividers with moveable shelves and end units with curving shelves. The versatile cubes, the company said, "can be used to create a wine cabinet that easily can be transformed into an entertainment center or a bathroom storage unit a month or a year later."

From Wine To TV

Wine cabinets that can serve other purposes are not limited to Sauder. In Lane's Union Square collection, you can take the bottles out and put in a TV. Presto! An entertainment center.

Other solutions for the space-challenged include Pennsylvania House's Flip-Top Sideboard, part of the Today's Hallmark collection. The top flips open to reveal a wear-resistant laminated surface perfect for serving food or drinks.

Fitting in with the emphasis on smaller spaces are several low-profile Hickory Chair headboards and an entire Guest Quarters Collection by Vaughn, designed for second bedrooms.

Whether small or large, beds are gaining a good deal of attention. A padded headboard stretching several feet above the bed provides an invitation to reading or TV watching in Stanley's Midnight Sun Collection. Another Midnight Sun bed has a lighted headboard, eliminating the need for a bedside lamp.

To make more space available in a room, beds by Hooker and Bernhardt also feature short finials as substitutes for foot posts.

Style and comfort extends to the kiddies, too. Stanley's Young America showed Ma Marie, a country French collection for young girls, in turquoise, black and antique white. Bush Furniture came out with Bush Kidz, a playful collection of youth furniture that rests on MDF "feet," and holds up yellow MDF "hands." Curved drawer pulls are smiling "mouths."

Prices on Thomasville's "Impromptu" and Sauder's "Beginnings" are aimed at those consumers furnishing a first home. Lexington Home Furnishings showed bedroom, dining room and occasional pieces in a new line called Lexington. Prices on those pieces are an average 10 to 15 percent lower than those of the company's well-known brands like Tommy Bahama and Nautica, said President Bob Stec.

What Lexington has tried to do is emulate mass merchandiser Target, which has made style affordable, said Stec. For example, a bedroom now can be fitted out for $2,000-2,500 with the Lexington brand, compared to $3,500-4,000 with the others, he said.

RELATED ARTICLE: Pass the remote, deal the cards--it's party time!

By Hannah Miller

The only thing bigger than the currently popular wide-screen TVs seems to be consumers' appetite for them. The Consumer Electronics Assn. projects Americans will buy 36 million new TVs this year, spending $8 billion more than last year.

"The vast majority of television sales will be high definition 16 by 9 formats, and many of those will be 50- to 60-inch sets," said Kelly Cain, vice president and product manager at Stanley Furniture Industries.

Hooker Furniture showed more consoles than entertainment centers at April's International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, NC. The company says they are an ideal solution for the 50- to 60-inch digital LCD (liquid crystal display) and DLP (digital light processing) rear projection tabletop TVs, which are usually 1520 inches deep and weigh about 100 pounds.

Bush's versatile new Clarion Collection in the Eric Morgan line has a hutch on which a flat screen can hang, and a video base on which it or other TVs can stand.

Hooker and Stanley showed what may be the ultimate in couch potato-dom, or in this case, bed potato-dom. It is a plasma screen that rises from a bed footboard, but can be turned at various angles for viewing from elsewhere in the room. Hooker's is in its Metropolitan View, a soft-edged contemporary collection. Stanley's is in Midnight Sun, also a soft contemporary look.

Want more than a wooden panel covering your screen when it is not in use? In a new armoire-style entertainment center from Sligh Furniture, real books or curios occupy shelves above a TV, and a screen painted with faux books slides over the TV when not in use.

Game Tables, Bars and More

Despite all that TV to watch, manufacturers evidently think there is still a demand for hands-on entertainment. Game tables, where friends can gather over a deck of cards, are featured in several new collections.

"The craze of celebrity poker on TV and the popularity of poker and game playing on college campuses and across America have created a demand for game room furniture," said Mike Space. Hooker's executive vice president/merchandising.

Both the John Elway Home Collection from Bassett Furniture Industries and Hooker Furniture showed game tables paired with bars and, in the case of Hooker, a circular pool-cue rack with an etched-brass base.

The Old West-inspired table in the Elway collection is made of solid oak and accented with cherry veneer. It has a hand-tooled leather playing surface with a reversible sunburst cherry top. Antiqued brass cup holders surround the border. The Elway Home Bar Setting has a freestanding bar, bar back, bar hutch, barstool and counter stool pieces.

Hooker is entering the game room category for the first time with 15 items, including poker, card and game tables, game chairs, a counter-height game table, bars, bar stools and a pool cue stand. Most pieces are made of hardwood solids and cherry veneer, with accents of leather, black granite, etched brass and billiard-quality felt.

Freestanding bars also were shown in several manufacturers' collections, without accompanying game tables. Such bars are said to be preferred by some consumers over built-ins because they can accompany a homeowner during a move.

One such bar in Pulaski Furniture Corp.'s European-inspired Royale Collection is finished in medium brown cherry with gold-painted overlays. The top is deep gray granite.

Broyhill's imported Continents collection features several styles, including one with rotating shelves on a lazy Susan device inside the bar.

Bistro tables--square, bar-height tables usually seating four people--were shown with accompanying tall chairs in several collections, including Stanley's Midnight Sun and Hooker's game tables group. Lane Home Furnishings, which first introduced the bistro tables at the October 2004 market, now includes them in the company's Eddie Bauer and new Robert Idol collections.

Bernhardt goes in the opposite direction. Its State Street Storage Cocktail is a table of many uses, with a padded leather top you can sit on or use as a footrest. When you feel like drinks or a snack, pull out the side trays. And if you want a little competition enliven the evening, pull out the center shelves for board games. Checkers, anyone?