What makes a market sing?

Neoclassic. Traditional. Old World. No Kitsch. Latest editions confirm furniture is in fine form for 1997.

Designers and writers waxed rhapsodic during the years 1985-95 - the Decade of Diversity in home furnishings. A kaleidoscope of styles, materials, colors and finishes materialized out there, and we learned once and for all to enjoy them all without nitpicking about matching everything.

Did you say you had a houseful of Country, Contemporary, Traditional, Mission, hand-me-downs and antiques? Great. The finishes are dark, light, painted, distressed? Wonderful. And too many patterns? Impossible. Decorators everywhere marched to the tune of Mario Buatta, the Prince of Chintz, "Pattern, pattern everywhere."

Approaching 1997, the medley melody continues, but the tempo is slowing and we are singing other lyrics. Perhaps it is due to the Traditional overture, "Formality and Propriety," which aired at the International Home Furnishings Market in October 1995. High notes at that market were period details, darker finishes, fancy-face veneers and antique reproductions.

The polite recital of formality continued in April, and Country lost ground again. Variations on a Continental theme were played by designers of major collections who looked to Europe for inspiration. Exaggerated scale and lavish detail characterized the spring introductions.

Continental uprising

At the recent October market, however, design excesses were toned down, and furniture appeared in fine form. There were plenty of large scale, carved case goods but they seemed less grandiose. A number of attractive, clean-lined architectural pieces debuted, including: Drexel's Pacific Overtures dining table; Michael Gohman's Bassano bed for Marge Carson; a 1940s, Arbus-inspired console from John Widdicomb's Chad Womack and Hilco Woudstra's conservative Monterrey armoire for Emerson et Cie.

At the same time, the snowballing European influence sparked numerous collections, including: Henredon's Cachet, Bernhardt's La Scala, Lane's European Archives, Lexington's Chartres and Thomasville's Martinique.

A surprise introduction was Drexel Heritage's upholstery triad, Gentleman's Home, geared for single males, living on their own, according to vice president Birger Rasmussen. The City Dweller, the Voyager and the Shareholder groups designed specifically for them.

Ottomans are big. Literally. Sixty-inch-round ottomans displace cocktail tables, and if they become any larger, we'll be sleeping on them. Ottomans add punches of color and diversity, especially when they provide a fashionable animal motif. A low-to-the-floor model at Baker stood on huge paws. Faux elephant hide covered one ottoman at Drexel; another bore a lion's head and feet.

Finally, watch out for monogrammed furniture. Century's creative director, Michael Delgaudio, said furniture needs to become personal. Showing off initialed sofa pillows, Delgaudio predicted, "This will be the start of a new direction, a trend we are going to create."

Personalized furniture... Would that fall into the realm of "You can't sit there. That's my chair. See, it has my initials."? We thought that hassle ended when the kids grew up.

High Point in brief

Henredon Furniture: Cachet, a French word that once translated into the words fee, ticket or trademark, has now come to mean a certain je ne sais quoi kind of distinction that, as a rule, money can't buy. Henredon bestowed the name on its major assortment of "collectibles" which draw from the best 17th, 18th and 19th century European styles. (Cash, check or charge will be accepted.)

Influences from Provence, Normandy and Italy include bun feet, marquetry and rush seats. Carefully inlaid black-and-white marquetry adds a decidedly Normandy air to a two-drawer night stand and dining table, while wheat carvings on chair backs recall Provence. Additional style elements are canted corner mouldings a la Louis Philippe, the softened lines of Louis XIV and the Neoclassicism of Louis XVI.

An immense paneled-wall bed is made from grafted walnut veneers and features a heavy cornice and metal posts, canopy and twisted foot rail. Alternative beds are a leather-trimmed Carpathian elm sleigh bed and a French scrolled panel bed.

Bernhardt Furniture Co.: Having become known for eclectic Contemporary designs with lighter finishes, last market Bernhardt savored the success of Embassy Row, a new, traditional offering designed by Bill Faber. The collection is derived from a variety of European themes and wears an antique finish.

October's introduction, La Scala, is executed on a similarly grand scale and lavishly carved with rope turnings, rosette mouldings, acanthus leaves, overlaid crescents, garlands, tassels and shells that recall 18th and 19th century antiques. La Scala has a lighter antique finish.

Especially noteworthy is the inclusion of the home office in the La Scala line. A double pedestal desk with rope and rosette turnings, a computer desk with keyboard tray and wire management, a table desk with rounded corners and fluted legs and a 46-inch-wide multi-media cabinet are available.

Century Furniture, Shuford Div.: Century celebrates its 50th anniversary with Citation, a medium-priced, 40-piece grouping named after its first successful collection. The original was designed by Ray Sobota; Bill Faber designed the anniversary collection with a fresh, softened Contemporary look that still retains familiar details.

A reeded urn pedestal table with oval top is trimmed in egg-and-dart banding. Another round table rests on a twisted sheaf pedestal. Incised channeling encircles the backs of Neoclassic dining chairs.

Finishes are the key to its Contemporary designation. Solid cottonwood treated with mottled khaki color called Raw Silk acquires a subtle glow from dry brushing with gold powder.

Pennsylvania House: Medallion Collection, offered as "starting point" furniture for younger customers, does not skimp on details or construction, according to president Ken Fonville. Hand-rubbed solid wood, generous scale and structural integrity characterize the new 35-piece traditional group in three styles: 18th century Keystone Cherry, Coronet in maple and Shaker Spirit, also maple. Value engineering includes standardized drawer sizes. Prices are expected to be about 20 percent less than established Pennsylvania House lines.

Hearth & Home, a new solid Appalachian oak 40-piece grouping that combines mortise-and-tenon joinery, serpentine tops, ogee bases, cabriole legs, buttermold carvings and seeded glass, returns Pennsylvania House to its traditional oak beginnings. Finished in medium brown complete with knots, "pegging" and distressing, the collection includes dining room, bedroom and occasional pieces.

Lexington Furniture: The company introduced two case goods series, Chartres and Wyndham Cherry. Chartres blends French and English designs in maple solids with cherry veneers and oak solids and veneers. Finishes are medium brown or lightly washed. The 35-piece Wyndham Cherry collection of cherry and maple solids and cherry veneers replicates the detailed carvings and graceful lines of 18th century Traditional.

Also new from Lexington: Wicker by Henry Link introduces the 26-piece Smithsonian Anniversary Collection of modified early 20th-century designs; new transitional wicker pieces, also from Henry Link; and Complements of Lexington - entertainment pieces that coordinate with nine of Lexington's best-selling lines, including The World of Bob Timberlake and The Palmer Home Collection.

John Widdicomb Co.: The venerable John Widdicomb Co. (est. 1858) customarily takes its design cues from the great periods of European decorative arts, as well as from England, Russia and British Colonial India. Pieces are crafted in the same painstaking manner as the originals that inspired them, using the finest woods and veneers, meticulous hand-detailing and handrubbed finishes.

In October, eight new pieces were introduced, including three by Womack, who is director of design, and two by Buatta. Details from numerous countries and periods meld in a signature display cabinet with the canted end doors and large bun feet of 18th-century France, geometric-mullion doors of 18th-century Georgian furniture and decorative Neoclassic motifs of 19th-century Europe. The cabinet is crafted of American walnut solids and Circassian walnut veneers.