So here we are smack in the middle of 2008 and it’s no secret that we’re in a fine mess: gas at nearly $4.50 a gallon, rising food costs and a mortgage crisis that refuses to go away. I suspect that somewhere in our collective consciousness a realization is beginning to dawn, namely that there [ read more… ]
From our own little corner of this industry called “home furnishings”, we can size up a progression down the road that led us here. Our challenge has been to adapt to current expectations trained to instantaneous gratification and ever increasing percentages off the price. But fine furniture isn’t like technology. It can’t materialize in an [ read more… ]
We recently renovated a place in our Wheaton store to showcase our leather gallery. It’s much more open and appealing than our previous leather area, but one thing is immediately apparent when you get numbers of large, heavy, solid-colored objects in one space; it’s a lot of large, heavy, solid color. In other words, there’s [ read more… ]
Leather is a wonderful material to live with. It wears like — well, like leather; it doesn’t lose its shape or get lumpy and it’s never out of style. But because it is so strong and muscular looking it needs strong, bold contrast to stand up to it. Petite accessories and soft, delicate colors are [ read more… ]
Husband: “I like that color green. Thirty years ago we bought the same color and now it’s back! Wife: (sighing) “No dear, it’s really not the same.” This is a conversation I occasionally hear in the store. Who’s right? She’s right. And he’s right. Style revisits itself, reinventing patterns and colors from the past when [ read more… ]
The new interpretations of color and pattern reflect a different set of sensibilities, different uses and different environments from the originals. We crave that reference point to the past but move inexorably into the future. That’s the fascinating thing about fashion — it’s endless capacity to mirror our own desires back at us. So the [ read more… ]
This is a fresh new look that would be perfect in a lake house or seaside cottage. It’s a new traditional infused with color from Century.
It’s spring, the season full of promise, and a whole new crop of graduates is about to step out into the big wide world. How easy it is to look at our bright, shining children and burst with pride at their talent and potential. I was basking in the glow of graduation weekend along with [ read more… ]
Right now, this year’s local graduates are on top of the world and the view is expansive. In many ways, they started out there. Let’s add one more wish for their furture success and happiness: that, like the many good people and companies out there, their success will end up benefiting the larger world.
