Home Furnishings

Nose rings are out. Halter tops are passe.Here comes the newest craze for America's teen-agers ...Would you believe home furnishings?Yep, hip teen catalogs are filled not only with the funkiest fashions but also with TV tables, sheets, lamps, chairs and storage units.IKEA and other furniture chains are targeting 12- to 19-year-olds.Clothing companies like Tommy Hilfiger, Old Navy and Banana Republic have introduced home-accessory lines that appeal to older teen-agers.Seventeen magazine has a new monthly column that shows how readers are decorating their bedrooms.

When Kevin Luskin decided to fill a vast, long-vacant spot in a shopping center he owns in Towson, he envisioned a "category killer" store that would specialize in sofas and other seating - a store that would defy customers to leave without finding what they wanted. Luskin and his brother, Cary, opened the Sofa Store in April in a retail center that was once the site of a Luskins, the now-defunct TV and appliance chain founded by their father, Jack Luskin, who is now retired.

When Kevin Luskin decided to fill a vast, long-vacant spot in a shopping center he owns in Towson, he envisioned a "category killer" store that would specialize in sofas and other seating - a store that would defy customers to leave without finding what they wanted. Luskin and his brother, Cary, opened the Sofa Store in April in a retail center that was once the site of a Luskins, the now-defunct TV and appliance chain founded by their father, Jack Luskin, who is now retired.

Pigtown resident Daryl Landy believes he's one of a growing number of Americans striving for better, not bigger, living quarters, and last week he launched a new online magazine devoted to living, working and playing in small spaces. Rohous Magazine went live Wednesday. The electronic magazine, available on iPads and the Internet by subscription, will highlight home furnishings, products, decor and do-it-yourself projects. It will feature a different city each month (the first issue focuses on Baltimore)

Brace yourself. After a summer of pretty pinks, the newest color in both home furnishings and fashion will rock your socks. This fall the brightest, truest orange since the day-glo '70s can be found in everything from can openers to pashima scarves to iMac computers. "I do think it works right now as a burst of energy, a ray of sunlight," says home furnishings designer Larry Laslo."I don't like a lot of it." Laslo's definition of "a lot" may not be the same as yours. At the wholesale furniture market taking place this week in High Point, N.C., his collection for Directional features orange walls that showcase furnishings in charcoal grays.

Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. is offering discounts on furniture, home-improvement products and moving expenses."On-the-Move Savings Plan": To make relocating into and out of the Baltimore, Norfolk and Washington markets easier. Inpartnership with American Airlines, Choice Hotels International, Hertz and Mayflower Transit, clients save 5 to 50 percent on traveling and moving expenses."Home Advantage": Discounts on home improvement products at Hechinger."The Home Buyer's & Sellers's Advantage": Discounts on home furnishings at Hecht's stores.

For the past six years the owners of fancy home furnishings shops from all over the world have journeyed to Washington to shop at the Heritage Market of American Crafts. Then last year Operation Desert Storm started just before the show, and many buyers stayed away."Everyone was hesitant to come into Washington, afraid they were going to be bombed," says show organizer Barbara Pitt. "The hotel had a fire drill, and I never saw a room clear out so fast in my life."This year, as compensation for the 150 craftspeople exhibiting, Ms. Pitt decided to open the show -- formerly to the trade only -- to the public on February 9 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to give the craftspeople a chance to sell their show samples.

Nina's Closet Exchange 6375 Ten Oaks Road Clarksville 410-300-0106 Jeanine “Nina” Baumgardner always enjoyed shopping at yard sales and flea markets. So she decided to hang an open sign on her own consignment shop, Nina's Closet Exchange, in Clarksville. Baumgardner, a Columbia resident of 30 years who opened shop in September 2010, calls her place “cozy and family friendly.” The Blue Goose 3715 Old Columbia Pike Ellicott City 410-461-6072 TheBlueGoose@verizon.net Original works by local artists, new and pre-owned home furnishings on consignment and other affordable treasures stock The Blue Goose, in Historic Ellicott City.

Fashion and furniture were the words du jour at the recent International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C.At a time when the furniture industry in general has been in a slump, the home collections of fashion designers like Alexander Julian and Ralph Lauren have been hugely successful. They offer the comfort of name recognition, while most furniture companies are largely unknown to consumers.This market Bill Blass introduced his first line of furniture and accessories for Pennsylvania House.

In the tradition of the old-fashioned trunk show, home furnishings vendors often stage events to present new fabrics, wallpapers, finishes and more to interior designers hungry for new ideas. The materials typically come in swatches or sample books or even catalogs. But at McLain Wiesand's recent trunk show, the new products were on a runway. For the second year in a row, the Baltimore custom furniture maker put on the event, drawing a crew of home furnishings sales reps to set up displays to pitch their new products.

Ten years ago, Nini Sarmiento and Rob Degenhard were scouring flea markets, antiques stores and yard sales searching for midcentury modern pieces to furnish their Rodgers Forge townhouse. They were having such a good time — and becoming so good at it — that one vendor suggested they try selling furniture themselves. And so Home Anthology was born. Today their Catonsville store has become a destination for those seeking midcentury modern, vintage, and retro furniture and accessories.

Belle Patri means “beautiful home” and that's just what owner Jennifer Lane intended to market when she opened her Jarrettsville store of the same name in 2007. From French Country and Primitive to Shabby Chic, Vintage, and Traditional, Belle Patri has an eclectic mix of new, consigned, estate and antique home furnishings and accessories. “We have a very affordable pricing, and we have a lot of space to bring in a lot of pieces. We update our website everyday, so people can see what is actually in our store.” Lane, mother of two children, 10 and 8, and married to native Harford County resident Erik Lane, is known for refinishing and painting furniture.

In the tradition of the old-fashioned trunk show, home furnishings vendors often stage events to present new fabrics, wallpapers, finishes and more to interior designers hungry for new ideas. The materials typically come in swatches or sample books or even catalogs. But at McLain Wiesand's recent trunk show, the new products were on a runway. For the second year in a row, the Baltimore custom furniture maker put on the event, drawing a crew of home furnishings sales reps to set up displays to pitch their new products.

Nina's Closet Exchange 6375 Ten Oaks Road Clarksville 410-300-0106 Jeanine “Nina” Baumgardner always enjoyed shopping at yard sales and flea markets. So she decided to hang an open sign on her own consignment shop, Nina's Closet Exchange, in Clarksville. Baumgardner, a Columbia resident of 30 years who opened shop in September 2010, calls her place “cozy and family friendly.” The Blue Goose 3715 Old Columbia Pike Ellicott City 410-461-6072 TheBlueGoose@verizon.net Original works by local artists, new and pre-owned home furnishings on consignment and other affordable treasures stock The Blue Goose, in Historic Ellicott City.

The story of Fred and Jan Hallahan's dream home is one of a near miss. The couple, seeking to downsize from their Ruxton home and looking for total first-floor living, visited a custom-designed house in Lutherville that offered a first-floor master suite. The home, designed by architect Donald Ratcliffe in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, featured a sleek, low-slung exterior profile. It was constructed in 1985 as the private residence of a local builder. "It was love at first sight," said Jan Hallahan, the 65-year-old former owner of Trillium women's fashions in Green Spring Station.

For the past couple of years, I've been working on renovations and cosmetic updates to my old house, and even though I've still got a ways to go, enough's done to start shifting gears from plumbing and electrical to furnishings and decor. A boutique shop or art gallery might seem to be the next step, but if you're strapped for time, auction houses offer an eclectic variety of art, furniture, rugs, accessories and more, all under one roof. Even better, depending on the day, these items can be yours at fantastic values.

Pigtown resident Daryl Landy believes he's one of a growing number of Americans striving for better, not bigger, living quarters, and last week he launched a new online magazine devoted to living, working and playing in small spaces. Rohous Magazine went live Wednesday. The electronic magazine, available on iPads and the Internet by subscription, will highlight home furnishings, products, decor and do-it-yourself projects. It will feature a different city each month (the first issue focuses on Baltimore)

High Point, N.C.--Well-worn cowboy boots and sweat-stained Stetsons. Iron horseshoes and coiled leather lariats. Red and black buffalo-check flannel and rough-bark logs. Deeply fringed suede and butter-soft leather.Furniture retailers and interior designers from all over the world who gathered here for the massive fall International Home Furnishings Market last week were treated to a nostalgic trip back in time to America's Old West at dozens of showrooms.From the ridiculous (a lamp made out of a battered old cowboy boot)

Joseph Edmund Besche, a Chesapeake Bay charter fishing captain who had owned the Middle River Inn, died of pneumonia April 1 at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Mays Chapel Village resident was 77. Born in Baltimore and raised in the Wyman Park neighborhood, he was a graduate of St. Francis Prep School in Spring Grove, Pa. He attended Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg. He joined the family business, 4 Besche Brothers, a Light Street home furnishings firm that had been co-founded by his father.

Visitors are likely to be awed by the opulent 18th- and 19th-century furnishings that fill the historic Hampton Mansion in Towson, which reopens this morning after being closed for nearly three years for a $3.3 million renovation. But guests are not supposed to notice what the staff considers some of the building's most impressive upgrades. About 100 fire sprinkler heads have been installed flush with the ceilings -- part of a fire-suppression system that is so sensitive people are not supposed to smoke even near the exterior doors.