April 2017
Furniture Design Magazine for All Furniture Design Magazine
WHATEVER YOU HAVE, IT’S POSSIBLE
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Quick Retail Tips
HOW DOES THE ECONOMY AFFECT THE
FUNITURE INDUSTRY
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PURE JASMINE TEA
CONTENTS
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Whatever You Have, It’s Possible any of us have old pieces of furniture around the home that have seen better days. Rather than tossing them to the curb, you should first stop to consider whether that stuff can be saved. Here are a few easy DIY projects will breathe new life into old furniture.
SMART IDEA
04 Stuffs around you are DIY furniture gold
10 Stuffs around you are DIY furniture gold
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06 12 Quick retail tips Ollignam, et vollend antur, omnihitatem imilique re Repedis etur? Qui qui dipiet pro mo intios dolectatiosa
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SMART UPDATE
23 How Does The Economy DIY furniture fixes
Affect the Furniture Industry?
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08 Don’t throw it out! Easy
26 New furniture designs worth the wait
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SMART UPDATE
How Does The Economy Affect the Furniture Industry?
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“The economy absolutely affects the industry, as furniture is a discretionary item” says Leslie Carothers of The Kaleidoscope Partnership, a social media and marketing company focusing on the furniture industry. “When the economy is good people are definitely more willing to invest in furniture as well as better quality furniture as they have more money for such investments.” In addition she believes that, “whether or not a local economy is strong, furniture companies, whether retailers or manufacturers, who are executing in the following ways are thriving in today’s economy.”
The companies that are more environmentally aware are thriving in the new economy. Carothers explained that “The consumers are much more environmentally aware and more educated, thanks to the internet, about hoe their purchases impact the environment. Parents, especially, understand the importance 4
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of not having their purchases end up in a landfill. Companies that make or sell authentically and environmentally responsible products are thriving – whether or not the local economy is strong.” Today’s customers are looking for items that fit their lifestyles, their personal styles and
tastes, and those pieces of quality. All these factors play into their final decisions, and all within a certain capped budget. Carothers believes that “The blogosphere has a huge impact, and is doing a great job educating the general consumer.” U
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SMART IDEA
Stuffs around you are DIY furniture gold Ollignam, et vollend antur, omnihitatem imilique re Here’s a little secret about building furniture out of pallets, those simple wooden structures used to schlep goods: Not all pallet wood is cheap rough-cut pine. Sharp-eyed scroungers can find oak, hickory or even cherry
pallets, because hardwoods are needed to transport heavy goods. Finding one of those is hitting the jackpot for doit-yourself pallet-furniture aficionados. “The first time I found a hardwood, it was hickory, and I
was giddy,” said Becky Lamb of Bozeman, Montana. “And I made a bench out of that one.” ut hicipsandam aperro is explibus incto molorpori culparum reped maionseque nonsedi ium simet reperores reprem nonsedi tibusam dolores dolori offictibus derunt offictatem rectur? Parit aliquatiis ditat qui occus abo. Nam faccae nonsequiat elitaec temoluptatur sequi qui is mintorrum quis quatuscit moles aut lam, tem delibus. I
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W ev you have, it s possi by Mark Walker
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any of us have old pieces of furniture around the home that have seen better days. Rather than tossing them to the curb, you should first stop to consider whether that stuff can be saved. Here are a few easy DIY projects will breathe new life into old furniture.
Give Your Wood Furniture a New Finish After years of use and abuse, your precious wood furniture might start to look a little worn out. But the great thing about solid wood furniture is that is can nearly always be repaired. The first task is to assess the extent of the damage. If you’re only looking to repair a few water stains, then the job is pretty simple. Spread a clean towel over the stain and use a 8
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hot iron over it. Depending on the extent of the stain, this might take a few passes, so just keep checking to see if the stain has disappeared. If you have a piece of furniture that has more than just a few water marks on it, it might require a complete overhaul. Apply a liberal coat of paint stripper to loosen the old finish and then scrap it off with a plastic scraper.
After the wood has had time to dry, get down to bare wood with sandpaper. Start with a coarser 150 grit paper and then finish with a finer 220 grit. Next, you’ll need to apply your finish. You could go the natural route with a finish like tung oil or boiled linseed oil. However, these finishes take a long time to dry between coats. For a faster finish, stain the wood with an oil-based stain and then apply a few coats of polyurethane. Here’s a little secret about building furniture out of pallets, those simple wooden structures used to schlep goods: Not all pallet wood is cheap rough-cut pine. Sharp-eyed scroungers can find oak, hickory or even cherry pallets, because hardwoods are needed to transport heavy goods. Finding one of those is hitting the jackpot for doit-yourself pallet-furniture aficionados.
“solid wood furniture -- can nearly always be repaired.”
Give New Life to a Worn Out Couch After a few years of heavy use, your beloved sofa can start to lose its shape. But rather than replace a saggy-looking sofa, you can give it a boost with a few quick steps. The high heat of a steam cleaner can help restore some of the lift in the couch cushions. If that doesn’t work, you can rebuild the couch cushions with material bought from a craft store. Pull the foam out of each cushion and wrap it in couple of layer of quilt batting to help it regain its shape. If you have cushions with loose stuffing, you can refill them with polyester fiberfill. Wooden pallets in the U.S. often measure 40-by-48 inches. An online slideshow by Country Living magazine features 17 pallet projects, including a headboard, garden frame, daybed, wine rack and artworks. More projects — including guitars — and how-to tutorials can be found on the website 1001 Pallets.
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“I’ve seen people do some amazing things reclaiming the wood,” including paneling a wall or ceiling, said Jamie Supsic, style director at Country Living. She said there are two ways to approach DIY pallet furniture: Use the pallet intact, as the foundation for a coffee table or sofa, or take it apart and use the slats. One of the most stunning creations she has seen, she said, was a chandelier hanging from ropes in a party tent: It was made from a pallet hung with battery-operated tea lights in mason jars.
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Reupholster an Old Chair Your dated or worn out kitchen chairs might have you longing for a weekend trip to Ikea. But if it’s just the chair’s cushion that needs to be replaced, and the frame is still in good condition, you should try your hand at some upholstery work first. To begin, you need to remove the chair’s cushion, which is usually held in place with a few screws. Using a flathead screwdriver and a pair of pliers, carefully remove the staples that hold the fabric in place. Try not to destroy the old upholstery while you’re doing this
because it’s going to serve as a handy template when you cut the new fabric. Iron the old fabric so that it’s perfectly flat, and spread it out over the new fabric. Trace an outline in chalk and then trim it down to size. Finally, using a staple gun, affix the new fabric to the chair, pulling it taut as you work your way around the cushion. Beginners might want to start with a daybed or console, for which the pallet could be kept mostly intact, or a simple art project such as a front-door wreath, she said. “Start with something small and you only have to use one small nail on your wall to install it,” Supsic says. You can find wood pallets behind businesses such as flooring and plumbing-supply stores, Lamb wrote in her new book, “Crafting with Wood Pallets” (Ulysses Press). Ask if they’re free for the taking. Or find free pallets on Craigslist.com. Not all pallets will make good furniture. Each needs to be inspected. Steer clear of those that appear to have a chemical or oil residue, Lamb said. Choose pallets that have mostly usable boards, without cracks or splits. Look for an IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) label or the HT (heat-treated) stamp on the pallet. The IPPC label verifies that the pallet manufacturer followed standards for treating the pallets, while the HT stamp assures that the wood was heat-treated, not chemically treated.
As for tools, Lamb suggests starting with a hammer, saw, drill and sander. A reciprocating saw helps disassemble pallets faster. She can take apart five pallets in 30 or 40 minutes with her Sawzall, she says, and explains how in her book. You can tear pallets apart with only a hammer and crowbar, but it takes a lot longer: “You don’t need the gym if you’re going to do that,” Lamb warns. Dimitri Boulze of Toulouse, France, who launched 1001 Pallets two years ago with a friend, thinks pallet furniture has become popular because it combines recycling and creativity. And it’s cheap. “On one side, people are realizing that resources are finite and that recycling
Paint Over It Aging patio furniture can leave you with rust stains on you deck and your clothes. By applying a fresh coat of paint, you can return that furniture to its former glory. You first need to remove the loose paint and some of the rust. On flat and even surfaces, medium grit sandpaper works best. For mesh surfaces or hard to reach places, a stiff wire brush will do the job. Wipe any remaining dust and debris off with a cloth. Once you’ve stripped the chair, apply a coat of primer, which will help the paint adhere, and let it dry overnight. Finally, apply several thin coats of rust-proof spray paint to the chair, allowing it to dry between each coat. Pallets used just in the U.S. might not have the IPPC label, Lamb said, but play it safe and use pallets that have it. Always look for the HT stamp; besides being safer for human use, the sterilization of heat-treating ensures that the wood won’t harbor insects. Lamb has yet to find an unstamped pallet, but “if I see one without a stamp, I won’t take it.”
can help with saving things and money,” Boulze said. “And then it gives them a goal to create something, and it’s something very positive.”
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