Home Furnishing Changes 2009!

All this economic gloom and doom has many of us craving a quick pick-me-up. And home furnishings designers might have just what we need to bring some color back into our lives this spring.

Perfect for the season of renewal, striking oranges, reds, greens and blues will be on trend in everything from table linens and flatware to sofas and area rugs. And following closely in the footsteps of the models on the fashion runways, purple hues will calm us while yellows will make us feel warm and sunny.

Shocking orange napkins on a dark cherry dining table loaded with sparkling white china are sure to have that mood-lifting "wow" factor. But we say don't stop there, go big when you go home. Getting a great piece of colorful furniture that will change the mood a little and give a refreshing lift to the entire room.

source: www.nj.com

Royal Mail Furniture Upgrades

The news comes days after it emerged that the postal service intends to cut thousands of front line jobs, and has been condemned by unions.

The shopping list of items approved by Royal Mail bosses includes £100,000 worth of Italian chairs and walnut desks costing £6,000 a piece, according to documents seen by the Daily Mirror newspaper.

Boardroom seats each costing £700 for the service's senior executives have also been requested, it is claimed.

Around 200 Royal Mail managers and staff will move to the refurbished offices in Unilever House by the River Thames on the Embankment in central London in May. The 30,000ft space will replace the postal service's current headquarters in east London.

Documents sent to potential contractors include requests for high-end furnishings from designers including Davison Highley, Italia and Kusch and Co, the newspaper claims.

Last month the Royal Mail announced a jump in profits to £255 million – more than £900,000 day – for the nine months to the end of December, but the service wants to slash thousands of jobs as part of cost-cutting reforms ahead of its planned part-privatisation.

Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union said: "It's disgusting that while postmen and women are being forced out of the business, this money is being spent on plush offices."

A Royal Mail spokesman confirmed that it had set aside hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay for new furniture, but said that bosses had not been spared the belt tightening.

"We have reduced the size of our HQ team. It's now leaner and more efficient," he said.

From Telegraph

Funky Oak LP Storage

If you are into old LPs or you like DJing and have lots of records to store, why not get a stylised piece of oak furniture to store it all.

text from CNET, "Records are skinny things, but once you have more than 100 or so they start to take up a lot of space. Some vinyl philes just leave them on the floor, or lean them up against furniture. Yuch! The nice folks at Atocha Design build gorgeous hi-fi furniture. Each piece is made to fit your needs, contact Atocha Design to get a price quote. Finish options run to American Maple, Walnut, Oak, and Bamboo; handles are solid brass. Atocha Designs are hand crafted in the U.S.A."