The word from this fall's massive furniture market at High Point, N.C., is that manufacturers are optimistic about sales because the economy is improving. If the findings of a new nationwide study are true, there should be a strong market for their goods once consumers start feeling better about their pocketbooks.
America's Research Group surveyed 1,000 people and found most of us haven't bought new furniture in nearly a decade. If we did buy furniture, it was most likely to be an entertainment center, which nearly 16 percent of those surveyed had bought recently. The survey has a margin of error of 4.3 percent.
Decorator consignment
Interior designers Anne LeBow and Marguerite Girgash have opened an unusual consignment shop; their merchandise is exclusively upscale decorator accessories, such as lamps, small furniture, wall hangings and table top items. No flea market finds here!
Consignment Decorator Accessories is located at 301 York Road. Call (410) 296-0001 for more information.
American-Indian antiques
More than 75 dealers are exhibiting and selling thousands of pre-1940 museum-quality antiques at the Washington American Indian Antiques Show today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Two seminars are on the schedule as well: "Navajo Weaving: A Collector's Vision" at 9 a.m. and "The Collector's Guide to Cheyenne Moccasins" at 3:30 p.m. General admission is $6; seminars, $15. The show is being held in the exhibit hall of the Hyatt Regency-Crystal City, Arlington, Va. Call (410) 592-3229 for more
information.
Called on the carpet
Help on everything from proper carpet installation to care guidelines is available through the Carpet and Rug Institute's hot line, (800) 882-8846.
The national trade association will also send you free brochures on installation and maintenance if you call the 800 number.
Ephemeral joys
Montgomery County resident Carole Jo Dennis spends the entire year hunting down what she calls Victorian "ephemera" at paper shows, flea markets and antiques shops. She adds the decorative matting and gilt frames and sells the one-of-a-kind accessories for $30 to $300.
Her Christmas collectibles, the most popular of all the Victorian papers she frames, are featured in next month's Victoria magazine. She produces about 60 of them a year and, she says, they sell out almost immediately.
You can see them on display at Forget-me-not Framing, in Burtonsville, (301) 421-1469.