Casual Living Blogs
When Designing an Outdoor Living Space Consider the Surrounding Features
When designing an outdoor living space you should take into consideration the surrounding materials. In the photo above you will see the red brick accenting the outdoor living space, therefore, a natural choice for the outdoor furniture is wrought iron or aluminum in a dark powder coating. Accenting the furniture with beautiful Sunbrella fabric that has the same coloration as the brick is the key... More
About this blog
Marcia Blake is President / Creative Director of Outdoor Interiors® a design firm specializing in creating outdoor living spaces. She also provides design and consulting services for outdoor furniture manufacturers and has launched a new collection of soft goods and accessories she designed called Outdoor Couture®, she is an active member of the Color Marketing Group, ASID and ICFA.
Things I Should Have Learned in Kindergarten (but waited to learn till I went into retail)
Sales in the morning are not a good predictor of what sales are going to be in the afternoon. And, vice versa. One afternoon, recently, a friend was complaining to me about how slow that morning had been. I called him a few days later to see how things were going. As it turns out, a few minutes after our first talk, a customer came in and spent enough money to make... More
About this blog
Bruce Aronson and his family have been in the outdoor industry since 1952. Their single location store is the largest specialty outdoor furniture retail store in the New Orleans area. Although Bruce has served as VP of The Casual Furniture Retailers Association and has been active in the industry for many years, he does not claim to be any less confused by retail than any other retailer out there.
Show what you know
Just as Spring can't help but to follow Winter, the consumer press can't help but fill their daily newspapers and online editions each Spring with stories touting what's new and exciting this year in outdoor furniture.While I think this tradition is great, and can be a real shot in the arm for the business, my impression is that sometimes these well-meaning stories can be a bit off the mark.Let's... More
About this blog
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the editor-in-chief of Furniture/Today, sister publication to Casual Living. In that role, I oversee the editorial content of our publication and our Web site, www.furnituretoday.com, I create content for the paper and the Web site, I pen a weekly column, maintain a blog, create the content for an annual Leadership Conference, and try to stay as plugged in as possible to every aspect of the residential furniture business.
Smaller homes fit casual niche
The "incredible shrinking home," with average square footage of American homes at the lowest level since 2004, can be interpreted as a positive for the casual industry.The Census Bureau recently reported the average size of single-family homes in the fourth quarter of 2009 was 2,327 square feet, compared with the 2,561-sq.-ft. average at the beginning of 2009.A new National Association o... More
About this blog
Cinde W. Ingram: Casually Speaking
Hi, this is Cinde W. Ingram and I'm the Editor in Chief of Casual Living and Garden Decor. Each week I hope to use this blog space to stay in touch with our readers. I want to know what you think about new products, markets, the retail climate and, most of all, Casual Living. Let me know what's going on. Check out my latest below.
Make shopping easier to help level the playing field
My last column described how technology and consumer behavior now provide an opportunity to create a more even playing field. I advised industry leaders to embrace that strategy and take significantly more control of their destiny. Shortly after the article was published, I saw those words in action from a consumer’s view. I faced most every husband’s worst nightmare: The wife’s birthday gift bu... More
About this blog
Kevin O'Brien is a brand strategist for clients throughout the United States and Canada, and is the President of O’Brien et al. Advertising in Virginia Beach. His areas of expertise include brand platform development, database segmentation and analysis, 360 degree consumer interaction and consumer behavior patterning.
Different Shades of Green
The growing awareness of environmental and sustainability concerns has prompted a surge in companies making green statements, increasing questions of transparency and greenwashing. On a recent Amtrak ride, I noticed the message on my plastic cup that said – Made 100% From Plants. When opening my 2010 Day Planner, there is a sustainability statement with three bullet points: Environmental Stewards... More
About this blog
Paul Bennotti is the Director of Marketing for the Victor Group, a leading North American textile manufacturer in the commercial, residential and apparel industries. Prior to joining Victor, Paul was the marketing and business development manager for G3 Technology Innovations, a nanotechnology company and manufacturer of GreenShield®, a water and stain repellant finish for textiles that greatly reduces the use of fluorocarbons that are persistent in the environment and harmful to human health. For fourteen years, Paul worked for Interface Fabrics as the Director of Strategic Marketing. Paul is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and an Associates Degree in Textile Technology.
