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Alfresco Home Beverage Cooler

Alfresco Home has a line of designer garden accents that add a unique style to Garden Living. We are all dreaming of warmer weather, when we can entertain family and friends in carefree outdoor living spaces. Once Spring and Summer arrive these beautiful and unique beverage coolers will add a sense of style to your outdoor oasis.



Chilled fruit, wine, water and sof...Read More

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Miaflora Fabric, Photo courtesy of Richard Schultz Design


Miaflora, is an Italian textile company in Biella, Italy, founded by Filippo Uecher in 2007,  in the beautiful foothills of the Biellese Alps, an area rich in the tradition of making fine textiles, framed by high mountain pastures, and an abundant supply of fresh water, fed by rushing rivers, the Elvo, Oropa and Cervo, where exquisite fab...Read More

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Outdoor Living Continues in Popularity

According to a survey published in the National Green Centre

"Landscape architects survey identifies the hottest outdoor living trends for 2010"  Some of the most sought after components to the Outdoor Living space include fire pits, low-frill entertaining and low maintenance landscapes.

Outdoor living continues to increase in popularity, according to the (ASLA) American Socie...Read More

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Tessuto Collection Giati

Modular Seating is BIG, very trendy and totally customizable. There are so many options and many brands to select from. It is one of the easiest ways to create your own CUSTOM design, with unusual configurations and specific selections of designer fabrics, trims and accessories.

The Tessuto Collection, the latest offering for Giati Designs by designer Marc Singer, is inspired by the graceful elegance of an old-world veranda. The module furnishings offer grand proportions and deep-cushioned comfort. The Tessuto Collection contains nine individual com...Read More

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In a recent article in the Star News Online, by Susan Hart, she states, "Almost any furniture you would use inside the house you can now find for outdoor living. As people want to spend more time outdoors, they expand their living spaces accordingly."  We are seeing this happen more and more.

Trey Folcher, who together with his wife, Stephanie, owns Leisure World on Market Street says, "It's a real lifestyle change that's been happening for several years now."

"We have had neutrals for too long," lamented Folcher, who added that they "are just not right for people living at or near the beach."

But according to the folks at ...Read More

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I am sure that this is a question you ask yourself all of the time, How do we compete? It is not so long ago that the casual furniture retailers were the only shop in town, now you have big box stores, catalogs, online retailers and every other retailer trying to jump on this band wagon.

As the years passby I have noticed many changes, for one thing the marketing efforts have increased greatly. Target, Lowes and Home Depot for example have created beautiful catalogs and Sunday newspaper inserts that showcase their collections very nicely. In fact most often the furniture looks better in the marketing material than in person. This however does not stop the consumer from shopping for their outdoor furniture needs in these stores.

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Every now and then during the winter months we wake up to a beautiful day, that makes us feel as if Spring is not far away. Today is one of those days for me, the temps are cool, but the sky is clear, blue and in the direct sun it almost feels like Spring. In fact it was warm enough to sit outside and eat my lunch around my outdoor table.

Sitting outside and looking around my backyard I began planning some changes for this coming Spring. I am going to refinish my patio floor. Right now I have stamped concrete in a rust finish to match the roof tiles of my Santa Barbara style house. The sealer has weathered and it is time for a facelift, as well as time for a change. I plan to lighten the color to a more neutral sepia tone, so when the mood hits I can change the accents and make my patio feel fresh and new, again and again.

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In 1917, Marshall B. Lloyd patented a process of weaving cellulose stands into wicker fabric. Lloyd/Flanders   has advanced the original technology producing a continuous strand that will not burr, crack, or peel resulting in a consistently smooth weave. Following the weaving process, the wicker is completely submerged in a resin emulsion and heated forming a flexible coating which provideds protection from moistur...Read More

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When you think about marketing, you think about reaching out to new and existing customers. A new technology is fueling a reverse marketing method called inbound marketing, which is when new and existing customers reach out to your business. This differs from the traditional marketing methods that require you to reach out to the customers. One of the newest and hottest social networks for your business is Twitter, a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real time.



Have you networked lately? Have you networked online? This is the place to network for 2010. This is a tool that you can utilize to educate your new as well as existing customers on the...Read More

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I just attended the first Webinar presented by the ICFA in association with Casual Living entitled "What Works Online: How to Market Your Store on the Web" hosted by Penny Schneck, Electronic Sales Manager for Reed Business. This was a very informative webinar, containing lots of critical content, such as why should a business go online, how to choose a web development firm, best practices in website design, online marketing, multi-channel marketing, PHP vs .Net, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, social media, blogging, tracking results, and lots more.

The webinar streamed live at 2:00 PM EST and 11:00 AM PST and lasted approximately one hour. The good news for those of you who missed out, the ICFA will be posting it online in a few days.

Penny started by sho...Read More

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