pottery barn

Decorate the Small Home Office

2011-12-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

imited square footage in a home office invites a few savvy design tricks: find small-scale furnishings that can be folded shut,; mount lights under a shelf to save desktop space; employ a light- colored palette to increase the perceived space; above all, keep it simple.

Furniture

To create an uncluttered impression and an office space that feels open to creativity, keep large furniture pieces to a minimum and choose modular pieces or those that serve more than one function. Furniture that is wall-mounted or pieces that stand on narrow legs help make a space feel larger and more open. Furniture with low profiles and clear pieces – like Plexiglass chairs – contribute to a sense of spaciousness.

Color

An all-white palette can do wonders for your small office space. A simple palette of black and white helps reduce visual clutter, while reflective materials – like mirrors and glass – enhance the airiness of the space. White paint and contemporary details visually expand the sense of space in the room.

Accessories & Decor

A minimalist approach to desk accessories helps preserve peace of mind in a small office. A sleek laptop computer leaves plenty of work surface free, and functional items like pinboards and corkboards can also double as decorative display areas.

Pottery Barn Kids

2011-06-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

Pottery Barn Kids drops the Reese Round Loungers for girls and boys from $69 to $39.99. These chairs fold up for easy storage and transportation and are available in pink and green (pictured) and red and blue. Shipping is $8 and sales tax is charged in states with Pottery Barn Kids retail locations.

Pottery Barn Sets Sights on Value Niche

2010-01-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

By MARY ELLEN LLOYD

For a look at how Williams-Sonoma Inc.'s Pottery Barn brand is responding to pressures exacerbated by the U.S. recession, consider the pricing of its newest sofa and chair group.

The "Comfort Collection" sofa starts at $999, 30% below Pottery Barn's next-priced sofa, as Williams-Sonoma tries to reset its popular brand's image as more affordable.

It's an important shift for the chain, whose style -- dubbed "The Pottery Barn Look" -- is among the most copied in the home-furnishings industry. Historically, Pottery Barn has focused on higher priced products, counting on customers to reward it for style and quality.

Many retail consultants and analysts say Pottery Barn is smart to adjust. "You have to reflect the fact that we're in a much different environment than we were a few years ago," says Craig Johnson, president of the retail consulting firm Customer Growth Partners.

Parent company Williams-Sonoma maintains that design and manufacturing improvements will help maintain good profit margins on the lower-priced products.

Still, some company watchers caution that the changes may not gain traction in such a weak environment and that they risk damaging the brand longer term.

"We think it could prove particularly challenging to get Pottery Barn customers back in the stores given widespread value-focused competition and the likelihood that this competition continues to gain" in the current downturn, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst David Magee said in a recent note to clients.

Pottery Barn is also adding free design services in its stores, emphasizing its branded credit card's offer of no-interest financing for 12 months and planning more regular sales to generate shopper traffic.

Meanwhile, value is getting more emphasis at Williams-Sonoma's namesake kitchen stores and catalogs and at its newer West Elm brand, which targets a younger, more urban audience. But the impact is most important at Pottery Barn, which was the company's worst performing brand in fiscal 2008 with a 22% decrease in comparable-store sales. The brand showed declines in all key categories during the fourth quarter, and aggressive markdowns hurt merchandise margins.

"We are seeing the customer look for value in everything they buy," Pottery Barn President Laura Alber said in the company's March 24 conference call. She said the company's adjustments to starting prices follow a thorough look across all Williams-Sonoma brands to determine where competitors had "moved down and were potentially outmarketing or outpricing us."

The company didn't respond to a request for comment, but executives have said they don't intend to cheapen Pottery Barn.

"At the end of the day, you are only worth what your brands are worth," Chief Marketing Officer Pat Connolly said at a recent investor conference.

But last year marked the third year of negative same-store sales for Pottery Barn, which generates roughly half of the San Francisco retailer's revenue and operating profit. The trouble started in mid-2006, and sales have worsened despite earlier efforts to reduce shipping fees and offer a wider selection of lower priced products at Pottery Barn's 202 stores, in its catalogs and on its Web site.

Barclays Capital analyst Michael Lasser says that offering more items at lower prices will help Pottery Barn better match direct competitors such as Crate & Barrel. But it may also lead to more competition from Ikea and the mass merchants. "Plus, these lower-price-point items are likely to crowd out more expensive products," says Mr. Lasser.

Offshoot brands of Pottery Barn also face weak demand. PB Teen posted a 14.5% fourth-quarter revenue decline. And it faces encroachment.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. last month unveiled a teen-focused collection of bedding, rugs, display shelves and lounge seating. Among the products are boys' skateboard-themed "Blue Wave" comforters and $12 plastic skateboard shelves that are less expensive versions of PBTeens' "Navy Half Pipe" duvet cover and $39 wood skateboard shelves.

Recent surveys by consulting firm PeopleMetrics indicate that retailers offering more value for the money and a lower price point are gaining ground in developing strong emotional connections with customers, which is important for longer term prospects. Meanwhile, retailers like Pottery Barn, which falls between the luxury and discount extremes, are having an especially tough time creating and keeping loyal customers who will promote their brands, says Kate Feather, executive vice president with the Philadelphia firm.

Cutting prices may help in the short term, but "the issue is what does that do to the brand," she says. "How do you ever get back to the high-value brand image position if you've changed what you say you are?" she asks.

The Pottery Barn Revolution

2010-01-25T18:09:00.000-08:00

There's hope for American furniture.

By Karen LehrmanPosted Thursday, June 18, 1998, at 3:30 AM ET

In the ritual bashing of wildly successful retail outlets, Pottery Barn has received its share of scorn. In-the-know consumers mock the home furnishing chain for its buy-a-lamp, get-a-lifestyle attitude and its antiqued, weathered, color-coordinated pseudostyle. The omnipresent store has also been accused of inducing a bland homogenization in home design. "Everything seems more and more the same, wherever you are," wrote architecture critic Paul Goldberger in a New York Times Magazinearticle last year. "The stuff may be good but it ain't special."

Goldberger, while rejoicing that sophisticated design has finally reached the American masses, rightly lamented that it has come at the price of individual variation and taste. Just as the Gap look has become as much of a uniform now as the preppy aesthetic it replaced, so also has the Pottery Barn look standardized our homes as vacuously as any traditional style. But in the big picture, the Gapping of American furniture has actually been one of the most welcome developments in recent years. It has made good design easily accessible and, paradoxically, opened opportunities for American manufacturing that may help consumers develop a sense of personal style.

Americans have always had bad taste in furniture. It's been hard to say, though, whether we're innately philistine in our artistic judgments or have merely been deprived of decent choices. Until the 1930s, most furniture that was well designed came from Europe, was priced accordingly, and was off-limits to most consumers. Then things started to change, slowly. The Bauhaus design school introduced the idea that good design could be had by anyone; in the 1950s the Bauhaus aesthetic led to the American manufacture of such modernist (but still too pricey) classics as Charles Eames' lounge chair and ottoman and Arne Jacobsen's Egg Chair. In the '60s, an Englishman named Terence Conran opened a store in London called Habitat, selling what has come to be called "transitional" furniture--mixable pieces so neutral and inoffensive they could fit into any environment. Conran brought the idea to the United States in 1977, opening his chain. Still, big manufacturers such as Ethan Allen, Broyhill, and Drexel continued to dominate the market with safe, conservative styles or traditional looks from the last century.

What finally ended the reign of the big manufacturers was the proliferation of such high-design/low-price stores as Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, and IKEA. In the last decade, Pottery Barn, et al., have realized the ideas of the Bauhaus and Conran, and then some. Furniture has been Gapped--streamlined to its purest lines in a way that appeals both to people with sophisticated tastes and to those without a lot of money. And while this standardization has produced a certain monotony, it has also generated some good design. Many a dish or chair at IKEA or Pottery Barn is of better design quality--with simpler forms and purer colors--than its counterpart at Bloomingdale's (although the manufacturing quality may be not as good). Take, for example, Pottery Barn's wide-brimmed Capri bowls, which come in bone or light periwinkle. Resembling, yet not flatly derivative of, an Asian rice dish, a Capri bowl confidently walks that fine line between elegance and edge--and was on sale last weekend for $4.99.

Pottery Barn and the others have turned Americans on to furniture. According to Barnard's Retail Trend Report, since mid-1996, consumers have been spending more on the home than on apparel ($296.3 billion vs. $277.9 billion in 1997). This sudden interest can also be attributed to other causes--we're older and nesting; we're spending more time at home; we're making bolder purchases because of a better economy. But what's noteworthy is that it's young people who have developed a taste for cool places to sit and sleep. A survey by the Home Furnishings Council found that consumers under 35 were most likely to agree with the statement "I like to shop for furniture." Young buyers are growing up with good design around them--in clothes, in advertisements, in movie sets--and this improved climate surely makes them more discriminating shoppers.

Paradoxically, the Gapping of furniture has made it easier for new, innovative design companies to thrive. You could see the stirrings of a creative revolution at this year's International Contemporary Furniture Fair, held a few weeks ago in Manhattan. The fair still showcased some of the arts-and-craftsy "novelty" elements (lights in the shape of pigs or brassieres, chairs made from shopping carts or traffic barricades) that earned it the "bad flea market" label when it began a decade ago. But there were also a dozen small designer-manufacturers producing funky yet rational design at affordable prices. Even though these items cost a bit more than Pottery Barn fare, they were no doubt affected by the success of that store's clean, simple lines. Blu Dot Design, for instance, offered its handsome and functional Uptown series: a cocktail table ($499), sideboard ($899), and media cabinet ($649) of cherry, chrome, and sandblasted glass that discreetly allow for both storage and display. Although the Minneapolis-based company is just a year old, its three twentysomething founders have already got orders from more than 100 retailers around the country. They've been written up in Newsweek, the New York Times, and an array of design magazines. Most telling of all, the series' cocktail table and sideboard are now part of Chandler and Joey's living room on Friends.

In addition, medium-size companies such as Directions are now offering sophisticated design and manufacturing quality at department-store prices, retaining an attention to fine detail that the mass chains lack. Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Donna Karan have also got in on the act, introducing their high-quality (though far from original) "home collections." Lauren has already covered a quarter of Bloomingdale's furniture department with haute preppy ensembles of paisley, tartan plaid, and corduroy. The rise of "boomer casual" has even forced the major manufacturers to move beyond their perennial colonial reproductions. Their more "modernized" furniture looks as if it were designed by a committee tallying up market research, but it's a start.

A home swathed in Karan, of course, is no better than a home swathed in Pottery Barn. But the next stage in America's design evolution may not be far off. In New York, one hip SoHo store, called Troy, offers new stuff next to classics by Jacobsen and Alvar Aalto. A Tribeca store, Totem, showcases a slew of young designers who will individualize pieces according to your home and character. Totem's first line of its own--the Surface Collection by Lloyd Schwan--is both playful and versatile, consisting of building-blocklike tables, credenzas, and cabinets with interchangeable parts and colors, depending on whether the pieces are going in an office or a kid's room. The collection won a Best Furniture award at this year's International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Soon, Americans will no longer be able to blame bad taste in furniture on a lack of choice.

How Pottery Barn Wins With Style

2010-01-16T18:05:00.000-08:00

BY: LINDA TISCHLERWed Dec 19, 2007

Plenty of companies compete on price and features. How do you keep demanding customers coming back for more? Pottery Barn's secret for growth in a brutally competitive business: "Our brand is a state of mind," says one top executive. "And customers can make it their own."

Shortly after Hadley MacLean got married in the fall of 2001, she and her husband, Doug, agreed that their old bed had to go. It was a mattress and box spring on a cheap metal frame, a relic of Doug's Harvard days. But Hadley never anticipated how tough it would be to find a "grown-up" bed, one that would be able to accommodate her lawyer husband's lanky six-foot-six-inch frame. "We couldn't find anything we liked, even though we were willing to spend the money," says Hadley, a 31-year-old marketing director at a Cambridge, Massachusetts - based educational-travel company.

The couple finally ended up at Pottery Barn on Boston's upscale Newbury Street, where Doug fell in love with a mahogany sleigh bed that Hadley had spotted in the store's catalog. Not only would the bed go well with the antique dresser that Doug had inherited from his family, but its low footboard would also allow his feet to flop happily over the edge. The couple was so pleased with how great it looked in their Dutch Colonial home that they hurried back to the store for a set of end tables. And then they bought a quilt. And a duvet cover. And a mirror for the living room. And some stools for the dining room.

"We got kind of addicted," Hadley confesses. "We like really classic pieces that can stand the test of time, and Pottery Barn's stuff is great quality for the money."

In the face of geopolitical chaos, economic meltdown, and technology overload, there's something comforting about the timeless challenge of newlyweds shopping for a bed. It speaks to hope and faith in the future -- to the satisfaction that we draw from being able to exercise control in at least one small corner of our harried and pressure-filled lives. Creating a place that's cozy yet stylish -- a sanctuary from a troubled world -- is not just a matter of finding the right furniture at the right price. It's also a matter of emotion: There's a need to identify with the products that we bring into our homes.

All of that bodes well for Pottery Barn. The company's smart yet accessible product mix, seductive merchandising, and first-rate customer service have made it the front-runner in a fragmented industry -- not just because of the products that it sells, but also because of the connections that it makes with customers. "It has built a furniture brand into a lifestyle brand in a way that nobody else has done," says Carole Nicksin, a senior editor at the home-furnishings trade weekly HFN.

Pottery Barn has built a successful business along the way too. Revenues at Williams-Sonoma Inc., Pottery Barn's parent company, were $2.36 billion in 2002 (an increase of 15.3% over 2001), and they were driven primarily by sales at Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, and Williams-Sonoma. Pottery Barn's sales were up 11.8%, while those of Pottery Barn Kids increased 51% on net revenue of $293 million.

With consumer confidence at a nine-year low, furniture-industry executives say that consumers have lately been balking at big-ticket items. But while customers may be reluctant to pull the trigger for a $1,400 red-leather club chair, no matter how delicious, they're still willing to spring for a $34 flowered pillow or pay $42 for a great set of wineglasses.

That's why, 3,000 miles away from the MacLeans' home in Somerville, Massachusetts, Laura Alber is obsessed with a towel. A tall, slim blond with pale-blue eyes and no makeup, Alber could be the poster child for a Pottery Barn ad. The 34-year-old Marin County mother of two says that she enjoys entertaining, describes herself as living "holistically," and has just bought the company's Westport sectional sofa, with its kid-resistant twill slipcovers. She also happens to be Pottery Barn's president.

"Feel how great this is," she says, pulling a large white bath towel from a stack at Pottery Barn's store in the tony Village at Corte Madera mall, just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. "It's thick, it's got a beautiful dobby [the woven band a few inches from the towel's edge], it's highly absorbent, and it's $24. I can say with great confidence that you can't top this."

To some merchants, a towel is just a towel. But to Pottery Barn, this $24 towel is a fluffy 800-gram icon of everything that the store aspires to be. "We wanted to produce the best towel on the market," Alber says. "For us, this represents a combination of design, quality, and price -- in that order. If this were $60, you'd still like it. But your perception of it would change because it would be superexpensive. But at $24, you go, 'This is incredible!' "

The towel, introduced this past spring, joins a family of products that Pottery Barn designers think of as "great basics." It includes perfect sets of white dishes, classic wineglasses, and, soon, luxurious 430-thread-count sheets.

While sexy seasonal offerings such as espadrille-striped pitchers and pineapple-shaped candleholders keep customers stopping by to see what's new, Pottery Barn executives know that the bread and butter of their business is based on a select group of merchandise. And they aim to keep adding best-of-breed products to that collection of essentials, especially as they grow their bridal-registry business, one of the company's key initiatives for 2003.

"We are focused on making sure that the core level of our business is superstrong," says Alber. "This is what customers think of us for and why they come back."

Barn's new role creates more room for shop's antiques

2010-01-06T04:16:00.000-08:00

BY BRIAN MILLER • ADVOCATE REPORTER • JANUARY 1, 2010

GRANVILLE -- Every room and hallway of Barb Franks' two-floor vintage store, Foot Loose, is packed with shoes, clothing, books and pottery on shelves and racks, from floor to ceiling. And there was once more stuff, hidden away in chests and drawers that Franks would turn customers loose to rummage through on their own.

In the midst of this treasure hunter's heaven, those special items -- say, an oak dresser from the early 1900s or a Mid-Century Modern cabinet -- were lost in the sea of more pedestrian items.

So when an earlier idea of turning a restored barn in back of the vintage store on South Prospect Street into a taco bar fell through, a light flashed in Franks' mind: Why not use the building to relieve her space crunch by turning it into new "stage" on which to showcase the best of her vintage merchandise?

"The barn is a showcase of my créme de la créme," Franks said.

In a short few weeks, the idea turned into reality, and Franks' antiques showroom is open for business. To distinguish it from the main building, she has given the barn the name O.S. Mercantile, honoring the man who built it in the early 1800s, Otto S. Jones.

The annex's manager, Brice Corder, had free rein to pick out what he wanted from the main building's collection and display it to suit his own design inclinations. Corder, the former manager of Green Velvet, the downtown antiques and gift shop, dove in, retrieving items for their quality and high design standards.

A set of Libbey glass tumblers caught his eye, he said, because the designer disdained commercial sameness and ventured into a more contemporary style. The deer motif, outlined in red and gold, was based on an original artist's sketch, he noted.

To avoid the jumble of many antique stores and to make shopping more pleasurable, Corder arranged the merchandise much like it would be arranged in a contemporary homewares or art shop. Downstairs, he set a late 19th century harvest table with vintage cups, plates and vases and placed bright-colored Herman Miller chairs around its perimeter.

In the upstairs textile department, vintage fabric, tablecloths and needlepoint fabrics are displayed on racks, and quilts and coverlets, folded in bands, are spread artistically on a vintage bed. While the second floor focus on textiles will be constant, first floor merchandise will rotate, Corder said.

"We are going to be constantly moving things in," Corder said. "We have attracted some new higher-end dealers in furniture and glass."

The barn's age percolates through the shopping experience, accentuating the act of antique buying as an adventure back in time. Since its early days housing a horse-drawn coach service, the barn has played multiple roles, including storage for ambulances and cars, and later, the sale of antique furniture.

Visible between ceiling beams are wide, flat boards from the original barn, darkened and worn from age. Franks' business partner Dan Rogers, who did the restoration, salvaged every board he could find from the original barn. He even discovered several boards in the attic of the vintage store. While Rogers reinforced the building with new upright beams and laid a new foundation and floor, he left in tact the original structure.

"I never took one piece of old wood off," said Rogers. "The building uses all the old wood."

It was after a Granville Planning Commission meeting several weeks ago, Franks said, that she realized the commission's concerns about parking and access would doom the plan for a taco bar.

"It couldn't be better for me," she said. "It came out better than a taco restaurant. I feel we are in a good place."

At Homeology, home study takes on a new meaning

2009-12-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

By NIYAZ PIRANI

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Karee Delsigne used to own The Loft in Ladera Ranch, a trendy, comfortable home décor store in the vein of Pottery Barn and Z Gallery, but says rent increases led her to sell the shop in May 2008.

Delsigne, who says she missed her family-run business, wanted to try again.

She opened Homeology on Via Fabricante in May 2009 in hopes of cultivating a clientele that shares her vision of what a home should look like.

Q. What made you decide to reopen in Mission Viejo?

A. Affordable rent. Keeping your overhead low in a bad economy is very important.

Q. Originally, Homeology was known as The Alley. What prompted the name change?

A. We had opened up as The Alley, but we didn't realize that there was a Palm Springs business called The Alley that had quite a following. People thought we were associated with them.

Q. What does the word "homeology" mean to you?

A. We thought the word "homeology" – the study of the home – would be unique and fantastic. We thought it would capture people.

Q. What products do you sell, and what makes your inventory unique?

A. With only so much room, we do home décor, gifts and some furniture. We try to have what other stores don't have anymore.

Anyone can stop at T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Ross and Home Goods – and I do too – but that doesn't make your house unique.

We still have good prices because we have affordable rent. I'm big on that. I'm a flea marketer. I get out there and look for the deals.

Q. What is the price range for items at Homeology?

A. We've got stuff from $5 to $900. We took a big risk opening in a bad economy, so we knew the price points have to be right on. My thought is that if you're not eating it, or wearing it, you're probably not buying it. It's just the bottom line.

Q. Are there any unique products that you carry?

A. We're able to be a little more creative here with jewelry, purses. ... One of my daughters is starting an apron line; another makes chic custom signs – they're always coming up with things.

Q. What are you looking forward to businesswise in 2010?

A. We want to get our online (store) going and we want to find our niche again. ... Would I love to be a success story? Absolutely.

New store specializes in local crafts

2009-12-03T05:45:00.000-08:00

By SUE MILLER
Contributing Writer

DEANSBORO — Dean White and Susan Castle spent the summer renovating an old barn and have filled it full of gift items.

The store is called Queen Bee Garden and Gifts and is located on Route 12B just a few miles north of the Madison County line and just a couple of miles south of Clinton.

White has been at the location more than 35 years and has a reputation for his pottery, which he displays in the main building. Castle came into her own as an artist more slowly, working in her field of psychology for a number of years and making silver jewelry as a hobby.

As she attended arts and crafts shows with her husband, she began to produce enough pieces that she could offer them to White’s customers at the pottery shop. It was White who proposed that they turn an old barn on the property into a showcase for Castle’s work as well as seasonal gardening items, another interest of theirs.

When designing their venue it was important to the couple to being green. The barn is the ultimate in recycling using a structure that has been just a storage facility into a display area for her work. The couple did the majority of the renovation themselves

The display area is filled with reused and recycled items that have been turned into works of art: old doors are now potting sheds, headboards have become benches and old silverware has been turned into wind chimes. They also have created a number of garden items such as outdoor benches, arbors, birdhouses and Adirondack chairs. When they opened in October they had their own items to sell as well as some from other artisans they had met at area shows. Crafters stop by to add new items regularly.

Castle notes that all the items are hand-made and American-made; most have a connection to Central New York. Doing 12 shows each year have brought them in contact with talented artisans from across the state.

One example is Nancy Mossing, whom Castle met at a show in the St. Lawrence area and she carries some of her work that includes grain painted frames around theorem paintings, which are oils on velvet.

Closer to home, they carry honey harvested and sold by Fred Blunt, who lives just a few miles from the shop. She has just received some hand-turned bowls and wooden pens by local woodworker,Howard Anders. Other items they carry include jewelry, soaps, herbs, jellies, relishes, etchings, paintings, drawings and pottery.

For the Christmas holiday they will be selling fresh Balsam fir trees

A number of designers have created ornaments for decorating.

Castle said that their outlet for their own creations has become truly an artisan’s co-op.

Castle added that her daughter, Katherine, an art history major in college, helps her with design ideas when she is home.

The shop is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. She will keep regular hours until December 23 and then will close for the holiday.

She expects to be open for a couple of weekends during the winter months and reopen in the spring to sell herbs and perennials suited for the Central New York climate. The shop’s phone number is 381-3009.

Colbert on same-sex funerals

2009-11-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

Before I settle in to watch tonight's "Colbert Report," I wanted to share Stephen's commentary, "Skeletons in the closet," from last night's episode.
Colbert defended the Catholic Church's threat to cut charitable work in Washington D.C. if a same-sex marriage amendment passes. "They have no choice," he said. "After all, Jesus said, 'If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor. Unless a couple of dudes go and register at Pottery Barn, in which case, f*&^ the poor.'"
Just as some are arguing for civil unions instead of marriage, Colbert proposes that churches start refusing funerals for gays and lesbians, leaving them to have "civil end-of-life ceremonies."
"We shouldn't have to watch these people flaunt their alternative death-styles," he said.

15th Century Meets Pottery Barn in Creature

2009-11-11T22:06:00.000-08:00

By James Hannaham
Tuesday, November 10th 2009 at 3:31pm

Don't worry that the set of Heidi Schreck's Creature invokes both the 15th century and a Pottery Barn franchise; it's an appropriate choice. This virtual mashup, directed by Leigh Silverman, retells the story of controversial Middle English visionary Margery Kempe (Sofia Jean Gomez) in the vocabulary of a Park Slope thirtysomething trying to balance work, faith, sex, and motherhood. The contemporary speech patterns make Kempe, driven by a vision of Christ to seek canonization despite her bourgeois background, sound as whinily impatient as Reese Witherspoon in Election. "I'm going to become a saint!" she tells Father Thomas (Jeremy Shamos). But holiness isn't American Idol, he implies—"Catherine of Siena drank the pus of lepers. Would you do that?"

Schreck's juxtaposition of the modern middle class and the Middle Ages could be funnier, but in a shaky effort to acknowledge the real Kempe's humanity, the production lurches between lampooning her shallow side and sentimentally lauding her spirituality. The Winslet-like Gomez gets no blame; she whizzes through the character's inconsistencies like an Olympic luge champ. And loose-limbed Marylouise Burke's ninth-inning appearance as fellow visionary Julian of Norwich (renamed "Juliana" here to emphasize her female-ness) provides a burst of humor and balance that proves almost revelatory.

Ceramic Tile

2009-01-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

Benefits of Our Ceramic Tile

* Look – a vast array of choices in textures and colors to expand design potential
* Durability - these are ceramic tiles made for long-term performance
* Versatility – choosing our tiles for floors, walls, other horizontal surfaces opens all kinds of design possibilities.
* Easy Maintenance - keeping our ceramic tile clean easily simply saves you time.
* Safety – our ceramic tile provides a fire-proof surface for an additional level of security for your property

Our ceramic tiles serve as a defining feature of your hallways and foyers. These ceramic tiles are coming into their own as staple elements to more frequented areas such as dining rooms and living areas.
Benefits of Porcelain tile

Our porcelain tile reflects refined beauty in flooring, as well as being durable to high foot traffic and highly resistant to moisture. Takla, Torino, and Kaska porcelain tile are rated at a minimum of PEI 3, durable enough to serve in nearly every area of any property, as tough as natural stone. Also, they are known to be:

* Hard-wearing - a harder material than most ceramics, being baked at higher temperatures in the kiln than most ceramics
* Completely water-proof - perfect for your bathroom or shower stall applications, as well as for your outdoor installations in the case of unglazed porcelain tiles
* Hygienic - bacteria does not find easy purchase on porceleain tile, another great reason to put them in bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry areas.
* Affordable - premium quality, at the lowest possible pricing.

Benefits of Merida Saltillo Tile

Our Merida Saltillo tile is a rustic variety of ceramic tile with an earthy Southwestern appearance, similar to terra cotta. Authentically made by hand, and characterized by their varied, unique charm from tile to tile, our Merida Saltillo tile extends a number of benefits which makes it a clear choice when looking to establish the right atmosphere in interiors and exteriors. They are known for:

* Rustic Effects - an unadorned beauty that captures the feel of the desert that you can bring into your space affordably
* Naturalistic colors - a unique earthy color range that helps you to easily get the rustic effects you want
* Easy to clean surfaces saves you time for other things
* Heat and Fire-resistance adds security to your property, as well as practical value

Our Merida Saltillo tile perfectly captures the spirit of its origins - the rugged beauty of the Southwestern desert climate - making it easy to create the perfect look for interior tile projects.

China Antique

2008-08-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

Surprise turns to disappointment for one London based family this week as a simple DIY job knocks an estimated $460,000 off the value of a family heirloom.
The item in question, a 15” table lamp, was in fact one half of a pair of 250 year old delicate porcelain Ming style vases. In perfect condition these were together thought to be worth over $500,000. However, an 8mm cable hole has dropped this single vase's value to just $40,000.
Originally purchased by the now-owner’s great grandfather for $14 at the start of the 20th century, the vase had unsuspectingly been passed down through the generations. Though the ‘practical’ modifications that transformed this valuable vase into a household lamp were only added 40 years ago.
Despite the huge loss this DIY attempt has made to the vase’s worth, a potential $40,000 sale would nonetheless come as a welcome surprise to the owner who never believed the vase was of anything more than ornamental value. It wasn’t until a friend recognised the distinctive style that they decided to get it valuated.
It was then the ‘niantiao’ or ‘reign marks’ inscribed in the bottom of the vase that helped Chinese antique experts to confirm that it was indeed of considerable worth.
Although decorated in traditional ‘Ming style’ it’s actually a later piece, crafted during the reign of Emporer Qianlong who held the Chinese thrown between 1735 and 1796. However, despite its ‘copycat’ design, the vase still holds great historic and artistic worth as the Qian dynasty, of which Qianlong was a member, were the last of China’s ruling imperial dynasties.
While auctioneers have cautiously valued the piece at $40,000 they are quietly optimistic that it will sell for much more when bidding opens for the piece later this month. Similar antiques have recently been reaching nearer to $100,000 at auction as the expanding wealth of the Chinese economy fosters an increased interest in antiquities.

Pottery Barn

2008-07-13T00:17:00.000-07:00

When Stone Age people first used their hands to mold clay into containers large enough to pour water, they had taken a big step toward forming communities. Whether you’re talking about pottery from Asia Minor dating back to the 6th century, or stoneware from Colonial Massachusetts, these practical vessels played their part in growing cultures.

Most of the pottery available in Colonial America was imported from Liverpool, Bristol and Sunderland. Much of this stoneware was made specifically for the American market.

Grace Parker, of Charlestown, Mass., was an enterprising character in our country’s stoneware history. In 1742, she found herself a widow at 45 with 11 children and decided to take up where her husband left off. He had recently received a loan to create the first stoneware pottery in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Parker started the business with an experienced potter, built a kiln, and began making wares. Unfortunately her first kiln collapsed.

She tried again and this time the pottery buckled. In a third attempt Parker used different wood for fuel, but this too failed. Almost near bankruptcy, she made one more try. Again failure. She decided to retire. History would later reveal just how right she was about the importance of locally produced stoneware

Hand-fashioned jugs, jars and churns were subsequently made in abundance until about 1890 in the United States. Machine-made containers dominated the marketplace thereafter. The earliest containers were often egg-shaped and later types came straight-sided.

Origin and age are important considerations in valuing stoneware, but shape, decoration and glaze take precedence. Simple abstract designs applied in cobalt oxide are the decorations seen on most jugs, but higher in value are those picturing flags, eagles, birds, people or anything unusual.

Bruce and Vicki Waasdorp of Clarence, N.Y., concluded their 4th Decorated Stoneware auction on Oct. 2, 1994. Competitive bids were handled from more than 20 different states and bidding was active on 300 lots. The highlight of the sale was a four-gallon churn with an incredible dotted bird on a large flower. Made by Stetzenmeyer & Co. of Rochester, N.Y., and dating from around 1855, the churn brought $9,350.

Two nice examples from the Norton Bennington Stoneware Factory did well, with a winning bid of $6,050 for a double peacock design, and $1,760 for a two-gallon jug with a bird on a stump.

Q. Years ago I received an oil painting from my aunt. It is signed A. Snyder and measures 16 by 31 inches high. Any information you can give me on this piece would be appreciated. Howard Herrington, Pittsburgh.

A. Having a complete signature on a painting is a critical factor in valuing it. Unfortunately, your signature is incomplete so it opens up the possibilities even more as to who might have painted the oil.

When I check through Who Was Who in American Art, I come up with an Annie F. Snyder who painted in Rochester, New York. However, this information by itself doesn’t mean much. In your case, I would recommend that you have someone look at the painting firsthand.

Even without a complete signature, an appraiser can look at your painting and give you an estimate of value based on quality and condition. These two factors are important indicators in judging a work of art. Also, how the work of art is framed is important. Some 19th century ornate gilt frames are worth more than the paintings in them.

A few things you may want to do on your own include, taking the painting outside in the daylight to look closer for a complete signature. A signature may show-up on the back or along the stretcher. Check everywhere. The more information you have, the easier it will be to estimate value.