And the answer it depends. It depends totally and completely on why youre blogging.

If youre blogging to display your creative writing talents, then obviously no, social media doesnt replace blogging. You need a space of unlimited area and length, one that can display your writing and perhaps images to full advantage. One that is fully under your control and blogging fills that function. This is a marketing function for your creative work a repository of words and images that enable readers and editors to enjoy your work for whatever purpose you make of that.

In my writing world, having a blog only makes sense if you have a purpose in mind for having somebody enjoy your work.

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Im never shocked to see that Nendo is the design company behind gorgeous imagery of minimalist furniture and lighting designs. In fact, the Japanese design studio is so popular with manufacturers of all genres that I expect a weekly Nendo piece tapping into the interior scene as if it is were that easy to imagine, design and manufacture iconic pieces in seven days time. Speaking of which, their latest venture into the illuminated world of hanging pendant and floor lighting comes in the form of the Press lamps made for Lasvit.

The glass tubes in this pendant and floor lamp are pressed as though they have been pinched, and the light source wedged into the narrowed space those results, says Nendo of the Press lamp that is new for Lasvits 2012 collection.

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THOMASVILLE, N.C. — Industry veteran Bob Choppa has returned to Lexington Home Brands as senior vice president of upholstery operations, a newly created position. Bob Choppa

Choppa was most recently president of high-end manufacturer Hickory White, and served in a leadership role at sister company CTH Sherrill Occasional.

Before joining Hickory White, Choppa was vice president and general manager of upholstery operations for Lexington Home Brands. He held that role from 2006 until May 2010 when he joined Hickory White.

Before joining Lexington, he was senior vice president of upholstery merchandising at Thomasville Furniture. Ov

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BASSETT, Va. — A Bassett Furniture building that had been undergoing demolition here was destroyed by fire on Thursday, according to a report in the Martinsville Bulletin.

The fire occurred at Bassett’s former Superior Lines plant, which closed in 2007, the report said.

Local public safety officials had not determined a cause for the blaze. Much of the plant had already been taken down, the report said.

Firefighters made a priority of keeping the fire from spreading to Bassett’s Central Warehouse 2 nearby, which was described as full of furniture. The Roanoke Times reported that the warehouse was not affected by the fire.

Yesterday, I was on the website of one of our new COZY home furnishings collection retailers based in Maryland, The Kellogg Collection (they bought quite a few lovely COZY pillows from us at market in early February), and I noticed they sell a ton of checkered print pillows.  I’ve also noticed quite a few check patterned home furnishing accessories in my travels out and about.

You might associate this pattern with a country styled home but it can be quite modern too.  I think it is timeless and can blend with most any style of design.

I love a crisp check.  What do you think? Take a look!
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I’ve often heard it said that good design should do something, as opposed to just sitting there and looking pretty. The notion frequently manifests in quiet ways, but the collection of sound absorbing panels by Wobedo eschews the subtle in favor of a glaring synthesis of form and function. Besides adding an exquisite adornment to your environs, these attractive wall decorations banish noise pollution and thus free your inner voice.

Much like the recent sound damping panels and partitions by RMIG, Wobedo’s flagship panels are a veritable vacuum for background noise, sucking the distracting debris out of your general vicinity and thus enhancing productivity, peace, and quiet.

Wobedo’s panels “have the highest possible measured sound absorption coefficient at the middle and high frequencies, i.e. between

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1. Raking and de-thatching

The deeper you can rake now, the better the opportunity for grass roots to absorb nitrogen and water come the heat of summer. You can prevent bald spots and brown lawns by attending to aerating and thatch in late spring or late fall.

2. Amendi

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This is probably the best Halloween pumpkin Ive seen so far. Trash-o-lantern is much more creative than the traditional carved pumpkins. To make such a jack-o-lantern that needs a lot of old equipment, nails, screws, nuts, bolts, screws, springs, electrical and cable ties. Raid storage bin for all these things. For more details visit smallhandsbigart and full tutorial.

Ever notice how you congratulate yourself on your hand-speed catching the shower soap before it hits the tub, but you neglect to mention your foot-speed?

And we wont even mention how the back responds after a night in a hotel bed not even going there.

Ever travelled down South in January? You stop at every service center on the freeway and see the same people in the washrooms.

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I’m a big fan of anthropomorphized animals—for aesthetic purposes. Ever since I read about the French aristocrat with the spaniel’s head in Jean Dutourd’s novel A Dog’s Head, I have had a fascination with creatures unxpectedly dressed up in finery. I like to imagine certain dog breeds in famous oil paintings, pairing canine characteristics with artistic styles. Gainsborough’s Blue Boy would be a Russian Wolf Hound; the blonde in Velázquez’s Las Meninas would be a pomeranian; and the Grande Odalisque of Ingres would be an Afghan. When I discovered Hackney Empire wallpaper by House of Hackney, I nearly gaspedso much was my delight at seeing badgers donning mysterious eyepatches, otters holding decorative fans, and monkeys playing the accordion. The pattern is a fantastic phantasmagoriaa De Quincy-ian fever dream to turn your walls into a ravishing expanse of bright and beastly beauty.

Given its combination of artistic animals and exotic details, Hackney Empire Luxury Wallpaper brings to mind sybaritic pleasures like royal menageries and Turkish baths. Like natural history illustrations or Medieval bestiaries, this pretty pattern puts the real alongside the imaginary. The result is as outlandish as Sir Richard Burtons exoticized depictions of Arab haremstoo decadent to be believable but ravishing nonetheless. The wallcovering features hookah-smoking sloths and a frog in a bowler hat surrounded by parrots and cranesit is not a pattern for the faint of heart. In fact, the connotations of Hackney Empire are almost sinful: imbibing badgers and smoking sloths call to mind at least a few of the seven deadly sins.

And the colors of Hackney Empire Luxury Wallpaper are extravagant as well. Available in solid or striped variations of black, ochre, and red, the  colors rival the vibrancy of storied jewels (sunken Spanish gold or Sinbads river of rubies). Digitally printed using environmentally friendly inks and FSC paper, Hackney Empire is a luxury maximalist wallpaper featuring a carnival of animals amidst animalistic debauchery. This is a design for bold adventurers. Paper a library in the Grenadine version to create a lurid backdrop for wild tomes like 1,001 Nights and Naked Lunch. The striped Ochre gives a faslse note of refinement for a tea room where one might drink Absinthe instead of Assam. In Midnight, the Hackney Empire Wallpaper might transform a boudoir into the dark heart of an unexplored jungle.

About the Manufacturer: Launched in April 2011, House of Hackney is a new luxury wallpaper, bed linen, and home furnishings label which reworks the concept of traditional British housewares for a new generation. Based in London, they add  some humor to the modeled sense of British elegance, transforming fine bed linens, wallpaper, and bone china into whimsical statements. House of Hackney wants its products to stand the test of time, and in order to make sure it happens, they work with talented, traditional British manufacturers in their fields.

CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA — Case goods importer Najarian Furniture is entering the youth bedroom furniture category with its launch of licensed collections and in-house designs at next month’s High Point Market, in the company’s 220 Elm showroom.

Carving out a unique niche in the category, Najarian Kids secured licensing agreements with popular youth brands Hello Kitty, Paul Frank, and Barbie.

The new product offering includes beds, upholstered items, storage units, and other accent items, with between 20 and 60 SKUs in each collection. Retail price points range from $49 to $999.

“The intention is to help our dealers create a high-turn item driven business at retail with exciting opportunities for promotion,” said Michael Lawrence, VP of sales and marketing for Najarian. “

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With the prodding of  City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the Rudin Management Company agreed to hand over the the last smidgen of property at Triangle Park  for use in an AIDS memorial. The park sits across the street from St. Vincents Hospital where so many AIDS patients were cared for and died. After months, indeed years, of wrangling, the gateway park to the West Village will move forward largely as originally planned, with M. P

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In my neck of the woods, it’s not uncommon to spot huge elk, moose, and deer. A large male of any of these species commands attention, most often due to the amazing beauty of their mature antlers, which branch into shockingly fine points. Besides their size and curvature, an ungulate’s rack is captivating because of its intersections—as interconnected as a family tree or sentence diagram. Much of this sublime charm exists in Branches, a lighting system designed and crafted by Brothers Dressler.

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