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Banish the blues with color

In these tough times, furniture-makers go bold for the home.

It appears that furniture manufacturers, facing a slow stretch thanks, in part, to a drooping housing market, have been studying Jonathan Adler's book My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living, in which the designer espouses using bold color to turn sour moods into sunshine.

"There is so much turbulent news out there now and just this feeling of bleakness, so we wanted to go completely in the other direction," says Russ Ortiz, chief executive officer of Shine Home, a California-based furniture company that introduced a line in eye-popping new shades. "We used lots of bright citron in our pieces. You can't help but feel happy when you look at the furniture."

Strolling the acres of showrooms at this year's spring furniture market in High Point, N.C., was, at times, akin to watching an episode of Teletubbies, minus the cloying dialogue. Bigger-than-life colors dominated, and prints were equally vivid.

Even case goods such as desks and dressers turned up in hues of Granny Smith apple green and searing red. It remains to be seen whether the furniture industry can convince customers that the economy is as rosy as the sofas, but until then, lovers of color will have a grand time redecorating their digs.

Among the offerings were:

A Louis XV embroidered chair by the tony New York pair of John Dransfield and Geoffrey Ross. Individual strands of ribbon were sewn together to create the upholstery for their traditional chair with a Technicolor twist ($2,600).

Master chair by Shine Home ($3,325). Susan Hornbeak-Ortiz's citrus vision of happiness shows up in a vibrant nature pattern and throughout the company's new line of modern contemporary pieces, called the Wish collection. "I wanted it to be reflective of my optimism and faith in the future," she says.

Alexa chair by Robin Bruce ($899). Celebrity stylist Tina Chai, who has worked on covers for Vogue and Details, went wild with a collection of colorful, bohemian fabrics she developed with the company's in-house design team. The result are multihued pieces she says were inspired by the South of France.

Stiletto chair by Century Furniture ($6,000). Stainless-steel legs? Purple, high-gloss leather? If Joan Collins were a chair, she be this one.

 

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