New at market: Home entertainment
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, October 6, 2003
Id: 2180
• All prices retail • In-depth stories on home entertainment introductions will appear in Furniture/Today's opening-day issue •
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Blockbuster Intros: Entertainment is a hot category right now. Importers are hitting it hard with massive wall units for $2,000 and less, and domestic factories are targeting specific niches. Buyers have no shortage of choices.
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Color Me Console: Consoles appear to be the stand of choice for flat-screen monitors and other widescreen tabletop TVs. The stands allow consumers to display their video trophies relatively inexpensively.
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Wall-to-Wall Walls: These sprawling systems, in every conceivable style, house every aspect of a home theater system, and many of them represent amazing values.
Ameriwood Inds. C&D 9th floor
Introductions include coordinated sets of TV stands and audio racks finished in Russian maple with Greystone accents and tempered glass shelves in smoked gray.
Bassett IHFC C-1200
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Several new home entertainment pieces to be introduced, including eight finish and style renditions of an entertainment armoire program capable, with flexible shelving, of handling 36-inch or even 42-inch video monitors, $1,499 retail.
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The popular 5th Avenue collection, a soft contemporary look in a medium-cherry finish, is expanding with a glass-top console for plasma monitors, $999, which can be matched with a hutch, $499. Glass fronts allow remote controls to function without opening doors, and oversized mounting blocks on the hutch ensure the stability of the video screen.
Bush Furniture IHFC W-547
The entertainment and electronics category will be a primary emphasis, with more than 20 new SKUs of ready-to-assemble furniture. Items include audio towers, video bases, entertainment centers and armoires in a variety of styles, such as open architecture, metal and glass, Mission and contemporary. Prices will run from $79 for video bases to $399 for full-scale entertainment centers
Club 8 220 Elm 310
An extensive array of lifestyle introductions includes a new wall unit being added to the Occa line. Designed for flat-screen TVs, this system has several color options for the shelves and the wood stand, $1,000 retail. The Basic 3D collection has been expanded with a new wenge finish over mahogany veneers. Modular wall units in this line can be arranged to suit all entertainment needs.
Concordia 110 W. Commerce
Enhancing its program of expandable wall units, the company is offering new four-piece systems in a Java finish or in maple with Moka finish, capable of housing large-screen TVs and with lots of CD and DVD storage, $599 to $699.
Creative Elegance 135 S. Hamilton
The Matinee entertainment center is an elegant modern look in rift oak veneers and 10 finish options. Geared toward plasma monitors and home theater, it will retail for about $4,000.
Creative Interiors IHFC M-530
A division of Thomasville Furniture Inds., the company has swapped adjoining showroom space with its sister brands, Vignettes and Founders Furniture. Creative Interiors is making a major push in entertainment, with five new walls in configurations that include piers around either an armoire or a TV stand and a bridge. Styles will include transitional, traditional and Shaker, with prices from $199 to $399.
Encore! CP 209
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Northampton, in birch solids and veneers in a cherry finish. Includes consoles for tabletop rear-projection TV category. Optional back panels accommodate plasma TVs up to a 50-inch diagonal screen size. Priced at $599 to $799 retail.
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Venezia, also in birch solids and veneers with ash burl accents. Includes rear-projection wall that accommodates TVs up to a 73-inch screen size. An armoire version fits direct view TVs up to 36 inches and rear-projection tabletop sets up to 43 inches. Priced at $999 to $1,799 retail.
Flexsteel Inds. IHFC C-558
Upholstery major is adding entertainment wall systems to go with correlating upholstery and occasional tables. Styles include Las Cruces, an updated Arts & Crafts look, finished in a casual, tawny Mission Oak. Lucerne is a transitional occasional and home theater wall system with metal accents and beautiful ash veneers in a medium Cashew finish. Savoy is a clean-lined contemporary wood group with architectural details in a casual Waxed Cherry finish.
Gautier 220 Elm 326
Entertainment introductions include additions to the Lazar Blue modular collection for youth and young adults. Stands and shelves can be adapted to numerous lifestyle uses, including audio and video storage and display. The Concerto entertainment center has a light apple finish with gray aluminum accents. A modular solution to entertainment needs, the collection has a TV stand with sliding glass door for storage above the television, and armoires that can be arranged with doors and drawers as needed. The new Glass entertainment center has a light maple finish with silver gray accents and tempered glass doors for a very contemporary design that still offers the flexibility of a modular design. Can be arranged to suit a 60-inch-wide television, with wire management system.
Gusdorf Canada C&D 8B
The new MetalWorks Generation 2 line features an L-shaped entertainment center, $249, that can accommodate 36-inch televisions. Adjustable shelves can house several audio and video components as well as media. The company also is adding SKUs to several of its entertainment collections, hitting a broad range of styles and price points.
Holland House 100 S. Main St.
Introducing a complete array of home entertainment, the company will offer dozens of new walls and entertainment centers. Styles will run the gamut: Mission, Americana, Louis Philippe, 18th century, European traditional, rural traditional and more. Prices will run from $699 for an entertainment cabinet to $2,199 for a five-piece wall system.
Hooker IHFC W-1047
An extensive array of introductions for the storage, display and use of home entertainment electronics. The numerous new models include three furniture solutions for flat-screen video monitors, including three with "pop-up" motors that allow consumers to store or display up to a 50-inch screen at the touch of a remote-control button. A series of new entertainment centers have been designed to accommodate rear-projection screens up to 55 and 57 inches. A pocket-door wardrobe for most 32- and 36-inch televisions has been included as part of Faith Popcorn's Canyon Cocoon collection, available in five finishes. New armoires with wraparound doors have been designed for most 36-inch monitors, including the Sony Wega. New cabinets for high-definition televisions, 36-inch in direct view and 42-inch as rear projection or flat screen, offer traditional styling and modern function. Hooker also has several new wall systems that can be customized for virtually any television or big screen — available as tall walls or as midheight walls. For home theater, several new cabinet systems are designed to accommodate all the necessary audio and video components.
Laurier IHFC D-1101
Milano is a five-piece home theater system for plasma and other flat-screen video monitors made of select maple veneers and solids. The top bridge has halogen lighting to enhance the front of the unit. This collection offers speaker storage on top of the unit for better sound, $4,999 retail. All shelves for audio components have a solid-maple molding at the front. At rear, a ventilation system will evacuate the heat in order to protect components from overheating. The rear panel can be easily removed for wiring of components. A six-outlet power bar is also included.
Leick IHFC G-570
The Grandview entertainment wall features hardwood solids and veneers in a nutmeg finish. Architectural details include reeded columns and hand-carved capitals. Other features include overhead lighting in the upper cabinet and hidden media storage. Priced at $2,499.
Legends CP 208
The Davenport entertainment wall offers value with solid-wood raised panels and beveled glass — both of which can be replaced with speaker grills. Available in three configurations and two finishes, this warm oak or cherry entertainment wall will retail from $799.
Marble & Wood Products HFC G-472
Three new entertainment collections include the Sonoma, a casual design in pine and cherry with a rustic burnished amber finish and glass-door piers, $1,999 for four pieces; Regal Voltaire, a French look with primavera hardwoods and rustic hazel finish with a hand-carved bonnet base, $1,899; and Hanover, an eight-piece mansion style with primavera hardwoods and classic Tobacco finish, $1,899.
Martin NFM 702
For the Kathy Ireland Home collection, Martin is developing home entertainment pieces for the best-selling collections from Standard, Romantica and Nottingham. These rich, traditional designs will feature signature pieces such as a home theater wall.
Master Design PS 309
Expanding into a new product category with three entertainment wall systems, Island Breeze in solid northern white birch with maple veneers with wicker accents; Chaveney, featuring pine solids and veneers in a Whiskey Barrel Pine finish and French Country styling; and Sterling Chiaro, a contemporary design in exotic hardwoods with swirly ash burl veneers and a Parchment finish. Prices for complete walls range from $1,799 to $2,499.
Michels-Pilliod IHFC C-1057
New entertainment walls include a contemporary midheight system with frosted lighted glass piers and interior lights that is capable of accommodating virtually all flat-screen tabletop televisions, $899 retail. Also new, a six-piece, full-size wall system in a classic traditional design with Travertine finish featuring adjustable shelves in the audio piers. The unit, $899 retail, is designed to suit the largest big-screen televisions. In addition, the company is adding contemporary occasional tables to match its best-selling Merlot entertainment wall system.
O'Sullivan Furniture 220 Elm 120
The company's new premium furniture brand, Home Architecture, will provide furniture solutions reflecting the rapid consumer adoption of new digital entertainment technology with two new collections. Plasmatics is a premium home entertainment collection in brushed aluminum and opaque. The five initial SKUs include a console table entertainment stand, audio pier, 36-inch TV stand, 50-inch TV stand and a patent-pending design for an adjustable plasma TV stand. Variant 1.0 provides consumers with a broad range of finish options on furniture designed for flat-screen TVs. Multiple veneer and lacquer finishes will be available on TV stands that feature a patent-pending design that accepts flat-screen TVs in a variety of sizes.
Oakwood Interiors FP 600
Expanding a category the company entered at the start of this year, Oakwood is adding home entertainment pieces to match the long-running French country Versailles bedroom collection in oak. Among the new pieces is a 68-inch console, designed for flat-screen monitors, that can be matched with flanking piers to create a dramatic entertainment wall, $3,900 retail.
Orleans 233 S. Main St.
Offering three-piece wall systems to match existing case goods collections. Capable of handling a comprehensive variety of television sizes with either center consoles or expandable bridges, these large-scale imports will retail from $999 to $1,399.
Palliser 220 Elm 400
Based on the success of the Modena bedroom introduced at the April market, Palliser is adding entertainment pieces to this elegantly styled collection. The company also is featuring several new midsize entertainment centers blending wood fronts with laminate cases, $499 to $799. One series features an African limba parquet finish on sliding doors and lighted display shelves. This is available in a 66-inch wide model priced at $699 or in a three-piece wall priced at $799. Several other new entertainment styles will be offered.
Peters-Revington IHFC C-369
The American Tapestry collection includes a 10-piece entertainment wall system to match occasional tables and curios. Distinctive turn-of-the-century detailing with a warm and durable oak create a nostalgia pattern. The Kingson collection includes one bookcase and four SKUs for the entertainment wall. With shutter doors and drawers, the ash collection has a rich brown finish.
Prime Resources 220 Elm 106
Offering a dozen new entertainment groups, including several for flat-screen monitors. Styles include contemporary, transitional, traditional and country, and full walls will retail from $999 to $1,999. The company is offering correlating leather seating and occasional tables for all its walls.
Sauder 220 Elm 218
New entertainment pieces feature more space for stashing accessories, electronics and media. Featuring 10 pieces for home entertainment, Maple Grove is a midpriced collection in a rich Sandalwood finish with French Provincial base and top treatments. Details include clean utilitarian hardware, arched glass doors with large crown treatments. Also new, the Mika collection with a teak finish will have five entertainment pieces, retailing from $70 to $150; the successful Harbor View collection is expanding with an entertainment center, $100; Willow Falls, another existing collection, in American Cherry finish, is growing with five entertainment SKUs, $100 to $300; and the Lockport collection, with American Cherry finish and metal bases, is adding two entertainment pieces, $200 to $300.
Sharut 305 S. Hamilton
Offering a complete home cinema experience, Sharut has new mechanized wall systems and coordinating motion seating for stores that want to offer furniture to match state-of-the-art home theater electronics. The new wall unit, part of the Furniture In Motion program at $3,700 retail, can adjust the height of a television screen from eye- level for a straight sitting position to 45 inches higher, ideal for the reclining position. The new entries in the Seating in Motion home theater program are comfortable and stylish, in a contemporary design. Options include built-in retractable foot rests, with the back reclining up to 35 degrees, and drink holders. Available in 12 leather colors. The wall and the seating coordinate with new mobile motion tables.
Stanley IHFC C-1158
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The 14-piece Villa Antica home entertainment collection blends modern function and elegant European traditional styling. With subtle Italian and French influences, its maple solids with rogue cherry and mahogany veneers feature authentic distressing and a gentle patina. Home entertainment features are crafted to accommodate the latest technology while providing ample, flexible storage. The tall home entertainment center soars to 102 inches to complement today's towering great room ceiling heights. A new bookcase configuration surrounds the panel of the plasma TV.
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European in flavor, Portofino features six new home entertainment pieces with heavily distressed, painted finishes in ivory or basque. Graceful proportions and unassuming rub-through finishes add age and elegance, with multi-functional options for the latest technology. Unique side storage, with pull-out trays for CDs and DVDs, are subtle yet sophisticated.
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The American Modern home entertainment collection offers a decidedly urban point of view. Crafted of maple solids with cherry fronts, the six-piece contemporary collection features a merlot finish. Polished nickel hardware adds interest without detracting from the sleek silhouettes. The entertainment theater wall, entertainment armoire and plasma panel configuration are designed for the latest in home theater technology.
Tvilum-Scanbirk 220 Elm 330
The Omega wall system hides up to a 36-inch television behind sliding doors and has ample storage for videotapes, DVDs and CDs in left and right piers. Available in maple, cherry and melamine finishes at $599 retail.
