Room & Board was one of the first home retailers to give its catalogues the slick look of design magazines. With its mid-year mailing, which goes out this month, the store achieved its signature style by calling on real customers to be photographed in their Room & Board-furnished homes. Among those featured? Steamboat Springs residents Louise and Paul Stananought. “We fell in love with these townhouses because of the open floor plan,” says Louise Stananought, who leases vacation rentals with her husband. “While the traditional ‘mountain lodge’ style is very popular here, I wanted furniture that would blend with the architecture — something modern, but very comfortable.”
Tuck that!
This from the “why didn’t I think of that” file: NeatSheets is a line of bedding with side pockets on the fitted sheets for storing cellphones, remote controls, books and anything else that becomes side-table clutter. Makers also promise a better fit because NeatSheets are available in standard, deep and extra deep, all with Smart Tags on the corners to help sheets stay put. Prices start at $40. .
Weaving a brighter global economy
Like the Pillow Dreams Project, a philanthropic Denver throw-pillow company featured in these pages last week, Lulan Artisans is another American design company focused on forging responsible business practices in the developing world while importing luxurious, all-natural, artistic fabrics from grassroots artisans abroad. The Charleston, S.C.-based business was conceived by architect/designer Eve Blossom in collaboration with artisans in five Asian countries. The company now has partnerships with more than 600 spinners, twisters, dyers, weavers and finishers who produce high-end fabrics, decorative accents, lighting accessories and floor coverings that merge contemporary looks with traditional Asian craft techniques. More at .
