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Talk of the bay

Furniture now comes supersized to fit American homes

By MARK ALBRIGHT
Published March 28, 2005

Furniture keeps changing with Americans' lifestyles.

People are physically larger. They want homes with bigger rooms and condos with higher ceilings. At the same time, furniture makers have answered consumer requests for casual informality with layers of soft upholstery.

So to keep a sense of scale, designers put furniture on steroids.

"The more formal look and diminutive sizes that were popular 20 years ago look out of place in the homes people want today," said Thomas Tilley, president of Thomasville, one of 13 brands made by Furniture Brands International, a St. Louis conglomerate.

Piles of pillows and super-thick mattresses require taller headboards and night-stands. Overstuffed chairs are getting as wide as a love seat.

Tilley was in town last week to check out the remodeled Thomasville store in Carrollwood that is one of four franchised stores owned in the Tampa Bay market by Dick and Don Harrison of Clearwater.

Tilley, who manages a $600-million brand, put six new collections in stores last year, twice as many as usual. That's one-third of the sales floor. The quickened pace sprang from Thomasville's hot Hemingway line, which generated $400-million in sales and took years off the brand's stodgy's image. More pieces are coming this year in the Hemingway and Bogart lines.

The Hemingway line draws from the macho author's travels in Spain, Africa, Havana and Key West. The stuff sells as well in Seattle as it does in Florida. The Bogart line pays homage to the glamour styles of 1920s Hollywood. Thomasville designers even took their sketch pads into studio prop departments.

Tilley sees no let-up, however, in three driving forces of the industry. More smaller, single-brand stores. More furniture-making jobs moving to the Far East. Most upholstered goods are made in the United States, but 40 percent of the wood furniture is imported.

"Within five years it will be more than half," said Tilley.

[Last modified March 25, 2005, 19:03:02]