Trends in Furniture

This past week I attended a very popular trade show for the furniture industry. It was held in Las Vegas and featured many of the very top vendors in the US. I still can’t believe that going to Vegas for the weekend can be called work. This particular show is held at a place called World Market Center and consists of 3 buildings, each with at least 10 floors. Think of a very large mall with 50 department stores and a few hundred smaller stores that all sell furniture or accessories. Yes, furniture overload. Original design called for 7 of these enormous buildings but the poor economy only allowed for 3 buildings before the owner had to file for bankruptcy.

I noticed 2 very interesting trends that seemed to spread across many showrooms and wanted to share.

Adjustable Beds – I always associated adjustable beds with either older people or something you see at a hospital but with new technology trends more and more people are either working in bed with a laptop, checking their phones and ipads, reading books, or watching tv and so all the smart companies re-branded the adjustable bed into something very cool that’s for everyone, young and old. Even now lying in bed as I type this with my head resting uncomfortably against a flat headboard I wish I had an adjustable bed. Basic models feature adjustable fronts where you can only raise your back and head while premium models give you total control of every part of the bed and include a massage feature. If you watch TV or use a laptop in bed this is for you.

Contemporary Furniture – this is becoming a very hot sector. These styles feature very clean lines and solid colors such as black, white, and grey. Although, long popular in places such as NYC, LA, and Miami these items are becoming mainstream. It’s a European influence and about time that the US caught up to the rest of the world. Europe has had contemporary furniture for what seems like eternity and I am happy that more and more vendors are selling it here. A lot of times its style over quality as contemporary manufacturers usually use inexpensive materials and don’t worry about how many t-shirts can fit into a drawer or how long will the drawer tracks last for. Not really a big deal for me as the new generation of furniture buyers will change their bedroom set or living room set in less than 10 years anyway and don’t have to worry about the furniture breaking by the time they decide to give it to their kids