Remember the Dark Ages of rabbit-eared TV sets that were such an eyesore in the living room?
Things have changed dramatically.
Now your big-screen TV, stereo and other equipment might be housed in a handsome English Regency cabinet or a decorative French Provencial armoire. Your home office equipment, too, probably has a different look, blending in with other furnishings.
Furniture that houses all the new electronic equipment in the home, whether it’s for business or entertainment, has undergone drastic changes in five years.
“These pieces of equipment have become more a part of our daily lives, so there is a constant demand for pieces that are aesthetically acceptable,” says Pete Sutherland, president of Bradford Showroom in Memphis.
“People don’t want eyesores like stacks of CDs or cassettes.
“And in this computer age, we have more calls for home office furniture that will go nicely in a den and be part of the home environment.”
Consumers are asking for pieces that are multifunctional as well, Sutherland says.
“We’re a very mobile society, and people want something they could move to another room or another home.”
“The object in cabinet design for today’s home electronic equipment is the `wife acceptance factor,’ ” says Hank Long, vice president of sales for Hooker Furniture Corp., Martinsville, Va., a pioneer in the entertainment center field.
Give her what she wants
“The husband wants all the high-tech gadgets, but the wife doesn’t want it in her living room unless it’s attractive,” Long says. “The customer wants it to be stylish and acceptable, but it’s got to be functional.”
The home office is another big part of Hooker’s business, having started four or five years ago, Long says.
“With 40 million people working out of their homes, we’ve seen the business explode. About 75 percent of our desk business is the computer desk. Five years ago it didn’t exist.”
In finishes, the company’s biggest seller is 18th Century cherry.
“One reason for that may be that the home office is often in the great room,” Long says.
Henredon Furniture Industries does a variety of high-end home entertainment centers, including many that are large, free-standing armoires, says Paul Rosebrock, director of design for the company in Morganton, N.C.
An armoire in a chinoiserie design with elaborate detailing is a good example of a piece that would fit in beautifully in a room setting, he says.
The company also has a mahogany piece in traditional 18th Century styling and a Southwestern contemporary piece in knotty oak with a washed finish.
You can design your own
Workbench, which has franchised stores across the country, specializes in modular furniture, allowing customers to “design” their own entertainment centers.
“People have a tendency to start with one piece and build on it to have a whole wall unit,” says Laura Arnovitz, co-owner of the Memphis Workbench. “They like the idea of being able to add on.”
In the home office line, Workbench has a computer cabinet that conceals a monitor and a keyboard in the top half. Below is a printer that comes out from the desk on casters.
“It looks like a cabinet so it could easily go in a bedroom,” Arnovitz says.
Designing furniture for home offices and entertainment centers keeps manufacturers researching the latest trends, says Sue Leonard, coordinator of sales and marketing services for Sligh Furniture Co., a 113-year-old company in Holland, Mich.
“You have to keep up with the changes in styles and needs and adjust to them,” Leonard says.
Monitors, for example, are getting bigger, she says.
A year ago Sligh introduced the ultimate computer cabinet it calls the “totally enclosed home office.”
Folding doors are at the top and bottom. The top has adjustable shelving, a light, tack board and good-size work surface. Also part of the unit are pullout shelves for a printer, a file drawer and small drawers. There is a shelf for a monitor, and the knee space in the center has a pullout keyboard tray. Finally, a pocket chair folds into the knee space.
The cabinet is 78 inches high, 72 inches wide and 25 inches deep. Suggested retail is $5,000 for the mahogany version and $4,500 for the cherry.
