Having a beautiful home isn’t just about matching colors and patterns and great furnishings. In fact, a well designed room isn’t going to mean much to you if it doesn’t feel like it’s a good representation of you.

Part of the joy of home ownership is the ability to personalize your space, making it a reflection of who you are and what is important to you. Accessories will help you personalize and pull together your rooms for a look that is uniquely you.

Here are a few suggestions that can go a long way to adding style and personality to your rooms — without breaking the bank!

Paint, paint, paint! Yeah, paint isn’t technically an accessory, but nothing can transform a room as quickly as a great coat of paint. And it doesn’t have to be cherry red to be effective. If you want [...]

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Tags: budget decorating, design ideas, furniture design, interior design

We’ve become a nation of busy bodies. As nine to five become 24/7, our homes are fast becoming one of the few places we can disconnect from a hectic world.

So how can you create a sanctuary, or serene haven, in your own home? Start by taking a look at your home in a new way.

First, look for ways to relax or unwind in comfortable, unexpected places. The living room is the most obvious place to unwind, but a serene home includes places to be comfortable in kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and even front entries!

Find unexpected places to add a comfortable chair or settee for reading or napping… or a writing desk with a comfortable, slip-covered or seat-padded chair for working. Add dimmer switches in bathrooms, bedrooms or hallways, rather than just dining rooms, for ambiance at night. Watch how the sun moves [...]

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Tags: bedroom furniture, design ideas, dining room collections, interior design, kitchen dining furniture, living room accent furniture

Sure, a day at the spa ranks high on the serenity scale. But if you need serenity in your life on a daily basis, your home is your best ally. Use this checklist of 5 serene haven benefits to measure how relaxed and rejuvenated each room in your home feels.

A perfectly serene room will help you do all 5 of these!

Serene Spaces: Soft Chairs, Sparkling Finishes

1. Get Comfortable

Cocooning in comfort isn’t just for living rooms anymore! Getting comfortable at home means finding plenty of places to kick off our shoes and settle in. Upholstered chairs around a dinner table invite us to linger for hours, This was the idea when Hooker developed its Sanctuary collection, pairing soft chair selections with the dining tables. Slightly weathered or worn furniture finishes, also a hallmark of Sanctuary, inspire a feeling of calm. An [...]

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Tags: bedroom furniture, dining room furniture, kitchen dining furniture

In my last post, I talked about the different types of wood used and some of the terminology thrown around in the furniture world. Today I’ll tell you a bit about the rest of the process of constructing wooden furniture, and hopefully it will help you make an informed decision before you buy. (Incidentally, if you have any questions, feel free to write/comment and I’ll get back to you!)

How is the furniture finished?
Clear finishes allow the wood’s natural markings and grain to show, while stains and painted finishes alter the wood’s appearance. Elaborate finishes are used to achieve a weathered or aged look. Gleaming, polished finishes are often used for more contemporary pieces.
Naturally, more complex finishes add significantly to the cost of the furniture. Keep in mind that a piece described as having a “cherry finish” may not necessarily be constructed [...]

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Tags: bedroom furniture, dining room collections, home entertainment center furniture, wood home office furniture

Bookshelves, entertainment centers, desks, dining room tables and chairs — sure, you can find them almost anywhere these days. So why is there such a huge price difference between what you see at Wal-Mart and what you see in an actual furniture store?

Legends Dining Room Table

The simple answer is quality. Wooden furniture (often called “casegoods”) is priced on a variety of factors, such as the wood used, stains/finishes, carvings and designs, and how it’s all put together.

I’d like to give you a few quick tips on how to judge the quality of the wooden furniture you want to buy. Maybe you’ll decide that what you need IS something cheap and temporary, but you should at least know that before plunking down your hard-earned cash for it. On the other hand, if what you want is a beautiful piece that will grace [...]

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Tags: bedroom furniture, home entertainment center furniture, kitchen dining furniture, wood home office furniture

As summer arrives, we are all looking for a change, for a purging maybe. In that light, I present some ideas of how to find your inspiration and shape it into a design that will be a true representation of yourself. The first and most important thought to finding inspiration for a new design for your home is realizing that inspiration can come from anywhere!  Pay close attention in your everyday routine, because you never know when a color or texture will catch your eye.

I have often found that by observing the environment on my way to class at High Point University in North Carolina, where I am an Interior Design student,  I come across interesting combinations of color that inspire me to change things up a bit.

As you may know, being [...]

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Tags: budget decorating, design ideas, furniture design, interior design, living room accent furniture

How do you make the leap from good to great in furniture designs? One way is to involve your customers in developing new products. That’s what Hooker had in mind when our former CEO Clyde Hooker Jr. and sales executive Bill Slaydon began our Design Meetings in the 1960s. One of the core values of Hooker Furniture is listening.

Velvet Lettner of Selden's in Tacoma

Our semi-annual Design Meetings are a forum created for the purpose of listening to our customers. The Design Meetings provide a tangible way to listen through getting customer input on new product development. We like to call it “collaborative product development.”

Just last week, some 50 sales representatives and retail customers attended our most recent Design Meeting, held in our Sam Moore and Bradington-Young showrooms. With the June heat outside, the cool [...]

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Tags: furniture design

Have you ever had the experience of looking for a place to sit when you visit someone’s home?  It shouldn’t be a game of musical chairs, right? How do you avoid this in your home and make everyone from the occasional guest to granddad feel welcome?

Sam Moore's Claremont Chair with blend down seating offers true comfort

•    When you’re putting a room together, it’s a good idea to watch how people naturally gravitate to certain spaces.

•    In my home, I have a large room with sofas surrounding the fireplace. Adjacent is a big dining table–really the command central of the room. When our very tall friend John stops by, I noticed he avoided the soft sofas. Instead, he hunted for one of the dining chairs and pulled it up to join the conversation around the coffee table. Now, I [...]

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Would you like to feel renewed when you walk into your home at the end of that long day? If there is anyone who can help you make that happen, it is designer Tracey Gibson, the creator of Hooker Furniture’s Sanctuary Collection.

I sat down with her recently to get some tips on creating a soft and serene backdrop for your life.
KS: Tracey, how would you define a “sanctuary within your own home? How does it feel?
TG: The space should exude peace and it should feel refreshing and delightful to be there.
KS: What textures, forms and designs help create a “Sanctuary feeling” in your home?
TG: First, one of the most important and luxurious elements of design is what we call “negative space.” That is, actually having empty space and [...]

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Is there anything more difficult than trying to understand what a growing teenager really wants? Or is it simply the opposite of whatever you want?!

Logan Complete Storage Bed

Maybe so, but when it comes to teen bedroom furniture, keep in mind that it IS possible for you and your child to both love it. (Of course, that might mean that “go to your room” isn’t that much of a punishment anymore.)
Today’s teens and ‘tweens define “cool” in their own way, often by customizing their belongings to reflect their own personalities — think cell phone covers and accessories, stickers all over their laptops, clothing combinations and hairstyles. Their rooms are certainly no different.

More than ever, kids are inspired to turn their rooms into their own haven of self-expression and comfort. However, there’s no reason your [...]

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Tags: children's furniture, teen bedroom furniture