This is the time of year I get to translate my interior design knowledge into outdoor spaces, and I love every minute of it! Already, I have met with so many folks who were thinking they had to get rid of their patio furniture simply because they no longer like the look or condition of the fabric on their outdoor cushions. While it sounds like a great idea to just replace the cushions with new ones (and they each already thought of that themselves), it is almost impossible to find cushions that will fit your particular furniture like a glove. Therefore, don't spend money on all new furniture when the frames and condition of your current furniture is fine. Think about having your current cushions that were made for your furniture reupholstered in a new outdoor fabric. Even if you think your cushions are sagging in the middle or have lost their overall fluff, you can still have an upholsterer cut new foam inserts to the exact size of the cushions you already have or beef up your existing cushions to bring them back to life. Since they will be recovering your cushions anyway, this is the time to get them how you want them.
Pictured with today's article are the newly reupholstered outdoor cushions of a beloved client of mine. She has had this furniture for years, but could no longer stand the look of her outdoor furniture simply because the cushions had become very faded and worn. In addition, she was tired of her tan and rust colored fabric and wanted something fresh and different. She was contemplating purchasing new cushions from a catalog that offered a lot of different fabric choices. However when I measured the size of the cushions offered in the catalog to the size of the cushions that came with her furniture, I could tell immediately this idea wasn't going to work. I mentioned having her existing cushions recovered. She assumed this may cost more money, but between the fabric and having Ajimasook Upholstery in College Park do the recovering, she actually spent less! I selected an interesting mix of three different outdoor fabrics from Calico Corners in Altamonte Springs. All are solution-dyed fabrics, which are even more durable than standard outdoor fabric and even more fade-resistant. If you are going it alone on trying to find a new fabric for your outdoor cushions, you, too, should head to Calico Corners. I know fabric stores can feel very overwhelming for many folks, so if you are one of them, ask for Judy. She is a treasure chest of fabric knowledge.
Another way to give your outdoor furniture a fresh new look is by getting a new outdoor area rug. I located the rug in the photo on Overstock.com for under $200 and was able to get an 8x10 area rug opposed to the 5x8 area rug my client had prior. Go with an area rug that is truly big enough to really ground your outdoor seating area. It adds a much needed punch of color and visually makes a space feel much larger. I look at area rugs as trays that are presenting what sits on them in its very best light. That applies both indoors or out. Never underestimate the power of an area rug.
Finally, garden umbrellas are very important. An umbrella packs a lot of color, style, and punch for very little money. I even use them under covered patio areas. That's right! They add so much character to an outdoor space that their use is far greater than strictly utilitarian. Overstock.com is again, a great place to look for high-quality, inexpensive outdoor umbrellas. And you can't beat their everyday $2.95 shipping charge no matter the weight or how many items you order.
I hope this little article was helpful in sharing ways for you to freshen things up in your outdoor space while not breaking the bank. You will be surprised what a change of fabric and an outdoor rug can do. Add a garden umbrella, and you have just iced the cake! There is no reason outdoor living can't be just as beautiful as indoor living. Especially, when you can sit in your space and pat yourself on the back for giving it a much needed facelift for much less than you thought!
Source: www.examiner.com
Ashley Furniture Outlet now open - Press Republican
PLATTSBURGH — The A
shley Furniture Outlet in the City of Plattsburgh has been well received since it opened in early April.
Manager Sam Pirofsky said the new store, located at 99 Boynton Ave., has worked out really well so far.
“We’re getting a nice cycle of inventory coming in and out,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of traffic, that’s for sure.”
The outlet center has new and scratch-and-dent furnishings on display. Pieces with a blue dot are new, while those with a red dot are sold “as is.”
Customers can take their selection home that day or arrange for home delivery.
“We like to say, ‘See it, touch it, take it home,’” Pirofsky said.
Furniture and accessories are divided by sections in the showroom. The front area features a dinette area on one side and sofas and recliners on the other. There is a section of odds and ends, such as single chairs or individual mirrors tucked around a corner.
The back showroom has mattresses and box springs, end tables, dressers, mirrors, chests and accessories.
The move has allowed for much more warehouse space, he said. One door is even at ground level, so trucks can pull inside to load and unload.
That’s a great advantage during inclement weather, Pirofsky said.
“We want to make sure the furniture gets to the house perfect. We try to take the elements out of it,” he said.
A loading dock provides access to a new series of ramps for loading and unloading. It allows access to the upper level where the upholstery is stored.
One section has been converted to a service bay. Furniture can be brought in, repaired and shipped back out without having to enter the actual warehouse.
Another section is used to store the mattresses and box springs. It also has its own door to the outside.
There is also a preparation room where furniture is assembled.
Pirofsky said the building’s design seems like it was built specifically to meet the needs of a furniture store.
It took about two months to renovate the former Murnane Building Contractors facility. The building is now home to 4,000 square feet of showroom and 10,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution space.
“This is essentially our warehouse and distribution point. It just happens to have an outlet in the middle of it,” Pirofsky said.
The warehouse and distribution center used to be located at Imperial Industrial Park.
“This has been so much more convenient because of where it is in the city,” Pirofsky said. “The proximity to the interstate makes it very easy for pick-ups and deliveries.”
Both the outlet center and Ashley Furniture Homestore in downtown Plattsburgh are owned by his parents, Howard and Maureen Pirofsky. His father has been in the furniture business for most of his life, first in Troy and later in Plattsburgh.
He
previously had Affordable Furniture on Route 3 just east of Plattsburgh Plaza. That business moved downtown in 1994 when the present location of the Ashley Homestore became available.
“We were approached by Ashley Furniture in 2005 and asked to convert Affordable Furniture to an Ashley Furniture Homestore,” Pirofsky said.
That business opened in 2006.
The Outlet Center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Cash, checks, Visa, MasterCard and Discover are accepted.
Pirofsky said 12-month interest-free financing is available.
He said a lot of people have been stopping in just to see what’s available. A lot of the items are th
e only one they have, so it might not be there if a customer doesn’t buy it when it is there.
“We are getting 50-60 people in here on some Saturdays,” Pirofsky said. “It’s tough to keep the place full.”
Email Dan Heath:
dheath@pressrepublican.com.
Source: pressrepublican.com
Antique tax fails to support modern necessity - Scranton Times-Tribune
The word "crisis" has become a tedious cliché, much overused and abused by those for whom every problem becomes a looming catastrophe. But the unparalleled challenges now confronting the financing of Pennsylvania's public education system do comprise a genuine crisis, one that if left unsolved threatens to transform Pennsylvania - educationally, economically, culturally and even socially - into a permanent backwater.
Across the commonwealth dedicated teachers are being furloughed, vital programs are being curtailed, schools are being shut down, and an entire generation of students may be losing their access to a quality education. That's just the good news.
Worse is that the furloughs, the cutting and the closings are all going to accelerate in the coming months and years, bringing further assaults upon Pennsylvania's public education system. The consequent damage to the quality of education, the future of our children, and their ability to compete in the emergent global economy cannot be exaggerated.
And who, or what monster, shall we blame for this monstrous calamity? Are evil teachers unions behind this looming disaster, or perhaps corrupt politicians, or even grasping school boards? No. Neither these nor any of the "usual suspects" can take the fall for this one. Our financial crisis is not due to greedy teachers, incompetent administrators, angry taxpayers, manipulating political parties or even super-PACs.
In fact, the villain behind our educational woes isn't even a person or institution; it's a tax that most of us are all too familiar with: the real estate property tax, better known as simply the "property tax."
What about the simple property tax is so atrocious, so flawed and so defective that we ascribe to it most of the contemporary problems of financing public education? That's a good question, one to which entire libraries are devoted.
The short answer produced by legions of public finance experts is that the property tax is grotesquely unsuited to modern times. It is unfair (regressive), expensive to administer, difficult to assess accurately, disconnected from the modern economy, and politically repugnant to most taxpayers. These defects and many more are the bitter fruits of the much-hated property tax. Of all America's major taxes, including the income and sales taxes, the property tax is the worst by any measure you care to use.
But bad as the property tax is, its egregious faults are only part of the problem. Even worse is that we are using this most flawed of taxes to finance perhaps the most important function of government: education. We are trying to educate our children on the back of a creaky 19th-century antique that barely did the job then, faltered badly in the 20th century, and is now failing spectacularly as we move through the second decade of the 21st.
Must we watch helplessly as our proud tradition of public education withers away, the victim of inert political leadership and ossified public policies? Absolutely not!
Two things seem eminently sensible.
First, we should adopt expeditiously a tax system that finances 21st-century education with a 21st-century tax. One of the most promising concepts being discussed now is state Rep. Jim Cox's (R-Berks) bill known as the Property Tax Independence Act, which would replace the school property tax by increasing the state's personal income tax from 3.07 to 4 percent, and expanding and increasing the state's sales and use tax from 6 to 7 percent.
Second, we should avoid throwing out the baby with the bath water and recognize that the property tax - for all its limitations - is best fitted to financing Pennsylvania local government. Originally, property tax revenues were used almost exclusively to finance local government functions like public safety and public health. Only over time was the property tax base hijacked to support more and more local education, so that now as much as 80 percent goes to the schools. We should stop using the property tax to finance schools and instead use it only to support non-school local government expenditures. This is where the property tax works best.
Neither of these steps requires overall increased taxes. Cox's bill and others proposed over the years would not raise taxes but rather would shift tax burdens from the property tax to a tax more suited to modern times and the needs of public education. Nevertheless, any legislation that envisions tax changes, even tax shifting, will be controversial. Indeed, earlier efforts dating back three decades to bring tax reform to Pennsylvania were rife with dissension.
But let's not kid ourselves. The choice is not between change and no change. Change, almost all of it bad, is happening across the state almost every day as Pennsylvania's school districts adapt to the new realities imposed by relying on the property tax to finance education. The real choice is between having a choice about the future of state public education and having that choice imposed upon us by doing nothing.
Source: thetimes-tribune.com
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