TV ON DEMAND
A: Ever since Philip Farnsworth invented television - or so it's said - in 1927, men have been glued to it and women have eschewed it - decoratively speaking.
Almost from its beginning, therefore, other inventors have been looking for ways to hide the screen when no one was watching. For decades, women have tucked TVs under skirted tables, stuck them behind sliding doors, raised and lowered sets from the ceiling, and sequestered them out of sight in armoires and cabinets.
Now, new technology has come to the rescue of unsightly technology, at least, as "unsightly" is defined by many people. Others, it seems, really like the looks of all that science and want to show it off for the world to see.
Now you see it, now you don't, could be the motto of the cool, sophisticated bedroom we show here. Behind the large painting over the mantel is an equally large-TV screen. Click, and the canvas rolls up; click, and the giclee painting rolls back down. The manufacturer offers a wide selection of both artworks and frames (check them out at VisionArt, www.visionartgalleries.com).
STARVED FOR STORAGE SPACE?
Feast your eyes on the Home Storage Solutions designed by ABC's "Extreme Makeover" star Ty Pennington and introduced by Howard Miller at the recent High Point Furniture Market.
Ty's imaginative collection includes self-contained hobby centers, laundry centers and entire "kitchens in a cupboard," storage cabinets that take up mini-floor space but will hold behind closed doors a microwave, toaster, 1-amp cooler, dry sink, speakers, e-gear (there's a charger), and baskets for miscellaneous stuff.
For less than $4,000, you can max mini-space, in an apartment, say, dorm room or even a master bedroom - no need to pad downstairs for a midnight snack. The company also introduced Ty's design-it-yourself storage options: you pick the components you need to solve your particular problems. See the options at www.howardmiller.com.
NEW AND NEWSWORTHY AT FURNITURE MARKET
How would you like a cocktail table that serves - and serves as seating, too. Judy Hunerberg's big idea, literally, is four-foot-square and upholstered in jungle-print UltraSuede and centered with two lift-out trays. Seat-and-eat is approximately $2,900 from Lorts Furniture ( www.lorts.com).
High jinks at Haute House: madcap designer Casey Fisher belted an easy chair behind its back, studded the buckle with rhinestones and edged the chair's bottom with fringe.
Currey & Company offered a console studded all over with oyster shells ( www.curreyandcompany.com). It sells for close to $4,000, not including the oysters themselves - they had to eaten in a hurry by the craftsmen trying to keep up with the shells they needed to complete the prototype, reports partner Brownlee Currey (who was one of the eaters).
Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Hampton Style" and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas.
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