(NAPSA)—With all the highly touted places to go in the world, many Americans have narrowed their comfort zone to one location: home. This may be why the newest home furnishings in retail stores eater to consumers’ hearthcentered priorities, with much of the focus on freshly reinterpreted classic designs or reproductions of treasured attic heirlooms. Here’s what you'll be seeing in the stores this year, predicts Jackie Hirschhaut, vice president at the American Furniture Manufacturers Association. * Antiques discovered on the PBSseries “Antiques Roadshow,” were adapted by Pulaski Furniture for an eclectic 60-piece collection that includes bedroom, dining room, curio cabinets, grandfather clocks and accent pieces. * Pennsylvania House signed on jazz vocalist Steve Tyrell to help promote the company’s New Standards Collections. These reinterpreted 18th century designs are expected to exert a pull on younger consumers. Although they may insist on sticking close to home, many Americansstill like an escape, if not to the past, then perhaps to a wilderness cabin, a sprawling mountain retreat or an exotic European country villa. * Century Sun Valley was inspired by the furniture the company’s designers found in elegant country homes throughout the American West. * For a more exotic retreat Thomasville’s Villa Soleil collection transports a bedroom or dining room to the Mediterranean coast. WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN— Inspired by an armoire circa 17981881, this hand-painted sideboard and hutch is part of the American Antiques Roadshow Collection by Pulaski Furniture. It’s priced to retail at $1,499, * Drexel Heritage also invites consumersto retreat to the Italian countryside. The At Home in Tuscany collection features armoires, wine cabinets, bedroom and dining room furnishings. Other new directions in home furnishings on retail floors this year include hip and highly functional furnishings that court the young. Also, swivel club chairs and sweeping asymmetrical lounges make for an edgy martini lounge look. To learn more about furniture styles and trends, visit AFMA’s Web site for consumers at www.findyourfurniture.com.
