Trying to keep up with yearly trend changes can get expensive. It could also leave you with uncomfortable, useless furniture and unattractive pieces that are too fragile to have around children. Fortunately, there are other ways to keep up with the trend without breaking the bank, sacrificing comfort, or relegating the kids to their bedrooms until next year’s trend.

5 Ways to Go Trendy while Staying Family Friendly

1. Durability – You should begin any redecoration with quality furniture that can serve the family, and withstand it. Also look for storage — the necessity in family furniture. AmishFurnitureHome.com’s vast inventory of furniture provides tons of extra storage with additional (sometimes hidden) spaces. Amish craftsman build with sturdy woods, which are perfect for family use.
2. Slipcovers – This handy fashion accessory is your friend when trying to chase the trends. They can change the look of a sofa, loveseat, and even dining room chairs. Slipcovers are a fraction of the price of a new piece and they come in all colors and patterns. The slipcovers can be long or short, made of spandex, cotton, or fabric blends. You can easily argue that the best quality of the slipcovers is their durability. Spills are inevitable so why not make the cleanup easier?  Simply pull the cover off the furniture and toss it in the wash. Change them as often as you like without breaking the bank.
3. Pull the shades. A lampshade is another fix for a room. Change it as much as the slipcovers because they are similar in variety and pricing. The decorating possibilities are endless.
4. Stained Wood – Put a little hard work into the decorating by stripping and staining or reupholstering your furniture pieces. Stains can change the look in a matter of hours. Upholstery works in the same way. All it takes is the price of the stain, upholstery nails, fabric, and tools.
5. Covers – Cover up your table, cabinet and buffet tops for a different look. Take a trendy pattern and make it into a runner, tablecloth, throw or mat for a vase, decorative basket, candles or any other accessory. This is better than buying new furniture for a different look.

The Trendy Family Rooms

A family doesn’t have to relegate you to scuffed, scarred, mis-matched or damaged furniture. Pick your furniture today, knowing that, even on a whim, your family room could be transformed into Trendy, without losing the comfort and family friendly atmosphere.

New Year’s Eve parties bring together the old and the new to be celebrated and memorialized by one and all. The ritual of good food, great memories and celebratory toasts all mark the end of the old year and the beginning of a new and promise filled year. Unfortunately, some of those toasts are memorable for the wrong reasons. Wine stains and drink rings are often the markings left behind of a good time and not something you will enjoy seeing on New Year’s Day. Although your solidly designed Amish hardwoods and upholstered pieces are protected by ARESITOVAR and hopefully custom made elite table pads, the occasional mishap occurs. Here are some tips from the experts on salvaging your good New Year’s memories and furniture.

RED WINE- While ARESISTOVAR has a tested tolerance to alcohol spills your upholstery and carpets may not have that window of resistance. Wine, especially red wine and even non-alcohol grape juices, must be taken care of right away

REMEMBER- Heed any special care instructions that may have came from the manufacturer. Safe home remedies are best to try before turning to harsh chemicals or paying for a professional fabric cleaning. Whether it is carpet or upholstered furniture, these tips apply.

Some other remedies that many wine drinkers swear by are a simple application of carbonated soda water. This can lift wine stains and other food stains, like barbeque sauce, out of the carpets and fabrics. Another wine connoisseur tip is to deal with red wine spills by using white wine. Odd as it may seem, if you spill red wine you can then pour a glass of white over the stain. The white wine supposedly neutralizes the red wine and the stain seems to disappear before your eyes.

As always, use common sense and care when using any products on your custom upholstered Amish furniture, sofas, arm chairs and ottomans.

Living room seating has changed gradually over the centuries. Words and language evolve just like furniture styles and designs. Throughout the centuries home furnishings have came a very long way from their beginnings and so has the verbiage we use to describe or name the furnishings. Here are a few that you may or may not remember:

SETTEE: The settee was sometimes an upholstered piece and sometimes more like a bench. It had low open arms, a high back and was twice the width of a chair. Almost all great designers of the 17^th and 18^th century, such as Thomas Sheraton, had one in their collections.

LOVE SEAT: An upholstered seat meant only for two, in some periods it was known as a courting chair. The size of a double chair or a miniature sofa it was first seen during the Queen Anne period and is still popular today as either supplemental seating with a living room set or as an option for small spaces.

DIVAN: From the Turkish culture this was a long, low, backless sofa that usually held a row of pillows placed against a wall. The divan originating out of the Turkish custom of piling up a high stack of rugs to use for seating or resting. This was popular as a sort of day bed.

CHESTERFIELD: The Chesterfield was an overstuffed couch or sofa whose ends were upholstered. The Chesterfield was supposedly named for the 19th-century Earl of Chesterfield. The use of the name Chesterfield to describe a sofa or couch is still popular in Canada.

DAVENPORT: The name Davenport is the name of a series of sofas manufactured by A.H. Davenport Company. Many people began calling all sofas a Davenport due to that brands popularity. Just like many words it was regionally used and most popular in the Midwestern United States and in Northern New York State.

SOFA: A long upholstered seat usually with stuffed back and arms. In 1625 the term came into use from Turkey. In Turkey it meant a “raised section of a floor, covered with carpets and cushions,” In Arabic suffah meant “bench.” By the early 1700’s it was in use in the English language to describe long seating for a living room.

COUCH: The word couch has been used for thousands of years but did not come to mean the seating in the living room until the last few centuries. In ancient Rome the couch was a grouping that would be arranged around a low table. Here men, not women, could recline to eat. By 1340 a couche was “a bed, lair,” from coucher “to lie down.” The traditional couch had the head end raised with only half a back. This was in comparison to a sofa that had both ends raised and a full back.