Furnishings

One in a series of occasional articles. The streets around John Sandberg's furniture factory are dotted with the shuttered shells of manufacturers that have closed down or left town. But the Sandberg family, woodworkers for four generations, has found ways to keep Vernon-based Sandberg Furniture Co. going despite foreign competition, the nation's stiffest environmental laws and the housing industry collapse. For one of the state's oldest furniture manufacturers, a maker of moderately priced bedroom furniture, survival is a matter of adaptability, Chief Executive John Sandberg said.

Two Los Angeles city workers accused of defrauding the Department of Water and Power pocketed thousands of dollars by marking up the cost of furniture and other materials delivered to the offices used by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's five-member DWP commission, officials said Friday. Over the past two years, the utility obtained new office furniture for the utility's executives, even though there was no money in its budget for such expenditures, said Joe Ramallo, a spokesman for the utility.

While President Obama was on vacation, his West Wing office got a bit of a face-lift, complete with a new rug, fresh wallpaper and paint, and new furniture — all done at no taxpayer expense, according to the White House. The renovation of the Oval Office came 19 months after Obama first set foot inside as president, and represents "his stamp" on the room, the White House said. In making changes, the White House took pains to ensure that new additions were American-made.

Even as the state grappled with a budget crisis last year, bureaucrats spent nearly $45 million on new vehicles, almost $30 million on new furniture and more than $2 million on off-site meetings and conferences, a legislative panel has found. The expenditures were outlined in a report released Monday by the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review, which plans to call on state agency managers to explain their spending at a hearing Wednesday. "These expenses came despite an executive order from the governor last year for each state agency to cut costs and eliminate vehicle purchases unless they were for emergency purposes," said Mark Martin, a consultant for the committee.

Its exterior is classic California bungalow with beveled siding, wood-trimmed windows and a cheery gabled roof. But inside the Venice house, owners David and Jennifer Ritch live with clean lines, an open floor plan and modern furnishings. Can the two styles -- cottage and contemporary -- coexist? How can 1906 California architecture meld with the design preferences of its 2009 occupants? The Ritches asked themselves those questions when they decided not to demolish a 950-square-foot bungalow that the city of Los Angeles had already cited as a public eyesore.

Barbra Streisand, a well-educated student of antiques and vintage decorative arts, has finally declared a major: "Eighteenth century American furniture and the design of the architects Greene and Greene are my special love," she says. Think of it as a stylistic downsizing. Because her current three-house compound in Malibu is devoted to these particular genres, Streisand is auctioning nearly 500 items from other periods and styles -- Louis XV and XVI, Georgian, Art Nouveau, Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright and Art Deco -- that once furnished homes in Beverly Hills, Malibu and Manhattan but have long been in storage.

Forget that you're standing behind a giant green dumpster in a driveway cluttered with dusty relics of someone's past. Forget the musty smell, the awkward silence. Now stare down that shabby $5 metal cabinet. Do you see trash? Treasure? If you're Alexis Hadjopulos or Tom Whitman, you see an industrial vintage piece worth well over its garage-sale price tag. Which is why that metal cabinet is now pictured on their online furniture store, ThisIsNotIkea.com.

GIVEN the demands of the global recession, one might expect inspiration and innovation to be in short supply at the world's most important home furnishings show, which closed here Monday. Yet the 2009 Salone Internazionale del Mobile, where top designers showcased their latest looks, offered proof that lean times can inspire fresh thinking.

Faced with a significant sales slump that forced it to close some stores, Z Gallerie Inc., the eclectic Gardena-based home furnishings retailer, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The privately held company has 57 stores in 18 states and said it had sufficient cash to continue operating its business, including keeping all locations open and taking custom furniture orders through its stores and website.

In the furniture section of Office Depot in Studio City, interior designer Lauren Rottet identifies the most common misstep in setting up a work space at home: "Because it's quick and easy, there's always the temptation to buy a whole room ensemble -- matching desk, chair, cabinet and hutch -- but they really dominate a room, and chances are you don't need all four pieces." She moves on, gravitating to the simplest desk -- nearly black with unfussy hardware.