Oh yes, bigger is better

Go big or go home.
Kindel Furniture Co. just shipped a gigantic round (12 feet in diameter) mahogany table for a December governmental dinner party in Kuwait. This mahogany masterpiece features 84 pieces of applied brass all around its apron with gilt leaf and a huge inlaid medallion with pieces of satinwood and ebony and at the center of the table. A rosewood inlay border completes the decoration.
The giant was built in two pieces and was completed in just eight weeks.
To prepare the table for its long flight, according to Mlive.com, it was dismantled into three pieces: the base, and the top’s two halves. The shipping crate is estimated to cost around $2,000 and is the size of a small house.
According to the furniture manufacturer, this is the most expensive piece of furniture it has ever produced out of its Michigan factory (Kindel pieces start at $10,000).
Maybe this is why gas prices are creeping up again?

August furniture orders down 12%

New furniture orders in August 2009 were 12 percent lower than August 2009, according to Smith Leonard’s Furniture Insights, a monthly survey covering the furniture industry.
However, new orders were 7 percent higher than July 2009 orders. Year-to-date, new orders are down 19 percent from the first eight months of 2008, down from 20 percent last month.
Year-to-date, 90 percent of survey participants reported lower orders compared to last year.
August shipments declined 18 percent from August 2008 but were 15 percent higher than July. The increase over July is normal considering, for most, July was a three-week month due to the vacation week. Approximately 90 percent of participants reported lower shipments in August.
Year-to-date, shipments remained 20 percent lower than the first 8 months of 2008. Approximately 93 percent of the participants reported lower shipments.
Backlogs increased 1 percent over July as orders exceeded shipments for the month. Backlogs were 7 percent lower than last August, down from a 13 percent decline reported in July.