Giving Back: Our Commitment to Caring and Gratitude to YOU!

June 15, 2017 by Stoney Creek Furniture

At Stoney Creek Furniture, giving back to our community is an important part of how we do business. On behalf of our customers, we’re proud to be able to support families and charities that need our help – in Hamilton and beyond. It’s no surprise really! Dennis Novosel, Stoney Creek Furniture’s Founder and recently-retired President, makes generosity a way of life. His example continues to inspire us!

Dennis Novosel Wins Lifetime Achievement Award

In May, Dennis was given the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Home Furnishings Alliance. He received this honour for his long-term dedication to the industry, devotion to extraordinary customer service, and strong commitment to community.

Dennis supports many Hamilton and area causes including Hamilton Food Share, Food 4 Kids, SPCA, Heart & Stroke Big Bike and the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation. He is equally committed to global charities, having visited Haiti several times with The Joy and Hope of Haiti, helping build two schools, an orphanage and a training centre. In 2006, he travelled to Mozambique to help build a church and school and he continues to help build sanitation centres for schools in Kenya through Connecting Countries Adopt-a-School.

Other Industry Awards

Dennis is equally generous in his dedication to the furnishings industry, devoting countless hours to the Boards of the Interior Design Society, Retail Home Furnishings Association and the National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA).

His dedication has not gone unnoticed! In 2010, the National Home Furnishings Association honoured Dennis as Retailer of the Year. He won a Trillium Award-Canadian Furniture Industry in 2001; was the Ontario Furniture Manufacturers Associations (OFMA) Retailer of the Year in 2006; and received the Stoney Creek-Hamilton Outstanding Business Award in both 2006 and 2007.

Giving Back Corner

With Dennis’ integrity, hard work and philanthropy as our example, Stoney Creek Furniture continues his commitment to community, with frequent events in support of local charities.

Our most recent effort is the ‘Giving Back Corner’ at our Stoney Creek store location. Select pieces of our furnishings are being offered as final sale at great savings. Full proceeds from all items go to one of three local charities: Food4Kids, Hamilton Food Share or Hamilton/Burlington SPCA. Drop by and have a look! We refresh the area often with fantastic deals.

We’re so proud of Dennis’ Lifetime Achievement Award and delighted to continue his legacy of caring. A heartfelt thank you to all of our customers for making it possible for us to help others!

Outdoor Living: Extend Your Living Space to Your Patio!

June 9, 2017 by Stoney Creek Furniture

At last it feels like summer! As we make our plans for dinners and parties, our patios become our outdoor living space for relaxing and entertaining. This year, why not really embrace that idea and make your patio an inviting extension of your home?outdoor living patio

Here are some of our favourite ideas:

Continue colour. A great way to extend your living space visually is to use a similar colour palette outside. Plants, cushions, serving dishes, table linens – there are lots of ways to bring the colours of your living room to your patio.

Continue style. Whether your home is farmhouse chic, mid-century modern or anything in between, extend that same style sensibility to your patio. With the abundance of outdoor furniture and décor items available, you can create an outdoor haven as personalized as your home.

Accessories available at Stoney Creek FurnitureAdd accessories. Pillows, throws, candles and sculpture help bring a patio come to life. Today there are weather resistant fabrics for your cushions, umbrellas and more that are as durable as they are beautiful. HINT: Look for a small (but charming!) outdoor storage trunk that you can use to shelter more delicate items during storms.

Hang a picture. This is one of the very best ways to individualize your outdoor space. Hang a weather-friendly picture on the outside wall of your home. There are gorgeous items available in metal, stone and wood that look even better as they become distressed.

Incorporate small planters and boxes. Of course, plants are the most appropriate accessory of all. Choose some bright pots, beautiful blooms and enjoy! Try a grouping of different plants in a single colour or be bold with contrast. This year, cacti and succulents are very trendy and make a stunning style statement.

Think vertically. Don’t forget that vertical interest can totally transform your outdoor space! Look for outdoor shelving or convert an old ladder to showcase plants. A shelf near your back door is an ideal place to display herbs to use in your kitchen.

Recycle. Don’t discard that tired piece of furniture. Give it a new life on your patio. It’s easy to repaint an old chair or table to give it a new look and make it weather resilient. My plan this summer is to paint an old rocking chair in a bright colour – and curl up in it on my patio!

How to Mix Textures for Maximum Impact

June 2, 2017 by Stoney Creek Furniture

Texture plays a huge role in how a space looks and feels. Whether smooth or nubby, soft or rough, texture adds both visual and tactile interest to a room. What’s more, texture can help you express a theme or style. For example, lace and white wicker are inherently romantic, distressed wood is rustic, metals and acrylics are modern, while silk draperies and polished woods lean toward traditional. And now the fun begins! Mixing these textures and styles creates an eclectic space that is inviting, multi-dimensional and very on trend.

Curated Collection

Curated Collection

Let’s look at some tips for mixing textures and a furniture collection that does it beautifully.

  • Think contrast. The trick to mixing textures is to fearlessly contrast. Mix sleek and glossy with coarse and rugged. Add a sparkling mirror to a rustic room; place sleek metal furniture on rough wood floor; try an embroidered throw pillow on a modern leather sofa.
  • Create a focal point. An exciting way to mix textures is to choose a focal point in a style/texture that’s different from the room’s theme. For example, opt for a rugged iron canopy bed in a bedroom with traditional glossy wood furniture.
  • Unify with colour. A neutral palette or use of a single colour across textures prevents a space from becoming overwhelmed by diversity. Keep colour subdued when you want to showcase a wide variety of textures – there’s so much beauty in texture, it doesn’t need intense hues or patterns.
  • Balance with some repetition. Again, you need to ground mixed textures with some commonality. The Curated Collection featured here does it perfectly with clean lines across all pieces. It’s wonderfully simple and sleek with minimal curves. Look for ways to harmonize by echoing furniture textures in your accessories or by repeating a leg style, for example.
Curated Collection

Curated Collection

Meet the Curated Collection.

The Curated Collection brings a mix of furniture styles, medias, tones and textures together artfully. The impression is relaxed yet sophisticated – and incredibly chic. This is mix and match at its finest, allowing you to express your personal style with confidence. Upholstered elements, metal accents and rustic woods mix effortlessly and harmoniously. For example, you can pair an upholstered bed with a rustic accent table or try it with a metal table. The effect is totally different, but either way, the combination is unified and pleasing!

One of the very best things about the Curated Collection is its versatility. Blend it with furnishings you already own – anything from French Country to Urban Chic – or recreate your home with this gorgeous line! There are pieces for the bedroom, dining room, office and living room. There’s a wonderful freedom in knowing everything coordinates yet never looks matched or contrived.

Mixing textures requires just a little know how and a great spirit of adventure! Experiment and enjoy!

How to Achieve the Farmhouse Look in Your Home

May 26, 2017 by Stoney Creek Furniture

Rounding out our advice series from our Visual Design Team, let’s take a look at how to achieve the popular farmhouse look in your home. Melissa, Amanda and Carolyn, our Visual Merchandisers, have created a gorgeous vignette to provide inspiration and guidance.

Farmhouse inspired display at our Stoney Creek location

Farmhouse inspired display at our Stoney Creek location

  • Magnolia Home. Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Home collection epitomizes farmhouse styling, yet it has sophisticated, feminine touches that keep the pieces from being too rugged. It’s uncontrived, welcoming, often distressed and always relaxed. Check out the curved and straight legs, the ornate detailing, the mix of finishes – eclectic yes, but still cohesive. Says Amanda, “Magnolia Home makes the ideal foundation for farmhouse comfort. It’s versatile and inviting.”
  • Natural Elements. Farmhouse styling brings the outside in. The Magnolia-inspired moss wall with hydrangea accents provides a natural backdrop for laidback farmhouse living. Carolyn (who recreated it), states, “This nature-infused piece becomes the focal point of the vignette.” In fact, all the accessories in the setting draw from nature – birds, flowers, metals and wood.
  • Vintage. Old and new live in perfect harmony! The vintage Toledo scale works well in this farmhouse setting, complementing the iron handles and metallic accents on the Magnolia Home pieces.
  • Muted tones. In keeping with natural influences, the colour scheme here is muted and soft – primarily pale greens/blues, lots of ivory tones and soft white, using pops of orange/coral for warmth. Melissa explains, “We generally stick to a simple, unfussy palette, using just a couple of colours with shade variations.”

 

Farmhouse inspired display at our Stoney Creek location

Farmhouse inspired display at our Stoney Creek location

More Farmhouse Styling Tips!

If you’re in love with farmhouse styling (and who isn’t these days?), here are some more tips from our Visual Design Team.

  • Keep it cohesive. Eclectic is good, random isn’t! Carolyn says, “Find common ground whether in upholstery colour, proportion, styling or finish. Blend and repeat – use your colour palette and materials across multiple elements; don’t go overboard with too much variety.”
  • Repurpose. Farmhouse styling loves to reuse and recycle. Whether it’s an old door as a wall hanging, galvanized buckets as planters, antique butter boxes as magazine holders or a wooden ladder for displays – use your imagination! “Whimsy is welcome!” says Amanda.
  • Maintain balance. One of the best things about the Magnolia Home collection is that it doesn’t try too hard to be pure rustic. It highlights elements of other styles. That’s one of the keys to successful farmhouse styling. Integrate a little contemporary, a little traditional and a little whatever you like to keep your space visually interesting and balanced.

We hope you’ve been inspired by the talents of our Visual Design Team and are using their ideas in your home this spring!