“Green is the color of the season … dark hunter, sage, olive, all different shades,” noted Rene Ackerman, La-Z-Boy interior designer. She and co-worker Dalton Sheehan, also an interior designer, along with Marketing Director Matt Simpson recently returned from the spring High Point Furniture Market. “The emphasis on green really represents being outdoors. We are all so happy to be getting past COVID and able to get outside and back to the activities we love,” she said.

Coincidently, La-Z-Boy has also introduced ‘Greenguard,’ affirming that all products have been independently tested and meet rigorous chemical emissions standards. That label is now affixed to all La-Z-Boy products.
According to Ackerman, a revisited classic style has been introduced to the La-Z-Boy furniture line featuring a wider more rounded arm. In addition, recliners have a new back design along with an improved mechanism, allowing the footrest to move up before the chair back reclines. “Many of the other La-Z-Boy pieces from 30 to 40 years ago have been revived with the new look,” Ackerman stated.

Corduroy and leather are two of the several throw-back or new fabrics featured this spring along with six new patterns. “The new fabrics offer great features such as improved cleanability,” Ackerman noted.
“This was a fascinating week, tiring, but very enlightening. Not only did we learn about the color of the season, we could see the new designs, and touch and feel all of the new fabrics,” she added.  “Now we have the fun of sharing all of that information with our teams.”

While Ackerman and Sheehan bring back all of the market ideas and help with the new product ordering, their main role is to assist customers with their individual design selections. “This free service is very popular and helps our customers so much. We can assist with everything from small style updates to complete home transformations,” Ackerman said.

“We want to help guide customers to avoid costly mistakes. We want customers to be happy with their decisions,” Simpson stated. “Rene and Dalton are both very customer-oriented and provide great customer service. They are both adept at measuring a room or house, then recreating the area on a 3D computer program. Potential pieces of furniture can be placed around the room to determine the fit, helping customers make the best decision,” he assured.

 “Many times customers will think a piece of furniture will fit and then they are quite surprised to see that it is not the right size for the room when we do our 3D design,” Ackerman added.“In addition to furniture, we also help with room accessories and will offer advice about window treatments, flooring, and colors for paint. We give options because the final decision is the one made by the customer.”

Simpson reported that there were 75,000 people from over 100 different countries attending the spring market, viewing at least 2,000 exhibits housed in 180 buildings totaling 11.5 million square feet of showroom space. “The High Point furniture market is a very big event,” he concluded.