Polar Fleece Moves Into The Furniture Market

As any one who has touched it already knows, polar fleece is one of those feel-good fabrics. It’s soft, comfortable, resistant to stains and sun and is somehow warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Now it’s available on furniture slipcovers in gray or white through Pottery Barn’s winter catalog.

The slipcovers are available with furniture in the Dakota line or sold separately. Prices range from $199 for an ottoman cover or $399 with the cover and ottoman to $549 for a sofa slipcover or $1,399 for the slipcover and sleeper sofa. For a free copy of the catalog, call (800) 922-5507.

Focus on felines

Cats - a.k.a. garden lions - get star treatment in Barbara Worl’s 1997 calendar aptly named “Cats in the Garden.”

Worl, a Palo Alto, Calif., rose grower and photographer, turned her camera on her own cats, plus others she met while photographing gardens in the United States and Europe. The result is pure Worl - and a treat for cat lovers and gardeners alike.

“Cats in the Garden” is an 8-1/2-by-11-inch wall calendar with 17 original photographs featuring such characters as Oreo (a black-andwhite kitten), Esmeralda and Fat Cat. The price is $19.50.

Besides creating “Cats,” Worl has produced two other calendars: “Sundials and Gardens,” a 5-1/2-by-8-1/2 desk calendar with 14 original photographs that sells for $14.50, and a repeat of last year’s big hit, “In Praise of English Roses,” which features 14 photographs and sells for $17.95.

For details on ordering calendars, call Sweetbriar Press, (415) 323-7822.

Do it yourself

If you can’t afford to hire a professional interior designer or color adviser to help you choose colors for your home, you may get some help from a new video.

Joanne Liebeler, co-host of the PBS series “Hometime,” worked with the Rollex Corp., manufacturer of siding, soffits and exterior trim products, to produce a video called “Choosing Colors With Confidence.” The video recommends a four-phase process for picking an exterior color.

The 12-minute video is available for $2.95 from Rollex Corp., 2001 Lunt Ave., Elk Grove Village, IL. Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.

Floral traditions

The hottest trend in gardening is heirloom flowers and vegetables. Since many popular heirlooms were introduced by Burpee Seed Co. many years ago, it seemed natural that Burpee should produce a new specialty catalog - Burpee Heirlooms.

It’s gorgeous. The illustrations are from old Burpee catalogs, and that alone makes the catalog a fun read.

“Not every variety inside is an old Burpee variety. We’ve looked for the best, old open-pollinated vegetables and flowers to include here,” says George Ball Jr., Burpee president.

Among the offerings: 100 fruit and vegetable varieties, such as Brandywine tomatoes, Chinese Giant and Poinsettia peppers, and Rocky Ford melons. There are also 70 flower favorites, including fragrant sweet peas, big hollyhocks and “all the giants we could get our hands on,” Ball says.

The specialty heirloom catalog is free and may be obtained by calling (800) 888-1447.

Keep those hardwoods warm

With winter’s frequent fluctuations in weather, one of the features that can suffer most in a home is hardwood products. Hardwoods can expand and contract significantly with changes in humidity.

Here from the Hardwood Manufacturers Association are a few simple steps to reduce that problem:

Keep your home’s relative humidity to around 30 percent, if possible. Regulation of the thermostat and the influence of outside air can help or hurt that effort. To help get an idea of the humidity, purchase a humidity-readout device from a hardware store or home center.

If you have tabletop leaves, store them in a warm, dry environment. This can be a closet.

Avoid placing solid hardwood furniture directly in front of heat sources.

Rising radon

Now is the time for all good homeowners to test for radon. “January and February are the best months … since levels of the radioactive gas tend to be at their highest,” the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says. “The levels peak during this time since homes are closed tightly for the winter.”

Order up a Wright

The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Museum Catalog carries the country’s largest selection of Wright-inspired items. Many of them are museum reproductions, while others are based on the simple, timeless design of America’s best-known architect.

Finds? A magazine rack adapted from a window of Wisconsin’s Lake Geneva Hotel, crafted of hand-cast aluminum in matte charcoal gray ($60). Oak candlesticks that are full-scale reproductions of the balusters in the 1895 playroom balcony of Wright’s Oak Park, Ill., home ($75 per pair). And the Taliesin III Lamp, originally designed by Wright for the theater at Taliesan, his Wisconsin home ($840).

For more information or to receive a free copy of the catalog, call (708) 848-9518.