By Joyce Cohen Special for USA TODAY
As
soon as Carin and Randall Willis put a sheepskin rug next to their
bed, the whole family started gravitating there. The cats love it,
and so does son Hunter, 7. "He crawls around on it," Carin
Willis says. "At night, we sit on our own little magic carpet
and read stories."
On the hardwood floor of their Boston
home, "it
is incredibly nice and fabulously luxurious."
Willis never even thought about
a fur rug until it was suggested by her designer, Kristine Irving,
who sells them at her retail shop, Koo
de Kir, in Boston.
"
People respond to the texture — they are looking for softness," Irving
says. "We cannot keep them in the store."
When it comes to home accessories, that furry texture is turning from
fad to mainstay. The trend has filtered down from the use of fur in
fashion.
Heavy merchandising helps — Irving displays her Bowron
sheepskin rugs smartly in the window. So does today's fondness for
décor à la
Laugh-In and The Dating Game, including lava lamps, splashy flowers
and shag rugs.
"
Everybody perceives yesterday as a warm, fuzzy time," says Pamela
Graves, editor of the trade magazine Home Fashion & Furniture Trends.
She finds that the warm, fuzzy texture — which comes primarily
from fake-fur fabrics — is used most often in throws, blankets,
pillows and decorative trim.
Some items resemble real animals: beaver,
mink, muskrat, snow leopard. Others feature blue, green and other
un-animal-like colors or textured
designs created from a sculpted plush or pile.
Today's technology makes
faux fur look more real than ever, says Russell David of Huntingdon
Mills, whose Huntingdon Home line, which includes
plenty of faux-fur bedding, entered stores a month ago. High-end faux
fur is made of modacrylic, which is warm, cozy, easily cleaned and
wears well.
Fur also is used as a decorative accent — on stools,
lamps and even towels.
Stitchsations, maker of decorative towels, is planning a line of towels
with a faux-fur trim that detaches with Velcro.
When the company's
designer, Shaheda Bhabha, introduced the towels at a trade show three
years ago, she had no takers and figured she
was ahead of her time. Now, with the popularity of fur, she plans to
introduce them again this winter.
Real fur — with the ongoing
controversy over animals losing their lives — is much more rare
in the home. It's exceedingly pricey, and most kinds don't wear well.
"
I am not a fan of covering a whole piece of furniture in fur. It is
too bulky," says Seth Schulaner, an interior designer in New York
He did, however, recently place two
metal stools upholstered with curly lamb at the foot of a client's
bed.
In the past few months, Holly Hunt
NY, the furniture showroom where he bought the stools, has seen hot
demand for lamb for stools, benches
and window seats
Schulaner finds that people display very different attitudes about
fur in public and in private. "If they are embarrassed or afraid
to wear a fur coat in public, they might still have fur in their home," he
says.
That attitude doesn't sit well with
animal-rights groups. "If
people want furniture upholstered with interesting and unique fabrics,
there are too many to count," says Pierre Grzybowski, a spokesman
for The Fund for Animals.
For those with an unused fur coat, Hy
Fishman Furs of New York has a unique approach — turning it into a home
accent.
"
People have their mother's or grandmother's coat," Hy Fishman
says. "It doesn't fit or is out of date. They don't want to throw
it away, but they don't know what to do with it."
His furriers
can turn it into a small blanket, with matching bolsters made from
the arms, or a rug or wall hanging. If the coat doesn't have
sufficient fur, they add matching or contrasting trim.
Starting price for such a transformation: $495.
