Factory Direct. No Middlemen. Warehouse Operation. True Quality. Affordable Cabinets. 24" Vanity Base Double Door White ‘49 54” « 24” Utility WE OFFER _ONLY THE BEST ° TAR & GRAVEL ° ASHPHALT SHINGLES e TORCH-ON- MEMBRANE 986-1 812 FAX LINE: 984-2420 SaeeaG COMTRACTOAS CIATION OF €.c. seful tips to take along on any furniture shop THESE ARE tips for furniture shopping: e Always shop at a reputabie, well-established home furnishings store. Look for their posted return policics. © Buy quality, well-designed Ca- nadian-made furniture. Canadian manufacturers’ warranties are user-friendly, You'll get fast ser- vice through their warranty pro- grams if anything goes wrong. @ Look for Upholstered Fur- niture Action Council (UFAC) tags. UFAC-approved furniture is resistant to fire and ignition from burning cigarettes. @ Also iook for the blue or red tags which indicate winners of the Trillium Furniture Awards com- petition. The Trillium Awards judge Canadian-made furniture for excellence in design, produc- tion and marketing. The awards are our own Canadian benchmark in evaluating the quality of home furnishings. Facts worth knowing Quality frames are hardwood, kiln or air-dried, sometimes both. The design and manufacturing of Canadian furniture allow for fluc- tuations caused by central heating in our cold winters and the dampness of our hot summers; wood flexes or adjusts to changes in humidity. With no-sag construction, look for: ® seven to eight gauge zig-zag springs in the seat, 12 to 15 gauge in the back; ® springs no more than three in- ches apart; © doubled springs at sofas next to arms; @ stabilizing cross-wires; & soft-front edge springs; @ frames should be double- dowelled, corner-blocked, glued and screwed together; @ sisal and foam padding over deck — lift the cushions and check to make ‘sure there is no imprinting of springs on the deck; @ felt and foam padding over the arms and corners of frame — you should not be able to feel the frame through the fabric; ends of @® minimum density of foam for seat cushions should be 1.8 pounds, 1.2 pounds for back cushions. For reclining chairs: @ be sure there are metal back supports and that the frame is reinforced lo suspend the no-sag system; ® check the mechanism carefully for ease of operation; @ remember to keep children’s little fingers away from your chair’s works. If you’re iooking for a sectional sofa bed: ® try it. Open the unit, sit on it, lie on it, make sure it provides the comfort and support you or your guests require; @ move the sofa bed mechanism in and out of the frame cavity — it should work smoothly and with litde effort; @ the mechanism should be stur- dily built of tubular steel;- ® the decking must be part of the support system of the seating unit and the mattress — look for in- terlocking steel wires with springs on either end; @ ohce again, cushion foam should be a minimum 1,8-pound density, and the cushions should be dacron-wrapped for shape retention; © the mattress should have a minimum coil count of 252 and be covered with layers of foam and felt. Quality features of an cight- way hand-tied sofa: . @ frame must meet al! the stand- ards discussed before, hardwood, kiln and/or air dried, corner blocked, double-dowelled, glued and screwed together; @ look for built-in legs, including a centre leg at the front rail; @ basic to this type of construc- tion is interwoven jute webbing — make sure it’s there; © it forms the base to anchor coil springs. They must be individually hand-tied, eight ways, with jute twine, front to back, side to side and across two diagonals; ® proper back support depends upon sinuous wire back springs, with spring helicals or cross-wires; @ feel the front rail for high den- sity foam edge cushioning, and the arms for padding; H For two weeks only, our entire selection af custom made Contour Select Vertical Blinds is on sale. Choose from over 100 beautiful fabrics and colours. ‘SHEERS H Move atfordable than ever, this special selection of custom sheers is available in 3X ONLY fuliness. This new low price uchudes fabric and labour. (Min. 3° wide X 96" height Max.) ; r CANADA'S LARGEST BLIND & DRAPERY SPECIALIST! WORTH VAKCOUYER 1226 Marine Drive ce” Chi CHTOUR ing trip @ make sure the fabric pattern is perfectly matched from the back, across the scat and down the skir- ting; @ skirting must be lined for smooth, perfect pleating and cor- nering. When investing in leather: @ ask the type of leather — full grain, top grain, split, ete. Each has its own qualities and price tange. When purchusing leather furniture, it is even more impor- tant to patronize reputable, well- established stores; @ ask if the leather is aniline dyed so you can be sure the hide has been completely soaked with that gorgeous color; @ leather is more difficult to sew than fabric. Check the seams ev- erywhere on the piece. Stitching must be straight, even and uniform, no lumps, no sharp edges; @ look for visible staples or nails — they shouldn’t be there; @ welts must be fastened tightly, no twists, tufting should be even and symmetrical, no unwanted tucks or dimples; ® look for strong frames and spring systems. Some sofa-recliners are built with com- puter-made double-cone coil springs that provide 24-coil-per- seat memory-flex suspension rein- forced with steel secured to the hardwood frame; __ @ is there a resilient soft edge front?; @ since leather is a lifetime pur- chase, the foam must be high density in the cushioning. Ask if it has been manufactured without chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which have been linked to the depletion of the ozone layer. What about fabrics? @ the fabrics you choose must be right for the setting in which they are to be used. Textured, strong, durable materials are. best for high-traffic rooms where children and pets are likely factors. Save the silks, soft linens, the more delicate chintzes for adult rooms, or areas of low traffic. And ail leathers are not equal, in durability at feast. Keep soft glove leather for your special. retreat; use full grain or saddle leather in high-activity rooms. " sore the G4. On most! ot our custom blinds. 1 : per pleated foot {includes labour) ‘ cot PhAST leather bands and~ west VANCOUVER [ 925-3655.