Butler Introduces Headboards, Coordinates For The Fist Time

Furniture World Magazine

Butler Specialty Company, offering its first selections for the bedroom with hand-painted headboards and coordinating pieces, now provides furniture and sleep-shop retailers, as well as designers, an opportunity to generate substantially more sales in this category. The new headboards feature multiple options for the retail floor. Sleigh Bed, Pediment Top and Country French styles are each available in various hand-painted colors – beige and honey, blue, gold and black, and red and black – and in twin, queen and king sizes. The company offers highboys, jewelry chests, vanities and other pieces that coordinate with the new headboards. Matching vanities with working sinks for master baths are also available for the first time. “This bedroom program can explode retail sales because of all the add-on opportunities,” said Dan Sumner, vice president of sales and marketing. “Other manufacturers may offer headboards, but no one else can create these sales opportunities with so many complementary pieces.” All bedroom pieces are part of Butler’s popular Artists’ Originals Collection, each piece uniquely painted in freehand without the use of stencils. The paintings feature Venetian scenes, florals and chinoiserie – all classical and designed to be the focal point of any bedroom. No two pieces in the collection are exactly alike. The new bedroom furniture created the most excitement at the October International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C. “To my knowledge, nobody else in the industry is doing this,” he said. “Ourretailers are excited about this new direction for us. Designers can have a field day with it. Conceptually, these headboards and coordinating pieces provide enormous design and sales opportunities.” Sumner said with suggested retail prices ranging from $800 to $1,200, the new headboards and coordinating pieces would be ideal for guest rooms, more sophisticated youth bedrooms and bed-and-breakfasts. He also expects these additions to expand Butler’s appeal to sleep shops. In the High Point showroom, Butler demonstrated opportunities to turn limited square footage into profit centers through various bedroom/bath vignettes. Founded in 1930, Chicago-based Butler designs and manufactures America's broadest, most diverse line of accent and occasional furniture. The company offers more than 600 pieces for every room in the home that are sold through roughly 3,500 dealers across America. Butler focuses 100 percent of its design, manufacturing, distribution, customer service and marketing resources on accent/occasional furniture. It has emerged over the past six years as the world's fastest-growing producer in this category. Typically, 70 percent of the entire line is in stock in Chicago and shipped within two weeks. Products include chests, tables, benches, chairs, game tables, console cabinets, secretaries, headboards, vanities, pedestals and globes. They are crafted from solid woods and veneers with exquisite inlays, marquetry and fossil stone. Many pieces feature authentic hand painting.