Furniture

Thursday, Nov. 14, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Maidstone Interiors, 117 Summit Ave., Hagerstown. Tickets are $9, and are available by calling The Women's Club at 301-739-0870 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. or purchased at the door. Proceeds will preserve and maintain the historic Womens' Club.

Richard "R.M. " Garvin isn't on the friendliest of terms with plywood. A furniture maker, Garvin's Sharpsburg Pike home is filled with handmade furniture, nearly all of which is for sale. But nary a piece of plywood is to be found - which isn't always the case with some other furniture billed as being authentic reproductions of antique pieces. "They can't be true copies if they have plywood backs and plywood drawer bottoms," Garvin, 84, said. His pieces consist of solid wood - including the backs and drawer bottoms.

Name of business: By Grace Handmade Furniture and Crafts Owners: Emory and Alice Rose Address: 2 S. Potomac St., Hagerstown Opening date: July 2 Products and services: Handmade furniture, jewelry, dolls, quilts, glassware, belts, baby clothes and items, candles and photography. Also custom makes furniture pieces for wholesale or retail. The business recently started a children's craft corner. Market area: Four-state area How did you get into your business, or what motivated you to start it?

Q: We're newlyweds, but this is the second time around, and we both have two kids. I want to get rid of my old furniture and start fresh, but it seems a bit crazy. Oh, we also have two dogs in our merged family. Maybe I should get plastic slipcovers? A: Plastic slipcovers! There's a thought I haven't had in years. Not since I wrote a feature for the New York Daily News on plastic slipcovers. Researching the story, I discovered three important facts: Plastic slipcovers are congenital: If your mother had them, you might, too. Cats won't sit on them and small children stick to them.

Q: We found a lot of old furniture in my aunt's attic - two dining chairs and a table, a sideboard with a serpentine front, pieces like that. Interesting, but nothing goes together. It's also not in very good shape. I actually remember when she bought the furniture (in the l960s), so I know they're not valuable antiques. But my daughter thinks the stuff is wonderful. The trouble is, she wants to paint it all white or beige. Would that be a mistake? A: Not an easy decision, but you've already addressed three good reasons for saying yes, paint the pieces: The furniture has little intrinsic value.

The work order Ron Eyler received was nothing special in terms of money. The four reupholstery jobs D&R Interiors has done since last May brought in a couple of thousand dollars, Eyler said. The noteworthy part of the project is the customer: Vice President Al Gore. Actually, it was the vice president's office. Eyler said he refurbished furniture for the official vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "It means something to you. It's sort of interesting to do work for someone like that," he said.

WILLIAMSPORT - Red Barron's current furniture and bedding store building soon will have a new owner, enabling the business to consolidate its operations nearby. Paul Crampton Contractors Inc., which is based near Funkstown, is buying the 415 S. Conococheague St. building for $1.25 million, Randy Barron said recently. After the deal goes to settlement, Paul Crampton said Friday, he will seek to lease the 25,860-square-foot building for retail, office or other uses. "It's a great location - right off Interstate 81," he said.

A stroller from 1931, porcelain dolls, McCoy cookie jars — over the past four years, St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Big Pool has given away items ranging from antique valuables to used furniture and clothing. Helene Drury, who helps run the annual giveaway, said it was an expansion of the church's rummage sales, which made clothing and household goods available and inexpensive. The first giveaway was held in 2008 as a way for people to access those goods at no charge. "That's when everybody first started losing their jobs and homes," she said.

andrear@herald-mail.com WILLIAMSPORT - Shane and Diane French have added A Touch of Country to 11 E. Potomac St. in Williamsport. The couple's new store in the spacious building which once housed a bicycle shop features an eclectic selection of old and new country-, traditional- and primitive-style home decor items and furniture at reasonable prices. "We know to make a good go of it we have to keep our prices low," Shane French said. "We want to offer a good quality at a low price.

Name of business: Seek No Further antiques and furniture Owners: Robert and Twila Risser Address: 38 E. Main St., Waynesboro, Pa. Opening date: Oct. 1, grand opening Products and services: Carefully selected antique furniture and accessories, solid woods and choice 18th- century treasures of quality crafting Market area: Tri-State area of Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania How did you...

Christian Social Services thanks furniture donors To the editor: Christian Social Services in McConnellsburg, Pa., wishes to thank the 44 people who donated furniture. We were amazed at the large number of sofas, love seats, chairs, tables and chairs, end tables, recliners and dressers that were delivered to our storage shed. Two stoves, two refrigerators and some lamps were given to us. Almost all were delivered by a gentleman named Raymond, who called to donate his stove.

Final preparations are under way for Saturday's Waynesboro (Pa.) Area Gala Cancer Auction, an event that has raised nearly $1.8 million for the American Cancer Society since its inception 32 years ago. Live bidding begins Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Green Grove Gardens off Pa. 16 outside Greencastle. A silent auction starts at 4 p.m. The auction moved this year from downtown Waynesboro, according to Jill Kessler of the fundraiser's steering committee. “We're hoping to draw from the Waynesboro/Greencastle area,” Kessler said.

City officials Sunday afternoon were dealing with a flooding situation at the old Statton Furniture Manufacturing Co. at 504 E. First St., according to a Washingon County 911 supervisor. The flooding was reported at 3:50 p.m., after water pipes in the building thawed following the recent cold weather, the supervisor said. The Hagerstown Fire Department responded and the city's water department went to the building to shut off the building's water supply, the supervisor said. The building was sold in 2009 after the factory closed.

Some artifacts more than 150 years old and related to residents who lived on what is now Antietam National Battlefield during the Civil War are now on display at the battlefield visitor center. The battlefield held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday morning to announce the opening of a new museum exhibit room in the visitor center that highlights the effect the battle had on the nation and families who lived there. Artifacts and photographs are included in the exhibit, and veterans returning to the battlefield for reunions is also documented, as well as the creation of the park by the United States War Department.

Two men were arrested Wednesday night while trying to steal copper wire from a former Hagerstown furniture factory, Hagerstown Police said in a news release. Steven Duane Bloyer Jr., 33, of 1017H Noland Drive, Hagerstown; and Charles Arthur Sullivan, 29, of 1596 Carey Lane, Frederick, Md., were charged with second-degree burglary, felony theft, destruction of property, trespassing and possession of burglary tools, according to the release. Bloyer and Sullivan were arrested shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday by detectives from Hagerstown Police and the Washington County Sheriff's Office as they attempted to steal copper wire from the Statton Furniture Manufacturing Co. building at 504 E. First St., the release said.

Ashley Furniture HomeStore celebrated the opening of its new store on Wesel Boulevard in Hagerstown Saturday with a ribbon cutting and a $25,000 furniture giveaway. The new store opened in December 2011, store owner Abdul Ayyad said, and will replace the former Ashley location at Longmeadow Shopping Center. Ayyad said he has one more year on his lease for the Longmeadow store. He plans to operate the building as a clearance outlet until the lease expires, he said. Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. is headquartered in Arcadia, Wis., and manufactures and distributes home furniture products throughout the world.

Large pieces of construction equipment will be delivered to downtown Chambersburg next week to demolish the former Harmon's Furniture building on North Main Street. Demolition will not start for another couple weeks because crews remain focused on hauling materials away from another site, which also is part of a $1.8 million renovation to the county courthouse complex, Franklin County Administrator John Hart said. “We're still anticipating we'll have the complete project done by October,” Hart said.

When Bishop Armando Figueroa started preaching in 1997 in Williamsport, only two people were listening. Today, there are about 120 people in Figueroa's congregation and he said he is excited about the church he is building for them in the former Davids Furniture & Interiors store at 117 Summit Ave. Figueroa said when he started preaching in the area, there were not as many Hispanic people in the community. Today, his Spanish-speaking Fuego Fresco del Espiritu Santo church delivers sermons to Hispanics from the Hagerstown area, and to others from as far as Lancaster, Pa., Vienna, Va., and Bethesda, Md. In 2009, Davids President Michael Martin and Chief Executive Officer David Martin decided to close the store - which formerly was Maidstone Interiors - and the building was put up for auction in March 2009.

Wolf Furniture recently presented the Humane Society of Washington County with a check for $250 as part of its 2011 fiscal year-end contributions to local charities. Store Manager Tom Jones contacted the shelter about the donation. “We choose several local charities to donate to this year,” Jones said. “My staff loves animals and we already collaborate with the humane society by hosting an adoption event at our store the first Saturday of every month, so it seemed natural to include them in our year-end contributions.” “We are so fortunate to have such great partners in the community,” said Paul Miller, the animal shelter's executive director.