DHA® eNews - 2019 Design Trends: Islands Out, Tall Doors In
Perhaps the most surprising design trend this year is the anticipated decline of the kitchen island. Expect to see even bigger, taller doors with clean lines.
This year's home design trends include warm neutral colors. As the popularity of white kitchens declines, some experts predict more black kitchens. Designers are recommending six surprising kitchen cabinet colors: turquoise, yellow, navy, red, orange, and purple.
The U. S. Department of Commerce published preliminary results from a review which found that imports of multilayered flooring from China were unfairly dumped in the U.S. at heightened rates. The 2016-2017 administrative review of 146 Chinese companies showed that flooring was dumped at rates as high as 96.51%.
This week's executive order directs the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture to more actively manage federal forests to reduce the risk of forest fires.
EPA has signed the final risk and technology review rule for surface coating of wood building products. This RTR covers hazardous emissions when applying coatings to various wood products. Many mills are now using reformulated coatings to lower emissions. The final rule reaffirms earlier findings.
Columbia Forest Products has promoted three managers into newly created positions. Congratulations to John Hampton, Director of Plywood Sales; Mike Young, Director of Supply Chain & Customer Service; and Gary Meyer, Director of Customer Service. All are internal promotions.
Armstrong officially completed the sale of its wood flooring operations to private equity firm American Industrial Partners on December 31. The proceeds from the $100 million sale amounted to about $90 million; a post-closing working capital adjustment will be made during the first quarter of 2019.
Roseburg has agreed to buy the PotlatchDeltic MDF plant in El Dorado, AR. The acquisition will be Roseburg's third MDF plant purchase in as many years. Roseburg acquired Pembroke MDF in eastern Ontario in early 2018 and an MDF plant in Medford, OR in 2015.
The high costs of logs and low sales prices for plywood have caused a critical log supply shortage in Malaysia and Indonesia. Many plywood mills have been forced to stop production.
Cabinet sales rose slightly in November, up 0.3%, driven by increased sales of stock and custom cabinets.
Canada's timber industry has been quieter this winter as wildfires and bug infestations transformed tracts of once valuable forests into stands of dead trees. Hardest hit is British Columbia, home to nearly one-third of the country's wood manufacturing jobs. Last year, British Columbia's lumber industry went from record high prices to a steep decline. In 2019, the industry hopes that new wood construction technology and demand in Asia will make up for continuing trade disputes with the U.S.
Source: BC Local News
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has released its 2018 edition of The State of the World's Forests, designed to increase understanding of how the sustainable management of forests contributes to sustainable development. North America's abundant, growing forests provide 15% of the earth's total forest cover.
Source: Illegal Logging Portal
Cities consume more than 67% of global energy and are responsible for 70% of global carbon emissions. Better landscape design could be part of the solution, as the carbon stored by trees and soil will help offset emissions from buildings. Sustainably managed forests play a crucial role in curbing climate change, in two ways: by removing carbon from the atmosphere and by providing a natural, renewable, and less energy-intensive building material.
Source: Nisqually Valley News
Carbon dioxide is essentially a fast food diet for forests. While this results in faster growth in the short term, researchers believe that growth may soon peak as trees deplete nitrogen in the soil during longer growing seasons.
Source: Twitter
Following a slow housing market in 2018, expect a tough year for buyers and sellers in 2019.
New construction starts in November dropped 7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $789.3 billion. Non-residential building slowed by 15%.
The number of mortgage applications fell 5.8% on a seasonally-adjusted basis in December.
To help stimulate the housing market, the FHA raised mortgage loan limits for first-time buyers from $294,515 to $314,827.