Nff- What's hot, what's nc

NCE a taken-for-granted con- the discovering hardwood mouldings right now. Currently the Midwest likes hardwood mouldings. But dealers in all parts of the country should look into the availability and marketability of hardwood mouldings. They buy the pine mouldings and don't know there's anything else.

Vf|struction material, moulding has blossomed into a red hot d-i-y item. But some moulding manufacturers think their products could be moving even faster.

Here some leading moulding experts speak out on what's hot and what's not in today's growing market, and how dealers can heat up their own sales.

Q: What's hot industry today?

Neal Heflin, manager, moulding dept., Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta, Ga.: Mouldings. More total mouldings are being used and their overall popularity is greater, especially the more ornate profiles. Traditionally, in rhe last 15 to 20 years, people only used plain casing and base mouldings. They were commodity items used to cover cracks and joints. Now we have more decorative casing, bases, big crowns, chair rail mouldings, and so on.

Joe Morrison, sales manager, Sunset Moulding, Live Oak, Ca.: California in particular had always been a bargain basement for mouldings. Now we're seeing a lot more mouldings on the West Coast, larger mouldings in bigger sizes. The traditional wood homes are coming back in. It had been more man made materials, now it's the natural look. It used to be painted, now solid mouldings are in. Stains are in, again the natural look. If people are going to spend $120,000 for a house, an extra couple of thousand dollars to trim it doesn't seem to really affect them. It's a nice finishing touch.

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Q: Are there any definite trends as to what is popular in mouldings?

Harvey Ross, president, Foreign & Domestic Woods Inc., Bowling Green, Va.: Various patterns go in and out of style. Some are popular only in certain parts of the country. Yet there are really only two basic styles, colonial and ranch style. Overall, the decoratives have become popular. The crowns and chair rails are in, while the stark modern appearance is out.

Moulding in all kinds of designs is a recent trend. It was originally employed just to cover cracks and joints. We're in the business of hardwood mouldings, and not many hardwood people are in mouldings. Different parts of the country are

Q: What are the best sellins profiles?

Frank Cordova, sales manager, Duke City Lumber Co., Albuquerque, N.M.: The biggest movers are naturally the casing and base mouldings. The volume is grbatest because they are your basic, most necessary items. Third is crown moulding, the trim bordering the ceiling.

Morrison: Oak mouldings have really shot up. Across the United States, oak moulding sales have more than doubled. We're starting a plant in Rocklin, Ca., solely to manufacture oak mouldings, an item we've never even had before.

Q: But could mouldings be selling even better than they are now?