Words by Corinne L. Casazza | Showroom Photos by Brynn Burns
Two storefronts specialize in bringing high-design furniture and lighting to the home.
My Home Contemporary Furniture
enrik Svendsen recently reentered the furniture business after a 20-year respite from retail. Many friends and previous customers persuaded him to return and supply them with the high-end contemporary styles they craved and couldn’t find locally. And, of all things, the pandemic gave him the impetus to do it.
“I had time to do research during COVID and I found the building,” Henrik says. Business has been so brisk that recently some of the warehouse walls were blown out and replaced with large glass windows overlooking the highway to serve as a showcase.
The size of the showroom increased from an already impressive 22,000 square feet to 35,000 square feet—with all inventory now housed on-site. This makes it especially easy for same-day shopping and pick-up. You can find items as inexpensive as a $99 dining chair or invest as much as $30,000 for a luxurious power-recliner sofa from American Leather.
Besides featuring home-grown leather, My Home Contemporary Furniture is rooted in Scandinavian design and also boasts pieces from Italy, Denmark, Norway, Thailand, China and Vietnam. Henrik is working with Mexico to special-order leather and fabric couches that are ready for delivery in eight weeks.
He sees a range of trends: “Alf from Italy, high-gloss lacquer bedrooms and dining sets, to my own Puglia sofa from Mexico and Stressless from Norway.” New inventory is always arriving. Contemporary furniture has come home.
My Home Contemporary Furniture
5400 Antioch Drive, Merriam, Kansas
Museo
useo has been in business since 1992, when cofounder Steve Maturo filled a niche in the local market. He wanted to fulfill customer requests for modern classic design and lighting without sending them out of state to shop. The store occupies two floors of the Museo building on Main Street, along the streetcar’s coming expansion.
The 2,000-square-foot showroom has featured local artists for the last two years; most recently, pieces by textile artist Debbie Barrett-Jones (shown above). Steve showcases artists’ work by dressing furniture around their designs. This rethinking of the room has showcased media from paintings to textiles and from photography to sculpture.
“Both art and furniture are of equal importance within a space…the key is that they should live harmoniously within the same space,” Steve says. “As long as art and furniture speak to who their owner is, then I am convinced that they will work together, and your space will reflect who you truly are.”
Mid-century modern furniture is now trending at Museo. Steve says the trend is evolving from ’60s-era pieces that pushed the limits, toward the more forward-thinking ’70s.
The design may come from an earlier era, but this is not your grandparents’ furniture. These modular, nature-mimicking pieces have been refurbished with a focus on comfort and sustainability. The use of recycled materials transforms the old into a new lens with which to define your home environment.
MUSEO
3021 Main Street,
Kansas City, Missouri
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