To understand more about how the information on designonlineinc.com is organized and formatted, how products are classified and how we interpret the classifications, go directly to any of the following explanations:

CRITERIA SEARCHES
The Criteria Search screen appears after you have selected a catalog to browse or a particular product search. This search allows you to customize your selections according to your individual needs. The criteria fields include Manufacturer, Measurements, Style, Material, Price, Country of Origin, Period and the Keyword Search. In the Contract Data Base you can also select Wood Species, Quick Ship Options and GSA Searches. You may enter a selection in one or any combination of these fields. It is best to start with your most important criteria and narrow from there, if necessary. It is not necessary, and probably too restrictive, to enter a requirement in every field. An explanation of each of these and how we interpret them follows.

Manufacturer: Allows you to search one manufacturer for a specific product. If you are looking for a coffee table but know you only want to use a specific manufacturer, i.e. Century, you can highlight Century here and look at all Century's coffee tables. You can also use any of the other fields and narrow to look at Century's contemporary coffee tables, 48" tables or coffee tables under $2,000.

Measurements: You may search width, depth and height measurements. If you enter a measurement in the size category, it will search for a range between inches i.e.: 30-36 or 37-42. In most cases a product can be utilized if it is an inch or two smaller or larger. The computer is literal, however. If you need a 35 inch product and you search 30-36, you may also wish to choose 37-42 if a 37 inch item would also work.

Some measurements in our system are perhaps at odds with your normal instincts to search. The length of a Dining Table or Console Table is entered as its width and the width is entered as depth. The width of a Chaise Lounge is entered as width and its length is entered as depth.

Materials: This field identifies the primary construction material. Some are obvious, others are not. To help you understand our thinking, we list each of these materials with a brief description of what we consider it to be.

• Acrylic/Lucite: Products made from clear, colored, or trimmed acrylic substances.
• All Upholstered: Substantially upholstered pieces with only feet or short legs visible. (This includes most wing chairs, for instance, unless surrounded by a wood frame.) Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: This includes natural products such as geodes, dried flowers and plants, etc.
• Canvas, Fabric or Leather: All products made from these products, not just covered by them. For example, woven leather chairs, canvas umbrellas, woven wall hangings, etc. Combination: Refers to items made from more than one material in fairly equal amounts. For example, a wood chest with a removable marble top is primarily wood, and therefore classified as "wood". A metal base table with an overlay glass or marble top is primarily metal and classified as "metal". However, a metal table with inset glass is a combination material because glass and metal are equally part of the table.
• Composition: Products made from resins or other molded and composite materials.
• Fiber: Products made from jute, string, and other natural fibers such as sisal rugs, fiber art, or woven seagrass products.
• Glass/Crystal/Mirror: Products made substantially from glass, crystal or mirror, such as crystal lamps, mirrored cubes or furniture, glass bottles, vases, etc.The one exception is mirrors (we enter the frame material.) The only time that a mirror is entered in this category is when the frame is an actual mirror, i.e. Venetian and contemporary mirrors.
• Laminate: While laminate is essentially a finish, rather than a construction material, it is such a large part of furniture that it is generally considered a material, particularly in the Contract field. We, therefore, enter Laminate in both the Material and Finish fields. Marble/Stone/Fossil: While this too can be considered a Finish, it is often difficult to tell how much of the product is another material. We consider products completely covered with marble or fossil to be that material. Stone is generally solid and not a veneer. Chests, tables, etc. with marble tops are classified by construction material.
• Metal: Products made primarily from metal, such as brass, chrome, pewter, iron, steel, etc. To find these metals, search the Finish field.
• Paper: Products made with paper, i.e. prints, collages, corrugated furniture, etc.
• Porcelain/Pottery: Products made from pottery, glazed or unglazed.
• Wicker/Rattan/Bamboo: Products made from these materials.
• Wood: Products made with wood.
• Miscellaneous: Products made with any material not represented in this field---if there are such products.

Style: Style is the only wholly subjective criteria. What is formal to one designer may not be formal to another. Use Style to narrow large searches quickly. If you don't find what you want, check some of the closely related styles. Following is a brief description of our interpretation of Styles located in our program.

• Casual: Furniture used for casual situations. This includes most wicker and slipcovered style upholstery.
• Contemporary: Straight lines, modern styling, sleek finishes, contemporary materials such as metal and faux stones.
• Country: Planked tops, turned legs, some painted and distressed finishes, generally the provincial pieces of any style, such as ladderback chairs and farmhouse tables.
• Elegant: Usually refers to furniture with inlay, metallic trims, gloss finishes, etc. which at the same time remain understated.
• Juvenile: Products designed for children and teens.
• Novelty: Pieces which are as much art as furniture or accessory and which push the boundaries of the unusual.
• Ornate: Heavily carved, inlaid, trimmed or all three.
• Rustic: The most primitive of materials and finishes such as twig furniture, bark finishes, and heavy planked case pieces.
• Sophisticated: Pieces that do not conform to the normal styling of their period, designs that are unusual but appropriate and fall short of novelty.
• Southwestern: Furniture with a Southwestern influence.
• Traditional Formal: Furniture falling into period categories before 1900 with carving, inlay, or polished finishes.
• Traditional Informal: Same as above, but with little or no carving, detail or finishes.
• Versatile: Seating and casegoods which could be used in either traditional or contemporary settings. This includes many Oriental pieces, straight simple lines such as some Biedermeier,or parsons leg styles. Many upholstery styles are versatile because they could be considered either contemporary or traditional depending on the fabric used.
• Whimsical: Products that display humor.
• Miscellaneous: Anything we don't know how to classify.

Origin: Refers to the country where the design originated, not where it is made. The chair or table may have been made in the United States or the Orient, but if it is a Chippendale style, the Country of Origin would be England. This criteria allows you to zero in on a look, such as English, French, American, African, etc.

Price: The manufacturer's suggested retail or list price. This lets you perform an "apples to apples" comparison. Seating prices are COM. Casegoods and other prices are generally in STANDARD finishes unless otherwise stated in the description. Prices are all searchable under a certain level. Usually you can use a piece even if the price is lower than you expect but not too much higher. Therefore, if you search under $1,000, everything under $1,000 will appear. Remember that the computer operates literally. If the price is $1,010, it will be thrown into the next level. You may want to play around with the pricing levels.

Finish: Refers to the outside of a piece - a wood stain, gold leaf, or painted, all of which can be found on wood. While many pieces are available in a number of finishes, we classify them as they are shown in the catalog. This generally shows the variety of finishes offered by a manufacturer. (The only exception is leather upholstery. Unless a piece comes standard in leather, it is classified and priced by fabric. As a professional, you know that most upholstery can be done in either and the leather price is generally higher. This allows you to compare more accurately.) Most finishes are self-explanatory. Those listed below may need some clarification.

• Combination: Refers to more than one finish on a piece, such as a wood top on a painted base or a mirrored front on a painted chest.
• Custom: A piece shown in a custom finish
• Fabric: This generally refers to all upholstered furniture. As previously explained, upholstery pieces shown in leather are also classified and priced in Fabric/COM. Pillows, duvets, coverlets, etc. that are made from fabric are also classified by fabric finish where appropriate.
• Ink, Pencil, Dyed: Almost consistently dealing with art such as prints, sketches, etc.
• Laminated: Both a material and a finish.
• Misc. Metals: Metal finishes that are natural and not otherwise classified, such as iron. Many iron pieces are painted and are classified Material/Metal, Finish/Painted.
• Natural: Many woods such as teak, maple, and oak are available unfinished or with a varnish or lacquer finish. Natural products such as marble and stone are also classified as natural.
• Oil: Primarily for art.
• Watercolor/Chalk: Primarily for art.

Period: The program assumes a certain level of knowledge about the history of furniture. With so many overlapping styles and style names, it's easier to include them in parts of centuries instead of listing them in a classification system. Following is a short overview of the style names appearing in each of our classification date spans.

• 16th Century/Earlier: Renaissance, Tudor, Gothic, Egyptian, Greek, Klismos are style terms for this period; although, in truth, there have not been a great many pieces of furniture passed down from this period that did not reappear as a revival in a later century.
• 17th Century/Baroque: Style names associated with the 17th century include Baroque, Charles II, William and Mary, Elizabethan, Jacobean, Louis XIV, Louis III, Early American and Colonial.
• 18th Century Early: Style names associated with the first 30 or so years of the 18th century include Queen Anne, Early Georgian or George I, and French Regence'.
• 18th Century Mid/ Rococo: Terms and names associated with the mid 18th century (approximately 1730-1770) include Rococo, Louis XV, Chippendale, Mid Georgian, George II, and early George III.
• 18th Century Late: Classic, Adam, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Post Colonial, Federal, Louis XVI, Directoire, and Neoclassic are terms and styles associated with the last 30 years of the 18th century.
• 19th Century Early/Empire: English Regency, Empire, Biedermeier, Restoration, Charles X, Napoleon III, Greek Revival, Duncan Phyfe, Shaker, Hitchcock, apply to furniture styles of the first 40 to 50 years of the 19th century.
• 19th Century Late/Victorian: Victorian (Belter) and Revival styles dominated the late 19th century.
• 20th Century Early: Spanning the last 10 years of the 19th century and into the early 20th century are the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts (MacIntosh) styles. We classify them with early 20th century in most cases, unless the piece is a particularly early example of either style. Other style names associated with the first 40-50 years of the 20th century include Mission, Modern, Art Deco, Eclectic, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
• 20th Century Late: Any furniture or accessory made after 1950.