Furniture | featured news

Swedish furniture giant Ikea says it "deeply regrets" the fact that some of its suppliers used forced prison labor in communist East Germany more than two decades ago.

Best known for its budget flat-pack furniture, Scandinavian retailer Ikea is planning to launch a chain of budget hotels in Europe. The property division of Inter Ikea - the company that owns the Ikea intellectual property rights - is planning hotels in 100 locations across Europe. The first two hotels are expected to open in Germany in 2014. Other locations earmarked for hotels include Belgium, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, Britain and Poland.

The U.S. Senate is out of town this week, and somebody may want to make sure its furniture is safe and secure. An employee assigned to care for furniture used by Senate offices stole and illegally sold more than $13,700 worth of tables and chairs to a used furniture dealer in Virginia, according to a new watchdog report and people familiar with the investigation.

U.S. consumers spent more on autos, clothing and furniture in September to boost retail sales by the most in seven months.

A worker at a furniture liquidation business found bundles of cash hidden in the back of an armoire. The owners of the company, Liz and Mark Thompson of ET Estate Sales & Liquidation, traced the furniture to an estate sale and were able to return $20,000 to the family of the owner.