Home Page vs Virtuemart Default Page?

[Tim777]

Joomla 2.5.7
Virtuemart 2.0.12

Ok, my default shop page (called Shop Now) is different from my home page (Index.)  I have a product filter (Custom Filters from Break Designs) assigned my default shop page. The filter is progressive.  For instance I might filter first by Material and then by Color, followed by Style, etc.  The filter appears as multiple check boxes on the left side (think Amazon.com.) Each level is processed individually.  For example, If you filter by "brown" the filter runs and returns all brown items.  Then you can further refine your selection with the next check box for say Materials, Style, etc.

The problem I am experiencing is this; if I do not assign the filter to my home page "Index" (I do not want it there being that it is not my shop page and does not contain any products) it does not appear on the search results page.  It is there initially, but as soon as the filter is applied for the first level it does not appear on the search results and so no further filtering is possible.

I have a feeling it might be related to the Virtuemart default page.  I have a search function on the Virtuemart home page (Shop Now.)
When I do a standard product search the search results page shows up in breadcrumbs as:
Home>Shop Now>Category Layout>Item results
When I apply the filter the breadcrumb is:Home>Search Results

Am I on the right track?  Any ideas on this?

Thanks in advance!!!

Tim