Cool places for furniture?
 

OK, it's that time: I'm getting some new furniture. While vomiting at the expense of furniture in general, I still enjoy blowing cash, so let's not worry about cost right now - however, after looking through all the usual suspects (local places, the 'major' name online retailers) I'm not really happy with what's happening.

Anyone have any suggestions on other places I should look? I'm looking for a relatively modern look (loft-style setting), but I'm not sure I want anything that looks like a starfish or includes the words "freeform" - plus I don't want it to look as out-of-date as my grandma's basement in 10 years.

So yeah - anybody know of any retailers that I might be overlooking? Suggest away, boys and girls first person to post "pier 1" gets beaten with a shovel, i'm not kidding

Clearly you just need to get a bunch of Liberator pieces for your swinging bachelor pad.

Have you looked into CB2? It's kinda like Crate and Barrel for the more "modern" set. http://www.cb2.com

I'm assuming you've probably already looked at Pottery Barn, but their Teen line has some cute and interesting things as well. http://www.pbteen.com

Urban Outfitters has nice stuff, too.

I got some of my furniture at IKEA- They have some pretty decent stuff and everything they have is dirt cheap.

I like a lot of the stuff at West Elm.

yep, IKEA is a good place for stuff like that, and you can typically find some good deals in the "as is " department...its where they sell all of their floor models for something ridiculous like 50 percent off. When I worked at the IKEA in Pittsburgh, one of my coworkers got a leather sofa for a hundred bucks.

I don't know whether Dane Design exists outside of OKC, but if they do, that's a good place to go.

eta: Never mind, they're only in OKC.

We don't really get national chains here.

Guys -

I've been through all the "first-tier" places like IKEA - it's not like I didn't do any research here - and while I like some of the IKEA stuff, I'm very picky (because I'm kind of a douche bag) and would like some more options - anything else similar?

mu_agd -

The West Elm stuff is pretty solid - drop me an IM and we'll discuss, thanks though, that's the type of place I'm looking for.

I was going to mention West Elm -- I love what I've seen in their catalogs, although I haven't purchased anything from them yet. Design Within Reach is HOT, but, uh, only within your reach if you want to shell out some $$$. Mod Livin' is a cute local place out here, but their website says free shipping for most stuff over $100, so that might be an option.

I have a catalog at home that has some funky, modern, inexpensive stuff -- I can't remember what the hell it's called but I'll let you know.

I don't know where all you looked in the DM, but did you check out this place?
Projects Furniture They're probably $$$$ but some of their stuff looks cool.

Damn, I hate all this stuff. Urban furniture, terrible.

I tend not to like contemporary furniture, but I've heard a lot of people are fans of West Elm. Somehow I'm on their email list; I think they're connected with some other chain store where I've bought furniture/etc.

Places I like...

Z Gallerie: www.zgallerie.com
Scan Design: www.scan-design.com

Did you also look at chains like Macy's, Dania, Thomasville? You should also look at furniture consignment shops locally if you have them...some great finds in those.

West Elm is the cheaper cousin of Pottery Barn...owned by the same company as PB and Williams-Sonoma. If you get one of their catalogs, you likely get them all.

Yeah, I was going to say try consignment shops or estate sales if you don't like contemporary stuff.

Just go to Pottery Barn and Ethan Allen and call it a day.

Actually, a lot of the consignment shops here in Seattle have a great deal of deco and contemporary stuff. Mostly stuff from the 1980s that is trendy again. And then they have the more traditional stuff too. But that's here...I don't know if that's true of other places.

Pottery Barn has good quality furniture, though, and they'll replace it if there are defects...they replaced my mom's couch two months after she got it because it started to "creeeeeek."

Ah, got it thanks. We've gotten stuff from both, which would explain the emails.

Pottery Barn's furniture is cheaply made, overpriced particle board. I wouldn't touch their stuff with a ten foot pole.

Consumer Reports gave them a good flogging in a recent article for how poorly made their stuff is.

I am sitting on a 10 y/o couch from Pottery Barn. It is delightful and made from fluffy fabric.

I got my dining room table and chairs from Pottery Barn maybe seven years ago or so and they're super and seem like they'll last forever. I'd love to get more modern furniture, but why spend money when I have something perfectly good blah blah blah.

Exactly. Pottery Barn USED to have decent quality furniture.. if you like that style.. but now they've been using sub-standard material. It's mostly over-priced crap.

Read the Consumer Reports article.

So, once, Consumer Reports did this test on infant carseats and rated a bunch as unsafe or subpar. And then it was discovered that CR outsourced these tests and they were run at a much higher rate of speed than stated, skewing the results and then CR later retracted their findings.

So yeah, I don't have much faith in CR.

And I like PB, they fit well with my Midwestern plebian tastes.

That's the way I feel - I have most of my furniture from local places (Jordan's in the Boston area is really good), but we have some Pottery Barn stuff that has lasted really well.

Whatever happened to a classic leather couch and plush leather chairs. That's what's in my living room, and probably will be for awhile because it's not "trendy" and won't go out of style.

Well, if you like particle board furniture.. what can I say? :rolleyes:

Regarding Consumer Reports... is this what you're talking about?
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/b...7_seats_ov.htm

Personally, I have a lot of faith in CR, because they realized their study was flawed and immediately retracted the story. If they tried to cover it up, THEN I would lose faith.

I also like the fact that they take no advertising so that their results wouldn't be influenced by advertising revenue.

Here is quote from their retraction:

"We withdrew the report immediately upon discovering a substantive issue that may have affected the original test results. The issue came to light based on new information received Tuesday night and Wednesday morning from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) concerning the speed at which our side-impact tests were conducted.

The original study, published in the February issue of Consumer Reports, was aimed at discovering how infant seats performed in tests at speeds that match those used in the government’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). This program tests most new vehicles in crashes at speeds of 35 mph for frontal impact and 38 mph for side impact. Child safety seats, in contrast, are currently tested only in front-impact crashes at speeds of 30 mph.

Our tests were intended to simulate side crashes at the NCAP speed of 38 mph. The new information raises a question about whether the tests accurately simulated that speed, however, so we are now reviewing our tests and the resulting article."

I don't think anything happened to it, I just think people have very strong feelings when it comes to furniture (especially since it's one of the first impressions in people's homes). I don't like contemporary stuff, but I know some people who wouldn't be caught dead with a leather chair, or any of the stuff I have, in their home.

Nothing "happened" to it - in fact, the overwhelming majority of sites suggested in this thread have many straightforward leather designs, for just the reason you mentioned (also, that's one of my major issues when shopping for the space I'm in - I don't want it to look like a '70s space station in 5 years).

The couch I bought from a local high-end furniture store three years ago is already wearing out. Meanwhile, my mom's five-year-old PB couch is as good as the first day she got it...it's cushions are like new, no creaking or squeaks. And my five-year-old PB bedside tables are still perfect.

Here's a secret for those who don't know: PB, Crate and Barrel, and I'm sure other stores, all have their furniture made by third party manufacturers in North Carolina. There's probably very little difference between them in terms of quality and how they're made. A saleswoman at C&B told me that when I was looking at furniture there.

I didn't read the CR story, but how can they test something like, say, a sofa, for quality/value? Don't they need to monitor the piece over time? For bookcases, tables, etc. maybe it's different, but for things like sofas, plush chairs it's really hard to tell.

Thanks I was also wondering the same thing as KSigKid, I just started getting their catalogs one day and was wondering how they got my information. They just recently opened a store by my parents house and I've been meaning to go. There were definitely a few things in the catalog that I would like check out in person.

ikea is so cool i love there beds

Just because you buy something from a "high end" store does not mean it is of good quality. Mercedes and BMW make lemons too. Expensive does not always equal quality.

Sort of.... although some of Pottery Barn's upholstered furniture does indeed come from North Carolina from the Mitchell Gold Co, (they supply to PB, C&B and Restoration Hardware-- all crap in my opinion) but much of Potterty Barn's merchandise is imported from China and Vietnam. (which is not necessarily a bad thing-- much high end furniture comes from there.. but so does a lot of junk).


They took the pieces apart to find out how they were made. For example, they found particle board instead of solid wood.

Pottery Barn is currently owned by Williams Sonoma. They're looking to dump the Pottery Barn chain for this reason-- and I think it tells you a little something about the catagory of furniture it's in!

Williams-Sonoma, which has a market capitalization of about $4 billion, has faced competition in its Pottery Barn chain as cheaper retailers such as Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. offer similar merchandise at lower prices.

http://www.gourmetretailer.com/gourm..._id=1003537861

I love interior design. It's fun to go in to the NY Design Center with my friend who is an interior designer and just take in the gorgeous furniture. Even the Metropolitan Museum has a whole antique furniture section on display.

If you want beautifully crafted furniture (at a high end price tag), then you'll have to go to manufacturers like EJ-Victor, Henredon, Auffrey and Henkel Harris.

For modern, you'd go to Design Lush http://www.designlush.com/
Breuton http://www.brueton.com/
Dennis Miller http://www.dennismiller.com/
Desegno by James Diperisa http://www.designlush.com/

My point is that if you don't have much money right now... go for Ikea. Like Pottery Barn, it's not good furniture-- but at least it's not overpriced.

We just got a Henredon here...that place is crazy expensive! Some nice stuff, but some of it is WAY too BIG to look normal in even a mansion. A lot of oversized stuff.

I was just trying to offer up a few options that were reasonable in price. Of course there are more expensive options out there, but I don't think that's what the OP was asking.

Hav u herd of Ikea?

i herd its gr8 do u <3 ikea?

You mean the Fourth Circle of Hell?

I went in an Ikea one time, and I have never wanted to run from a store so badly. We were on the road back home, and my wife dropped me off to look for a few things for the house while she and the kids went to a Lego store. That, of course, took a while, so I had nothing to do and no way to leave. Neither of us had ever been in an Ikea before, but we had heard raves about it. I swear, they designed that place specifically to induce cluastrophobia and agoraphobia. The one-way design was beyond annoying.

I saw maybe two pieces of furniture/light fixtures that I would even consider putting in my house -- otherwise it was like walking in a Scandanavian/Danish modern/urban/particle board and chrome nightmare.

Can you tell I hated it? I mean really hated it?

But, have you tried their Swedish Meatballs? :D

Do you know what would be greater than Swedish Meatballs? Seeing you fall off a cliff.

No shit. Jesus guys.

1.) IKEA SUCKS, STFU ABOUT F-ING IKEA, OBVIOUSLY I'VE BEEN THROUGH THEIR STUFF AKJALFDKFDJSLF - I should have put that instead of Pier1 in the OP, and now I know

2.) I believe I indicated "don't worry about price" - so saying "it's crap but at least it's cheap" is making me want to perform seppuku

3.) Everyone else: thanks a ton, it's been really helpful - a lot of good stuff, I appreciate it, thank you.

See how much he loves me? Boys always tease girls when they have a crush on them. Wow.. I'm marrying a rich rancher from Texas who mooches off mommy and daddy! I'm so excited!