swedish
Follow me on Twitter

Friday Favorite: One King’s Lane

I am totally addicted to this shopping site. One King’s Lane sells luxury home goods and discounted prices. I stop by almost every day to see what’s up for grabs. If I ever get my Christmas list act together I’m going to do some serious damage there – probably just for myself!

Here are a few things that were up for sale as of yesterday.

one-kings-laneTrays, place mats and bowls from Pearl Dragon, pillows by Monya, and throws from Pur Cashmere (were $356, now $179). You have to act fast or the best stuff is gone. Great shopping site.

Great Deals at One Kings Lane

Everyone likes a bargain and I’m at the front of the line on that one. One King’s Lane is a nice little online shop. They offer limited time sales on higher quality home goods.

one-kings-laneTheir items run the gamut from lighting to sheets to tabletop things. And the discounts are real. So that’s good.

The only grumble I have is that you’ve got to sign up and have a password to enter. Wooooo! Quelle exclusif!

Spare me. Just let me in.

Trend alert! Letter Writing from Linda & Harriet

Remember the good old days when we used to get actual letters in the mail? I remember so well the hand-written letters on personal stationary that were packed with news. Linda & Harriet may bring the art of letter writing back into style. Their note cards certainly have lots of it – style that is.

linda-and-harriet-fuschiaTheir note cards are sold in sets of 6 and sell for $14.00 each.

linda-and-harriet-birchlinda-and-harriet-mooseEither one of the above styles would be perfect to send a farewell letter to Sarah Palin.

lind-and-harriet-mermaid

You can have the gals print your name on some of their styles. Initials are le must here in Grosse Pointe (speaking as Tucky)

linda-and-harriet-lobsterIf you’re from Maine, like many of my relatives, a lobster is always welcome. By the way, did you know that lobsters were so abundant back in the dark ages, that only poor people ate them? Go figure.

So scoot over to Linda and Harriet and check out their beautiful designs. They make the flowers I wrote about yesterday.

On a slightly more serious note, I do miss getting letters. Why don’t we all start a new trend and send our best friends a letter? Include a little photo, or a pressed flower from the garden. Don’t know what to say? Leave me the recipient’s name and the general topic in the comments and I’ll reply wtih a Jennifer-generated note. (No one will ever know).

Final note: If you’re not a letter writer, these notes would make great artwork.

Designer Styles on Sale

Three top design houses are holding super sales right now. I thought you’d want to take advantage of the savings.

Clarissa Hulse

clarissa-hulseFirst up is a fellow Hulse (my maiden name),  Clarissa Hulse. She has tons of things on sale in her salesshop. But she’s also discounted four of her bedding sets 20%. They are: Black Wingnut, Black Meadow Fireweed, Passionflower and Single Wingnut. Use the code: summer_20.

Designer’s Guild

designers-guildThe gorgeous pillows and throws, etc. that are the creations of Designer’s Guild are marked way down right now. Their sale ends this Sunday. So snap up the bargains! Plus, free shipping. Use Jasmine USA to get a $10 gift voucher!

Hable Construction

hable-constructionHable Construction is celebrating their 10th anniversary with a big sale. Lots of goodies you won’t want to miss.

So here’s a question for everyone. Do you like these sales notices? I’m wondering if you get a lot of them yourselves, so these are two-timing. Should I keep this sort of news coming?

Decorating your bedroom: Restoration Hardware v SFERRA & Scandia Down

I’ve got an interesting story to share. Comfy? My story starts last week when I went to Restoration Hardware to purchase their Italian sheets, which were 20% off. (I’m in their designer program, so I get 20% off all the time, except for sale items.)

restoration-hardware-sheets1

Restoration Hardware’s Italian Sheets

I knew that SFERRA was also having a sale offering 10% off (same trade discount deal there). Even so, SFERRA is better quality, therefore I assumed their prices would be higher. Since Scandia Down is just across the street (the mall street), I figured it was worth a quick jaunt to check. I was glad I did.

Will someone wait on me please?

First, the saleswomen at Scandia Down are salespeople – not clerks. They know their products. And they sell a lot of different brands, so that’s saying something. They once helped me pull a difficult look together. It took a considerable amount of time to do. But they were happy to do it, and, in fact, had fun trying different things. This time was no different. Knowing that price was important, the saleswoman suggested SFERRA’s Grande Hotel sheets (details to come) and pulled out the samples. Having the color I wanted in hand, she took me and the sample back to Restoration for a comparison. Which brings me to Point A.

sferra-sheets1

SFERRA’s Grande Hotel Sheets

I really don’t like shopping at Restoration because, if you can actually get someone to wait on you, they behave as if they’d rather not. They only thing they seem to know is the location of objects in the store. Help me mix and match things to create a look? FAIL.

The quality face-off

On to Point B – the quality and price comparison. Both brands were soft, but the stiching on the SFERRA sheets was superior. And the embroidered edging was fuller and more even. SFERRA wins on quality. Restoration’s sheets are sold as a set with pillowcases. I never use those, so I also buy shams ($79 each). Since SFERRA’s sheets are sold separately, they were the winner here as well – the prices were actually just about the same, but I’m not stuck with 2 pillowcases I’ll never use.

This is the end of my story. The moral is don’t make assumptions on price. And, be a salesperson, not a clerk.

Thoughts?

Chair of the Day: Lion’s Head

Are you Master Of All You Survey? My condolences.

design-hole-chair

At least you can feel like royalty whilst sitting in this fine specimen of a regal chair. It’s The Lion’s Head Pull Up Chair by Baker. Best of all, it’s on sale. Don’t tell the King next door – sshhh!

Designer’s Guild on sale

This must be “save big day”. Funny how that happens. Designer’s Guild just announced their home products sale.

designers-guild

Save up to 70% off on cushions, tablecloths, rugs and bath stuff. Their cushions (aka: pillows) are especially lovely.

UPDATE: They’ve now added free shippingif you spend more than $150.00.

One King’s Lane

One Kings Lane is a new site dedicated to selling only the finest merchandise at prices that are up to 70% off.

one-kings-lane

Many of their items are on sale for only one day and sell out fast.

One annoyance is that you have to register before you can shop. But they will give you a $25 gift certificate for getting your friends to sign up.

That’s a pretty nice deal.

via: NY Times

The Find, a book review

I spent last night reading The Find, a new interior design book by Stan Williams. The book features decorating tips and how-tos using thrift shop treasures from The Housing Works.

the-find-cover

The Housing Works is a chain of thrift shops, mostly located in New York. Proceeds from their sales go to homeless and low-income people living with HIV and Aids.the-find-image-1I like the way the book is organized. There are chapters on furniture, accessories, dining, small spaces and escapes (beach houses). Each chapter provides information on what to look for when shopping, like hallmarks on China and how to identify types of wood.the-find-image-3Don’t expect a lot of detail about how to refinish things. This is more of an idea book. There are some tips, and general how-to information. The Find is more focused on shopping and decorating and seeing hidden beauty.the-find-image-4

The photographs, by Jim Franco, are beautiful  and half the fun of The Find.

the-find-image-2

Grosse Pointe is a Mecca for thrift shop owners and collectors alike – you need a number to get in to most of then. This book will come in handy for me. I love shopping the tag and estate sales held here every weekend.

The Find, published by The Crown Publishing Group, is available at Amazon and your local book store. It retails for $27.0, but is on sale for about $18. If you’s like to learn more about the art of thrifting, hop on over to The Elegant Thrifter – a blog dedicated to the subject.

I’m on the hunt for new china (don’t tell misterarthur). I’ve found really great things, the best was probably a set of horned steak knives and a 12 piece place-setting of Delftware.

What’s your best treasure?

Chair of the Day: Ikat Slipper

This just caught my eye, so I thought I’d feature it for no particular reason other than it’s a great chair for the price.Urban Outfitters Chair

The Ikat Slipper Chair is from Urban Outfitters, and can be yours for the fantastic price of $325.

Let’s hope it’s not made of cardboard.

Megan Deal’s dollar store

Graphic designer, Megan Deal, has put together the world’s largest on-line dollar store. On June 1st she’s moving from Michigan to Alabama with only one suitcase. Everything else she owns is being sold on her new site Not < 1. wafflesAre you in the market for a sidewalk chalk, a watch, an ugly vinyl tablecloth? This is the place to go. Have fun.

Elizabeth Eakins sale

Elizabeth Eakins is known for their spectacular collection of hand-woven and hand hooked wool rugs. They also create gorgeous cotton rugs, linen/wool rugs and a beautiful line of fabrics — all made from natural fibers.

eakins

The Elizabeth Eakins Annual Sale, with prices up to 75% off, takes place Thursday through Saturday May 7, 8 and 9 at 5 Taft Street in South Norwalk, CT, from 10 AM to 4 PM.  Find out more by going to Elizabeth Eakins’ new website, or call 203.831.9347.