Best buys
Houston Design Center's Designer Sample Sale tempts with sweet discounts on fabfurnishings
It's a win win for everybody Friday and Saturday when the luxury designer showrooms of Houston Design Center open their doors to the public and offer pocketbook-pleasing discounts on selected merchandise.
Don't confuse this fine furnishings offering with your neighborhood garage sale. CultureMap paid a visit to several of the showrooms earlier this week and found a boatload of handsome bargains. It's time to redecorate!
"This is the perfect opportunity for that public person who wouldn't come into the center otherwise," says Scene One's Harold Myrick. Indeed, because the rest of the year, many of the showrooms are open to the trade only.
Not that we were in the market for a circular, leather-topped dining table, but we fell in love with the beauty at Scene One Interiors, where everything in the showroom will be marked down by 40 percent. (The table retails at $3,599. You do the math.) That is everything except for the charming wine alcove, a one-of-a-kind piece from Brazil. They're taking 70 percent off of the $14,249 ticket.
"This is the perfect opportunity for that public person who wouldn't come into the center otherwise," says Scene One's Harold Myrick. Indeed, because the rest of the year, many of the showrooms are open to the trade only.
At Postmodern Traditions, a contemporary custom rug emporium, great-looking 6 X 9-foot area rugs (floor samples) are marked down from $1,500 to $995. Nearby at Charles Ray and Associates, the floor samples are being reduced by 70 percent and that includes ottomans, love seats, chairs and sofas.
There are 40 percent discounts on various pieces at Randall Edward Design where we found a fetching chandelier that today retails at $7,200 but on Friday will go for $4,320. Randall Edward is also offering 35 percent off of all custom framing and the showroom has a ton of styles from which to choose.
Even Thorntree Slate & Marble is offering 50 percent off specials on mosiac tiles in glass and stone with some selections available in 100 pieces, 85 pieces and even one selection numbering 560 tiles.
Other participating showrooms are Abraham's Furnishings & Rugs, Bunch & Shoemaker, Lighting Treasures, Johnson Simon Resources, Charlotte Nail Antiques and Pride of Persia Rug Co. Each showroom sets its own discount and determines which pieces will be offered.
The 11 participating showrooms open at 9 a.m. both days and the shop-till-you-drop experience continues until 5 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday. Adding to the Friday fun, a handful of the city's popular food trucks will be on hand from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
An added bonus to the shopping experience, donations will be accepted for Dec My Room, the non-profit that decorates the hospital rooms of children who are ill for prolonged periods of time.
- Each day at 10 a.m., Lynn Jones, ASID, will present "Interior Design Revealed," a lecture on the basics of working with an interior designer and navigating the showrooms.
- At 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Peggy Hull, ASID, will talk on "Antiques With a Twist," the art of incorporating antique furnishings into current decorative styles.
- At 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Mehdi Abedi and Lisa Slappey, Rice University professors who both hold Ph.D.'s, will lead their program titled "Inside the Rug Market With the Experts."
Space for the lectures is limited. Reservations should be made in advance by calling 713-864-2660 or on-line at www.thehoustondesigncenter.com/samplesale.