apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

How lovely!

I have a 500 dollar budget this weekend. I wonder what I'll be able to get? 8^)

Well, you might get in the door at one of the places!

I live in LA now. I make a fairly decent income. I can't afford any of these places.

I have a friend who makes VERY good money and very good taste yet now refers to DWR as "Design Without Reach".....LOL

I've been shopping at a few alternative places for retro pieces and came across Hernandez Furniture & Appliances @ 6208 Santa Moncia Blvd. Try your $500 there, btoddster. Might be a good deal. Their pieces are pristine and their prices are very reasonable. Besides, I have found them to be ethical business people, especially the "mom", tiny little thing that she is.

In all fairness, I have two West Elm pieces that are FABULOUS and worth every penny. The places mentioned above are "higher end" however. I'd like to see more info on reasonably priced places.

JacksonMarie - I love West Elm too :) While these stores are definitely on the higher end (very high end for some of them), they offer awesome design inspiration. It's fun just to browse through the stores and check out the pieces and displays.

Hernandez is where the designers snag those Wakefield and Eames originals.

I think the stores listed above have amazing stuff, but they're not very pleasant to the casual browser, which might be why there's no inside shots.

As price prohibitive as most of these stores are, you can sometimes snag a decorative item or two w/o spending a fortune. As far as furniture goes, you better be wiling to fork over some dough.

If anything, utilize these places for design inspiration and seek similar pieces elsewhere for a fraction of the cost.

@Jackson Marie-thanks for the info on Hernandez Bros! Looking forward to checking it out.

jules seltzer is easily the best on this list (fyi: typo in list). it's a shame modernica and empiric did not make this list. we were in LA a few weeks ago and made this troll... we were outright disgusted at the prices at orange (and the shop next door... forget the name) and the pieces at DWR were, of course, the same as in every DWR showroom. as a matter of fact, more than 1/2 of the above listed shops have similar/identical shops in most major cities. if B B, DWR, roche bobois and ligne roset are LA's best, i'd just as soon stay in SF... but a trip to jules seltzer alone was worth the trip.

I knew I couldn't get out of one of those stores with so much as a vase. I just wanted to get the ball rolling, lol! ;-)

I'm surprised Shelter isn't on the list:

SHELTER
7920 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90048

And what about Carla (7466 Beverly Blvd). She has exquisite taste!

Blueprint has many reasonably priced pieces and accessories.
You can easily use your $500 there.
And why is it that AT readers always feel compelled to complain if a venue is expensive or if a contributor buys from places other than IKEA and yard sales? Not everyone lives hand to mouth and wants to buy particleboard furniture. And there are also some with a modest income, myself included, who enjoy going to upper end stores for ideas and inspiration. I, personally, would rather do without than fill my space with poor quality furniture and someone else's cast-offs.