Hey, you know how people open up their Zagat's before deciding where to have dinner? If you were spending $2000 on a sofa as opposed to $200 on dinner, wouldn't you like to have a little more information?
At Apartment Therapy we're trying to create more and more ways to help people make their homes nicer. We add stores, services and products to our Guide on the nav each day, and this month we're spending full time on it to create a BEST OF for 2005.
Each day we'll put up a post dedicated to one category (see categories below), and readers should submit by adding comments. After two days, we'll go through the comments, collect the submissions and repost the category as a survey to find your best. Sound complicated? It will be super clear after a few days. Don't worry.
The voting goes on all month and all the posts live HERE. With your help, at the end of the month we'll have a real good rundown of the BEST OF 2005.
Best Stores for:
Lighting
sofas
Large Appliances
Rugs
Hardware
Kitchen Supply & Cookware
Pillows & Blankets
Tableware & Glassware
Garden Supply
Green Products
Thrift
Mid C Modern
Modern Contemporary
Traditional
Vintage
Best Service
Best Deal
Best Splurge
Best gifts
Best small treasure
Store you can't believe is still open
Most Romantic
Best Lighting Store
Local:
Gracious Home - for everything , from $15 task lamps to $50000 italian chandeliers
Moss - no comment needed
National -
Rejuvenation - www.rejuvenation.com - Great vintage lighting designs.
Pottery Barn - This sometimes tired brand has made a serious comeback in their lighting department. Online / Catalog seems to be better than the store.
Ikea
Hi -
I'm voting for myself, er, rather - my business. "Good Common Sense" is an online retailer of resource efficient products, et al. Our focus is on empowering consumers to make a difference, w/o making sacrifices, (read, our slogan: "Change your impacts, Not your lifestyle.") So -- we sell practical, everyday-use items. Please check us out.
Biggest sellers (easy to use in any apartment - we got our start in Brooklyn): torchieres, Verilux lamps & light bulbs, showerheads, tank banks, & faucet aerators, mastic, the world's smallest dishwasher (appliance), easy-to-install storm window kits & foam outlet gaskets.
We've got lots of cool, smart stuff to compliment any lifestyle. Over 250 products. Hope to talk with you soon!
THANKS,
Chris
Chris,
Give us the online name of the store. I really like to combine my style with some amount of responsibility and have no clue what the URL is. My guess took me to a christian right wing coalition page. Shivers!
don
trunkt is an awesome design store in tribeca. they're online too at http://www.trunkt.com
It's a great concept!
I'd like to vote for my own contemporary lighting store and web site,since I'm luckily not the first one to be this tacky :) www.formplusfunction.com.
We specialize in contemporary lighting and import a lot of great designs from Germany, Denmark and Italy. If an item is popular, but the delivery times from Europe are insane, we stock the items and ship right away. We carry a good stock of Ingo Maurer lighting.
Best lighting source - they have everything. And if you call in you get superb customer service!
www.formplusfunction.com--great prices and terrific customer service!
Hi! I saw some people mentioning the lighting store Form + Function and I just had to add my two cents...what a great store! I live not too far from the showroom on Lincoln Ave. and I just can't help myself from going in there to look around all the time. The styles and selection are so amazing, I get new inspiration for redecorating my house every time I visit. My husband can't keep me away, though he tries!
The staff there are always so nice and give me tons of great information and creative ideas. My house looks awesome because of Form + Function. Thanks!
The best part is you can also shop online :)