apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Department store furniture gets a bad rap, but my inlaws got a lot of original Knoll and Jensen Danish modern from Bloomie's back in the 60s or 70s.

As long as you focus on new design, and steer clear of the repro Italian/rococo/Federalist styles, you can actually make very good buys at Bloomie's.

Nice-looking.

What's going on with the support legs (leg?) of the lamp in the last picture on this page, though?

LOL It looks like someone photoshoped the leg out to better show off the sofa. Weird editing choice since the sofa and the lamp are the only things that room has going for it.

ohhhhh... good catch!

Hey! I have those bottles sitting on the table in the first photo - I got them at Ikea! Could be be that Bloomie's accessorizes with Ikea? Or did Ikea just mass produce a higher end rip off?

What picture are y'all looking at that has a sofa and a lamp??

i don't buy retail or new often (preferring the recycle, reuse, remodel, repurpose mantra), but its always nice to look for ideas or a piece so perfect you break the rules.

my parents bought some great furniture from bloomingdale's in the late 60's - 70's, and even copied one of their brick display wall / fireplace designs when building their home in 1974.

It is so good to see smaller, more compact furnishings coming onboard. I got so tired of those overstuffed chairs and sofas that would not fit in my tiny living room or in my contemporary style.

I don't know about Bloomingdales, but I find the furniture section of Macy's rather depressing. It's not the furniture they carry per se, it's the way it's presented. They have no point of view. They seem to just put out anything they think might sell to see what sticks. And that, in a nutshell, is why department store furniture shopping has a shabby reputation.

My favorite places to shop for furniture tend to have a very strong point of view. Some are quirky and eclectic (like Blackman Cruz). Some are very precise and controlled (like B&B Italia). Some fall somewhere in between (De la Espada, Shelter). All of them share one quality: they have a very distinct point of view aesthetically and organizationally. They have a voice.

Bloomingdales would do well to find its furniture boutique "voice", even at the risk of alienating some potential customers, rather than dump another mishmash of nice furniture into a generic space surrounded by plastic palm fronds and bamboo sticks.

I appreciate the sponsorship, but the furniture offerings are a yawn. It's OK, but nothing special. Definitely, middle of the road. I didn't gasp once or see a single piece I'd lust after. Sure, there are pieces I could work with. But nothing inspirational. At least the stuff featured online. Frankly, I did find better at Macys site.

But, lest we judge too quickly, perhaps the store has a better selection. If I were in NYC, I'd go certainly down and take a gander.

Go ahead and look at what's actually in the store on the 5th Floor. And go ahead and get you actually physical self in there, so you can have some of the free food that's going to be at the even tonight (Thursday, January 22nd) between 6 and 9 and go ahead and say hello to Maxwell and Patrick and Jane and me and go ahead and sign up to win some furniture, and while you're there look around see what you might want them to give you if you do win it. You won't really know until you just go ahead and have a look in person -- in real live meatspace! AND... go ahead and look at the window, so you can see all the details!

hello AT, i just bought the xavier sofa pictured and can not get it thru my front door! has any1 had this problem getting this sofa thru their door and if so what was their solution? the legs to do not come off.