apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Baxter & Liebchen in DUMBO. They just moved to a huge warehouse space across the street from ABC and they're open to the public on weekends. They have the most extensive selection of mid-c sideboards and nesting tables I've ever seen. Not too many sofas, but lots of chairs and even a few clocks and shelving units. Also, Prague Kolektiv if you want a break from the over-abundant cliched mid-c pieces (ie: eames lounge, noguchi table, etc)

DWR

circa50.com

Knoll Space (via knoll.com)
(but they list DWR area locations when you do a retail search for NY, NY

http://highbrowfurniture.com/

(seems like this is worthy of two categories.. vintage and new...)

New stuff: Circa50.com (Good customer service)
Highbrowfurniture.com looks good although I have never bought anything there.

Vintage: Ebay
tristateantiques.com (Don't let their crappy website scare you... They also have a store & warehouse outside of Pittsburgh w/the largest collection of vintage furniture that I have ever seen).

I've had a great deal of luck finding mid-century modern furniture on eBay. You have to put up with shipping merchandise from around the country, but you end up paying much less than what you'd have to pay in a store.

But the best find I ever had was from craigslist... for only $500, I bought four reproductions of Hans Wegner's "The Chair" (see http://www.find-tv.com/find-tv/learn/qa/qa1003_chair.html). The only drawback to craigslist is that you have to sift through endless dreck before finding a real gem.

Sorry, the link didn't come out right in my previous post. Try this one:

http://www.find-tv.com/find-tv/learn/qa/qa1003_chair.html

MOMA Design...purveyor of that damned Noguchi table so many of us have gazed longingly at for years . . .

General Nightmare in Red Hook Bklyn
in the battered second hand store category

My mid-century-madness apartment (hmmm, possible future AT house tour?) is filled with things from eBay: I've bought lots of light fixtures and other items that were not impossible to ship. As far as furniture items, I try to stick with things in the tri-state area so I can borrow my brother's van and pick them up (although I did get two great chairs and matching ottomans recently up near Rochester -- that's stretching the tri-state concept a bit!)

There's one great dealer on eBay based in Brooklyn who goes under several different handles (why? I ask no questions!) -- "cmodrun" (my fav) and "modavenue" are two currently in use -- this woman has a great eye for "non-designer" MC furniture, and great deals are to be had. Pick up is in Brooklyn just south of Williamsburg, only M-F midday, which is a pain, but she send some guys out with the items and they even load into you truck/van for you -- a pleasure. I can always spot her new handles becasue the photography is always the same!!!

Aside from eBay, I've had great luck in Pennsylvannia for some odd reason -- a great bedroom set I bought at the antiques emporium (in the old synagogue) on 6th off South in Philly, as well as a number of things in the Stroudsburg area.

Here in NYC, if price is not a factor, ABC has great stuff, but wow is it expensive. I sometimes go there at lunch to gawk at the price tags and think of the things I have at home -- if I could sell my things at those prices, I could retire right now!

... also wanted to mention another area eBay dealer, "vintage747", just across the bridge in NJ -- great stuff, and a pleasure to deal with.

Pheww -- thank god my place is all furnished, now that I've given away all my secrets!!!

circa50.com - super friendly. free delivery in nyc. no tax.

Century Modern, at centurymodern.com, is a great store in Dallas -- reasonable, and they're very nice. Also David Rago auctions are fun (http://www.ragoarts.com), and they're catalogs are great (and a good way to get the natural market price for what something is really worth).

Patrick (TOO) -- New MC? The horror, the horror!

Almost as scary as when people see my apt and say "oh, how, like, RETRO!" -- not retro, honey, the real thing.

So have a coke and a smile (with a little rum, of course!)

I have purchased from both circa5o.com (maharam pillows and la marie chairs) and highbrow furniture.com (emeco stools). Great experiences with both.
Highbrow has a large selection of knoll at a slight discount and it's great when shipping is free!

Rum and Coke Classic, or New Coke?
Or knock-off Cola?

Hey, cola is cola, so why should I pay more for "the real thing"? :)

For fintage, I've got to give a shout out to Atomic Warehouse (atomicwarehouse.com) in Harrisburg, PA. They have a huge selection, especially accessories. Some of it can be a little kitchey, but there are many top notch finds as well.

highrowfurniture.com RULES!

I ditto josh on Atomic Warehouse. I had forgot all about it until he brought it up. "Atomic Steve" is soooo rock-n-roll and his store is fun. I bought a great set of vintage Eames drafting stools there that I use at my kitchen island.

i bought mid century items, blenko glass, butterfly stool iron & leather for example at the dearly departed 26th st flea market.
i love to visit mid century at places like, wyeth, aero, regeneration,R 20th century, antik, white gallery, delorenzo 1950 to name a few.

1stdibs.com rocks. The best stuff goes fast....and wednesday is the load day for new things.

Skokie, Illinois. Hands down! It's like the whole town was hermetically sealed in 1963.

Seriously, any Chicago links would be appreciated!

Patrick TOO -- I'm old enough to remember RC, Cott Cola, HoJo Cola and various other local brands that have long since lost their fizz! But if you like, let's have a blind taste test --as long as you promise to not leave rings on my Lane coffee table or my HeywoodWakefield dining table!
;-)

Pittsburgh is spelled with an H.

ha ha anonymous coward, I was thinking the same thing (Western PA native here)...at first, I thought it was just my NYC naivete and there was some neighborhood called that or something! :)

Frank, I think the reason people are so lucky with Mid C modern in PA is that there are a lot of old people dying there who owned the stuff without enough young people who are hip to that look remaining to purchase it. That's my theory.

Sam Flax for licensed Herman Miller stuff. I bought my Noguchi coffee table there a couple years ago after a long comparison shop (factoring in shipping costs, etc.), which included MOMA, Conran and DWR.

Is General Nightmare in red hook still open?

You are missing a good one - Collage Classics in Dallas.

http://collageclassics.com/

It's hard to believe you left this one out, so maybe I'm stepping into a massive faux-pas, but Vitra??

http://www.vitra.com/home/default.asp?lang=us_us&stat=0

I agree about Baxter & Liebchen in DUMBO. Great place. Scandinavian pieces - very high quality and less expensive than the Manhattan stores. And the guy there is very knowledgeable about the pieces and an enthusiastic (and patient) teacher to those of us who are still learning. (occasional celebrity sighting to boot - Hillary Swank/Chad Lowe were spotted shopping there)

one more for the list!
original and reproduction, and all of the little stuff that goes around it like clock and glasses in the mid-c style

Mostly Modern
718 499 9867
383 7th Ave at 12th St
Park Slope Bklyn

love the HW coffee table . . .

Patrick:
I just welled up with tears when you mentioned the 26th street flea market. that makes me so sad that it's not there anymore. what a shame. i've replaced my need to browse and hope by looking at ebay often, but it's hardly the same. wasn;t it a great place to take out of towners?

Retromodern.com has a solid assortment of authorized reproductions and new design; I have not bought from them in person but received charming, friendly responses to phone inquiries - and they often drive up carloads of furniture to NYC personally for true white-glove shipping.

I haven't been to White on White for a while but in addition to their lower-cost repros they used to have a ton of wooden credenzas and sideboards for cut-rate prices - like the Knoll credenza I got for $400.

Modernica also has lots of good-quality reproductions; and perhaps Las Venus should be called out separately since they apparently have another boutique outside of their digs at ABC?

When will there be a best of for non-MCM resources? Same old stuff over and over and over again...you too can be a pretentious bore.