apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just received one I've never heard of before. Green Mango. It's from Texas, so maybe an offshoot of Horchow, though I don't know how in the hell I got on that list. But where Horchow is consistantly over the top, this is all over the place. A collection of mid-century influences as well as some classic styles and a few teetering on drag queen dressing room. But they do have mirrored furniture. Let's hope they will ship it to you. The website is www.greenmangotrading.com

Real eye candy? It depends on your taste in candy. If you like that aspirational instant-heirloom look, Horchow Home. If you like kind of a lot of vaguely Asian flavor sprinkled into your high-priced confections, Gumps by Mail. If you like outdoor dining, and/or have enormous outdoor spaces like pools, etc., Frontgate. If you have lots of tattoos and/or you're into medieval stuff, Design Tuscano (kind of eye Halloween candy?). For a combination of austere blocky modern combined with kind of curry-flavored 'horror vaccui' thing, West Elm.

I hate the look of Home Decorators Catalog, but I've ordered some good stuff from them -- they pack kind of a lot of stuff into a fairly small catalog, and some of it beyond hideous, but the stuff you'll select will of course be the kind of stuff that I have, which is the good stuff.

Curtis, I couldn't agree more about Home Decorators. They have some of the tackiest crap, yet I found a perfectly lovely wooden double hamper. It's so understated, I can't believe it came out of that catalog. Well worth wading through the harlequin planters and buffalo bar stools. Of course now they send me a new catalog every other week.

Curtis, that Home Decorators online catalog is pretty bad. What good stuff have you ordered there?

What about Wisteria (www.wisteria.com)? I've never actually ordered from them but I think they do have some cool stuff.

Just called Green Mango to get their catalog, and found out that their corporate office is in Lutz, FL; their warehouse is in Southhaven, MS; and their call center is Plano, TX. The guy with whom I spoke said that as far as he knows, Green Mango isn't an offshoot of any other company.

The full Green Mango website isn't up yet and won't be until November 1st, but if you want to order their catalog, the phone number for that is 1-800-920-4951 - menu option 3.

Pixie and Lori -
Off the top of my head, I can recall having gotten this little CD-cabinet/fluted column pedestal thing, which came in an off-white stone-like finish, but which I needed to be black, so I painted it with black enamel, and it looked great in my old apartment, and even better in my new one.

Also, some of their storage pieces that have shallow small flat-file drawer things work pretty nicely, which I ordered for a friend of mine. A collection of 8x10 photographs fits in them beautifully, and it makes it easy to sort them into categories. And I think a few simpler items like swivelling TV stands were also bought through that catalog.

I agree with Curtis about how schlocky that Home Decorator's catalog is, but how it fills a wierd niche of hard-to-find pieces.

Second the vote for Wisteria, and would add the old standby (but beeeyoooteeeful) Pottery Barn. Plus, once you get on the PB mailing list, Williams Sonoma. Williams Sonoma Home, and West Elm are sure to follow automatically.

I'd add Garnet Hill to the list, for bedding, some furniture, and (at the holidays) women's clothing from upscale retailers like Eileen Fisher.

For the quirky modern, sign up for Chiasso. For the artful modern, sign up for MoMA's catalog. For the modern artful, sign up for the Artful Home, which I think is sent out by Guild.com.

And finally, most shelter magazines have a section in the back of small adverts that allow you to order catalogs.

Green Mango has a nice Asian touch -- is there any catalog that features more Indian/ Middle Eastern home furnishings?

I recieved a mini one about a month ago. I think they got my name from Dwell. I was impressed. Beautiful catalog--I actually read it. Nice selection of modern products. In Portland. Very little furniture, more household and personal items. I'm sure you can order one-get on list.
www.relishstyle.com

I love the William Sonoma Home catalog. If only I could afford to buy from it.

I was looking at Home Decorators this afternoon and thought there were some nice things in the midst of a crappy catalog. I thought I would post here on AT to see how others felt about it and low and behold! there is already a thread going. I like their rugs and the prices are low for 100% wool. Has anyone here bought one of their rugs?

Oh, and I like Curran but they get all their furniture from TCS so if you're a designer you can get the same pieces for MUCH MUCH less and it's really good furniture.

anne -
I haven't bought a rug from Home Decorators, but whenever I get a serious windfall, I'm gonna get this one particular one that I love in there for my sister for under her drum table.

huh?

I took my tatooed, dark-humored, artsy little self to the Design Toscano website and, uhm, boring stuff. Curtis, where's the weird Halloween style decor? I think I must have expected a more delightfully morbid sense of style.

Libby (looking for vintage medical charts for "home dec" projects - yes, really)

It is not exactly apartment type furniture, but the Orvis catalog (yes the flyfishing company) has all kinds of neat stuff for the home, or weekend getaway.

Anne,
I bought a rug years ago from Home Decorators catalog and I loved it. It really stood up to a lot of wear, however it shed a lot. I don't know if that is a quality issue or not... After about 5+ years I've finally gotten a new rug, although from a different source.

I just saw that you can sign up for the yet-to-be released CB2 catalog on their website (cb2.com). Can't wait!

Also received a mailer from Room and Company indicating you could sign up for their catalog at their website... roomandcompany.com Go to "Catalog" then "Request Catlog" to sign up.

Room and Board only publishes annually, but it is a gorgeous catalog brimming with all kinds of furniture and styling ideas.

And I'd second Curtis' assessment of the odd Design Toscano, Libby... while the net effect of the catalog (not been to the site) is a little watered-down, look at it all carefully with Curtis' curatorial eye... there indeed is wierd Halloween-by-way-of-the Hunchback of Notre Dame stuff lurking among the chess sets and Knights of the Napa Valley Roundtable wine paraphernalia.

Anthropologie's catalogs are beautifully photographed and designed. I also like Niche Modern's. They have a catalog request on their about page at www.nichemodern.com/

Anthropologie' stuff is, to me, eye candy (in the store, at least -- I've never seen their catalog) but its very shabby-chic Belle Whatley Goes To Morocco that looks like they burglarized the first floor of ABC Carpet & Home.

And I can't remember where I heard/read this, but apparently the guy that owns them AND Urban Outfitters is a real right-winger, which doesn't have to bother you as much as it bothers me. My not being in the market for anything they have right now makes the point a tad moot for me.

I will say that (long before I had heard that) when I insisted on changing out some old, terrible shelving for this one particular old hippy, we did find some wonderful wrought-iron brackets there that we had oak boards cut for, and they look fantastic.

Libby-
At one point, Cher had designed some things for Design Tuscano, because she had outfitted one of her homes with that Gothic stuff. They have many variations on the idea of a gargoyle, basically. When I decided that I wanted a globe with a little figure of Atlas holding it up, I knew I had seen it somewhere, and immediately assumed it was Design Toscano.

It turned out not to be, and I had to find it on eBay (although it was new), but that's the KIND of thing they tend to have. And about Halloween, seriously, I think I've seen garments in their catalog, like robes with hoods, medieval-looking dresses, etc. And of course, now they're doing lawn ornaments like this Loch Ness monster thing that you put out in your yard. I have never seen a yard with one of these in it, but I would think it might also have a sign in it saying, "Junior's Bait Stand, Beauty Salon & Car Wash - Praise Jesus".

Cher put out 2 catalogs in the mid '90s called Sanctuary. It was nothing but Gothic stuff. I worked with her on the catalogs and had some of my pieces in them. They were a hit for about a nano second and then fell off the charts, so to speak. Oh well, I made a lot of money doing it and it was nice to work with her.

I looked at the Green Mango website, if that's what you can call it. There's nothing there yet. I guess they're just getting started.

Anne-
That makes sense! That sounds familiar! I remember Sanctuary! Well, you can probably see why I was thinking that it was for Design Toscano. Anyway, good for you; that must have been a blast.

I too remember Sanctuary. Lots of crosses and gargoyles. I was living in Salem, MA at the time, so needless to say, it was a popular catalog with the wicca folks. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Yeah, it was a pretty strange catalog. And Cher looked like Elvira on the cover of the 1st one. I never really did Goth but when I was asked to come and work on it and design pieces for it I had to do a little research to come up with designs. As it turned out it was a piece of cake. I had no idea that gothic was so "in" at the time. But still, not my style.

Thanks for the Hallooween-y info all. I prob should have specified that I am looking for goth-y, spooky home-dec for an October dinner party at a friends house. We're getting tired of doing the Halloween party thing and - since we all good food, wine, and company - decided to go with a formal dinner party with a dark decor. Does that make any sense?

Libby (with a whopper headache and not making a lot of sense today)

PS - My contribution to the dinner decor so far is a black feathered wreath I'm making.

Libby--

Too fun! I love the idea of a formal-yet-spooky Halloween dinner!

Don't forget the Ouiji boards!! And a crystal ball! A Tarot card at every place setting! Blowups of Edward Gorey illustrations! Phantom of the Opera and Jekyll and Hyde on the iPod!

Try Frontgate...
http://www.frontgate.com/fg/home.jsp

And, believe it or not, Neimanmarcus.com (Home & Entertianing tab, then Seasonal/Gourmet, then Halloween.. some cutesy kitsch, but some fun stuff like the raven candleholders and lifesize mummies...)

And check out the Halloween books and magazines of Ms Martha Stewart, a fan and advocate of all things elegantly evil this time of year.

Are you in NYC? I have a bunch of vintage oil portraits, a la Disney's Haunted Mansion, that could be fun to use. Martha showed portraits like this one year outfitted with qauzy, cobwebby mask over the eyes. Creepy!

I once had an idea for a midnight all-drag seance faux wake. Wait, have I shared too much?

Oh, haunted Patrick, I should have known you'd have oodles of great ideas for the spooky dinner party. The hostess is an Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey fan and Martha mag subscriber. Unfortunately, we are all out here in WA state or I'd invite you in a heartbeat (unintentional Poe reference - heh heh). I think you'd have a blast with the people who will be there. We are all diehard foodies and the hosts have phenomenal wine and music collections. If all goes well, maybe I'll have photos to share of the spooky decor.

Libby (time to get sewing that macabre dinner dress - muwahahahahahahahaha!

Libby--
I'll be there in spirit. :)

Libby, that sounds like a great idea. Friends of mine were getting married, each for the second time. So they decided to do it on Halloween. Everyone had to come in costume. The bride was, of course, the bride of Frankenstein -a la Elsa Lanchester, the groom was Frank and the father of the bride was Dr. Frankenstein. The minister came as Dracula. Great fun.

Libby, I did a formal Hallowwen dinner last year. What a blast! Guests were to come dressed for a funeral. I scoured flea markets, etc for: old silver/silver-plated serving pieces, ornate frames spray-painted black and filled with black and white photos of the "deceased", old medical instruments, beakers for cocktail/wine glasses, etc. For place cards we created Victorian-era funeral cards listing the dates of birth and death and a blurb about the person's life. We hung black fabric over all of the mirrors...And the food was all black - we found a black pasta, black vodka for cocktails, etc, etc

Libby - try the party book that Budget Living put out. There's a big Halloween section. It's a little more geared towards family parties than what you're looking for, but I think you'll find some ideas.

& I second Patrick2's suggestion to check out Martha's October issues. There was also a Halloween special a couple of years ago. There are always a few recipes that are intentionally geared towards grown-ups, but still kind of thematic.

Curtis - scandal scandal, I've heard that the right-wing owner of UO/Anthropologie, who is a major contributor to Rick Santorum, is gay. (Santorum, famously anti-gay.) I can't begin to imagine what's up with that... unless he defines himself as a multi-millionaire first and a gay man second. =/

No, wait - I don't know where I read that Haynes was gay, but the writer must have had their wires crossed; he isn't. (I just googled.)

Egg (on face) = yummy!

Anne (or anyone else who knows) - just reading this and would like to know more about TCS...I do like the furniture from Curran and have a brother-in-law who is a designer. Tried googling it but too much unrelated things came up. Thanks!

West Elm can be a bit expensive, but they have some nice vases, chunky coffee tables, and cool modern kitchen stuff. www.westelm.com
Plus you get a new one like every 3 weeks.

Hello everyone,
I work at the greenMango call center, and no they are not associated with any other company. They are a brand new company (as of Sept 05) and all of their items are hand made off the coast of Asia.
Ann

Not that this goes along with any of the Halloween talk...but Restoration Hardware is fabulous in my opinion. www.restorationhardware.com
you can order catalogs, and if you're lucky to live in the Seattle area, there is an outlet store!

Anne, What is TCS? You mentioned that's where Curran gets their furniture?

You all should check out the Gump's catalog if you are looking for Asian... they're a bit pricey, but high quality, some vintage pieces and lovely.
www.gumps.com

I have ordered two rugs from Home Decorators Collection and love them both. Home Decorators has a lot of niche categories like tiffany glass lamp shades and topiaries - and at least a handful of products in each issue that look like they could have been bought from IKEA or Ballard Design.

Would any of you happen to know if Green Mango is still operating. The telephone number that i have does not work 800-920-4951.

I would love to order from Green Mango. I was sent a catalog before the end of 2005 and stashed it away for future orders. Tried calling
800-920-4951 then the web site but nada. This
catalog may be one of the most attractive I have been sent. Prices are very reasonable, so maybe they just priced themselves out of business after spending a fortune on the beautiful catalog.