I was wondering what the quality was of the accessories from West Elm. I've read on AT that the furniture is rather poor quality, but I'm wondering about their shelving. Also vases, pillows, lamps, etc. etc. I really like these shelves.
http://ww1.westelm.com/cat/pip.cfm?template=8grid&pkey=cwllshe&gids=p192&cid=wllshe&area=shp

And since I'm on the subject of quality, what is holdeverything's quality like?

Thanks!!!!

Please don't yell at me, because I already looked, but I KNOW I read a post where someone said they made a bookshelf or some other storage unit by bringing a sketch to a carpenter-type person. I can't find the post and I have looked in the archives! Please help me!

I got a pendant lamp from West Elm and will keep you posted. So far it looks good.

Karenw: It may have been me, talking about my storage unit that I had made for my A/V equipment. I brought a sketch to a woodworker, based on the Step system I saw at DDC. I adapted it freely, making it big enough to accommodate all my hardware, provide ventilation and work in my loft. Look for the thread on hanging a Plasma TV.

...I so **want** to like West Elm, and have been put off by the so-so quality. Although, it appears to be getting better. Accessories are cheap enough that if they last a year or two, I wouldn't be upset if I had to replace them. I especially like the pillows and some of their table top stuff...

I have just about finished working on my apartment, and am really happy with the way it has turned out. I'm enjoying it, but don't know what to do with my time, now that I'm not immersed in materials, furniture and the like. Suggestions?

I bought a set of floating shelves (similar to the ones you're looking at) as well as 6 chairs for my dining room table. I had to put the chairs together myself, which took some time, but I've been satisfied with both purchases.

Katie,
A friend of mine bought shelves from West Elm and was sorely disappointed. This was last year. As I recall, they were called basic wall shelves.

http://ww2.westelm.com/cat/pip.cfm?template=8grid&pkey=cwllshe&gids=p187&cid=wllshe&area=shp

She had a problem with the hardware provided and the kept falling down. Now, she's not the handiest person (though she thinks she is) so it may have been her and not the shelves. Just be leery.

Thanks for all the info so far on WE stuff.

TeoNYC, how about entertaining a whole bunch and showing off your newly designed and decorated digs?

Just missed Lori's post. Hmmm, interesting. Part of my problem is that in Chicago there is only one West Elm store out in the burbs and I don't own a car. I'd prefer to just see what they are like in person, but since that isn't possible right now I'll have to hem and haw over it some more. Does anyone have any recommendations for good wall shelving? Nothing too pricey.

TeoNYC--Slide show, slide show! We love lofts!

For the price (and even ABOVE the price) there is no match for West Elm. Stop worrying about it and just go shopping. Just don't buy it all from there.

HoldEverything is same caliber (and same holding company as WE, Pottery Barn, and Williams-Sonoma, W-SH). I trust all their brands at their respective price points. Even moreso when you shop 'em on sale.

Also look at the new Thomas O'Brien line for Target. More vintage/citified than West Elm, but prices look amazing for the designs.

TeoNYC--
Take us out for cocktails with all your new-found spare time. :)
But I can relate... there is a serious "now what" anti-climax to a major redo.

Okay... the bedroom furniture is coming in next week. I'll do a slide show after it is in.

For cheap shelving... look for a good woodworker in your area, or go to a local Home Depot and see if you can build it yourself. I suppose a lot depends on how much weight it will have to hold. There are many attractive brackets around, if the hardware is not hidden. If you're committed to the floating shelf look, I like the Lack shelves from Ikea. Not sure what colors they have now, but they used to have a nice deep brown that I used along side B&B Italia perfectly.

I just bought a pair of wood candlesticks from West Elm and they were actually NICER than I was expecting. Solid and heavy.

Hey Katie,
I'm in Chicago, too. If you want to see what the basic shelves look like, I'd be happy to show them to you.

I'm currently lusting after Pottery Barn's new ultra-deep Durban shelves. Swanky.

Plus, PB has reworked all its shelving to hang off of cleats that improve your odds of getting them straight and secure.

Entirely off-topic from the West Elm comments, but I am curious to here a response on this. I've noticed that spring and summer make me think of the farmers market and fresh produce and that seems to overlap into my home as far as similar colors and that "fresh" feeling. Now that it's fall, I realize this is the time of year that spices replace the fresh produce obsession. I haunt my local spice shop eager to try new items and restock old favorites. And at home I'm finding myself pulling out linens, pillow covers, etc. in those earthy lush spice colors. I guess I'm a diehard foodie and it permeates other areas of my life. What does fall/winter mean to you?

Just so the spell-checkers don't go into a panic, "hear" not "here". My coffee hasn't kicked in yet - and apologies for any additional typos or grammatical errors. ;^ )

Mike's Furniture on West 85th and Amsterdam is good at building custom-made things, and they have a lot of things that they make there, that you may want to have a look at first, just to see if there are any elements of YOUR piece that you can see if they're already doing. That way you can tell whether you'll like what they would do for you. I had them make some toy-box-style file cabinet/window seats for a Brooklyn brownstone apartment, and then I save a little bit of money by adding decorative molding on the fronts of them myself with my own little mitre-saw-and-box so that the front of them would match the panel that was behind them, making them appear built-in.

ALSO... AJO Lumber on 100th And Amsterdam, which is an ACE Hardware dealer, builds things there to your sketch. You pretty much had better insist on speaking to their small, wiry resident cranky genius named Yzaak, though, because he knows how to actually figure out exactly what you need from what you say. You can tell him that Curtis told you that he was the only one that could help you. I had them do a little bar counter with a very specific wooden bracket design that I created by enlarging a tracing of a smaller existing wooden bracket that had been original to my 1937 kitchen. I love the way it turned out.

Finally went to a West Elm store in Portland a few weeks back and got to touch most of the merch. The quality of the home accessories seems pretty good, the furniture seemed to be pretty good for the price, too. In the past, I've ordered a white vinyl and chrome chair, a flat-weave jute rug, some beddings, and small accessories (as gifts). Only the beddings disappointed because they weren't as soft as I would have liked. (Oh, and the infamous platform bed--which I would steer everyone away from unless WE has addressed the issue of the sub-standard support planks.) Overall, I love West Elm. But p(too) is right--mix it up with higher and lower end furniture.

Re: shelves. I'm a big fan of the IKEA lack shelves--when installed correctly.

And speaking of the Thomas O'Brien's Vintage Modern line for Target... Does anyone know if any of the merch has hit the stores yet? I'm curious to see the low round coffee table in person. (It looked great in the latest Met Home spread.)

I actually JUST got back from Target, and a lot of it is in now. I didn't see the table, though (and I looked for specifically).

Avoid IKEA's Lacks, unless you plan on putting nothing on them. I bought two of them a few years ago and they both fell off the wall within a month. The holes in the backing plate simply didn't line up with the studs in our walls, and after the final empty one came crashing down one night I just tossed 'em.

Lori, I suspect that the hardware was not the problem but the finding of the studs was, as described by Mary here for the Ikea Lack shelves:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/main/archives/002660.html
In that thread I posted on how to get around the problem of finding the studs in the right place:

...if you ever have a stud problem in the future this may help. Cut out the dry wall along the length of the shelf and replace that section with the same thickness of plywood or solid wood. You should hit at least two studs with the wood. You can now screw anywhere along that length of wood meaning screw holes do not have to line up with studs.

If the section you cut out is slighty smaller than the shelf all round (possible because lacks are nice and thick) then you don't have any finishing work to do to blend the wood to the drywall.

So Katie, (and no offense to Lori) I would not base your decision on Lori's friend's experience. You need to anchor the shelves to something solid - not just sheet rock.

In the case of the shelves that you want, they are not wide enough for you to be able to get away with no finishing work on the drywall once you install your strip of wood. Your wood will be bigger than the shelves so you will need to blend in with tape and joint compound. Not hard to do by someone with patience.

Speaking of WE beds, we are very close to buying their fake suede/real polyester one
http://ww1.westelm.com/cat/pip.cfm?template=8grid&pkey=cfrnbed&gids=f037&cid=frnbed&area=shp in brown and I feel comfortable going with this because, judging from that old WE bed thread, it looks like the beds have been fixed, the price is so good, and it's for our guest room so it should get light use.

I'll keep ppl posted on how it fares.

Jamie Pup and Katie,
The hardware stayed on my friend's wall. It was the shelves which fell down. It wasn't a stud issue. She felt they were cheaply made. Funny enough, she told me about it while we were at Target last year.

Ah, jamie pup, if nailing a stud were always that easy! ;)

In general, most shelves come with manufacturer's guidance on how much weight they support. For those surprised when their Lack shelves come tumbling down, you shouldn't be... the tags in the store say the shelf's capacity is only something like 11 lbs, regardless of whether you hit a wall stud or not...

jamie pup -
you are saying to put the replacement piece of wood into the wall between two studs, right?
that's brilliant - thx!

New question- Does anyone know where I might be able to locate the Mirac coat rack? It has such simple, clean lines and a small footprint. It used to be available at DWR, but they discontinued it some time ago. I'd like to find it in NYC, but anywhere in the US would be fine at this point. An image can be seen at:

http://www.citeofficedesign.com.au/product_detail.asp?prodID=238&catBrandID=CB134

Thanks

I have some of the Williams-Sonoma/Hold Everything wooden shelf units that are always in their catalogs (heavy duty; held together with metal rods). REALLY sturdy stuff; I use it to hold my very heavy La Crueset pots and pans and cases of bottled water, etc. Not high style, but well made and strong. Also extremely easy to assemble and the wide variety of shelf types you can choose from make it extremely flexible.

Libby--

One need not be a foodie to see the appeal of the earth-inspired, spice-colored palette of all things Fall (but it makes it even better if you are!!).

I agree that this time of year serves up inspiration everywhere, along with a serious hard-wired human need to get the nest ready for cooler weather.

And, to add to it, I think generally retailers get Fall "right" more than they do any other season.

AND, I think the color of Fall light is the most flattering of all, making everything seem even more appealing.

Yay, Fall.

Totally off topic, but just wanted to say that it gives me warm fuzzies to know that there are others that care about what their home looks and feels like, even if it isn't our profession.

And anyone who gives love to Target is ok in my book.

the end.

suze--
Have you tried Topdeq or Oriac?

re: shelving
Holdeverything has some boxy shelves wih brackets that are indicated to hold more weight than some other "no visible means of support" versions elsewhere.

Their Lancaster line, for example, which USED to come in a great zebra wood, but alas seem to no more.

In regard to the hardware problems w/ the West Elm basic shelf-

If you stud mount it- there's really no problem. However...

I just installed the 4' shelf last weekend on dry-wall ---- not studs, and the problem is that the hardware just flatout sucks. The dry-wall anchors just don't stay in the wall! They don't do what they are meant to do. Usually the anchors expand when screws are driven into them... these don't... thus, when you put the shelf on the screws and then just make minor adjustments the whole thing just rips out of the wall.

Ultimately, I was able to get the shelf hung level and @ 90 degrees off the wall, but I had to move it over 1 inch from where I started and use my own, more heavy-duty dry wall anchors.

Bottom-line, there's a reason that the shelf is only $40- the mounting system sucks, and you need to do a lot of work to get the damn thing to hang perpendicular to the wall. Sure, it looks good if you can do it, but I would recommend -oddly enough -to go w/ the identical shelf by Pottery Barn for about $80.

Unlike the West Elm model- the PB shelf sits on a track that has a built-in level and is much easier to secure and install...

just make sure your wall is straight- you might run into difficulties w/ an uneven wall such as old plaster w/ a lot of patch up work on it.

-Kellen-

Haha, very funny ptoo.

Lori, do you know what actually happened? The hardware stayed on the wall so did the shelf slide off? Did it break off in pieces? Were there screws underneath that locked the shelf onto the wall mounted hardware? Was it this part that failed?

I'm sorry I assumed it was a stud issue - I was thinking of Mary's stud problem - but I would like to know what exactly happened to see if I can think of a way around it.

Guido, I think you are saying what I am saying which is to use a piece of wood large enough to hit at least two studs, ensuring that the depth of the wood is the same as the dry wall so that it not only fits within the hole cut out of the drywall to accomodate it, but so that it fits flush also.

Can we talk about the "Array" book shelves that
cb2.com offers? They are less expensive than the DWR "Sapien" shelves, but I fret about their quality.

Please advise.

juanito--

To add to the confusion, Holdeverything has their version, called the Studio Spine Bookcase, and The Terrence Conran Shop has the Ptolomeo, the granddaddy of 'em all (with a whopping $1300 price tag).

I trust cb2's quality, but I think this design of bookcase, from any manufacturer, is prone to sag if loaded to the gills at all times.

But aren't we all. :)

Wow! Thanks so much for all the info on the stud/mounting/drywall/etc. etc. Jamie Pup. That will definitely come in handy when I finally get around to buying some shelves.

Stud mounting sounds hilariously dirty!

new topic...

how do i go about setting a budget for a bathroom renovation? it's less a function of what i can afford/what i'm willing to spend as it's a question 'what do i need to spend to get something nice and professionally done?"

In browsing some of the bookmarks for the various shelves discussed several of them state the provided self-install hardware is recommended for dry wall or stud mounting NOT for plaster walls and suggest professional installation in that case.

p(t.o.o.) -

thanks for that. so apprehensive
about getting these for exactly that reason!

i also thought about IKEA's "Expedit." It's from
a different family of shelves, but it can double up as a room divider. And I quite like it's grid-like design.

"Prone to sag if loaded to the gills at all times"- Ha!

Thanks for entertaining me as I procrastinate this afternoon.

On West Elm, I really think you must go to the store and see the stuff. Some of their stuff seems solid and is equivalent to the lower end Crate & Barrel, but some seems totally flimsy and cheap.

I also bought the new west elm wooden candlesticks, mentioned above and I love them. Also bought some candles and a nice wooden tray. Ordered a duvet cover this summer - thought it looked cheap when it arrived, so I returned it.

IKEA's Expedit - I have that big grid, and it's good and sturdy, putting up with my art books and Creuset. I think it's one of their better creations.
It wasn't too horrifying to put together.

jaimiepup -
thanks again
you *were* saying what I thought you were saying

ALSO, a scavenger special
at the Paramus IKEA there were several very long lengths of those floating shelves in the return as-is room. Dark grey, and white. ridiculously cheap -- all their spare wood and shelves are $5 and $10/each in that room.

We had a 4' length of one of those on a wretched old plaster wall in a wretched old apt, and it held heavy plants without a problem.

Our wonderful hardware store guy recommended molly bolts to us when we were fasting things to a plaster wall. They worked very well.

Here are a few websites on fasting things to walls, in general, I think it's best to throw away any plastic anchors that come with your purchase and buy better fastening hardware.
http://web1.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod02/01500193.html

http://www.factsfacts.com/MyHomeRepair/drywallfasteners.htm

regards,
trillium

Joe - sadly, there's no secret to it, but it takes time and attention. You identify at least two and ideally three contractors/builders explain to them what you want and have them submit a bid. I guess as preliminary research you could also get the opinion of a bathroom retailer or specialist. And check out nkba.org for some general guidelines.
Note: You must be very clear with contractors that you will accept nothing more than 10 percent overage. In fact, if it is a gut job then there should be no overage because nothing should be unexpected.
How do you find a good contractor? ah, that's the big problem. and the good ones are usually busy. recommendations are best. if you're in nyc i know three who are all pretty good. you can also browse the Franklin Report, a guide founded in NY but has expanded to other cities.

That reminds me, I have a great contractor in Brooklyn.
I met him when he replaced a contractor that was screwing up a job across the street from me - they opened the roof and added a room, and made a crazy open space out of two floors of a tenament building. It was gorgeous.

Anybody looking for a big job kind of thing in B'klyn, feel free to email me for # - it seems wrong to just post it here.

Hey folks,

I got a new apartment over the summer and picked up a really cool couch from HD Buttercup here in LA. Anyway, I'd like to know your opinion on something. I'd like to purchase a recliner of some sort but do you think I need to have a matching black leather recliner, or do you think a brown leather one would work alright as well? It seems like black would be 1) very hard to match and 2) too matchy match. Here's a pic of the couch:

http://flickr.com/photos/shpanky/50067107/in/set-1086874/

And I'm interested in this barcalounger:
http://www.barcalounger.com/products/Lifestyles.html#Weston

What are your thoughts?

I wish I had an answer for Adam, if only to keep the flow going on this thread. But here I am, barging in to interrupt:

My otherwise nice apartment has fixtures directly from the 1980s plastic-faux-brass era. The worst is a chandelier in the dining area. It's "gold," shiny, and clearly cost $10 at Home Depot. It clashes with my silver-toned furniture and accessories.

When I went to an Indian restaurant in town, they had these cool lights that were like large boxes made of colored rice paper attached directly to the ceiling. It inspired me to try to disguise this chandelier with something similar. Any other thoughts?

Asha, I had the same problem with my apartment. I replaced the hanging chandelier with the cool sputnik lamp you can see on my flickr pages. It's very easy to replace, just make sure you turn off the circuit breaker before you do anything.

I also added a dimmer switch.

A. Thanks for the heads up on the Thomas O'Brien Vintage Modern items being in stock at Target stores! I went after work and was pretty impressed with the pieces that were in stock.

Here are my first impressions of the line... Very few pieces of furntiture were in-stock, but the full range of lamps were. The lamps were fantastic and the same presence in person as in the photographs popping up in the desing mags this month... The tabletop accessories were nicely designed and seemed to be fairly priced, but a only a few standouts like the nesting candle set... The best deal seemed to be the bath towels. ($10 for a plush Turkish cotton bath towel!) While not nearly the gram weight of more expensive Turkish towels, these were very soft to the touch and generously looped. Definitely the best I've seen in this price range... The table linens were also very nice. (I picked up linen napkins and 2 sets of the vintage stripe kitchen towels.)... None of the beddings were in stock... The rugs were also nice, especially the smaller flat-weave patterned ones... I didn't care for any of the plastic bath accessories, but I did like the ceramic, glass and faux granite pieces. The seersucker shower curtain was also a winner... The stoneware plates were nice, especially in the vintage blue glaze. The glasses, though nicely proportioned and designed, looked to be cheaply made--no real uniform QC in the manufacturing process. (But I guess it could be argued that flaws/manufacturing variances give them more of a vintage feel. At $4 per glass, I guess I'm nitpicking.)

Can't wait to see the rest of the stuff as it arrives in the stores!

patrick (the other one)-
I appreciate your suggestions. Looks like Oriac carries something similar.
Thanks much-

Excellent! My pleasure.

Damn! The Thomas O'Brien Vintage Modern collection isn't on Target's Web site yet. Road trip (sigh!). I desperately need another floor lamp...

Every time I go to Target, I wish they'd been "everywhere" and doing "design" 20 years ago, when I was young and even more broke. (When we sold our Victorian brownstone and dark furniture to move to California in 2002, we were going to just do an entire modern apartment from IKEA and Target and such... but before the ink was dry on the state's certificate that we hadn't imported fruit flies, I'd reverted to the kind of 1920s-ish stuff that defined San Francisco style in the 1970s...)

Wende. Thomas O'Brien stuff IS up on Target's website. Just enter "Thomas O'Brien" in the search field. Or click through to here. http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html/sr=1-1/qid=1128702823/ref=sr_1_1/602-3731643-4003021?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=15812531

Thank you, Enrique! (Guess I need more coffee.)

How do I share a photo on AT?

Hi everyone.
I'm a lurker who once upon a time entered a contest here. This question goes out to Patrick too, but please jump in if you have advice. Patrick, I've been looking for medium size metal containers without lids for my bathroom, similar to those you have in your bathroom. Where did you get them? Thanks!

Does anyone have an idea where I could find the brackets for the pottery barn shelves? I thought that I was lucky when I found someone had thrown their's out. Unfortunately no brackets. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

I bought a bunch of West Elm basic shelves and block shelves, as well as the large "Rustic" wall shelf. They all look great and seem to be much more substantial than the cardboard-stuffed Ikea shelves. BUT the installation has been a nightmare. First, the instructions say drill 3/16" holes in the wall and use a hammer to tap in the enclosed plastic wall anchors. Well the ancors are significantly bigger than 3/16", so tapping them into the wall actually resulted in most of them punching straight through. (I called and they mailed me all new shelves for free). The mounting anchors that did stay in the wall just spun while I tried to insert the enclosed screw. So I had to patch up the mess and buy better hardware. Also, the shelves have cross shaped keyholes which youre supposed to hook over the screws in the wall. Problem is that 1.) its very difficult to get a perfect level (once the screws are in the wall, that's it) and 2.) It's extremely difficult to tilt the shelf up to wedge the screws into the 2 cross shaped openings in the back of the shelf (the center of the cross is smaller than the damn head of the screw so you have to tilt & angle it to slide the screw head in -- No easy task and it tears up the paint on the wall). So the result is to get a far enough angle, the screws can't be tight to the wall, so if it did actually work, the shelf would not be tight against the wall. I tried to install the block shelves today -- forget it. The heads of the screws are far too big and won't fit the keyhole cross unless you have them stick out so far as to adequately tilt the blocks. This is virtually impossible. So I have to go buy new smaller-headed screws and see if that will work. The catalogue photos look so nice and I like West Elm's products. They really should, however, develop better mounting methods, like something with brackets or something and not just these rediculous screws.

OKAY so here is the deal. I went out one day and was going to buy some floating wall shelves at Target right? I thought to myself "HMMM they shouldn't be too expensive." Wrong-o 30 bucks for a shelf that wasn't even 3 feet long. AND THE QUALITY ahhhk they were cheap like pieces of plastic painted. I beleive in quality items so to my disatisfaction I decided to start making them! SO I DID I make all sorts of floating shelves and the best part I use a bracket that 1) has a built in leveling system 2) is strong and supportive up to 75 pounds for one type and 150 lbs. for the other! (not that you would ever put that much weight on them) 3) are made of real wood I either stain them or I paint them (I even use authentic milkpaint on some of them) 4)and I nail them and glue them and make them so they are something you would want to hang on your wall! ANYWAY, I am interested in offering them to you the people who have purchased other shelves and have been disappointed by the shelves that are out there falling off your wall sagging and drooping. I would be willing to make one for you if you wanted me too! I want you to know I started making these shelves because I was dissappointed and I thought to myself NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO PAY THE OVER PRICED AMOUNT FOR SHELVES LIKE THESE! You should at least get a quality product!!! If you are interested in learning more about these shelves and getting some that will last and will support your goods drop me a line! Oh and the brackets I use are a breeze! All you do is screw in one side of the bracket lift the other side up until the attached level shows level, and put another screw in! YES IT IS THAT EASY! and like I said it supports 75 to 150 lbs! I will do other pieces also and I guarentee your satisfaction or your money back!!! I am not a scamer I am for real email me for more information!!! paragon_renovations1616@msn.com

I picked up some West Elm floating picture ledges the other day. I have plaster walls so luckily the unit came with metal anchors. So I screwed the anchors and screws tightly in place, hooked the ledges over them and bam, finished. Only thing is, it's not secure, the darn thing tilts forward off the screws. The ledge doesn't completely fall off but it just hangs there crooked. Any ideas how I can secure it flush so that is doesn't tilt? I was thinking of applying velcro to add that extra security with the hooking screws but that may be cheesy. Thoughts?