apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

anybody have a good source for simple modern potted plant pots (for small houseplants)?

Per Leslie's request I am posting a complaint about Bay Area Sofas. I ordered a sofa from their Burlingame warehouse, paid $2000 on my Visa and did a trade for the remaining $1000. TJ Woodward, one of the owners, actually had the nerve to come in and use the trade (medical skincare) during the two weeks following my purchase. He then disappeared to Dallas (or wherever) with no forwarding address, a disconnected cell (!) and an inactive e-mail address. The business has been closed down for about 2 weeks according to several Yelp messages. There are probably 25 - 30 people that lost between $2000 and $5000. TJ's partner was Monty Butler who apparently still lives in SF. Anybody know where? I received no hits on either name with Google. This is a case of pure and simple fraud. Does jail time sound about right?

i've a request for anyone who has a good eye and a collection of favorite fabric websites:

in the vein of chair couture, i want to make over a chair i recently came into possession of. i have a couple of ideas about color and fabric combinations, but i really want some outside suggestions about what other people would do with it. i'm positive that will inspire me to do something even better than what i'm already thinking.

so if anyone's got ten minutes and an opinion, i'd muchly appreciate hearing from you.

chair pics live here.

In the last couple of days, beautynurse and another reader, gfr16, emailed us to tell us about their problems with Bay Area Sofas. Take a look at gfr16's comment, as well as that of tmd, on the store post here:

http://sanfrancisco.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/peninsula/bay-area-sofas-010571

Beautynurse -- These people set up their lives to be difficult to track. There's no Monty Butler on Zabasearch, which usually has traces of everyone, and they used a "disguise your identity" domain registrar for the company's domain. Join with the other victims in hiring an attorney, who will know whether you can rely on the police or need to hire a detective or what.

I am among those who purchased furniture without my order being filled. I have the business card from Bay Area Sofa's and Monte is spelled with an "e". Maybe that will help in your searches online.

I'm trying to get my money back through my credit card company and plan on filing a police report on Thursday when i'm in Burlingame.

Re: Bay Area Sofas

I too placed an order at this company, based on the positive experiences that I heard about a company on the Peninsula, and the feature here. That was an expensive lesson... I'm investigating my options.

BTW, I did find a Thomas J Woodward in a "fee based" online directory with addresses in San Francisco and Dallas.

I've created a yahoo group as a meeting place for others who got left out to dry...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rippedoffbybayareasofas

Just moved into my first non-college apartment. I LOVE it: $500 less than current market rent, AMAZING view, great size. BUT, it is carpeted. It has this really ugly heathered taupey color. Any suggestions on how to cover it up? I can't rip it out, but is there a way to cover it completely with something?

The meetup at Jackson DWR last night was wonderful. I had so much fun. Met great peoples. Thanks so much Leslie, Maxwell, and Anh Minh!

ebrown - thanks for coming out! we'll be posting pics later ...and send us some of yours, please!