WILD WILD WEEKEND....

Well no so much wild...but I thought the title was so fitting.

This weekend I decided to venture out and visit some of my favorite online/catalog stores. Charlotte is great in that most of the great stores are within 30 minutes of each other. So my day started at West Elm...moved on to Zgallerie....Pottery Barn 1 and 2...Restoration Hardware and rounded it off at Crate and Barrel. I made a few interesting "bargain tips" on the journey

STORE 1: WEST ELM

Had a great conversation with Rachel in West Elm. We discussed the importance of supporting your local retailers. I told her I order a number of products offline and she told me to stop. And as beautiful as she was...I kinda listened. However, I understood what she was conveying. If you continue ordering online, the local stores will close their doors. When this happens revenue departs, but the personal shopping experience, where you have the ability the touch and feel and smell and see will be no more. I will be visiting West Elm (and other stores) more frequently when needed...and you should too.

STORE 2: Z GALLERIE

Let me start by saying Zgallerie's items look great online...but a little subpar in the store.

My biggest discovery was realizing that the items in Zgallerie can be found elsewhere. The exact items...read on.

This horse, priced at $80 is found at this warehouse homefurnishings store near me. I believe this same horse is priced at either $39 or $59. The very same item...but at a cheaper cost.These are from the warehouse home furnishings store as well.re. I was going to save these to post with the other photos as I was going to do a post on the warehouse store...but I was surprised that these pieces werent exclusive to Zgallerie.These decorative pieces and pieces in the same stlye are also in the warehouse. In fact they come in gold, silver and I think blue. Reasonably priced.

STORE 3: Restoration Hardware

Athough the catalog and the website has beautiful images, the store delivered very little. Very sparce. They seemed to have spent a great deal of time with a lighting plan...but it didnt work. I didnt see any of the graphic letter images or crendezas or entertainment centers. Just a few beds. The Warner Bed. In Linen. Ahem...I have a black leather one...with nickle nailhead trim.

STORE 6: POTTERY BARN

Not going to spend a lot of time on Pottery Barn as most bloggers saturate the web with this store's images. However there are two items to point out.

These pillows with...
these clearence hand towels from Target...perfecct match
These apothcary jars from Pottery Barn are nice. I went to two different Pottery Barns. The first store had these. The second store did not. Very nice designs. I saw these very jars used in a bathroom done by Candice Olson, host of Divine Design on HGTV and the W network. Its really refreshing to see an interior design industry icon use accessories from stores and sources that are not all to-the-trade. I, along with so many others, believe that Candice Olson is one of the most high recognizable interior designers. As aforementioned if you look at her designs and refer to the sources page, you will realize that a number of her pieces come from stores that many people can access, such as the apothecary jars. I have seen items from West Elm and even Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams.

Although a friend of mine calls her the "clutter queen", I think wathching her episodes give you a hint of what you can purchase or do in your own homes.

Incidentally, I am told most of the accessories dont stay with the homeowner. Most are used to stage the reveal segment. Many of the pieces are offered to the homeowner at a discounted prices if they decide they would like to keep them. But a number of them are simply staged.
STORE 6: CRATE AND BARREL

So, after visiting all these stores what did I buy? Must have been bags and bags and bags of stuff...actually just two little items...

Stay tuned.

Mr. Goodwill Hunting.