Seperated at birth? You decide:
Restoration Hardware’s 2500$ clone?
Fail. They’re similar designs, but not identical. The price probably accounts for actual hardwoods used in the one from RH, as opposed to probably mostly veneered soft woods in the Sam’s Club one.
But I do agree that RH is generally a total ripoff.
They’re not identical? They’re like variants coming out of some Soviet-era factory. The Restoration Hardware one has some columns on the front to embellish the look and a different stain, but even the hardware (knobs) are the same. I just looked at the one at Sam’s Club, btw.
Which makes me sad… because i was going to buy some Restoration Hardware because i thought it was a mostly American-made company. Silly me. Where are those Amish furniture catalogs again?
Actually they are different. But score on the cheap one while you can, hell I’d buy that for $500 if I had room for it. I’m not so hot on the wood stain color choice though.
Restoration Hardware is a way to fleece yuppies by pretending to be a retro “authentic” hardware store. If you want quality furniture, Ethan Allen is probably your best bet.
/yuppie ducks and covers
The problem is i like the style of Restoration Hardware’s furnature, or at least some of it, in general. Sure i can get some of the awful crude ornamental claptrap locally that attracts 50-something matrons like flies to honey, or go to my local oak outlet express (Furnature Row et al), or buy pressed furniture-shaped paper at Ikea while stepping over all the vomit from customers throwing-up after eating “authentic” Swedish cuisine; but i’d rather not.
If i’m going to buy cheap, i’m going all the way cheap. If i buy something nice, i want it to hold value (which is why spending real money at Ikea is insane). I don’t want to get some medium priced stuff and just go halfway…
Was looking for something similar a while back, this $179 unit from Ikea worked out perfectly:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70115187
No drawers or anything, though, if you want things you can pull on. Has a nice 1" gap between the back of the shelves and the rear of the unit for cords and stuff, works great.
There’s also Drexel Heritage, which has some heirloom quality furniture as well, in the style you’re looking for.
Arg! I just went to Drexel last weekend and couldn’t stand any of it! It’s all. so. ugly. Thanks for the suggestions though. :)
They’re probably made on the same manufacturing line. That happens a lot with furniture. The RH has rounded pilaster, Sam’s club doesn’t.
RH: “Handcrafted of solid hardwood with fine mahogany veneers”
Sam’s: “Extraordinary detail and hand carved hardwood construction”
I’d wager that under the veneer and finish, except for the rounded pilaster, they’re identical.
Hey Athryn, maybe you can help me out?
I’m looking for furniture for a bachelor pad, but more along the lines of “late 20s-early 30s”, so not beer signs and milk cartons, but not like i just inherited my grandparents’ furniture either. If it has to be ornamental, more on the side of fresh eclectic rather than 19th c. Victorian. Any ideas?
Hmmm
Wait, when did I suddenly become the QT3 interior decorator? I think I’ve been watching too much HGTV now that I get it in HD …
It really depends on your budget and style. If you think Ikea is too cheap, and DH is too dowdy, depending on your budget you might take a look at Ethan Allen, which has a wide range of diverse styles. There’s also Thomasville which has some cool stuff, but sometimes can be plain.
And really, the best thing to do is to start by wandering around furniture stores and looking. The internets don’t really do justice to furniture shopping, because it’s hard to get a sense of scale and stuff.
I’m partial to this place out here called Haverty’s. I got my couch there and I like it. Saw some nice buffet tables and stuff there as well.
Ah, Thomasville, now you’re on to something! Thanks Athryn. Havarty’s is not bad either though, thanks for that one as well ElGuapo.
If Athryn ever run for the office of Decoratrix of Qt3, she have my vote.
The expensive one has mortise and tenon joinery, which is an entirely different ball of wax. The style is defined already, it’s a matter of how you put it together and the quality of components that makes something expensive. Hand-joining furniture is the first and biggest price differentiator.
H.
So i ordered a couple things from Restoration Hardware. Not everything! Bleh, my sis pushed me over the edge off the yuppie cliff. Anyway, i’m finally in a city on business large enough to carry the chain, so before work today i stopped by a Restoration Hardware. Ok, i ordered a couple of side tables sight unseen. Now I figure i need to check out how fake it all really is and make myself really angry.
So i walk through the tiny, useless, store standing out like a sore thumb for being a guy, and being in there, and being 10:30am, and wearing boots. Hello ladies! So i see… Cedar drawers, lots of veneers. Oh, you tricky hobbits. DIAF yuppie furniture!
So i’m sitting here in my hotel bed at midnight, thinking about just how darn thick those tables were, and for some reason looked up the brand on wiki (supposedly not owned/related to Pottery Barn, supposedly “most” furniture made in the US which has to be a lie), and imagining cutting that crappy veneer table in half and seeing nothing but pitch-soaked pine… and then a memory strikes me.
They had those little round kitchen tables for sale a month ago for 660$, and i didn’t buy it. I just looked it up on the net and they’re selling “on sale” now for 1350. $#$@$#.
There’s a Thomasville store somewhere here in Houston, i saw it on the way to the Galleria district but couldn’t figure out how to get over there and it doesn’t show up in the Garmin.
South of 59 in a strip mall off the feeder road somewhere between Weslayan and Buffalo - across the freeway from Greenway Plaza.
They’re both equally ugly?
I have no idea why anybody under the age of 80 would buy something like that… but I’ve seen MTV Cribs and Extreme Makeover - apparently you can’t just buy good taste.
Hey, i haven’t bought either of them!
Hard to say. They are clearly based on the same design, but it’s impossible to assess the important differences (if there are any) from low res web images. You’d need to see how they are actually constructed (the RH one says that it has dovetailed drawers and mortise-and-tenon joinery; do they mean that the whole piece was constructed in that manner?). If I had to guess, I would say that there probably are some differences between the two to account for the price differential, and neither one is likely worth its respective price.
And boo to RH for pitching that piece as “Palladian.” It looks nothing like the furniture that you would have found in an actual Palladian home.