Month: January 2014

New Target Designer Collab: Peter Pilotto for Target debuts February 9th!

Target Designer Collabs are so much fun and today the PETER PILOTTO for Target collection lookbook was unveiled.  The collection is designed by London based designers Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos.  It features tons of the crazy, complex prints that the designers are known for.

Target has released 22 looks that include approximately 70 items ranging from dresses, rompers, swimwear and accessories.  Prices will range from $16.99 to $79.99 with a few pieces exclusive to Target.com.  The collection will debut on February 9th, 2014.  In my experience, items go up on Target.com at midnight pacific.

Personally, my favorite items are the red iris print items.  So pretty!  However, I don’t know if I love the rest of the collection.  I don’t wear a lot of prints so this is pretty loud for me!

What do you think?  Do you love prints or do you shy away like me?  Will you be picking anything up from this collection?

The full look book is after the cut!

PETER PILOTTO for Target Lookbook - Look 1-2
PETER PILOTTO for Target Lookbook – Look 1-2

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Neiman Marcus online $50 off $200 purchase until Friday

Neiman Marcus has a new coupon out.  I haven’t seen this one before so I thought it was worth mentioning if you have a ~$200 purchase to make.  It’s a straight $50 off your regular price purchase with code JAN50.  Online only until Friday.

Here’s the fine print:

*Offer valid online only. To receive $50 off, enter the promo code JAN50 in the promotion code box in your shopping bag during checkout. The value of your select regular-priced order must total $200 before shipping and tax. Does not apply to Beauty purchases, previous purchases, wedding registry items, NM Gift Card® purchases, catalog orders, Bergdorf Goodman®, Last Call®, CUSP®, or with any other discount offer. Neiman Marcus employees are not eligible for offer. One discount per customer. Other exclusions may apply. Ends 01/18/14 at 6 AM CT.

I have been waiting for a deal like this and I just bought the Marc by Marc Jacobs Classic Q Natasha in Taupe!

MARC by Marc Jacobs Classic Q Natasha Crossbody Bag, Taupe
MARC by Marc Jacobs Classic Q Natasha Crossbody Bag

Psst. Can I just mention how I love that the coupon code actually specifies the end time for the coupon being 6am Central time Saturday so that even Hawaiian residents have until the end of day Friday to redeem?  I live on the west coast and I can’t tell you how many times coupons have expired at 9pm pacific time for us!  So yay Neimans 🙂

Westin Heavenly Bed on sale again at Nordstrom

The Westin Heavenly bed is on sale again at Nordstrom through January 20th (next Monday). I thought the Anniversary Sale was the only time to purchase the Westin Heavenly bed on sale, but I guess I am wrong!  Sale prices are the same or very slightly better (<$5) for sizes Twin through Queen.  King prices are $51 better than the last Anniversary Sale prices.

Sale prices are now:

Twin:
Mattress and Foundation Set: Reg. $1,195
Sale: Mattress + free Foundation, $895 (Save $300)
Queen:
Mattress and Foundation Set: Reg. $1,495
Sale: Mattress + free Foundation, $1,125 (Save $370)
Mattress and Split Foundation Set: Reg. $1,595
Sale: Mattress + free Foundation, $1,125 (Save $470)
Twin XL:
Mattress and Foundation Set: Reg. $1,395
Sale: Mattress + free Foundation, $1,048 (Save $347)
King:
Mattress and Foundation Set: Reg. $1,795
Sale: Mattress + free Foundation, $1,295 (Save $500)
Full:
Mattress and Foundation Set: Reg. $1,395
Sale: Mattress + free Foundation, $1,048 (Save $347)
California King:
Mattress and Foundation Set: Reg. $1,795
Sale: Mattress + free Foundation, $1,295 (Save $500)

Modern Furniture Shopping in Seattle

As I mentioned previously, after purchasing a dining table from Kasala and not being entirely happy with the sideboard we also purchased, I decided that we needed to find a new sideboard.  I fell in love with the Pearse sideboard at Crate and Barrel.  The price was right and I loved the design.  After ordering online, I got a call about 2 weeks later saying that my order couldn’t be fulfilled.  I was devastated!  I called the two stores in my area to see if I could buy the floor sample but alas, it had sold just the day before.  I even talked with the Crate and Barrel furniture rep if I could keep my name on a waitlist to see if I could get any orders that were cancelled by other customers.  Unfortunately the rep said that I was 2nd to last on a lengthy list of unfulfilled orders.  After nursing my broken heart for a few weeks, I’m back on the quest to find a sideboard for our living room.

Crate and Barrel Pearse large sideboard
Crate and Barrel Pearse large sideboard – So sad this was discontinued!

We ended up going to visit a few of stores over the weekend and I wanted to write down my thoughts on the stores, selection and service.  It turns out several of the stores are near each other on Western avenue near Madison so it was actually very easy to visit a few of them together.  Street parking was also easy to find on a Saturday afternoon.

Camerich by Alchemy

909 Western Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104 206.682.7575

I found 2 sideboards that I liked online that I wanted to see in person.  I really liked the Max and Solo sideboards.  They seemed sturdy but the cabinet doors were uneven.  The salesperson said that could be adjusted.  I just did a bit of research and Camerich is a Chinese company.  I am not 100% sure but I think all of the furniture is designed and made in China.  That being said, it was still quite high quality and better than anything other furniture I’ve seen from China.

While the sideboards are really nice, they seem a tad overpriced since each piece is sold individually and the Solo cabinet’s drawers are an add-in.

Camerich - Solo Cabinet
Camerich – Solo Cabinet – Notice the visible hinges
Camerich - Interior of Solo Cabinet
Camerich – Interior of Solo Cabinet
Camerich Max Cabinet
Camerich Max Cabinet – 2 door and drawer configuration

I think everything in the store is Camerich furniture.  I saw that they had a floor sample for sale from another brand but that was it.  Since it is all Camerich, the nice thing is that the entire catalog is available online on their website.

Modern Design Sofas

915 Western Ave, Seattle, WA 98104 206.652.8374

This store mostly sells modern sofas (hence the name!) but they do sell Huppe furniture, though they only had 1 sideboard in the store to view. They had the Moment tall sideboard in the store.  It wasn’t my favorite but it did seem well made like the other Huppe sideboard we saw previously.  I didn’t pay too much attention to the sofas as we were in a hurry but I did like the design and the pricing seemed on par with Kasala.  I believe all of the furniture is made to order by the manufacturers and the store doesn’t sell its own private label designs.  The salesperson seemed knowledgeable about the furniture and was very friendly.

BoConcept

901 Western Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104 206.464.9999

While we had already visited BoConcept in Bellevue on our last shopping trip, we wanted to take a look at the Occa sideboard again since it had been awhile. I found that the salesman here was a little bit pushy, though perhaps he was just trying to be extra helpful.  He didn’t really give me a chance to take a look around before diving in to look at finishes and pricing.  I got a little flustered and didn’t even get a chance to check out the construction of the drawers.  Oops!  I did still like the Occa but I don’t think its my top pick.  Everything in the store is BoConcept design so it should be on the website.

Roche-Bobois

1015 Western Ave, Seattle, WA 98104 206.332.9744

I saw that there was one more furniture store just a few steps away so I thought we’d go take a look.  The store smells like new leather as you walk in and the furniture was super fancy and expensive.  So much so, that my husband remarked that people who can afford to shop here would probably be using a designer to shop for them!  The sideboards were nice, but in my opinion not worth the $8500 price tag.  Like Camerich and BoConcept, everything in the store is Roche-Bobois design.  The salesman said that much of their furniture is made in Italy.  The store had the Colors sideboard and Mangrove sideboard on display.

Roche Bobois Mangrove Sideboard designed by Marco Fumagalli
Roche Bobois Mangrove Sideboard designed by Marco Fumagalli

Seva Home

900 Lenora Street, Seattle, WA 98121 206.323.9925

Seva was the one store we visited that wasn’t on Western Avenue with the other stores. However, the nice thing is they have 2 hr validated parking in the South Lake Union Whole Foods garage!

It turns out they also carry the Huppe line and had the Huppe Cubic dresser in store.  I love it and I am thinking I will love the Huppe Illusion sideboard that is on their website.  Both of these are made in Canada and seemed to be good quality though I forget if I looked at the cabinet joinery technique.

Huppe Cubic Dresser
Huppe Cubic Dresser
Huppe Illusion Sideboard
Huppe Illusion Sideboard

They didn’t have too many options of sideboards to look at but they did say they represent over 350 manufacturers.  While I was there, another couple was pouring through design books, presumably picking out options.  The salesperson I spoke to said she would email me options that she would pick out since my little one was starting to have a meltdown after a few hours of shopping!

Others

There were a few other stores I found online that we didn’t get a chance to visit today:

Alchemy Collection stocks Calligaris Furniture which looks beautiful online.  They also stock Jesse Furniture who makes the gorgeous “Frame” sideboard that I saw at Kasala (for some reason it didn’t really appeal to me in the Mustard laquer that Kasala had in store, but this photo with the walnut veneer looks amazing!).  I’ll have to find time to go back to Seattle to visit that store sometime soon.

Frame Sideboard by Jesse
Frame Sideboard by Jesse

Ligne Roset seems like a French BoConcept to me.  Their website seems to show many options for the different designs and the prices for each.

Avetex is a San Francisco company but had a page on Seattle deliveries which I found via Google.  While I am usually not opposed to ordering things online, furniture seems like it would be a little risky.  What if there was an issue when the item arrived?  I will have to do a bit more research into what Avetex does in that case.

Inform and Diva Furniture represent plenty of high end designers.  A good place to start looking at designers if you like modern furniture.

As you can see, I really like geometric lines!   I didn’t expect it, but I seem to have a bit of a “type”.  Did you like any of the sideboards I’m considering?  Let me know what you think!

Where to find Athletic Girls Apparel

This year, I wanted to buy a friend’s daughter athletic apparel for her Christmas gift. She’s a gymnast and this was something on her wishlist.  I searched the mall but apparently athletic girls apparel (in the size range 7-16) is hard to come by!  I had no trouble shopping for her brothers, but I guess the market for girls athletic apparel is much smaller.

I wanted to share where I was able to find success since it was a bit of a frustrating endeavor.

JC Penney

JC Penney was the most promising in store.  They had a wide selection but only from their house brand Xersion.  Besides that, they carried only 3 Nike apparel items.  I ended up choosing a hoodie, tank top and yoga pants from the Xersion line for my gift.  The hoodie was soft but I guess it remains to be seen how well the yoga pants hold up to wear.  Online, the Nike selection is much wider and there are a few more Xersion items as well.

Macy’s

I was terribly disappointed in the abysmal selection at my local Macy’s.  I’ve purchased (girls) Nike workout pants in store before, so I was expecting to see more than just 1-2 different Puma items.   The online selection is much improved, with a full selection of t-shirts, pants and jackets for Puma and Nike.  There are also Columbia and The North Face coats online.

Nordstrom

In store I found a few Nike and Under Armour items but at full price they were a little out of my budget.  Nordstrom.com has a lot bigger selection but most of it is full price.  They also have Zella Girl online, which I didn’t see in store but its possible I could have just missed it since I’ve seen it in the past.  They also have Patagonia and The North Face coats.

Fred Meyer

I found absolutely no girls athletic apparel at Fred Meyer!  They have a small selection of Russell Athletic and Under Armour for Boys. Perhaps they have some in the spring/summer season but there wasn’t any when I shopped in December.

 

I didn’t get a chance to check out standalone sporting goods stores like REI and Sports Authority.  I know that REI has technical wear all year round for babies, girls, boys and adults, however if I remember correctly, most of the kidswear is REI brand and is definitely functional vs. fashionable. 🙂

Perhaps it is due to seasonal priorities that athletic apparel isn’t well stocked at the mall this time of year, but it was a bit frustrating trying to find something cute that my friend’s daughter would love!