Haggling as an Art Form?

The New York Times has a great article today about how to haggle when you go furniture shopping:

Read on:

"But these days, the thinking goes that it’s a buyer’s market for anyone looking to buy anything. And, as it happens, I’m currently in the market for everything, having just moved into a new apartment where the sum total of my décor is two card tables and an old leather recliner. I may not be a regular customer of the design boutiques of SoHo and TriBeCa, but if there is ever going to be a time for me to furnish my home in high style, this would seem to be it."

Read the complete article

We can't help but put in our two cents on this subject.

Now, we know the economy is tough. It's painful to watch. Too much so actually. The worst part of it is, we know it will get even worse in the next 12 months. But we hope that the consumers will see the OTHER side. As a consumer, you have the option of to spend or not to spend. As a furniture store owner though, you are much less flexible. There's rent, employees, utilities, overhead, advertising--fixed cost that come out of our pockets every month.

As we talk to our colleagues in the business, we find most of them are suffering, big time! Especially the small ones. Many have taken out home equity and/or maxed their credit cards out just to keep the business open. Most do not pay themselves a salary. Many of them are barely scraping by.

So when you do shop for furniture and decide to haggle, think about this a little. Stores have to make a profit to survive, and even though the common perception is retailers mark up like crazy, the truth is that after all the overhead, most of them are lucky if they can end up with a profit at the end of the month.

Here is another NY Times article on the home furnishing melt down.

Yes, do haggle if you can, NICELY. Keep in mind, though, stores need to make money to survive. And they are suffering just as much, if not more, than you are.

Otherwise, there won't be any place for us to shop!

Dare I begin to plan the garden?

All pictures from...Secret gardens of Sydney

Tradesmen are working on our house again today. It really gives me hope that one day our house will be finished and we will be living in our 'dream home' YAY!!!! So.....dare I even think about our landscaping and all the wonderful ideas I have? In our contract, our lovely builder is doing basic landscaping, what this means I am not too sure but we will talk about it together and work out something. What I need is a small front garden, side courtyard and back garden that backs out onto the park (on show to people walking by) My garden will be all Australian Natives except maybe for one or two feature plantings. I love water features and feature sculptures or urns. At least with gardens you can let them evolve and often the climate and soil conditions dictates what grows best.

I love the way they have made the bowl a focal point and also the thick plantings on the side of the courtyard.

White pebbles and copper tone pots...really nice!

Another feature for a courtyard...something for me to think about!

I love the lighting at night and the orange walls.

The long planter box is exactly what I would like for my courtyard. Extra seating for when I have all my friends over!

Mrs B

Anne Selke for Vanguard Furniture

Do you love colors? We do. In fact, we are totally obsessed with it. To us, there is nothing else that can elevate your mood so quickly, so completely.

We saw the new furniture collection from Anne Selke for Vanguard Furniture and we just love it. Anne Selke is the creative force behind Pine Cone Hill, a very pretty bedding line. Her furniture reflects her aesthetic perfectly. It's pretty, colorful and liveable.

Here are some samples of the furniture. You can see the complete collection at the Vanguard web site.

Starting to get there......

My study with the 'random' green doors hehe We didn't ask for these doors to be painted green but they are...lucky we love them so they are staying.

Our half finished Kitchen. I took this photo to show you what I mean by the overheads. The window dictates the height of the cabinets and already it had been lowered from where originally it was placed. The bench on the left has another white box on the end so at the moment it looks lop sided. The picture doesn't really do it justice to how nice it all looks in the space...doesn't matter hehe this is a house build blog not a 'Home Beautiful' spread! Pantry is to the left as well as fridge.

Walnut cupboards in the Laundry...I think I like them but once again, I am seeing things half finished!

Our Walnut theatre system. The colour of the wood grain I wasn't sure about last night. I need to be patient and wait till the carpets are in and my furniture that I have bought for this room. A very productive day, thank goodness as it was over 40 degrees and we still had the guys at the house.

Thankyou to all our tradesmen.....every single one has been lovely and polite.

Mrs B

Reflections...

Just some (honest) rambling thoughts on a hot day to share.....

Has anybody out there ever doubted theme selves during their house build? I am not exactly having a panic attack and really this should be such a happy day, but I am starting to doubt my selections that I made for my house. A wonderful surprise today...some of my cabinetry was in for the kitchens and bathrooms: the beautiful walnut cabinets as well as my feature overhead cabinets in the kitchen. I don't know if I like the particular walnut veneer I picked and worst still, the overheads cabinets are too high and I will not easily be able to reach all my stuff. I also have doubts about my tiles, balcony glass, garage door, lights placed wrongly.....all my fault and I don't know why I am being so picky! Maybe I should have just played it safe, but I think I am seeing things half finished therefore only focus what hasn't been done. I know I should be grateful that every day we have tradies working on our house but when you are already 4 months over the due date, it doesn't put you in a good frame of mind.
The kitchen already looks stunning and is taking shape exactly the way I envisioned. I am concerned however, that the cabinets are too high, but I suppose I will deal with this issue if needed. Question...Is it okay to have just a little step to use if needed to reach objects in the back corner of overheads? The problem started with the kitchen window as this dictated how high the overheads would be....I must get a photo so you can see what I mean. Anyway...I hope all my selections work together but gosh it is hard work when you try and be different when using splashes of colour...I can understand why homeowners go for safe colours and not bright green doors like what I did LOL
Mrs B

Rants and Raves-BoBo Intriguing Objects

Have you ever been in love at first sight? We have. With an object, that is.

We first saw BoBo Intriguing Objects at the Atlanta Mart last year and we've been meaning to write about it. BoBo stands for Bourgois and Bohemian, and we have to say, that just describes the products PERFECTLY.

We love this line because it takes reclaimed wood and makes them into amazingly beautiful things-- kinda rustic and organic--but in a very refined and sophisticated way.

Here are some samples of their products. They look WAY better in person, we must tell you. You can check out the rest of the products on BOBO web site. They are a little bit pricey, but that's because the quality of the workmanship is so high.

At the moment we do not carry BoBo products yet, but if you are interested in anything in particular, drop us a line.

Balcony and Garage Door

Our balconies front and back have now been installed...Yippeeeeee! Actually, when I think about it, any work that gets done we are excited about as it brings us closer to moving in. I love my garage door colour now, it changes colour with the sun. You can also see the balcony glass that has just been installed.

The long strip that goes across the glass is actually a sandblasted effect to give the house an interesting feature.

This picture is of a Liquid Limestone driveway. I love both the look and pattern and I would like it for my driveway. The problem is I don't think it a common product used in Victoria and have no idea how much it costs or if my builder will do it. We are supposed to have aggregate concrete but I'm not too keen on the rough texture. More pictures to come of the back balcony...

Mrs B

My Shopping Splurge...

Bed Linen from HomeRepublic

Recent puchase...Bed linen for my 14 year old son. I just realised that all the bedding are based on the same colours...Oh Well! When they get older, the boys can pick what they want as long as it is not black.

Sheridan bedlinen

I had just a small shopping expedition today...well not really, a really big one as you can see from my pictures! I managed to get 50% off all these beautiful Sheridan bedlinen for my 10 and 2 year old boys. I went a bit overboard as I bought everything...Donas, sheets, shams, quilts, blankets, animal cushions etc The picture above is for my 10 year old, at first I was concerned he may be too old for it but when we showed him the picture he loved it! His pillows that we bought go with it perfectly so I am very happy his room is coming together.

Sheridan...Dinosaur Range

The dinosaur bedding is for my baby. I even bought the little green dinosaur in the picture. Very happy today, slowly I am getting things for my house...after 16 months of enduring this house build, I need something to cheer me up.

Mrs B

Kitchens...

I spent a good 10 months on thinking, planning and agonising about my kitchen. I didn't have a kitchen designer so most of the design came from me. the pictures in this post represent all the elements that will be in my kitchen and bar area up on the second floor. I love .... horizontal handles, red glass, red glossy cabinets, white kitchens, clean lines, white granite tops and walnut wood. Combine all this and you have my kitchen and bar! Oh...I also forgot to mention that I love butlers pantry's so I have a small one but without a sink (the sink story I will tell you another time...I had to compromise with Mr B) So....I hope you enjoy my random pictures of kitchens!

Please note...When I saved these pictures, I didn't keep a record of the sites they were from. My apologies...

I love the skinny overhead cupboard, I am having one similar but going across the whole kitchen.



This is such a beautiful kitchen...very clean lines and I like the colour of the splash back.

One of my favourite houses. The floor boards are wide plank oak...I wanted this flooring so bad but was going to cost me a small fortune...oh well, my blackbutt floors will look just as beautiful.

I like the way the architect has combined the white gloss cupboards with the wood. Another element I am having in my kitchen.

The island bench is similar to mine.

A picture of Bianco Romano! very difficult to get it in Australia. I searched for over a year for the perfect white granite and I saw it at a Melbourne Home Show event. Cost us a fortune but I didn't care...this colour was exactly what I had been searching for. This stone is for my kitchen.

Henna Red on Starfire Glass

I have picked this colour for my splashback. Love it so much!

Mrs B

Lee Jofa Fabrics-Thread Collection

We drove down to Lee Jofa at the Pacific Design Center the other day to see what's new. We're glad we did because Lee Jofa just introduced a wonderful collection called "Threads".

Thread is a very decadent, very luxurious collection (and yes, they are REALLY pricey), but if you are in a mood for something very upscale, take a look at this line. The colors are muted and subdued; the texture is absolutely sublime, and the look is incredible.

Here are some samples of it. Now, the images alone do not do this line any justice. They look way better in person. You can see the entire collection here. For pricing information or to order samples, please visit our fabric site.

Home Accessories from Lazy Susan

As a home accessories vendor, we are constantly looking out for new vendors with interesting stuff we can buy. Recently, we came across a really cute home accessories line called Lazy Susan.

Now, home accessories are our absolute favorite thing to buy. Truly, there is no better way to instantly add pizzazz to your home.

Here are some samplings of their products. Lazy Susan does not sell directly to the public. We'll be posting their products up on our home accessories site shortly. In the mean time, you can view the entire product line at Lazy Susan web site.

Wish I was a child again....

Pottery Barn Dr Seuss Bedlinen

I really am a big kid at heart. I loved the characters from Dr Seuss books and my father used to read me the books every night. This bed linen is just the nicest I have seen for a little boy or girl. I really have got to have it now and are working out how to get it to Australia. Oh why don't we have a Pottery Barn store here!

Mrs B

architect: arta isozaki

liberal arts & science college


Hotel Silken Puerta America G.L. in Madrid


museum of architecture moscow