Design Nostalgia

February 27, 2012 5:06 PM

Looking for online stores with interior design elements like Design Within Reach.

Think classics.
That one style of little bronze office desk lamp with the dark green glass shade with the pull chain, still used in some libraries.
The comfortable leather chair in your grandfather's library - any chair style favored by any grandfather.

Basically looking for furniture and interior design nostalgia, with no real set idea for which era such wistfulness should focus on.
Mainly inclined toward desks, chairs, office chairs, bookcases, lighting, rugs (i.e. the living room or library set up).

Now, if some of those websites could possibly be for someone on a possibly tight budget ... (though honestly, don't let that limit your recommendations).

I'm looking for those sites that actual purchasable examples of good classic furniture design, based on names I could, for example, look up and see in some black & white picture featuring Dali, the Wright brothers, Hitchcock, your great aunt (obligatory: "your mom's a classic piece")

Aaaand, go.

posted by DisreputableDog to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Home Decorator's Collection churns everything from Victorian/Edwardian/Mid-century/Modern together in it's collections - median prices, but often scaled down from the originals. Not as "fashion forward" or as mid-century modern as Design Within Reach, but the look without the price most of the time.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:23 PM on February 27, 2012

Your question is confusing me slightly because I think of Design Within Reach as being modern, with some mid-century classics. Whereas the library lamp and grandfathers chair makes em think of traditional style. So I'm not exactly clear what you're looking for, but here's my best guesses:
Room and Board - plenty of mid-century classics here, but not cheap. They do have a sale that starts every Dec 26th if you can wait that long.
West Elm - a bit more contemporary than you might want? But definitely more affordable.
Chiasso - more modern than your examples, but in my mind more analogous to DWR and much more affordable.

There are plenty of other online retailers that make knockoffs of classics, like Alphaville, but I have not bought anything from them to verify the quality. If you google things like "knockoff Knoll" or "reproduction eames" you'll get plenty more links to browse. Personally I'm wary of buying furniture online when I can't see the quality first-hand (I have bought Eames dining chairs online because I could see them in person at DWR and be sure I was going to get the same thing for a bit cheaper)
posted by Joh at 6:03 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Think classics.
That one style of little bronze office desk lamp with the dark green glass shade with the pull chain, still used in some libraries.
The comfortable leather chair in your grandfather's library - any chair style favored by any grandfather.

huh? this is not the dwr design aesthetic. dwr is very modern, with nods to mid-century.
posted by violetk at 6:15 PM on February 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

Thirding Chiasso
For the real deal (which means not everything will be in your price range, but there can be real finds, I love UnicaHome

You can also do really well on Ebay if you can figure out what era of modern furnishings you're looking for to narrow donw your search
posted by Mchelly at 7:12 PM on February 27, 2012

Things like this show up from time to time on Fab.com
posted by murkywaters at 7:15 PM on February 27, 2012

That one style of little bronze office desk lamp with the dark green glass shade with the pull chain, still used in some libraries.
The comfortable leather chair in your grandfather's library - any chair style favored by any grandfather.


I think you want Restoration Hardware. They have kind of a 40's Indiana Jones vibe these days.
posted by rhizome at 7:17 PM on February 27, 2012

For lighting and hardware, Rejuvenation.
posted by jocelmeow at 12:00 PM on February 28, 2012