I wanted to post a note about some great online resources I've found. Being in a fairly small market in South Carolina, I've not found the kind of lighting, hardware and fixtures that we need for the house at Beechwood, so I've resorted to a lot of online shopping. I've also been using a couple of great social bulletin board sites for communication purposes. I wanted to share them all with you so that when you are in a pinch, you might get assistance this way too!
First, Houzz and Pinterest have been terrific tools for communicating ideas. I've set up boards and ideabooks where I can post photos to give visual picture for my clients and for contractors. Some people see this as modern, and what I was meaning was this, so it helps when I can pull out my phone and click on the Houzz app (also available for adroid, iPad and online) and show to whomever I'm speaking, exactly what I'm talking about. And the best part is I can share my ideabooks and boards with others and my clients can pin to them as well, it just eliminates confusion when we are all talking about the same thing.
Second, I have discovered allmodern.com and wayfair.com. I actually "discovered" them because I sat next to one of their account service professionals on a flight from Vegas last week. Mid-Century Modern is not very prevalent in this area, so we've been finding great lights, fixtures and furnishings all in one place and shipping is free! (and I've done most of the shopping in my pajamas!)
Third, I have been looking for wallpaper and fabrics and it can take hours to go through books, and most of them don't have even one paper I need. I've found that the best way is to search for the exact description of wallpaper I'm looking for online and then peruse the online shops. Most are by manufacturer and all I've found will send you a sample in just a couple of days, usually for just the cost of postage. It's much easier to carry around that sample that it is to lug around large wallpaper books for just one page. The same goes for fabrics, but of course, nothing substitutes for touching and seeing them in person, and you might get a few duds that just aren't what they looked like online, but I've probably ordered twenty samples of fabric and wall coverings in the past month, and I've only gotten three that I just threw in the trash because they weren't even close to what I thought they'd be. And while they cost about $2.00/ea. to mail, it's still cheaper than my gas to run all over searching for them.
This does not scratch the surface of the number of websites and resources I've used in the past month, but they are the big ones. I've grown to rely on them so heavily, I thought I'd share! Hope you find them useful and if you have ideas of other resources, please share. Happy "surfing"!
