FELIZ NAVIDAD!! Y FELIZ 2009!!!

Hey people!

Sorry for the title in spanish, i just got a bit homesick. unfortunately i didn't make it home (Mexico) this year for the holidays, so thisisnotikea has been operating and will be open these days, not the 25th or the 1st but other than that i should be around for anyone who wants to come by... i will be going out of town the 2nd week of January, so no thisisnotikea for that one WHOLE week! 

Anyways, enough about my schedule... I just finished updating the website with all the new stuff, i still have to name and price a few things but should be all done tonight... we got some cool new pieces so check them out... and i say "we" because now it's not only me doing the buying, Tim, a good friend of mine, has an amazing eye for this stuff, so after being around thisisnotikea for the last few months he now knows what to look for, and he did find some really cool pieces, like those 2 awesome lucite lamps, that was him :) or that cool stainless steel table that was added this week, that was him too.... so we're kinda growing! and we're trying real hard to keep bringing you more and more new stuff! cause it's fun :)

Happy Holidays and cover yourselves up, it's starting to get cold!!!

Alexis

Holiday gift certificates - discounts!

Hey guys and girls,

In the spirit of stimulating the economy ;-) we are doing something that no one ever does...we are giving you a discount on gift certificates from This Is Not IKEA!  Yep, for any gift certificate that you buy between now and the end of 2008, we'll give you a 10% discount.  And you don't even have to use the gift certificate right away.

The only rules are that the redeemer of the gift certificate can't be the same person who purchased it and you can't redeem a gift certificate the same day it was purchased.  Cool, huh?

So,  buy your loved ones the gift of vintage.  (It's like regifting...but the really good kind.)

And have an amazing, safe, fun-filled holiday season!  Thank you to all of you who helped make 2008 such an amazing year for This Is Not IKEA.  We have loved meeting you and, in some small way, becoming a part of your life.  Los Angeles is full of awesome, interesting, friendly people.  Here's to a great 2009!

And if there is anything we can do to make This Is Not IKEA work better for you in 2009, let us know.  We're always open to suggestions.

My First post EVER!!!!/ New GIFT certificates!!

Hello people!

So, for a couple of months now Tom has been asking me to start posting on our blog, but there were 2 problems with that a) i'm not familiar with anything computer, so i had no idea how to do it and b) u guys have kept me pretty busy coming and buying furniture, which i love u for :) but it leaves me with little time to do anything else. Anyways here we are...  i'll use this first post to say thank you to everyone who's been here in the last 4 years, i feel extremely lucky to have stumble upon this little project we've created and to have met some amazing people on the way, and started good friendships that i hope last a looooooong time, even longer than the furniture you came to buy :) 

I also want to let everyone know that we finally got our GIFT CERTIFICATES I know many of you had been asking if we had any, we never thought about it until someone suggested it, so now we have them, and perfect timing cause the Holidays are around the corner and nothing says Merry Christmas better than a gift certificate from a cool online store! We have for any amount, so this can be for anyone! 

I will post more soon, promise, someone's ringing the door bell, i got to go show some furniture.... 

Happy Holidays!

Alexis

LA2Day article, email newsletter and tons of new stuff!

Okay, so we have some awesome customers.  And some of those awesome customers have been secretly (or not so secretly) writers for some of the really big lifestyle and design blogs and websites around town.  We've had a couple of really cool write ups that I thought I'd mention.

First, here's the most recent one, from LA2Day.com.  Gwen Barba was the writer, and she was a sweetheart.  I've pasted the text from the article below.  You probably already know about LA2Day.com, but if not, it's a huge lifestyle website with articles on everything.  We were spotlighted on their design focus section.

Thanks, Gwen!

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If you haven't signed up for our email newsletter, do so from the front page of our website - http://www.thisisnotikea.com.  We just sent out our first newsletter yesterday, and I'm not gonna lie to you...it's pretty darn cool.  We're going to send out probably 2 per month, and they will highlight new stuff, on-sale stuff, as well as special discounts and offers.

And if you DO receive it and want to introduce friends to ThisIsNotIKEA.com, then forward the email or the website to friends.  We will love you forever.  And if your friends turn out to be a big spender, we'll probably be so grateful, we'll give you a discount next time.

And if you run/work at a blog, link to us!

Okay, we got a lot of new stuff, so I should probably talk about that, too.

Like this retro green bowl.  We have a TON of unique, vintage plates, dishes, bowls, breadbaskets, glasses, ashtrays and other stuff that you won't find anywhere else.  They are unique vintage pieces that will make great color splashes in your kitchen or dining room.

Or this strange yellow standing lighter.  I almost want to smoke, just so I can have this sitting on a side table.

A really great danish modern coffeetable, with display space for your coffeetable books.  the lines of the table and the splayed legs would be stylish in any room, but especially a midcentury room.

I have a soft spot for vintage steel pieces.  The desk in my office is a huge Steelcase desk that weighs about a million pounds.  This old metal file cabinet is both useful and an interesting vintage centerpiece in a room.

Alexis had to beat somebody away from this chair to get it.  That's all I'm gonna say.  The vintage furniture business can get ugly.  But he came away with this piece, and it's going to look amazing in someone's living room.

I usually hate anything woven or wicker-like, but these are great.  If someone doesn't snatch them up, they might go in my house.

Saturated color, good lines...these won't last long.

Okay,...cute! 

 

These fiberglass chairs always go quickly, especially ones in good shape like this, and in a color that will complement any color scheme.

Okay, and my favorite thing of the recent purchases.  If I had room for this in my house, you wouldn't be seeing it here.  I love the industrial look, and this is a huge, industrial Sonrisa style cabinet.  (Yes, I love Sonrisa, but their stuff is really expensive.)

There are a ton more online, so check out the website.  And if you haven't already, sign up for our email newsletter!  And thanks for being a part of making our business so much fun for us.

This Is Not IKEA at the Emmy's and new stuff

Okay, so the guys from This Is Not IKEA had a night out at the Emmy's this Sunday. Totally fun. 

I think Alexis almost peed in his pants when he 

saw Oprah. A friend of mine who used to work with me at MTV and Nickelodeon is a Talent Executive on the show, so he hooked us up. Anyway, so here's a photo of us doing something besides furniture for once. I'm on the left, Jimmy is in the middle, and you guys probably know Alexis.

Okay, so on to some of the new stuff.  

First photo is a crazy aqua-colored retro fan.  Yeah, the summer's almost over, but this is the cutest fan ever.

Then, two plastic retro side tables, with wheels.  Totally modern, very cool.

Third photo is a cool boomerang table with splayed legs and a black faux marble top.

Finally, a set of three plastic nesting tables...so awesome.

LA2Day and some of Tom's favorite stuff

Okay, so Alexis and I still aren't in the habit of blogging yet, but we're gonna get better. I promise. And every time we blog, each of us is gonna throw up some photos of some of our current favorites from our inventory. Usually some of the brand new stuff that we've bought.

Most of this week was dedicated to reorganizing our storage areas. For those of you who come by soon, you better ooh and aah to Alexis about how much more organized our mini-warehouses are. Alexis put in some serious hours of sweat into making them more organized and accessible for browsing. (Hey, it's still like a giant treasure hunt if you come by to browse, but at least you can get to everything.)

Hey, there's other good news - we welcomed a new part-time member to thisisnotikea, Jimmy. We're a growing business and we definitely need the help, and Jimmy brings a great energy to the company. Of course, this being LA, he has his other entertainment industry job, as a really talented camera operator, but when he's not shooting, he's helping us out.

And in the next few weeks and months, there are other opportunities for part-time work for people who are organized, friendly, and would enjoy being a part of a quickly growing vintage furniture company. So definitely let us know if you're interested.

Gwen, a really cool writer and recent transplant from New York came by the other day to interview us for LA2day.com. It's fun to meet people who get as goofily excited as we do about stuff like vintage furniture, estate sale finds and the fact that we are a green company. It's also really rewarding to feel like we are getting recognized as an interesting part of the LA design/vintage landscape. I'm looking forward to reading the article - and will let you know when it comes out.

Okay, it's 3 in the morning. How does this always happen to me? And people wonder why my facebook status is always changed in the wee hours - I start working on something and forget to go to bed.

Here are some photos of some of the stuff that I'm loving from our site.

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First of all, this really cool white leather lounge. If I had room in my place for it, I totally wouldn't let Alexis sell it. And it actually isn't new. Alexis has been hoarding it for a long time, but he just doesn't have a place for it, so he's gonna give it up.

Okay, and this oval mirror is awesome and ornate, and would work as a counterpoint in a really minimal modern room or in a more traditional room. (and can you believe that Alexis took a photo of a mirror and he's not in it?)

We have a ton of floor lamps of all kinds, and this is one of the most recent ones that I really like. Minimal, retro, slim outline. And finally, this old metal industrial side table/desk. The sides fold down (as pictured), or go up for a larger surface area on top. Sometimes I have no idea what these industrial pieces were used for originally - and that makes them even cooler.

Our first post!

Hey, it's our first post on our new This Is Not IKEA blog!

We'll be posting on new furniture or accessories that we just found, stuff that we love, postings and photos of mid century, retro and modern furniture and design, as well as other random stuff we run across in the world.  Maybe stories about some of our clients, or random design tips.  (or maybe a song we really like, who knows?)

Check out our website at thisisnotikea.com for more info on us and to see our inventory of stuff.  And post on our blog if you've bought stuff from us before.  We're blogging to get feedback from you!

So here goes.

First, let's start off easy by showing you a couple of things we just bought that we love.  Check out our site for 2000 other things we have for sale along side these cool new items.  We have everything from vintage industrial steel desks to artwork to midcentury modern chairs to lighting from every decade.  Check our website often, because every single week we add between 50 and 100 new items.

So, this sunburst clock is totally retro sixties and would be a great centerpiece on a wall.

These four chairs and retro white dining table have classic retro styling, from the curve of the base to cup of the seat.

This set of two chairs are unique - straight from your neighborhood bowling alley.  You won't stumble across these at a friend's house - they are surprisingly comfortable, and great conversation pieces.

So, that was our first blog.  Okay, it didn't revolutionize the internet, but it was a good start, right?