Cheap tricks:
An inside look at where Ottawa interior designers find bargains
Designers offer up their favourite haunts for bargain finds,
Everyone likes to find a bargain, especially when spiffing up the house. We polled designers around town to get their favourite bargain haunts.
Power of recycling: Interior designer Irene Langlois recently finished a dramatic makeover of her Glebe home, and although her budget was generous (she doesn’t want to give exact numbers), she did save money by bringing a favourite gold gilt mirror from her Kanata home and reupholstering a livingroom sofa.
“This was my dream home, so I don’t want to give the impression I saved a lot of money. More importantly, I found unique pieces you won’t often see.”
She scored a retro light fixture for the dining room at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore at 2370 Walkley Rd. The store is filled with doors, kitchen cabinets, old toilets, assorted tiles and a gallery of lighting fixtures.
The Internet: There are bargains online, to be certain, but it takes time to find what you want, says Langlois, who tracked down a Thayer Coggin chair on Kijiji, shipped it from Edmonton and then had it recovered.
Norm Lecuyer, owner of Just Basements, has had good luck finding bargains online but cautions that you have to know what you want, be ready to compare details and be prepared for disappointment.
“What you see on the Internet doesn’t always turn out to be exactly what you want.”
Bargain corners: Most every company has a bargain corner, says Lecuyer.
Euro Tile & Stone, 925 Belfast Rd. is no exception. You can get tiles that are out of production for a fraction of the regular price, says Lecuyer. It’s perfect when you need only 50 square feet for a job, say for a powder room.
There is a white trailer behind Laurysen Kitchens’ factory at 2415 Carp Rd. filled with doors and kitchens, says Giuseppe Castrucci, vicepresident of the Ottawa-based firm.
IKEA’s huge store beside the Queensway has a bargain corner, and all you need is time and luck to find a deal. Keep in mind, though, it’s no deal if it doesn’t fit your space.
Home sense: A perennial favourite has to be the aisles at HomeSense. Langlois found a dining-room bench, and designer Michael Courdin spotted a Martha Stewart bar cabinet valued at $6,000 for less than $1,000. You do need luck and patience, says Langlois.
Out of the ordinary: Mikasa Home Store, 2210 Bank St., is a treasure trove of modern furniture at affordable prices, partly because store owners search the Internet, bringing in good-looking reproductions of modern iconic designs.
Interior designer Yvonne Potter suggests modernists check out Found Design, a source for vintage modern furniture at 164 Elm St.
Big box convenience: Costco is a valuable shopping stop, says Lecuyer, if you want brown or black. They have great prices but limited colour choices.
Tried and true: White Monkey, 395-A Gladstone Ave., is favourite haunt for Courdin. It’s filled with groovy vintage furniture with a retro flair.
Outside the city: Interior designer Luc Crawford regularly checks out Toronto’s antique market on King Street for unique finds, and Courdin has been a regular shifting through the antique shops on Montreal’s Notre Dame Street looking for accessories and unique finds. If you don’t want to drive, Crawford is ready to open up the basement of his Somerset Street West store. It’s is filled with affordable bargains, he says.
Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore offers used doors, lighting, kitchen cabinets and more.