Modern furniture stores: suggestions?

10 years ago

My son just moved to a downtown Chicago condo. He is a medical resident, and they don't earn much. The condo took most of his savings. This is a nice place, 2 bedrooms, newly renovated, that he can "grow into" over time. His old Ikea student furniture from his studio apartment looks pretty pathetic now. His taste runs to ultra modern.

I told him to start with the living room, because he really has no living room furniture. At the minimum, to get a sofa.

I promised to help him look for furniture. I've even been surfing upscale resale shops for months and sending him pictures. But nothing really modern has shown up.

We devoted the best part of one of his few days off to shopping new stores, and came back empty handed. We shopped in my neighborhood because there is a lot of newer housing and thus a lot of furniture stores. But the choices were overwhelmingly too traditional for his taste. The few pieces of "modern" shown in an average store here were not modern enough. He says he likes Room and Board, but it's too expensive.

The store he liked most of the 4 we went to was Dania. But the sofas he liked the most were all $3000 and up. But there's no way he can spend more than $1200 on a sofa, and even at that rate, he will only be able to buy one piece for months.

I'd like recommendations of store names that carry modern furniture, preferably not so pricey. Thanks for your help!

Comments (7)

sushipup1
10 years ago
IKEA has better stuff than the old student-grade pieces. Not heirloom stuff, sure, but it might serve his needs for several years.

I love Design Within Reach, and there are a couple of Chicago locations.

Here is a link that might be useful: Design Within Reach
virgilcarter
10 years ago
Crate and Barrel is a Chicago staple.
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LeeMiller
10 years ago
I think there is a service that you can save a key word search to cragislist. For example, "Eames" or "design within reach" or "room and board." You can also try for something local for sale on Ebay and browse some local auction houses. In DC we have furniture stores that are vintage but specialize in a certain look, I'm sure Chicago does as well.

But probably, give his budget, it would make sense to just buy a sofa from Ikea and then try to save for nicer pieces that he plans on keeping. I'd hate to suggest an entire room of Ikea. If he likes mid-century modern it makes sense to dig around a little at auctions, etc.
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
10 years ago
How modern are you thinking? A group called Coaster furniture is touching the modern/contemporary market.

Their upholstry comes in handy for me, many pieces ship back off most of the time so they fit in older homes downtown.

Quality will touch the Ashley stuff but every so often they ship us a lemon.
freethinker99
10 years ago
Have a look at Palliser from Canada. They have some nice modern sofas in his price range pretty well made.
atun
10 years ago
have u tried Amazon.com ?

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sloedjinn
10 years ago
CB2 would be my choice if I were buying a modern sofa in the Chicago area and not spending too much. That or saving up for the Room and Board sofa. I have a Room and Board sofa and I love it. Maybe get an Ikea cheapie as a place holder until you can afford the sofa you want.