When one of my childhood friends finally decided to take the initiative and buy a condo with his fiance, he asked me to help him from scratch to finish. Luckily for me, I already knew his budget, I knew the time-frame we were working with, and most importantly, he wanted to keep as few things as possible from their old home in Westchester, so I had the chance to do what I love to do most, SHOP!
We went everywhere from Woodbury Commons to Fortunoff to the Swarovski Store, etc. When it came down to furniture, they wanted to go to Raymour Flannigans or Ethan Allen, so I had to immediately point them to Soho. I remember shopping up and down Lafayette, Sullivan, Ludlow and constantly seeing tons of high end furniture boutiques. We visited a few places, and although I can't deny how beautiful the pieces were, anything we looked at was at least 10K and up.
I realized my friends were becoming discouraged and I wasn't having it, so where did I turn to? My cell phone and after calling person after person, I finally had a hit. My attorney said he just refurnished his whole bedroom with the finest Italian oak set for half of what I was ready to spend, and although I didn't want oak, and I was skeptic, I know the man well, and he sounded very, very satisfied by the whole experience in general, so I accepted his recommendation, took down the information he gave me, and made the call.
It was late already, and when I called some woman picked and said they were closing at 6PM, but after I explained our situation and asked if anyone would be there to help us if we rushed, she said it wouldnt be a problem and that she'd have someone wait. We took a cab up to Broadway and Wall St and then just walked down Wall St a few blocks till we hit Pearl St.
It was actually a little tough to find the place since the showroom was on the fifth floor of just some random building, we had to spend time looking at building numbers which was kind of annoying. Once we buzzed up, we took the small elevator to the fifth floor, and WOW! We opened the door to find dozens of bedroom sets, dining sets, living room sets, and just really unique looking stuff.
Lucky for us, we were the only ones there since it seemed like they had already closed for the day, and unbelievably the sales associate that stayed to help us, turned out to be the owner, who later introduced himself as something Duval. After we all sat down and told him what we were looking for, how we were trying to put it together, and how much we wanted to spend, I remember he just asked us one question, how quick do you need this done by? So we answered with how quick can it be done.
Aside from writing a check, and accepting the deliveries, we pretty much closed the deal that night, and I'm more than sure we all left with big smiles on our face. As a matter of fact, Mr. Duval even invited us to his home for some dinner, and although we thanked him, I politely explained that we were all way too modest for home cooked meals.
From the minute we walked in we were treated with the utmost respect, and the services offered to us were beyond normal expectations. The owner sat us down and began explaining why furniture manufactured in Italy or Brazil for example, was more expensive than furniture made in China. He explained the quality and design of different products in the showroom, as well as showed us his extensive website.
The most impressive part of all was of course the pricing, because almost everything we looked at was priced lower than we expected it to be. Mr. Duval even showed us how his prices compared to other retailers in the area, and warned us that if we wanted to customize products or place special orders it would take a few weeks to organize.
Unfortunately my friends and I wanted everything as soon as possible, so aside from going through product by product with us, Mr. Duval also provided designing tips and helped us understand how to create a sense of open space, which we were very worried about, but still maintain a high level of functionality.
When I tell you we almost bought everything we needed from the Furniture by Duval store, I mean they just don't sell sinks, toilets, or bathtubs. Otherwise, I promise you will find anything and everything that you need at this "diamond in the rough." The owner seemed very devoted to his line of work since it felt like he was trying to sell us on his knowledge more than on the furniture itself, and I guess that because it just sells itself.
We felt very comfortable and unrushed, and although we might've of jumped the gun too soon, when the furniture started arriving that very same week, and within two weeks the whole apartment was furnished just the way we envisioned it, we realized that good things are worth jumping on. Not only can you expect good things, but the best part is you can expect good people, from the owner to the delivery people. A warm thank you to the Duvals, from the Beauchamps.
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