Zannee’s Blog at BargainsLA.com

As previously noted in this blog, both my husband and myself went completely ballistic and bought an antique secretary a couple of months ago.

He had grandiose ideas about purchasing a flat screen, wall mounted HDTV TV above it. Cool…that’ll work. Then we priced them. YIKES! Not this year… may be after Christmas.

In the mean time we put our old TV directly on top of antique secretary and to protect the secretary we put an old beach towel under the TV. I can’t tell you how much a beach towel totally ruins the effect of owning an elegant mahogany antique secretary. I should have trailer trash stamped on my forehead.

I had enough of the tacky towel in the living room and decided to sew a table runner in a nice, thick cotton velvet. I grabbed my mother in law (the family fabric expert) and went to F & S Fabrics in West LA.. They have a cool selection, but at $18-$35 a yard, I’d have none of it.

I trip downtown to the fabric district was necessary. I know from past experience to go early and on a weekday. So last Friday, without anyone in tow I headed down, parked in a pay lot ($5) and spent a couple of hours journeying through dozens of fabric stores. I could have easily been distracted by the gorgeous selections in brocades, chenilles, silks and knits all at 35%-75% less than regular fabric stores. There were a lot of cotton velvets at $8-$9 a yard at the smaller independents stores. But I knew the color I wanted and ended up at Michael Levine’s. There must have been 30 different cotton velvets at $10 a yard so I could get just the right hue of maroon. I got 2 yards and a couple of tassels to finish it off.

An afternoon of sewing, and voila! Living room tackiness gone, antique secretary protected for just $33….$24 in fabric, and $5 to park and $4 in gas.

If you are planning on a home décor project (re-upholstery, curtains, bedding) and need fabric, do go down to Maple between Olympic and 8th. You’ll have thousands of fabrics, trims and notions to choose from and you’ll save a bunch of money.

Michael Levine’s, 919 & 920 S. Maple Ave., Los Angeles 213.622.6259.

BTW… Morrie’s is located right next to Michael Levine’s. Great spot for women’s designer clothes for less… 50%-80% off!

Okay, most of you know that I love the LF warehouse sale.
Is it the down and dirty prices?…. You bet!
Is it the cool clothes? Yeah
Is it the nice people? Yeah, that too!

But mostly it’s one of the only times my girlfriend Loreli and I get together without our kids and just do girl stuff.

Both of us are harried, hard working, multi-tasking parents of precocious 11 year olds.
Both of us used to be dancers, both of us totally love hamburgers, we both have gigs involved with the internet and both of us get silly crazy when we shop.

I will shop 40%-50% off sales and be very happy. But Loreli won’t hit the racks until everything is at rock bottom prices. LF Warehouse is shopping heaven for Lo.

So I always include her on the Friends & Family sale before the official warehouse sale. While we drive across town from Silverlake to Playa Del Rey, we compare shopping tactics and lists.

Loreli doesn’t want to walk far and helps me parallel park into the tiniest parking spot you’ve ever seen. As we saunter across the street into the warehouse we are greeted by the familiar happy faces of the LF employees. They are the nicest, happiest bunch of people you will ever meet.

Here’s where the fun really starts. Several staff members recognize me and give me a big welcoming hug. Lo has no time for sentiment, she’s here to shop and splits the scene. I get a quick VIP tour of the sale and am overwhelmed by the ton of cute merchandise. I also bump into a couple of you subscribers…. How cool! Always say hi if you recognize me, especially if it’s at a sale!

Now it’s down to business. I start with the shoes at $15 each and try on several. Then I rummage through the pants ($10) throwing pair after pair into my goodie bag. Then it’s across the room to the jeans where several get tossed in. Now it’s back to the dresses. I am not a big dress person but some of these were SOOO cute and at $24, I couldn’t resist trying a bunch on. Then I go to the boutique room where I lose all control with all the totally unique handmade sweaters and cardigans.

After an hour, my goodie bag is so heavy, I can hardly pick it up. The cell phone rings and Lo is looking for the changing area. I tell her I am not ready to try, can she hang on a minute. I quickly head to where the skirts are and 10 minutes later I meet up with Lo to try things on.

We have totally different tastes, but value each others opinion and use each others eye to scrutinize every piece. Swapping a couple and giggling through most. Trying on takes a good 45 minutes and we widdled our goodie bags down to the choices pieces.

Time for round two!

Another 30 minutes scooping up items has us trying on tops in the aisles…. Oooh, what tacky, tacky girls!

As low blood sugar kicks in (we skipped lunch) we head to the check out lines with our loot. I ended up with 2 pairs of pants, 1 pair of jeans, 1 floral evening dress and a pair of the cutest shorts I have ever seen. All for $82. The dress alone originally sold for $212.

The trip home whipped us through a Jack in the Box (bad choice) and after gulping down a hamburger and a coke, we happily headed home with our loot.

It was a day well spent!