Zannee’s Blog at BargainsLA.com

Once again I am forced to take my daughter shopping. This time it was for her BFF Aidan and her Dad. Both have birthdays this month. I knew Macy’s was having a home sale, so I wanted to go there. My fashion princess wanted to get her friend some baubles at Forever 21… so it was off to the Glendale Galleria.

Of course we got there before the stores opened and had to waste 20 minutes eating at Cinnabon.  I am a cinnamon freak and no where else on earth have I found a sweet roll as sinfully good.

Afterward we wondered through Target, Forever 21, Icing and finally made it into Macy’s where I scored a great buy on a stove top cast iron two sided grill for $24 instead of $59.

We still had not found anything for my daughters BFF, so I reminded Shae of the great totes they sell at the FR Industries Sale.

I love the FR Industries sale. On top of the superb buys in linens… 250 TC sateen 100% cotton sheets at $37 instead of $80, silk décor pillows at $10-$15, silk lined window panels are priced at $13-$85 instead of the retail of $60-$225…. They also had fun gift buys for holiday giving. BBQ sets are here at $7-$15. Regular retail on these are $20-$35. Chef aprons are $10-$13 instead of $25-$45 and wine gift bags are just 50 cents! They also had these picnic backpacks, fully stocked with the accoutrements needed for an elegant picnic at just $9.

My daughter went through the totes section and came away with two “Wizard of Oz” themed totes at $10 each. I grabbed two $15 silk pillows (retail $35-$45). We also found some great deals on better clothing. Barry, Michael’s dad from Dressed Up was there with a rack of tees, tops and wraps at $10 along with some amazing, dresses jackets and caplets. Everything was at wholesale or less. I pinned badly for this amazing caplet made out of mink and rabbit fur. It wholesales at $150. Here it was $150. Retail is $360. It was an Alberto Makali. We just ended up getting one of the $10 wraps as a Christmas gift.

The best part of the sale is that you can custom order window panels out of dozens of choices of fabric at below wholesale. At no other time during the year can you order directly from the manufacturer. The selection has limitations as the fabrics are remnants. But they are gorgeous fabrics. Go now! Tell Florence BargainsLA sent ya!

FR Industries, 11840 Vose St., North Hollywood,  91605. 818.503.9143.
Cash/ CC only

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!

This week I went back and researched a terrific bargain source, Urbanism that I hadn’t been to in a long time. While I was there, I found a fabulous little table top organizer, perfect for organizing dvd’s, cd’s or computer programs. I normally pass on purchases while researching. But this décor piece stuck with me.

As I wondered around I was struck with how overwhelmed my home had become with my tiny home office spilling out into my living room. As BargainsLA has grown, I have been trying hard to keep some resemblance of a home separate from business. I started by purchasing an amazing Hooker computer armoire two years ago to hide a work station in my living room. That worked for awhile. I now have a 24″ IMAC on top of that. No hiding that. It’s pretty, but very obvious.

The chaos spread to my antique dining table that I had to cover with a garish oil cloth table cloth to protect it. I convinced myself that my recent purchase of an 1880’s antique Empire secretary desk would help clear that mess. Fat chance! You can’t even close up the desk drop with all the laptops and paperwork floating on it.

Now I am looking at coffee table décor item to help hide the business chaos that has taken over my abode.

Am I stubborn….? Most assuredly!
Am I focused on solving the dilemma….? Absolutely!
Am I living in reality….? Not a chance!
Give up on my quest for a normal home environment …. NEVER!

So I bought the cool décor item. At a deal of course. I paid $43 instead of the original $75. Gleefully I brought it home and gave it to my husband to organize. He did not understand my delight in the object and dismissed my cause. He’s living in reality and I am not.

What I really need is a larger home. I’ve started to read the Real Estate section. Guess I am still not living in reality.