We got a great reader tip from Alana about a spot our friends had just pointed out during Pilsen's Second Friday art walk. Coooper Used Hotel Furniture sounds like a scavenger adventure according to Alana's recent visit:
When I lived in Pilsen there was a hotel supply store that I never went into. Yesterday I (held my breath, it smells funky in there) wandered in and poked around. There's a lot to pick through, but with very little imagination you can really cook up some good stuff!
There's a room full of good-quality lamp shades ranging from $2-$15. Lots of those sqatty drum shades that compliment vintage lamps so well brand new and stacked up in a back room...
I found 2 fugly brass sconces that I took home and spray painted a light sky blue to put in my window seat where they'll be surrounded with soft green silk pillows. They're heavy duty and they were cheap at $10 a pop. There's still a huge box of them just to the left when you walk in the door. They come with plugs so you don't have to hard-wire them if you're not so inclined. Great for apartment dwellers!
Tons of HUGE mirrors with frames for $20-$30. The frames are generic gold-leaf but again, could really take on some personality with a little creativity. And since all of these pieces are meant to withstand heavy duty use, they're super sturdy. Plus they're cheap enough that if your creativity doesn't quite go as planned, you don't feel bad tossing it and moving on.
She also sent us a link to a bit of history behind this place; check it out here (video and all).
Thanks, Alana!
(Re-published from a post dated 5/21/07)
Yes, Cooper's the place & Kurt is the guy. I go for the stuff out of the lobby, not the guest rooms, but you can't beat this place for bargains on awesome stuff. See, it's like this: some designer shops around for a spectacular signature piece for a fancy hotel's lobby--maybe a pair of antique wheel-cut Venetian mirror, maybe a 9-foot-tall patent leather upholstered screen, maybe a a grandly-scaled Louis XVI console table. Then, a few years later, the place gets a makeover and the old decor gets yanked out & banished to Cooper's, where it's put on sale for next to nothing. Shopping here means you not only save all the legwork of looking for a memorable, distinctive piece, you also get it--if you find something, and sometimes, you don't--for pennies on the dollar, and somebody else's dollar at that.
My beautiful hand-made Empire style living room rug--what there is of it, anyway, since most of its probable 25 x 40 original size went missing somwehere between the lobby & Cooper's--was custom made for a fancy hotel out east, but since at least 75% is no longer there, I got the fragments that survived for $40, not $40,000.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a286/MAGNAVERDE/a47c3fa0.jpg?t=1179769395
Sure, there are two holes the size of grapefruit somebody cut to accomodate floor outlets & a big gap between the two pieces I bought, but who cares? It's still beautiful. The Venus de Milo stands in the Louvre without any arms, and down the way, the Nike of Samothrace is missing her arms & her head, but they're no less beautiful because of that. This place is great. All you need is patience & persistence. Eventually, something great will surface. And, if, like me, you're willing to embrace imperfection, you'll find it sooner than you think.
Magnaverde.
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I am a native of this sexy city, Chicago, and I recently visited Coopers with my sister to shop for a mattress and box spring set. She purchased a new one there and it is absolutely fabulous. The quality, price and the salesperson made our shopping experience there unique. I am today, on my way to Coopers to purchase the same set for myself. I will comment on my experience there at a later date. Coopers, you rock!!
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