Susan Phillips checks out the mammoth selection of cabinetry hardware at the Home Depot. 'My clients, even the ones with money, love getting a bargain,' she says of shopping at big-box stores.
Recently, I visited a large and gracious custom home. At one point, my host, who had been explaining the origin of his fine interior finishes, pointed triumphantly to a clutch of handsome pendant lights. "We got them at Home Depot -- $59."
It wasn't the first high-end home I'd seen outfitted with the occasional big-box store item. And why not? What you save on a perfectly acceptable towel rack or floor tiles can be put toward that designer bathroom sink you've been ogling.
"I'm in Home Depot all the time," says Susan Phillips, an interior designer and home-staging consultant. "And my clients, even the ones with money, love getting a bargain."
Not long ago, Phillips escorted me around a Home Depot store to pinpoint good deals, offer design recommendations and advise on the potential pitfalls of big-box shopping.
Lighting
To co-ordinate lighting, keep the metal and glass consistent, she suggests. A white shade and the highest possible wattage bulbs give the best light; add a dimmer switch to create mood.
Lighting, says Phillips, is a home's most important interior design feature and sets a room's emotional tone. She recommends three to five light sources in each room, so cutting costs is an important factor.
Wall coverings and window treatments
Phillips likes the Behr Premium Plus paint line at Home Depot. At $31.97 for 3.79 litres of flat white, it's about $7 less than a similar CIL product.
Wallpaper selection in big-box stores is less expansive than in a paint store.
One way or the other, Phillips says the law of wallpaper is that people never like other people's choices. But if you're staying in your house for more than five years, paper away -- just remember you'll have to remove it when you decide it's time to sell.
Her eye is also caught by a box of Artscape roll-on "stained glass" that, at around $30 per window, offers an affordable alternative to an uninspired view of your neighbour's vinyl siding.
She suggests co-ordinating the colours with your curtains or drapery panels.
And be careful when buying window treatments, especially blinds cut to size for DIY installation. Once it's cut, it's yours even if it doesn't fit.
Bathrooms
The big difference between shopping at a specialty plumbing store and a big-box outfit, says Phillips, is you get detailed advice at the former, but at the latter "You're mostly on your own."
(The same is true of lighting: an overheard conversation between a salesman and a customer found the salesman clearly uncertain whether a fixture qualified as traditional or modern. "Well, it could fit almost anywhere," he concluded a tad lamely.)
On the other hand, bathroom shopping in the big-box universe can be downright cheap -- as little as $69 for a toilet -- and the selection jaw-dropping. "As long as a toilet works, that's what's important," says Phillips. "I'd rather spend my money on a holiday."
Another advantage: being able to pop your new bathroom or kitchen faucet into a shopping cart and trundle it to the lighting department for a complementary fixture.
Cabinetry hardware
You can also match new cabinet knobs with that faucet without ever leaving the store. And without breaking the bank.
"If you went to Lee Valley for knobs, you'd get the creme de la creme," says Phillips. "But a regular kitchen has 20 to 40 knobs, so that can add up."
"That's a good price," she adds, pointing to a package of 10 knobs for $21.49. She also finds a package of fashionable bar-style pulls for $26.99.
Bargains like that, she says, are ideal for young couples starting out or folks staging their home for sale.
She cautions people often trek off to big-box stores with no clear idea of what they want. Confronted with the mammoth selection of, for example, cabinet hardware, they fall in love with an item without considering how it will look in their own home. In other words, think before you get in the car.
Flooring
Watch for "really good value" on promotional items at the ends of aisles, says Phillips, spotting boxes of solid, 3/4-inch-thick oak at $3.49 a square foot.
She says she prefers hardwood to laminate because it can be sanded and refinished, and doesn't echo when walked on.
Note: Big-box stores charge extra for installation, whereas a flooring store usually gives an inclusive price.
-- Postmedia News
