Sunset Rising

With a handful of splashy new shops, Sunset Boulevard is becoming a red-hot furniture spot

Comments (0) By Steffie Nelson Wednesday, Aug 9 2006

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Sueño

After running her business for 31 years in Telluride, Colorado, Mary Haggerty decided it was time to trade in the snow for the sun. A world traveler who specializes in antique textiles, Haggerty moved to Silver Lake less than a year ago, and opened Sueño, a few blocks from her home, with her boyfriend, Eric Liekeset. In this cavernous former shoe store, you’ll find midcentury-modern and contemporary pieces mixed with organic motifs and textures: Coconut-shell pillows decorate sleek velvet couches, bamboo-and-resin tables sit beside a pair of refurbished ’50s chairs, and lampshades by Ken Shoma are crafted from the cocoons of silkworms. Haggerty admits she’s “gone kind of crazy on the coral theme” of late, and chunks of decorative red coral in Lucite are displayed alongside metal candelabra by Two’s Company, painted to look like the real thing. Haggerty’s own line of carpets are woven in Oaxaca on traditional looms, but the subtle geometric patterns and all-natural dyes are totally now. Gorgeous tribal pieces — a red-feather headdress from Cameroon and silky hand-knotted goat-hair Tulus, worn by Turkish nomads — adorn the walls. Hard as it is to believe looking around the showroom, Haggerty sold off most of her inventory before moving here. “So,” she says, “it’s time to go travel again.”2811 Sunset Blvd.; (213) 483-7300, www.suenostudio.com.

Turning tables at Living Room�even Westsiders now make the trek. (photos by Lindsay Hutchens)

The thrill of the hunt: Kohlman Quinn

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Pepe’s Thrift Shop

After the rent for his space next to Plethoric quadrupled last year, Pepe Mora relocated a couple of blocks east. In business for 12 years, he stocks every style, so long as it’s “older than ’70s.” Mora expertly refinishes and re-upholsters any piece that needs it. Recent projects include stripping down a wooden Japanese dining set from the ’50s that had been painted white, and re-upholstering a ’60s chaise in ultrasuede.

2504 Sunset Blvd.; (213) 483-1049.

Kohlman Quinn

Kris K. Quinn thinks people spend far too much money on furniture, and she tries to keep the focus of her small, 3-year-old Echo Park shop on good deals. An interior designer who’s shopping all the time — at thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales, and probably in the trash on good nights — she hunts for whimsical, intriguing pieces that add personality without breaking the bank. Incidentally, one of her favorite items on a recent visit was a large plaster piggy bank that sat atop a black-lacquer sideboard. Quinn likes a look that doesn’t have a theme, and she has no problem putting “old junk” next to good pieces. Other recent finds include a rectangular gold ’70s disco mirror (“Can’t you just smell the polyester?” she asks.) and a pair of cute wooden chairs that she re-upholstered in a vintage gingham-and-fruit print she describes as “Mary Tyler Moore–Rhoda crazy.” Quinn also makes custom curtains, and has found a steady flow of clients among the new downtown loft dwellers who’d rather not have their neighbors peeking at their piggy banks.

2203 Sunset Blvd.; (213) 413-9900, www.kohlmanquinn.com.

Pangea Home Collection

With two other outposts in L.A., Pangea is aimed squarely at the massive ethnic-furniture market that ABC Carpet in New York virtually created. Here you’ll find artfully distressed Chinese cabinets, multicolored Moroccan lanterns and mosaic patio furniture, Indian teak tables and silk pillows, and jumbo ceramic vases from Mexico — all at “grand opening” discounts of 50 to 75 percent. 2170 Sunset Blvd.; (213) 483-1888, www.pangeahomecollection.com.