Today is Chinese New Years Eve, so we would like to wish all of you a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

Let’s all “grab the tiger by the tail” and have a great 2010!

Kung Hsi Fa Ts’ai!
Gung Hee Fat Choi!

Sometimes an unexpected comment can trigger an ah–ha moment, where you are confronted with a question or solution that seems so obvious, so simplistic that you wonder – why didn’t I think of that?
Yesterday evening just such an occurrence happened. A young woman, having recently moved to the city, came into our store and was astonished at the collection of furniture and art contained within this unprepossessing building. After perusing for a few minutes, she came over to where we were in the midst of a discussion concerning a marketing proposal and made a seemingly innocuous observation.
Her question as to why we hadn’t shown up on her internet search for either rustic or solid wood furniture in San Diego brought us to a standstill. So focused on our own experiences in the usage of various terms used to describe specific items such as cabinets, tables and so on, we neglected to use the words rustic, or even more surprisingly – solid wood.
As these are descriptions both ourselves and our customers use daily to convey the attributes of literally hundreds of furniture pieces in our store, it came as a surprise that something so glaringly apparent was overlooked.
It’s always a guessing game in trying to figure out how someone is going to search for a particular object, and as was made abundantly clear – sometimes you need to get some input from your clientele.
With this focus in mind, I would like to let all of our new potential customers know that we do indeed carry solid wood furniture, and quite a bit of it is on the rustic side.
If you come into our store you will find tables made from old doors that look as if they had come out of some medieval castle. With their rustic charm and heavy ironwork decorating the surface, they work particularly well in Spanish or Mediterranean settings.
The dozens of cabinets that are scattered throughout the showroom are more evidence of what solid wood construction has to offer in terms of quality, character and patina. Ranging from solid elm to walnut and other hardwoods, these substantial pieces are often decorated with hand-painted details that evoke a time and place not often glimpsed in today’s hurly burly world. With hues ranging from soft terra cotta to sage green, these are the chameleons of the design world where no matter what look you are trying to achieve, we have the piece that will work for you.
And lest I forget to mention the dozens of solid wood architectural fragments, courtyard doors and window screens that populate our inventory, I hope that you begin to get the idea of just how vast and varied our stock truly is.

New Year – New Beginnings. Our first container of 2010 has just arrived and it seems like we’re experiencing Christmas all over again, what with all the unpacking and displaying of the constant stream of furniture and accessories.
Here’s just a small sampling of the new merchandise coming out to the sales floor.
Fabulous, handpainted cabinets and chests from Inner Mongolia and the hard to reach western provinces along the Silk Route.
Large scale armoires from northern China in a variety of woods such as elm and walnut.
Contemporary, clean lined furniture with an Asian twist.
Carved stone statuary including Buddhas and Kuan Yins for both the house and garden.
Rustic wood dining tables.
Large new selection of blue and white porcelian.
And the list goes on and on….