Um, Why Didn’t We Know About This?
Was someone keeping a secret from us? Were we the only people who didn’t know about this Home Depot Design Center thing? Our friend Kristin casually mentioned it to us last week while we were visiting Charlotte, NC and our jaws dropped. Sherry and I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t heard of it, so Kristin rushed us there immediately.
The Home Depot Design Center is a new concept that Home Depot is trying out to better appeal to women (apparently Lowe’s is the lady-killer of the two). We’re not talking about the HD owned and operated EXPO Design Centers. This new thing is more like a blend of the two. It looks like a Home Depot (orange aprons, anyone?) but they’ve replaced all the warehouse-y and contractor-y things with open, showroom-style spaces to better display a wider variety of kitchen, bath, lighting, furniture and appliance options.
And I later learned that we shouldn’t feel so out of the loop. The Charlotte location is only one of two in the country (the other’s in Concord, CA) so while that made me feel slightly better, it makes me realize that I shouldn’t hold my breath for one to come to Richmond anytime soon. Which is a bummer because they have such a wide selection of sinks that we were oohing and aahing over for our someday in the future bathroom remodel. Shame on us for not bringing measurements!
They also had some Restoration Hardware-esque lights that we’ve definitely never seen at our regular Home Depot in Richmond. Kristin and Sherry were drooling over these.
And with all this variety, we couldn’t help but take pics of some of the crazier items in the mix, like this uber-modern sink (strange-o) and faux-fabric tub (yikes).
Sadly we left empty-handed and wishing we had had one of these when we were redoing our kitchen. Actually, scratch that, we probably would’ve hemorrhaged money – like on one of these custom color Viking ovens:
Is this all news to you too? Or have any of you guys heard of – or, better yet, been to- one of these Home Depot Design Centers already? What’s your take?
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We’ve had one in Florida for years. I’ve been several times. I haven’t had a reason to go other than to say I’ve been but my parents, who have are never done redoing, go there frequently and really enjoy it.
Hi…I live at the end of the Earth on the Island of Kauai and our Home Depot opened 2 years ago and it looks just the pictures above. It has an Interior Designer/Space Planner who can assist with ordering new products to make sure the amount is right and it will fit in your home. If we have that…I am sure most HD’s have it. :)
We’ve had one out here in Northern CA for years. My parents used them to completely gut and remodel their kitchen. Their experience overall was really good. My mom has a hard time making decisions because she’s afraid something else is always out there, but there are so many options for every aspect of design in that place, that having all of those options right in front of her really helped her solidify many of her decisions.
How neat. I’ve never heard of such a place–it looks fun!
There’s one in Roseville, CA (Nor Cal) called Expo Design Center. Went there to buy tiles for my first home. I’ve passed the one in Concord but never went inside. Nice things. Even curtains, home decor accents, rugs, carpet, you name it, they have it. ;)
My Home Depot in St Petersburg, FL looks like this as well. They all do. I thought they all did??? The sink you show here makes me nervous. All I can envision is a small child climbing up on it and getting hurt. Toddlers climb up on sinks. I often see fancy ones and think “who can own that?..someone with no kids..that’s who.”
OK Guys – Help me out. How does the uber modern sink work? It looks like a faucet that sprays a flat piece of glass. I’m sure there’s some trick to it, but really, it looks like you’re going to get water all over your pants/dress.
Cool place. I second Fred’s comment – that sink design is bizarro and if you have kids – what a mess!
It must be like those infinity ones. Where the water goes down to another basin just underneath the sink.
Oops! Notice that maybe you were talking about another one. Looks like it’s at an angle and curved but yeah, kids would love climbing on that. It’ll be perfect for a childless couple or person.
it would appear that people commenting didn’t read what you wrote about there only being two of this particular concept currently. it is _not_ a home depot expo store so unless they live in concord, ca or charlotte, nc they haven’t seen this layout.
here is a press release regarding the new slant that the home depot corp is trying.
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-7493148_ITM
As John said, it isn’t the same as Home Depot. They have some of the same stuff, but then more high end stuff. They also don’t have any wood (that is called something…I am drawing a blank), a garden center, a wide variety of tools etc. I have never been able to remodel without a serious budget, so it is not the store for me. But it is fun to look at and dream…especially the high end appliances!
Glad you’re enjoying a peek inside this new concept store. I think there might be some confusion, as Rowan noted, with the EXPO Design Centers being mistaken for these new Home Depot Design Centers (which was confusing me at first too). And I wouldn’t be surprised if some regional variation in the regular Home Depot store means some of yours resemble this higher-end, more interior-design-focused version.
But according to the news I can find (Home Depot says little on their website), the Charlotte and Concord are the only “official” Home Depot Design Centers. Teresa did a nice job of explaining the difference in her comment. All in all, the lines between these three stores seem to be blurry…which could explain why Home Depot hasn’t rolled out any more of these Design Centers.
As for that futuristic glass sink, it was totally space-age-impractical-crazy. The way it appeared to work was that the glass was tilted at enough of an angle that the water would wash back towards the faucet where it would drain. But it really looked not-kid-friendly and even a little dangerous for adults (can you imagine something falling out of your medicine cabinet and shattering that slab of unsupported glass?). I guess for all the cool finds that we discovered there always have to be a few strange and ridiculous ones (I’m surprised no one mentioned how ugly that faux-fabric tub looks!). But overall it was a pretty amazing place that we’d love to frequent here in Richmond. Hint, hint Home Depot.
-John
I was going to comment on the tub right now. I know it’ll be present in many nightmares from now on
We’re in the process of upgrading our bathroom corner shower stall and have been visiting HD alot lately. FYI: I discovered that bathroom design centres (aka actual bathroom showrooms) prices are comparable to HD with waaaaay better quality showers. I never thought to venture beyond the box store (for fear of really high prices) but was pleasantly surprised when I did.
PS: Our HD here in Ottawa Canada is a blend of design centre and hardware store.
John, I wanted to let you know that Home Depot closed the Design Center here in Charlotte. I guess the economy was the culprit. But in lighter news, WE NOW HAVE IKEA! YEA!!!
Hey ElleX,
Yeah we heard the sad news back in January: http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/01/dont-go-home-depot/
At least you have Ikea now! That would totally console us.
xoxo,
Sherry (& John)