Affordable Classics

The nice thing about not having very much money is that we never have to decide what to spend our money on.  I can only imagine the pains the Steve Ballmer or Oprah have to engage in on a daily basis; finding creative ways to burn through their backlog of Madisons.

The trouble with not being rich (among other things) is trying to find affordable furniture that also looks good.  Of course there’s options like Ikea, or even West Elm, but their pieces are so ubiquitous that they leave me feeling like I’m living in a catalog.

I’ve always wanted a house filled with mid-century modern classics, but we can’t rationalize, or budget, spending that much on a piece of furniture.

Some of the mid-century classics that I love:

The Noguchi Coffee Table

The Eames Molded Plastic Chair

Another Eames—the Eames Lounge Chair

The Castiglioni Arco Lamp

Now, we’ve done a pretty good job of getting knock-off versions of some of these.  Most notably, we got the Eames molded knock-offs from Overstock for our dining room table.

They’re nice.  Comfortable, affordable and durable so far.

We also got a deal on a craigslist knock-off of the Eames lounge chair:

 

Now obviously, we’re not prepared to spend for a real Eames lounger, or a genuine Noguchi table.  I know people usually come in on one side or the other of the knock-off argument—honestly I’m not sure exactly how I feel. 

I’m always reminded of the shirt I saw in Georgetown (D.C.) once that said “Guccie.”

My question to all of you is—are knock-offs OK?