Besides the ABCs of Home Decor

PHOTO from THE JOHN DERIAN CO. website

There are some places, like ABC Home & Carpet that we all know. We all love. We all wish our apartments looked just like store. In-the-know tourists visit ABC for an afternoon of sightseeing. It is a museum to interior decor. But ABC is old news.

I'd like to present two other of my favorite "interior decor museum" stores: The John Derian Co. and Apartment 48. Smaller and tucked away on east 2nd street, just off Bowery, The John Derian Co. is an exquisite storeroom of furniture, art, textiles, antiques and curiosities. Most well known for their decoupage items, you might recognize their glass and decoupage paper weights, which show up in other home stores or gift shops around town. But The John Derian Co. store on 2nd street offers so many more treasures. Just like ABC, prices here are steep, so plan to come here mainly for design inspiration.

There are actually two disconnected stores on 2nd street - the eastern one skewing more toward textiles and bedding, and the other filled with a more eclectic mix of everything from Astier de Villate ceramic glazed tableware to 18th and 19th century prints to antique chandeliers. The store is a 3D version of a page from Blueprint (RIP) or Design*Sponge.

Apartment 48, located on 17th street between 5th and 6th Aves., is another beautiful home store. Unfortunately in the past year Apartment 48 has moved from its original (and much cooler) underground storefront (still on 17th street) to its current above-ground and sadly average storefront. The underground storefront felt hidden and secret. The store itself was made up of several separate rooms, each decorated like a different room in a house, giving the effect that you were wandering through someone's cozy railroad-style apartment. Still, despite the boring store of today, Apartment 48 still offers unique and beautifully designed housewares and art.