The Lifestyle Shop

[UrbanVigor]

Has anyone had experience with this store steps south of King & Spadina?

I walked in unassuming just to browse and walked out very impressed. The shop itself is narrow for all that they have to show, but when you get down to it they have a lot of great pieces, specializing in condo size furniture, and also great for window treatments. They were great and I could see that they've been in the business for a long time and very knowledgeable.

Just curious if anyone has ever purchased from them and worked with them and how are they compared to many others?

[carturo15]

I find it very expensive. you can find similar stuff with much better prices

[UrbanVigor]

I'm particularly interested in their storage bed which is made of solid wood, has 2 drawers on each side, and headboard priced at $1,999 for a Queen. Very good design, rounded edges, and choice of customization. I've seen others for $3K+. Yesterday, I was quickly walking by Positive Space on King East and checked out their storage bed displayed at the front window... impressive! But the price tag was $6,200! Maybe I misread and that was a price for an entire bedroom set?! They do have plenty of others and I'm sure that was just their flagship bed, but I had to run. I'll check them out another day.

I got the impression that the quality was top notch at Lifestyle Shop therefore not surprised if similar stuff can be found for lower prices.

What are good places for storage beds, window treatments, and sofa beds?

[PinkLucy]

I keep meaning to go in there but haven't. I'm looking for a bed, and what you describe sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out!

[neuhaus]

I am also shopping around for a queen storage bed frame.
I found this at West Elm for $999 U.S. (don't know how much in CDN$):



West Elm also has a storage bed with drawers on the side for $400 more.
I like how it works with the optional nightstands:

[UrbanVigor]

Here's some pricing on the queen storage beds in case you need some price info while checking out other places before you make it to the Lifestyle Shop... $1,799 w/o headboard, $1,999 w/ headboard, and $2,199 w/ fabric headboard. Workmanship is very good. Rounded corners which is a nice touch. They can customize just about anything too.

I also hope to scout out Positive Space on King East as they have a large selection of storage beds. I was rushing past there one day and quickly checked out the one they had in the window (which is also the one you see in their ads). I was shocked to see a price of $6,200! It's clearly their flagship model. I'll have to go back and see the rest of their selection... read: less expensive selection.

[simuls]

Can anyone please explain to me how these places can charge such ridiculous prices? A great modern bed is the Malm from Ikea and it's like $280 for a queen - $360 if you include the side tables. All these storage beds are made from the same materials and are all fibreboard plus laminate with some drawers underneath. I wish Ikea jumped on this. They could easily take an existing Malm drawer design and adapt it and it shouldn't cost much more than $600. I think I'm going to try to make my own!

[JayBee]

Can anyone please explain to me how these places can charge such ridiculous prices? A great modern bed is the Malm from Ikea and it's like $280 for a queen - $360 if you include the side tables. All these storage beds are made from the same materials and are all fibreboard plus laminate with some drawers underneath. I wish Ikea jumped on this. They could easily take an existing Malm drawer design and adapt it and it shouldn't cost much more than $600. I think I'm going to try to make my own!

I agree.... a lot of these "trendy" places are so overpriced.

Eq3, West Elm, structube....ikea furniture but priced 3-4 times more.

A lot of the furniture stores have the same supplier so you'll see a 20-25% difference in price for the same piece at 2 different stores.

[neuhaus]

You can't really compare the quality to IKEA.
IKEA uses lighter construction and materials and the fasteners and hardware are not as durable. I have own many pieces of IKEA furniture in the past and they simply don't last very long.
IKEA does offer a storage bed that lifts up, but the bedframe is simply padded fabric stapled to a flimsy particle board frame.

I am not going to spend more than $1,000 for a storage bed frame (I will be building a custom headboard and nightstands), but I question anything that's less than $500.
You get what you pay for.

[UrbanVigor]

I should mention that the storage bed at the Lifestyle Shop (and I expect the same at Positive Space) are made out of solid wood.

I can't speak for Eq3, West Elm, or Structube. But if Ikea is made out of fibreboard and particle board then they aren't going to be nearly the same quality. Plus you have to put it together yourself. I suspect that neuhaus is correct in regards to the fasteners and hardware. Plus I know the wooden slats on the bed at the Lifestyle Shop were specifically sourced. One great thing about the one at the Lifestyle Shop is that it is modular. Meaning it is very easy to move in and out of condo buildings.

I'm still comparison shopping.

[JayBee]

I should mention that the storage bed at the Lifestyle Shop (and I expect the same at Positive Space) are made out of solid wood.

I can't speak for Eq3, West Elm, or Structube. But if Ikea is made out of fibreboard and particle board then they aren't going to be nearly the same quality. Plus you have to put it together yourself. I suspect that neuhaus is correct in regards to the fasteners and hardware. Plus I know the wooden slats on the bed at the Lifestyle Shop were specifically sourced. One great thing about the one at the Lifestyle Shop is that it is modular. Meaning it is very easy to move in and out of condo buildings.

I'm still comparison shopping.

eq3,west elm, structube you have to assemble the furniture as well. It's made of the same cheap materials. Actually, some of the pieces are good quality but it's hit or miss. I wouldn't buy a bed from any of those places.

[UrbanVigor]

Considering we spend a third of our lives in bed and a good bed should last a lifetime, it seems to me that spending $2K on a solid wood storage bed that's manufactured at a factory in Toronto with quality materials is a good value. It's also delivered and setup and easy to move in the future.

Granted, probably most attention should be placed on the mattress. But what they did say is that customers would always call in and comment on how more comfortable it was. They didn't really understand why until they realized it had to do with the type of slats they chose for it.

[simuls]

The actual bed makes no difference in comfort or sleep quality and having been an owner of a Malm bed, it never creaked, held up very well with all sorts of abuse ;-). You are correct, however, that the slats do matter. Ikea also offers higher end, elastic and supportive slats for a bit more dough than just the plain old wooden ones. As for mattresses, god that's such a crooked industry - don't even get me started!! :-)

[urbandreamer]

^Which explains why I made my own bed (cost me $40) and my own mattress (cost me under $50.)

[riley]

Urbanvigor, I just happened to go into the lifestyle shop for the first time today and just noticed this thread tonight. I work really close to it and every time I thought to drop by it was closed. The owners apparently travel a lot. I found a piece in there that I really liked and will probably go back to pick it up. I am a bit of a design and decor addict, so I often do the strip of king east (trianon, filter, montauk, etc), queen west (pavilion, blvd, morba), and yonge/rosedale (l'atelier, Constantine, holace cluny), and the stuff in the lifestyle shop was a pretty decent mix of modern stuff. From my perspective the prices were quite reasonable and a lot less than many of the stores I shop in. Obviously people have different taste and different budgets and they will find stores and products that suit their lifestyles. It's ridiculous to me that some of the people on this board rant with incredulity why any would spend anything more than Ikea furniture as if Ikea is the gold standard. Ikea has some good designs and many designers use some of the stuff but it's really cheaply made and is the least original furniture in the world. Some people like myself want to seek out special unique pieces and mix with more traditional pieces and ikea is the most generic furniture. Everyone can recognize it and so many people have it. Its like starter furniture. I bought a malm bed set years ago and eventually the slats started to fall apart. Also, ikea furniture is not well suited to being taken apart and put back together when u move. It's essentially disposable furniture. It was university furniture and I will never furnish a home I have bought and am proud of with ikea. Even west elm and structure are a bit studenty for me and they're so cheap too it's crazy that anyone would say they're overpriced just because the cheapest option, ikea, exists. There's clearly a market for these stores but there are also many higher quality options that people grow into. It's like being indignant that some crap like Jack asters is overpriced when people could really be eating all their meals at mcdonalds. There's a whole different world of quality out there that people enjoy and people who can't afford it sound ridiculous insisting that the cheapest available product should be the standard against which everything is measured.