Curious about our interior designers’ favorite places to shop, or need a tip on a dependable contractor in the Austin area? Here are our go-to people and places.

Anthropologie—Great resource for distinctive pieces, which is weird to say about a chain, huh? Their lighting is particularly wear it’s at.

Article—Nicely priced furniture. You don’t get a lot of fabric options, but they’re ready to ship.

Austin Art Garage—All local art, including low-cost prints.

Blu Dot—Furniture that’ll make you smile. Still sophisticated, though!

Capital City Upholstery Supply—Best prices for foam, batting, and pillow inserts.

CB2—Want everything. Hip, modern furniture. Great rugs.

Collectic Home—Modern furnishings, locally-owned.

Crate & Barrel—Modern furnishings, great pillows & lighting.

Crescent House—Modern and traditional/transitional furniture in Cedar Park. Free pie with every purchase!

CuratedATX—Whether you need to buy or sell used furnishings, this store carries the nicer things.

Etsy—Returns can sometimes be tricky (or impossible), but that’s the only downside to buying from the makers on Etsy.

Five Elements Furniture—Modern, high-quality furniture. The nicest people in the furniture business.

FLOR—Modular carpet tiles you can use to create custom area rugs. We swear by them!

Home Consignment—Mixed in with used items are lots of close-outs with manufacturers’ tags still on, and retired model home furniture that has never truly been used.

Home Goods—Hit & miss but sometimes you can really score. This is the first place we shop for decorative pillows, accessories, art and lighting. Better to buy, try & return the “fails” because if you wait to decide, it’ll be gone.

Ikea—Duh.

Iron Thread Design—Upholstered headboards, benches, ottomans and floor poufs. The most fun, perfectly crafted pieces you’ll ever own, and they’re made right here in Austin!

Joybird—solid quality and a vast array of upholstery fabrics to choose from.

The Khazana—Four Hands dealer. Beautiful furniture and mid-century knockoffs.

Living Spaces—There are some pearls among the swine. Super fast delivery and the quality’s pretty decent.

Nadeau—Imported, real-wood furniture. There’s some modern stuff mixed in with all of the distressed “country” pieces.

Peared Creations—Such fun lighting, and super customizable, with a ton of colors & finish options.

Room & Board—nice mix of styles, great quality. Lots of different sizes for many of their furnishings, so it’s easy to find something that fits.

Shades of Light—Distinctive light fixtures to suit every taste, whether you’re into modern, mid-century, rustic, industrial, traditional, or bohemian.

Target—Nice for lighting, throws, bath, accessories. Sometimes bedding. Avoid pillows unless you have a down allergy…their stuffing always looks stiff and misshapen.

The Tile Guy—Hands down, my favorite tile store. Locally-owned, they are the nicest folks and they take great care of us!

Uptown Modern—Vintage, mid-century pieces. Furniture tends to be priced well, accessories are surprisingly spendy.

Wayfair—Filters are your friend for this site, otherwise you’ll be wading through the 27,935 options they have for any element you’re searching for.

West Elm—What would we do without them?

A-One Electric—Our favorite electricians, the nicest folks you’ll meet!

Escobedo Painting—Sheetrock installation & repair, interior & exterior painting.

TaskRabbit—This app is a lifesaver. Like ordering an Uber, you can use it for booking handyman services, movers, and subcontractors of many sorts.

VenCo Construction—Specializing in home repairs & remodeling as a result of insurance claims.

Yates Contracting Services—Stellar quality construction

Accent Upholstery—They’ll (re)upholster anything, they do a bang-up job, and they’re super nice to work with.

Red Head Sewing—Amazing creator of custom home decor. She’s the only person we recommend when a client wants custom curtains.

Watson Murals—Hand-painted mural artist, does amazing work. Tell her Room Fu sent you!