Specialty items with class

BEST BUYS

A good sign

Russell Gellerson at Von Hemert Interiors Furniture Outlet says

the day the Furniture Outlet sign went up on the building, it has

been here since 1952, droves of locals finally came in from Emerald

Bay and Monarch Bay.

“We opened on New Year’s Day 2000, it was a great day, a fabulous

day. I’ve met so many locals and restaurateurs that I would have

never met,” said Gellerson, an interior designer.

“It’s incredible what it meant to the store. We had no idea the

change would have so much appeal.”

Gellerson says that since the Von Hemerts decided to convert their

Laguna store to an outlet filled with discontinued furniture and

floor samples from their enormous Costa Mesa showroom it’s done 10

times the business. The outlet store carries a lot of the same

merchandise, it’s just less expensive. The fine furniture and

accessories showroom carries Hickory White, Henredon, Baker, Vanguard

Furniture, Maitland-Smith and Century Furniture. It also offers

custom upholstery. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through

Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. It’s at 345 N. Coast Highway.

Information: (949) 494-6551.

Right at home

Artisance, is a lifestyle store designed to look like a woman’s

apartment with everything in it a woman would want -- except a

kitchen and the perfect man. There’s a living room filled with

furniture, art, mirrors, a bar, a dining room and a great closet

filled with the best clothes, shoes, handbags and even sunglasses.

Owner, Cindy Messick likes to support local artists when she chooses

items for her store. She carries handcrafted art pieces like pottery

from Denise Ford, blown glass pieces from Lauren Chapman and jewelry

from Sonja Bradley. The store has great gifts for entertaining,

vases, lamps, hand crochet tea towels and wonderful candles. It’s at

278 Beach St. Information: (949) 494-0687.

Small but complete

Fetneh Blake is like no other ladies designer clothing boutique.

Blake selects the eight designers in her store based on their

prestigious achievement of being chosen as Visionaries of Fashion --

designers of the new avant garde. The designers are from Paris,

London and New York, and one or two are from L.A. Blake. Their

collections are not necessarily very big, but many of the designers

go on to become designers of fashion houses in Europe. One of the

designers, Rick Owens, known for his bias cuts and drapery, won the

Council of Fashion Designers Award for designer of the year.

“He’s the hottest designer in the world,” says Blake.

Other designer collections featured are Ann Demeulemeester, Lainey

Keogh, Clements Ribeiro, Matthew Williamson, Yoshiki Hishinuma,

Jemima Khan and Jasper Conran. Fetneh Blake also has belts, shoes and

bags. Fetneh Blake opened in October 2001, and since the remodel for

her store took longer than expected, she’s now drastically reducing

the collections she had planned to have for her original opening.

Through Aug. 15, there’s a 60% to 80% off sale on beautiful designer

clothing that was never shown. It’s open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday

through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It’s

at 427 N. Coast Highway. Information: (949) 494-3787.

Artists working together, getting along

Studio Seven features seven Plein Air artists including Anderson,

Cambria, Cram, Eagle, Robison, Wiederman, Wodark and Uchizono.

Several of the artists participate in the annual Art-A-Fair and

Sawdust Festival. It’s exclusively a co-op art gallery -- all of the

artist share responsibilities, bookkeeping and publicity. It’s open

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Studio Seven is at 384 B N. Coast Highway.

Information: (949) 497-1080.

Another art galley with a similar format as Studio Seven is The

Sandstone Gallery. It’s been in business 21 years and features seven

artists.

“We’re the best artist-owned gallery in Laguna,” says Marge

Chapman a participating artist.

Chapman says all of the artists do their own thing, and manage to

harmonize without trying.

“We don’t go for fads and trends,” says Chapman. “We feel we

should do what we want to do.”

Each month a special guest artist is featured in their skylight

gallery. The current artist featured is John Donohue. It’s open from

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. It’s closed on Tuesday. It’s at 384-A N.

Coast Highway. Information: (949) 497-6775.

* BEST BUYS appears Thursdays and Saturdays. Send information to

Greer Wylder at greerwylder@yahoo.com or P.O. Box 248 Laguna Beach,

CA 92652, or via fax at 494-8979.