Review: Greentea Designs
As I mentioned at my other blog last month, I’m slowly redecorating my house. Perhaps I shouldn’t use the re- part… if you recall the rooster crap that was on my kitchen cupboards when I moved in, well, you’ll understand that I mean I’m actually decorating it. Now that the roosters are gone, the acid green bathroom with the cabbage rose border is next on my “hit list,” and from there I’ll move on to the bedroom, the Pepto Bismal Pink bathrooms, and all of the other eyesores that came along with an otherwise perfect residence.
When it comes to decorating, I like the “global” look. I collect African masks and both Asian- and Middle Eastern-inspired accents. I love deep, saturated colors, dark woods, clean lines. I do not like things like the frat-boy’s wet dream known as our “entertainment center.”
This entertainment center from Greentea Design, on the other hand, is something I could definitely live with. Not only is the wood the perfect color for my home, but both the Japanese step-style design and functional yet lovely DVD storage are striking. Make no mistake about it: this isn’t frat-boy furniture. The step-style entertainment center, for instance, is $3000. It’s the kind of furniture for those who’ve moved up and are ready to show off that fact.
This furniture is also for those who like quality without guilt. It’s no coincidence that their name is Greentea: their furniture is artisan-crafted in Korea from environmentally-friendly resources like Elm and Gingko which have been reclaimed from century-old farm houses. Greentea offers furnishings for every room in the house, including the bathroom! Furniture can be customized with six different stains — in addition to traditional red and black laquer — and there are similar choices available with hardware on most pieces. Heck, you can even customize the interior!
Greentea, who has paid for this review, has an array of furnishings and home accents featuring the Asian-inspired style I love. Although their showroom is located in Toronto, Greentea provides one-on-one telephone service with sales associates who will walk you through the customization and ordering process.
Unfortunately, there are no prices displayed on the site. Like many shoppers who are short on time — and who enjoy online ordering — I’d prefer to know such things up front. That said, I still find their furniture gorgeous enough to merit finding out more.
And it’s impressive! You may, in fact, already recognize their Mizuya kitchen cabinets from televisions The Apprentice.
Hey, if it’s good enough for The Donald, it’s good enough for me!
I still smile when I recall something you said about your style being “Frasier,” with masks, etc. That Greentea unit is divine. I want you to afford it so we could enjoy it vicariously.
Isn’t that an amazing piece?! My cat would love for me to be able to afford it, too.
Our entertainment center is a wardrobe that’s actually part of our bedroom set. They made it so it could serve as either — as there is a panel on the back that slides out for the butt end of the TV to stick through.
It’s a BIG piece of furniture, but I like that you can close the thing up and “disappear” all the electronics. Since the house we’re moving into has very little closet space, however, we may have to actually use it as a wardrobe.
Just a note — with ever-changing television sizes and such, just be sure you don’t buy something designed for old-style TVs that’s enclosed, or you won’t be able to use it with the widescreen TV you will inevitably be buying sometime in the next few years…..