Although the Wisconsin-based online retailer Country Laundry is geared for bulk wholesale buyers, individual shoppers can buy vintage quilts and linens at wholesale prices during the company's December sale.

Shopping here is a bit unconventional: You peruse the website to get an idea of what kinds of pieces you want. Then after placing your order for a crazy quilt, perhaps, or tea towels, pillows or other linens, Country Laundry will choose the items for you. You can convey preferences for certain styles, materials or colors by phone or e-mail, and Country Laundry will confirm those details before moving forward. Still, part of the fun is the one-of-a-kind nature of each piece and a certain element of surprise seeing how designers have fulfilled your request.

"We start with vintage and antique textiles and then we refashion them," says designer Suzanne Frye. "We recently got a huge lot of high-quality tea towels, for instance, and we then hand crocheted the edges."

Discounted items include the velvet, silk and satin crazy quilt shown here, regularly $425, now $255; prairie quilts, regularly $275, now $165; hand embroidered linen tea towels, regularly $15, now $9 and tufted quilts, regularly $285, now $171.

Frye said a new line of contemporary pieces geared toward the Midcentury Modern home will premiere in January. Shipping is free.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credits: Country Laundry

Sears may not exactly be the obvious place to prowl for a little contemporary cottage style, but then again, that's what's nice about the store's new Country Living collection: an element of surprise.

Yes, you'll find rooster plates (on sale and kind of amusing, actually). But other pieces, styled in the pared-down, pulled-back way, do feel crisply contemporary. The Kenned reversible quilt pictured here has the pattern and texture of times past, but the black-and-white palette puts the bed ensemble squarely in the present. Complemented with a glass lamp and clean-lined rustic furniture, it's a look that would be friendly to many homes — and pocketbooks.

The quilt comes in a set with two shams: $62.99 for queen, $71.99 for king.

The last time we checked the Sears' website for the Kenned design, the photo showed the quilt hidden under a checkerboard duvet. A spokeswoman, however, said the store's Web team had been alerted and was looking into updating the photo. Bottom line: Look here, buy there. In case it's helpful: the store locator.

Photo credit: Sears

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The Amenity Home showroom was bustling Tuesday as the designers gathered contents from their studio in preparation for a sample sale that begins Thursday.

The semiannual event, which will be held on the ground floor of Amenity Home's downtown building, is a great opportunity to get deep discounts on slightly imperfect duvets ($50 to $150 for designs that regularly sell for $330 to $395) as well as pillows and seconds from past seasons.

Throw pillows that regularly sell for $89 will be $20. Larger floor pillows, normally $125, will be $47. Stretched wall hangings will be $25, place mats will be $10 and table runners  $37. Amenity also will have a bin of $5 and $10 specials.

The sale runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. It all happens at 453 S. Spring St., Los Angeles. The sale will also be held online, starting on Thursday but running until midnight Sunday. If you can't make the sale but still want to see Amenity's collection, the showroom is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Check the website or call (213) 624-7309 for information.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Amenity Home

OK, so his tie appears to be an Hermès scarf. Carleton Varney, you're forgiven. The cuckoo-for-color interior designer and president of Dorothy Draper & Co. is one of several key players giving the 33-year-old Home Shopping Network a fresh identity as HSN.

On Monday and Tuesday, Varney will be a part of HSN's first Home Design Event. His Live Vividly collection is "inspired by the classics with an added punch," he says.

The programming also include presentations of kitchenware and accessories from chef Wolfgang Puck and entertaining guru Colin Cowie, as well as rugs by Andrea Starck. 

Recently minted talk show host Nate Berkus will be on hand with new products he has designed. Among them: an intriguing knit-cotton pillow, right, trimmed with the kind of toggle closures found on stadium coats. It's 18 inches square, and with a poly-fill insert it costs $34.95.

Designer Hutton Wilkinson,the president of Tony Duquette Inc., will premiere new luxury linens. He has two faux-fur throws, including the 50-by-70-inch ruched throw, below right, $59.95.

An exclusive-for-HSN line called Happy Chic by Jonathan Adler also will make its debut.

"Not everyone is an expert in design, but they know what they like," says Lynne Ronon, HSN executive vice president for merchandising and planning. "They need help to put it together, and our designers will talk about their inspiration and how to put the look together. It's all presented in a lifestyle environment so the customer can see the entire vision. And it's live TV, so anything can happen."

HSN designers will contribute blogs to the website.

"There are certainly some antiquated stereotypes about HSN," says Bill Brand, executive vice president of programming, marketing and business development. "We've put a stake in the ground in terms of bringing in the right designers."

The  channel once known for glitzy gifts could not have found a more enthusiastic participant than Adler. "Wake up an smell the Sanka," he says. "Anyone who thinks HSN is just boxed jewelry and bedazzled muumuus is playing old tapes from the last century. HSN is groovy."

Keep reading to see what Adler is bringing to the party ...

Eco-chic retailer Environment Furniture is offering an interesting promotion through the end of the month: Purchase a bed from any Environment showroom and receive a $500 gift certificate redeemable toward any regularly priced dining room table, coffee table, dresser or upholstered piece of furniture.

Environment's emphasis is on modern furnishings made from reclaimed, recycled or repurposed woods. The Santos platform bed above is composed of Brazilian peroba rosa wood from barns, benches and fences. The mattress floats atop a recessed base of what the company says is responsibly harvested mahogany, and the wide ledge surrounding the mattress allows for a bedside lamp, book or coffee mug. Price: $3,195.

Given $500, I might invest in the simple, organic Beam coffee table, right, also made from peroba rosa. Price: $1,795.

The promotion runs through Aug. 31 and excludes the lower-priced Era collection, sale items, accessories and rugs. It's offered in brick and mortar stores only: 8126 Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles, (323) 782-0296; and South Coast Plaza,  3333 Bear St., Suite 225, Costa Mesa, (714) 557-3100. The promotion is not being offered at Environment's outlet store at H.D. Buttercup, 3225 Helms Ave., Los Angeles, (310) 558-8900.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Environment Furniture

Photo credit: Serena & Lily

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At least 20% off everything at Pierre Deux's new West Hollywood store

Pierre Deux, the purveyor of all things French country, is offering at least 20% off all merchandise in its new location on Robertson Boulevard through Aug. 15.

That includes the new fall collection, such as the hand-embroidered linen pillows by Ankasa ($195 to $350) shown above. They're in Pierre Deux now but won't be hitting other stores until mid-August.

"We have expanded the tabletop collection and have added several new pieces of furniture in lighter woods and easy-to-integrate fabrics," Pierre Deux marketing director Naomi Cooper said.

An opening reception with designer Joe Nye is scheduled for Sept. 16 and will benefit Inner-City Arts.

471 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood; (310) 657-9400.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Pierre Deux

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French imports discounted through Aug. 15

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Designer Angela Adams clearly doesn't sleep.

When not creating tote bags made of recycled sails for J. Crew or her own collection of rugs, furniture, fabric, tile, bedding, bath products and -- phew! -- other home accessories, Adams managed to find the time to design a new line for Anthropologie.

"Anthropologie reached out to us because they are fans of our couture tapestries," the Portland, Maine-based designer said Tuesday. "We designed bedding inspired by our tapestries and the end result is very dreamy and cozy. We had a lot of fun with the curtains and dishtowels as well. They have a storytelling quality to them and celebrate chickadees and seagulls -- two birds that live year-round in Maine and that are an important part of our world up here."

The Anthropologie collection includes, from left: Cherished Garden quilt and coordinating shams ($58 to $228), Honeycomb sheet set ($128 to $168), Chickadee curtains ($78 to $108) and the Budding Birch wool rug ($898 to $1,998).

More information: (800) 309-2500. 

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Angela Adams

This bright pink shower curtain from Lilly Pulitzer Home will wake you up faster than an early-morning espresso.

Another thing that will open your eyes? Garnet Hill is discounting the design, called the Foxgloves shower curtain, by 20% through June 22. All of the website's other Lilly Pulitzer housewares are on sale too.

That includes Pulitzer's trademark, sunny-print bedding, pillow covers, coverlets, towels, bath mats and quilts. (And no, not all of the designs are pink.) More information: (800) 870-3513; www.garnethill.com.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Garnet Hill

New stores, sales and more: Join our Facebook pages for home design or California gardening.

I fell in love with West Elm's simple white cotton pintuck duvet cover when I spotted it at the Greystone Design Showcase in Beverly Hills a few years back (below, at right). Now the look is everywhere.

Garnet Hill is the latest to feature the trend with the new Sylvia comforter cover and bolster from Nicola Home. Made from 300-thread-count sateen, the line features tufted pleats, lining and hidden closures. The  bedding ranges from $168 for a queen to $188 for a king. Bolster covers are $30.

The West Elm version is made with 230-thread-count organic non dyed cotton and comes in six colors. The most affordable version of the pintuck styles, prices range from $79 for a twin duvet to $119 for a king. Standard pillow shams are $19. 

Anthropologie's cotton percale Crowned Cane Bedding ranges from $248 for a twin to $348 for a king. Standard shams begin at $88. Anthropologie also has a more elaborate version called Rosette, ranging from $228 for a twin quilt to $268 for a king. Shams begin at $58.

Finally, Pottery Barn's Cloud Quilt is made with smooth cotton sateen backed with silk habotai. Depending on what size and color you are looking for, the bedding is now available at a steep discount. Twin quilts, normally $199, are now $119; queen quilts, normally $249, are now $148.99; and the king version, normally $299, is on sale for $178.99. 

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credits, clockwise from top: Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, Garnet Hill and West Elm. Greystone Mansion photo credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

Luxurious linens will be discounted by as much as 75% at Matteo's annual sample sale, which begins Thursday. Matteo linens are woven in Italy and sewn in L.A. from natural fibers like Egyptian cotton, Peruvian alpaca, Baltic flax and Nepalese cashmere. 

The pre-Memorial Day blowout will include bedding, cotton towels, linen tablecloths and napkins, lightweight linen baby clothes and linen sleepwear. Also, a store representative says that, technically, all the items aren't samples.

The sale runs 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. The Border Grill Truck will stop from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, and the nearby restaurant Wurstkuche will be supplying a complimentary gift with each purchase throughout the sale.

Matteo, 912 E. 3rd St., downtown Los Angeles; (213) 617-2813

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Matteo

No tax refund this year? Don't be discouraged. While the state of California may have been no help, Modernica is offering its own tax incentive: Beginning Monday, the Los Angeles-based manufacturer of modernist furnishings is offering free shipping and zero sales tax on the V-Leg and Bentwood Case Study beds (priced $1,050 to $1,845).

The promotion includes single, full, queen, standard and California king bed frames with metal or bentwood legs. Alpine and Fastback beds are excluded, and shipping must be within the continental United States.

The offer is good through April 30 both online and in the showroom, 7366 Beverly Blvd. For more information, contact (323) 933-0383.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Modernica