Wondering why there have been no new posts here?
It's because we MOVED our blog to our website.

You can find LaDiff's new & improved blog right here!

Enjoy!

A Super Quick Update on the NEW Store

Happy Saturday evening, folks.

A couple of weeks ago, we released the news about our NEW, second store location in West Broad Village in Short Pump (west of Richmond). We've been overwhelmed by the support, press, tweets, posts, and appreciation we've received from all of YOU.

We've also had a few questions, heard a few misunderstandings, and have made a few changes to our timeline, so we thought an update was appropriate.

1. We are NOT moving. We are opening a SECOND location. We are keeping our downtown location. How could we not? It's 50,000 square feet of renovated gorgeous-ness in Richmond's fabulous river district. We love it!

2. The new store will be SMALLER than the downtown store. It's 7,000 feet vs. (as previously stated) about 50,000 feet. As our press buddy Jeff Kelly determined, it's about the size of two tennis courts. If you know our downtown store, it's about the size of our dining section on the second floor.

3. This means that EVERYTHING that is downtown won't be in the west end. We think you'll love what you see, and, naturally, we hope it will tempt you to drive east to visit us downtown.

4. Our new store is only 14 miles (about a 20 minute drive) from our new store. Wow... that means that DOWNTOWN RICHMOND is really really really CLOSE to Short Pump! Don't believe us? ... click here.

5. Sometimes the best laid plans go awry. Waiting for permits, building walls, painting, moving & building furniture, etc. can take longer than one expects. We signed the lease 6 weeks ago with the hope to "soft" open by Feb 2nd. We missed that date... and shot for the 9th. We won't make that one either... but we hope to have the doors open the weekend after.

6. We will have some systematic kinks to work out the first week. Just like a new restaurant, our staff will be adjusting to being in a 'new' location. We hope you'll be patient as they adjust. They want to make you happy, and they'll be doing it with 'new tools'. (That's why they call it a 'soft' opening).

7. If you look in the windows now and think it looks sparse (according to one email received today), we can only say... uh, yeah, we know, but we don't want to unwrap and build furniture you might want to buy while we're still SANDING and PAINTING. Don't worry... more is coming. One thing we're good at is filling up a showroom with inventory.

8. We're in a XXX mood: exhausted, excited, and expecting good things!

Check out a few of our progress pictures here to see how we're doing - and keep those positive thoughts coming. We LOVE 'em!

A New LaDiff?

Hi, I am Lucy Thornton, the daughter of the Thornton/Paxton clan. My parents (Andy Thornton and Sarah Paxton) own LaDifference! They are opening a new store in West broad village in Short Pump. Right now it is being painted and L-O-A-D-E-D with furniture to sell to YOU! Please remember that this (new) store is 7x smaller than the regular one downtown on 14th Street. I can't wait to see it when it is finished! I hope that happens soon! Hope you get a chance to visit!

A New Year... A New Store

Every day is exciting and fun here, but it’s an even bigger day for us at LaDiff.

If you check in with/read our blog pretty regularly, you'll have noticed that we haven't posted for several weeks. Well, we've been kinda busy; and we've also kinda been keeping a secret (sort of).

It'll be in the local paper tomorrow, and it was reported online today (sneaky little twitter detectives!), so here's our version - straight from the furniture-store-horse's-mouth:

We are happy to announce (officially) the upcoming opening of our second store!

It’s a smaller location in Henrico County’s West End, about 20 minutes from our 14th Street store (yes, we've clocked it - several times).

Now, this isn’t the first time we’ve had two stores (learn more about our history here), but this time we plan to be more successful with two. Our original store in Charlottesville was open for 14 years (1980-1994) before we made the difficult decision to leave Cville behind and move everything to our store in Richmond's Tobacco Row.

A few years later, we moved from Tobacco Row into our current space on 14th Street, what we will now consider our **flagship** store in the historic River District, or Shockoe Bottom, or the end of Shockoe Slip... (your choice) right across from the Canal Turning Basin.

Anyway, the new 7,000-square-foot store in West Broad Village (near The Wine Loft and Keagan's Irish Pub... because that's how we roll) will offer shoppers in Central Virginia added convenience and access to the LaDiff delights of modern design when we open on February 2.

By virtue of its size (about 1/7 the space of our downtown showroom), the Short Pump store will display LaDiff's tried and true bestsellers, our best LaDEAL$, and some of our favorite “showstoppers” from around the world. We’ve made the architecture similar to the downtown store (open, few walls, and kind of industrial), so you’ll still get the "LaDiff" feel.

Our first couple of weeks will be our "soft" opening, while we work out the systems, the schedule, and the kinks. {{thank you!}} Then, make sure you're on our email list for some Grand Opening fun coming in February.

For us, this new store is really about convenience and access for our customers in the western part of Richmond, Henrico, Goochland, and anywhere accessible by 288! It's also a 7,000 square foot 'billboard' to encourage *new* LaDiff visitors to cross Boulevard & Belvidere and visit us downtown, where you'll find 7x the size, 7x the selection, and 7x the FUN!

As Mr. President-of-LaDiff said the other day: “We want everybody to be happy, because we’re happy guys.”

Feb. 2nd - 2436 Old Brick Road - Glen Allen, VA 23060

Hope to see you then!

www.ladiff.com

Make someone else more comfortable too...

This blog post is short and simple: it's about one of LaDiff's very favorite promotions of the year: the Ekornes 'charity' promotion.

Each holiday season, Ekornes lets us choose the charity, and they give you the discount off one of their uber-amazing Stressless recliner & ottoman sets.

For the second year, we've picked CARITAS of Richmond.

CARITAS helps hundreds of homeless individuals in the Richmond area find shelter, find work, and find a new life. Then, once these folks get a *home*, CARITAS helps them furnish it from their only-one-in-Virginia-south-Richmond furniture bank, stocked with donations from people like YOU.

When you visit LaDiff between now & January 16th, for every $50 donation you make to CARITAS of Richmond, Ekornes and LaDiff will give you $200 off an amazing Stressless recliner & ottoman set.

Huge savings for you.
A meaningful donation for CARITAS.
... and you'll both be more comfortable in the end.

Learn more about how you can save & help at the same time by clicking HERE.

Design is the new food

"Design is the new food, " said Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan at November 11th's R.Home for the Holidays. After greeting the audience, and thanking LaDiff "as I hear they are called" (swoon!), Maxwell explained his statement: years ago, no one talked about food as 'cuisine'. Now, women, men, even kids talk about the garlic infused marinade, what body of water your oysters lived in, or the local farm that supplied your greens. What was once simply food on the table has now become a major topic of conversation for dinner tables, kitchens, and water coolers everywhere.

This is the future for 'design', too, says Maxwell. He believes that 10 years from now, we'll all know the names of designers the way we know the names of chefs on the Food Network today.

Maxwell's statement was part of a speech that captivated an audience of about 250, gathered in LaDiff's low-lit parking-garage-now-banquet-hall. Before taking questions and signing his book, Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces, Maxwell told us how his business, blog, and website, Apartment Therapy, came to be.

A former elementary school teacher, Maxwell talked about how he had noticed that children from 'beautiful homes' - homes where the inhabitants showed they cared about the surroundings - did better in school. They appreciated art, music, language more.

Maxwell called creating a room as a "recipe with ingredients" that requires "careful curation." Maxwell noted that most Americans are collectors not editors when it comes to their "stuff." It is when we learn how to edit, move, subtract, change the space around us that the "stuff" becomes more meaningful.

Maxwell quoted occasionally from Terence Conran, the English born design guru, known for his Conran Shop, London restaurant designs, and many books on the subject. He is also an obvious idol of Maxwell's (and of ours). In the preface to The House Book, Conran wrote, "Having a warm home that looks good and that you and your family and friends enjoy must be one of the most worthwhile things in life."

For Maxwell and his team, Apartment Therapy is a community of idea sharing and inspiration. Last Thursday, he shared those ideas with Richmond, Richmond Magazine, and LaDiff.

Thanks, Maxwell.
Come again soon!


***pictures by Melissa Martin Molitor***

Co-Founder of Apartment Therapy blog is coming to LaDiff

We are SO EXCITED at LaDiff!

A few weeks ago, Brandon Fox, editor of R.Home Magazine (a subsidiary of Richmond Magazine) emailed me to see if LaDiff would be interested in hosting their annual R.Home for the Holidays event. When I heard that Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, co-founder of the national blog Apartment Therapy would be the guest speaker, I gave a resounding yes!

So, together with one of our favorite suppliers American Leather, who are joining us as co-presenting sponsors, we are hosting this terrific event THIS WEEK!

Why would a *furniture* store who wants & likes to *sell stuff* be thrilled to host an outspoken, self-professed minimalist who lives in an under 300-square foot NYC apartment (with his wife and child, I might add)? Because Mr. Gillingham-Ryan and his blog team help us see the new and different in the world of home furnishings.

On the blog, they show how modern works with traditional, how ethnic works with glamor, how one small item can change the way a room breathes... and he does it all in an uber-organized fashion (ooh, that alone makes me giddy).

So... without further ado, we hope you will join us on Thursday, November 11th from 6pm to 9pm. You can meet and listen to Maxwell, drink some wine, nibble on some food, bid on special wreaths created by members of Richmond's design community (including one very cool wreath by Megan Pluim, Jennie Kam, and Melissa Molitor of LaDiff!), learn some holiday decor ideas, and... of course... shop at LaDiff!

Tickets are available here, and all proceeds benefit the fabulous Richmond Ballet.

See you Thursday!

photos courtesy of Richmond Magazine