How have we not talked about this?

Massive, cool store near Farmers Market.

http://www.urbanfarmhousedesign.com

11953

I drove by this place a couple days ago but didn't realize it was a store. It looks abandoned on the outside. Will definitely have to check it out now!

It's pretty amazing and *huge*

It's undoubtedly my favorite home furnishings place in the metro.

It's an amazing place and has grown and imroved in a really short period of time. We went there several months ago and then again about a week ago and couldn't believe how it has grown and changed in terms of inventory, the upstairs area, etc. Great stuff.

I drive by a lot and have been meaning to check it out. I love those pieces, but would probably only be able to buy for my office, owing to the mid-century modern thing I have going on at home.

Western Avenue in that area is taking an interesting and funky turn, which I think is spillover from both downtown and Plaza District activity nearby. But lots of interesting stuff has popped up in recent years between NW 13th and I-40. Blue Sage and Istvan were pioneers, but now there is an eclectic group of interior places, junk/antique shops, OKC Kayak and the like, and some interesting building stock yet to be redeveloped. Hopefully it will REALLY take off when places like 21c and Sunshine Cleaners and Laundry come online a block over.

You would simply not believe how big it is inside; this is one of those "this can't be OKC" places.

Also, as you first walk in through the two huge exterior wooden doors, they have this big workshop you walk past where they are making a lot of the tables and different pieces they sell.

Then, you open sliding glass doors into the showroom (2nd picture below -- look at those doors!) and you are in this massive first floor space with a bunch of separate side rooms. Once you go upstairs, it's a huge open space that has furniture and accessories for as far as the eye can see.

Generally speaking it's not my style, but they have cool stuff. Found a bunch of light fixtures that I really like, for example.

Everyone should go just for the experience. It's an amazing place and you could spend a lot of time just wandering around.



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I will need to check this out this week as I haven't started any of my Christmas shopping yet.

Everyone is clamoring for Restoration Hardware and Arhaus and here we have a local store that has many similar things, is about 5X the size of those stores and most of us have never even been in it!

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know about it until someone took me there yesterday.

It is nothing less than stunning -- pictures do not do it justice.

This is just part of the upstairs.

Look at the ceiling...

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What are prices like?

What are prices like?

Ever been to Hemispheres? Take that times 25% , but that have a long waiting list for their products, so someone is buying it.

I just stopped by and this place is pretty awesome. Exactly my style.

What are prices like?

About the same per square foot prices of higher end granite... Didn't realize reclaimed box car floors were so expensive.

Been there several times, love it. One time I noticed a sold ticket to Toby Keith.

Holy crap - I had no idea this place existed. I'm definitely checking it out this week.

Holy crap - I had no idea this place existed. I'm definitely checking it out this week.

Add me to that list - no idea! On the list to do next week as well.

Stopped by today. Very well done, friendly staff. You can see into the workshop which I thought was cool. Décor items were average boutique prices -$85 for a pillow. Had a lot of gift items upstairs for under $30. Most of the larger furniture pieces were $1300 on up.

This is great information provided by Pete for the majority of us who didn't know about this place. Thank you. OKC often has hidden gems that just need a little publicity to really take off.

I used to drive by it on my way to work everyday. They held this "wood and waffles" event, and I thought it was a restaurant.

My parents mentioned this store today and aside from this thread I had never heard of it. I purchased furniture for my place a year ago and looked around at a lot of places and this place never and showed up on my radar.... looks awesome.

This is one of our favorite local stores. We used to order from R.H. or find pieces occasionally in IO Metro, but this place has so much more to choose from and take home that day.

I want to check this place out, even though it doesn't really fit the style of my house.

A couple friends here in Fort Worth (both from California) who are big fans of Fixer Upper were talking about this as being a cheaper version of the Gaines' extremely popular store in Waco, so the word is out!

^

It's not my style either although they have some pretty cool light fixtures.

It's a pretty amazing place and *huge*.

^^^^^

Yep, not our style either, although I can see perhaps a piece or two blending in with our more traditional eclectic mix of things.

Still drawn to go there from time to time just to walk through the "experience" of it all. And the sales staff is always extremely cordial. I think it's awesome that they located where they did, too.

Up thread it was mentioned that reclaimed box car flooring was so expensive.

Years ago when box cars were salvaged, they would just set fire to the interior. The treated wood floors and wood interior sheething would burn for days, afterwhich the remaining steel would be cut up for scrap.

Some of the reasons box car flooring is pricey are that it's removal is labor intensive. Box cars are built stout and the floors don't come out easy.

They're thick, long, heavy hardwood tongue and groove planks that you just can't get anywhere.

And, just through simple attrition, wood floor box cars are becoming less common as they've been replaced by steel floor cars over the years.

Here's a quick tip.

Go to this site: http://www.ana-white.com/

And you can use the free plans for all kinds of furniture to build yourself. Great site to reproduce pottery barn, restoration hardware style furniture.

In about a week, they open at the Dallas Farmers Market, which will be their 2nd location.

The growth of that company has been incredible to watch.

By the way, via conversations with my dad I know that the southernmost building in the Western Avenue complex was once the warehouse for Big Red Furniture. My dad's uncle was the president and general manager at one point, and my dad worked there as a young man in the late 50s and early 60s. It's notable not only because Big Red eventually became Evans furniture, but also because nearly every local furniture store had its roots there. Jude and Jody, the (original) Mathis Brothers, Bob Mills, all of these people worked there together at the same time.

The growth of that company has been incredible to watch.

By the way, via conversations with my dad I know that the southernmost building in the Western Avenue complex was once the warehouse for Big Red Furniture. My dad's uncle was the president and general manager at one point, and my dad worked there as a young man in the late 50s and early 60s. It's notable not only because Big Red eventually became Evans furniture, but also because nearly every local furniture store had its roots there. Jude and Jody, the (original) Mathis Brothers, Bob Mills, all of these people worked there together at the same time.

Now that's an interesting bit of info.... Thanks for sharing!

They announced on social media that they have sold the company and have new owners. Additionally, the Dallas store that JUST opened has been closed. Handful of comments on their instagram and facebook pages from customers saying they have been waiting for months for orders to be delivered.

WHAT HAPPENED?

^

Big financial problems. Expanded quickly, new site in Dallas, etc.

They were on the verge of closing until this group bailed them out.

There is a TON of competition when it comes to the Urban Farmhouse look.

The quality of their pieces is top notch - we own a few. However, where there used to be few choices there are now many, and lots of far less expensive knockoffs.

I wasn't happy with my experience with UF. I knew of their financial issues... Seemed they got a new luxury suv parked outside their business monthly. Hopefully the new owners know what they are doing and will turn it around.

They are closing at the end of today (Sunday).

An investment group had taken it over after Farmer's Bank (the one with all the recent troubles) took it back (they had about a $5M loan). The new group closed Dallas and consolidated their sprawling OKC complex, but things were too far gone.

There will be some invite-only sales for a few weeks then they'll do an everything-must-go public liquidation.

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/urbanfarmhouse082519b.jpg

More from the Oklahoman:

https://oklahoman.com/article/5644480/urban-farmhouse-closing-after-rescue-attempt

Anyone else see a pattern here?

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This trend is dying. Thankfully.

Such heavily branding based on a trendy style is always very risky, especially in retail relying on inventory heavy and high price point merchandise. To be a successful trendy merchandiser would mean being able to quickly adapt to changing tastes and trends. Just the name Urban Farmhouse ties it too strongly to a fleeting style.

Such heavily branding based on a trendy style is always very risky, especially in retail relying on inventory heavy and high price point merchandise. To be a successful trendy merchandiser would mean being able to quickly adapt to changing tastes and trends. Just the name Urban Farmhouse ties it too strongly to a fleeting style.

agree with most of this, but i don't think they necessarily had an inventory problem. from what I've been told, a relatively large number of their pieces were either custom made or sold on consignment.

agree with most of this, but i don't think they necessarily had an inventory problem. from what I've been told, a relatively large number of their pieces were either custom made or sold on consignment.

Whenever we bought pieces there, only once was the item 'in stock' (we bought the floor model on sale). Otherwise it had to be built. Took a couple of weeks and we got to pick the wood and stain.

Such heavily branding based on a trendy style is always very risky, especially in retail relying on inventory heavy and high price point merchandise. To be a successful trendy merchandiser would mean being able to quickly adapt to changing tastes and trends. Just the name Urban Farmhouse ties it too strongly to a fleeting style.

That was the sentiment of the people who took over the company and at least satisfied most if not all the 287 (?) outstanding orders when the Dallas location closed: the "urban farmhouse" fad faded as quickly as it arrived. I have a sneaking suspicion that the broader, monochromatic "urban" fad may be facing a similar fate in the not so distant future. Lots of similarly trendy, "chic" kinds of stores will be on the wrong side of things in the coming weeks/months. People can only tolerate shades of gray for so long.

Anyone attend their closing sale that started today? Curious what it was like.