Remember how I promised to tell you how I shop at One Kings Lane? Last fall my sweet friend Jessica sent me an email about One Kings Lane and introduced me to them. OKL {can we call it that from here on out?} is kind of an online sample sale that’s open to the public. Their deeply discounted {up to 70% off} many times luxury items are listed for 72 hours and often sell out before the sale ends. The only thing you need to do to have access to the sales is join by entering in your email address so OKL can send you sale emails {no worries, you can set your email preferences to get them less often, but I like to be reminded to check every day}.
OKL carries ALL sorts of items all relating to home. These bakers seem to be one of the most popular~they always sell out within hours and see, only $18. But they carry much much more than $18 bakers.
I use OKL a little differently than most people. I study it. To me, OKL is like a home magazine/encyclopedia/home textbook that’s updated daily. I feel like after looking at OKL every day for months, I have more of a handle on what my style is and I’m also better at spotting a great deal. For example, see that vintage English laundry bin on casters up there for $549?
It reminded me of this one I found two years ago for $5 at a thrift store. This has been sitting in the garage forever. Thank you OKL for reminding me to use this. Now I’m putting it in our family room.
You know how I’m all into the classy taxidermy because I live in North Carolina and my boys think antlers and horns are cool and don’t tell anyone but I do too so I want some but I’m not going to shoot an animal and I’m too cheap to pay hundreds of dollars for some of these? I kept seeing them on OKL and I got familiar with their price point.
Well, back in November when I went shopping with Eddie Ross, there was a booth that carried all these mounted antlers and I got this little plaque for under $40. I knew it was a good price because I had studied up at OKL. Passed that test, right? I feel like I’m getting a free edjumakation.
I also actually purchase things from OKL. So far I’ve bought four rugs and I love them all. It can be VERY scary to buy such a big expensive item that you can only return for store credit. I have some tips.
First of all, I knew I was in the market for unique rugs so I kept my eye on OKL and watched a few of their rug sales. There was one time when I missed a rug and I really regretted not buying it. You can look at the upcoming sales page and find the name of the company for the upcoming sales. So, the next time I saw a rug sale, before it even went live, I googled the rug maker and got familiar with their items and the price points. You don’t know exactly what items will be for sale but, you can get a feel for what might be available and if you might be interested in something this research can save you precious decision making time.
Like this Rug Market “Rome” rug I ordered for my son’s room. First I googled it and found this image from Studio 10|25 .
This is a much better photo of the rug than the one OKL provided {a different colorway but that didn’t matter}. I could see that the rug had lots of raised texture and that was something I wanted. I also found some of the retail prices of around $300.
When the rug went live on sale at 11am at OKL I went ahead and bought it. Two hundred dollars for a 5 x 8 rug that I get to pick out that is graphic and that can act as a car maze for my 10 year old and also still look fine when he is 18 years old, is a great deal. Plus, one of my goals this year was to liven up our boy’s room and this one needed a rug.
As you can see, all of the wildest dreams that this rug has had about living in a fabulous immaculately decorated home with attention to every detail have clearly come true. I think this rug just enrolled in counseling.
Another rug that I purchased through OKL was my Amy Butler Georgia Rug.
Layla Grace sells the same size rug for $676. Again, the photo at OKL wasn’t all that telling so I did a google search and found many photos of the rug in real rooms and I knew this would be a rug that would give my office the personality that it needed. And, since my office was basically neutral but for the window mistreatments that were a dirty robin’s egg color, I took a gamble and decided that no matter what shade of robin’s egg blue this rug turned out to be in real life, I would be able to use it.
I think this rug makes the entire room come alive. It was a great deal at $400. And it really needs to be vacuumed.
Let’s look at one more example::
Say I was on the lookout for a glass end table. I would be able to see that an upcoming sale was being hosted by World’s Away. A quick google image search would take me to Matthew Izzo’s site where you can see this pretty World’s Away table.
Now we have an idea of the items that might be listed and their retail cost. When the sale goes live at 11am EST we see this
Wow! It’s the exact same table for almost 50% off! Now, personally, if I liked this table, I would probably keep an eye {or two} open for it at Tuesday Morning or a local shop Black Lion. Plus, if this were an item that I DESPERATELY thought was the only and best choice for a place in our home, I would know a good deal when I saw it. So if I were at Tuesday Morning the next week and saw something similar it for $59, I would know that is a good deal for that style of table. However, if I saw it at Tuesday Morning for $200 I would know to be mad at myself for not purchasing it from OKL. And, I’ve noticed that many times, the brands seem to relist every few months. So if I were patient, I might find this deal again. Ideally, I would know ahead of time, what I’m looking for and what I’m willing to pay, that way as soon as I see something at OKL that is a good deal, I could grab it up.
Now, remember, OKL services HIGH END designers as well as us normal folk. So you will see some things that will seem outrageous in their prices. Like pillows for $200-400. And a pair of drapes for $1800 and a sofa for $12,000. Yes you read that right. But don’t throw the sofa out with the bathwater, there are deals to be had.
Remember my bedroom makeover? This chair was about $400, the side table back there was $169 and that huge 8×10 rug was less than $400. All from One Kings Lane.
And at least once a week there are some really amazing finds at low low price points {I promise to try to tweet or talk about the great deals on facebook when I see them}. And there are always great deals at higher price points, I’m just slower to make more expensive decisions.
And this is the part that makes shopping at OKL fun. When you refer friends, you get a $25 credit after they make their first purchase. Some of you made a purchase at OKL after reading about it here a few months ago, thank you so much! I’ve definately used my own cold hard cash to make purchases but, having some store credit helps too. Once you are a member, if you think your friends would like OKL, you can refer them with the URL they give you on “Your Account” page.
You can even personalize your URL and change it to your blog name or something fun if you want.
Here’s the part where I give you a link that is MY own referral code if you want to sign up at OKL and browse around and start your design education. New sales go live at 11am today and it’s Tuesday so the are new twilight sales tonight! I’ll try to remember to post on the Nesting Place facebook page when there’s an extra amazing deal at OKL {right after I make my own purchases thankyouverymuch because the great deals always sell out super fast}. Good luck and hang in there!
LOVE LOVED LOVING this post!!
I love OKL. But I love you more.
xo
You had no idea what kind of monster you were creating by telling me about this shop! Thank you!
Love your site. After morning devotions I reward myself with your visit. Love your post. Pass it along to all the nesters that they sell the baker at harris teeter in 3 sizes (cheap too!). I love mine, but they onlyl come in white. The mpst expensive one is $29 i think.
Have a great day.
Your office rug is GORGEOUS!
is this your longest post ever???
haha.
it’s a good one!
;]
Thanks for the lesson….such great tips to use when shopping!
Cindy
Thanks for the info…I signed up! FYI – those bakers are great. I have several. Bought them from Amazon for less then $18!
Great post! I’ve loved looking at OKL since you posted about it a while back. Thanks for all the info!
Thanks for the tips on shopping OKL! Sites like that can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t know how to shop. :)
Just discovered OKL about a month ago and love looking at their stuff. Love, love your blue flowered rug and it goes so well w/the blue dresser. Thanks for blogging!
Thanks for doing this post. I signed up for OKL months ago and even though I haven’t purchased anything it has taught me so much about design. You have also taught me so much, thanks for the daily inspirations!
Great tips! THanks for sharing!! I adore the Amy Butler rug in your office….just perfect!!
Fyi…real klassy people spell klassy with a “k” It’s way klassierest.
I love the color on your office walls, do you mind sharing?
An excellent tutorial on how to use a shopping site to educate as well as to buy! Brava, and thanks, Nester!
I’ve bought rugs and small accessories online, with very decent success rate. But my requirements for seating are so very particular that I could NEVER buy a chair, sofa, or dining chair over the internet. I know that’s how I work, and I’m okay with that. So while I may envy your purchase of that gorgeous club chair, I personally could not (and should not!) risk it.
Sometimes successful online shopping consists of knowing what you *can’t* comfortably purchase online.
yes, I meant to talk about that too. Normally I could NEVER buy something like that online but I had 4 different spaces in our home where I could potentially use it~all of which it wasn’t going to be sat in more than a few mintues per day. So style and size were the most important things which allowed me to buy without sitting my tush in it.
I wouldn’t advocate buying lots of sofas and chairs online~but, if you are really patient and can see it in a store first…
Oh man, I need that rug in your son’s room. I love the yellow one you posted as well. Been meaning to check out OKL so maybe I’ll actually do it now.
yes, if they would have offered the yellow, I would have purchased that instead, LOVE it!
i have been loving the OKL site since you mentioned it last :) thanks for sharing.
I adore One King’s Lane! You gave lots of great info here, too! I, too, spend alot of time browsing their offerings– so interesting and you learn alot about and from their Tastemaker Tag Sales, too. Just ordered a rug and pillows last week for my family room redo– can’t wait until they get here.
Thanks for spreading the good word!
So informative! Thanks for clearing up the enigma of OKL. I still have the $10 credit for signing up because I really didn’t know what it was all about, haha!
I have seen that greek key table at Homedecoraters.com I think its about 70.00 on there. If you get a chance check out my blog. http://www.mysewsouthernlife.blogspot.com.
Not available in Canada. :( Too bad. LOVE the rugs!
I’m glad you wrote this post because after you revealed your master bedroom I decided to check out OKL, and after a little bit of poking around on their site I wrote them off as high-end and extremely overpriced. And then I kept getting tons of emails so I unsubscribed. Now maybe I’ll give it a try again, this time with fewer email notifications :)
Hi Holly, just was googling OKL and came across this post, skimmed the comments and saw yours. I had a similar reaction to the prices, then saw that you can have each sale filter by price. On my computers, once I clicked on “lowest to highest,” or however its phrased, the website has always loaded each sale with lowest priced items first. That way, once I scroll down to my maximum price point, I personally just close out of that sale!
Great post! I have been a OKL member for several months now but am always overwhelmed. I too have been leary of making such big purchases sight unseen. This tutorial had great tips on how to overcome those fears and make this most of that great discount site. As usual, great post!
i LOVE THIS POST. i HAVE PURCHASED SOME ITEMS FROM OKL, BUT ONLY LESS EXPENSIVE KITCHEN ITEMS. MAYBE I WILL BE A LITTLE MORE DARING.
Thanks for this post. I hadn’t thought about them since I bought a baker when you offered it. I got the yellow since the others were sold out. Maybe it will look good this summer.
A thought for another post is when I see you with new items or changing your rooms, my curiosity wonders what happened to the other furniture or did you move it. Would love before and afters and what happened photos. Helps me w/ my house so very much!
I love the title of this post :)
I joined OKL the day you posted about those baker thingummies, and I’ve bought a couple of things from them. I have wondered how the manage to sell out on tables and chairs that cost $12000…
I too would love to know the color of your office walls! I love them. I remember reading one of your blogs a long time ago about a paint color that you used to get that is discontinued now, But I can’t remember which post to look up or what the name of it was. And, is this the same color? I want to say it was called tobacco but I’m not sure…. Thanks for your inspiration!
Have you checked out The Foundary.com also? They usually don’t have as many sales going at once, but still things I find very likeable. :) I have never purchased, but have been very tempted before. haha. :)
I like your approach to shopping these discount type of sites. I find them completely overwhelming!
Holly (from decor8) tweeted this article today, and I thought you might be interested: http://www.editoratlarge.com/articles/one-kings-lane-to-develop-domino-style-editorial
This post was REALLY helpful! Thanks so much!
Sheri
Hey there, living right around the corner in Charlotte, Black Lion has certainly proven to be quite to little gem. It great when, you get inspiration all over again.
Mr. Goodwill Hunting
I, too, bought a rug from OKL. It is definitely daunting to put down money on something (large) you haven’t seen before! I wasn’t sure how much I loved it when I got it…but it’s growing on me. I know some people like the Foundary better, but I love OKL. Thanks for the Tuesday Morning tip!
Thank you for all of this wonderful information. I get the daily e-mails from OKL, but I’ve never actually bought anything on the site because I’m not patient enough to wait for a good deal and just end up deleting the e-mails that come through. I will approach it like you have and hope to get a great deal! Thanks again!
Very interesting. Thanks for posting! (I LOVE the rug in your office!)
I’m discouraged by this site and company. I received a lamp that didn’t work when I took it out of the box. I have asked three times for assistance on returning it for one that works and have heard nothing. My guests arrive in a few days and will be in the dark. Not inspired to purchase more here.
I order more from OKL than similar sites like Gilt because the offerings are more to my taste and budget. But one thing I’ve learned is that OKL colors, as shown on its site, are WAY, WAY OFF. A “deep green” bath towel turns out to be neon lime green in person. A “deep teal” set of fabric boxes is actually bright sky blue in person. etc, etc. Just today I saw a pretty “pink” leather journal on OKL, looked it up at the manufacturer’s site and it was NEON pink. No thank you. After these experiences, I never trust OKL colors as represented on its site and ALWAYS try to find the item elsewhere on the web so I’ll know what I”m getting before ordering.
I see way too many people who fall for the phony “Retail price” and believe these items are worth three times what they are paying. They are deceived and mistaken. Many items of similar quality can be found for less than half of this rip-off company! Do your homework!
I am a big fan of OFL..been spending at about $500/month ever since it came out!
I had discovery two weeks ago , I have never purchased anything yet , But I will for sure!!!