New York City Furniture

No doubt about it, you can find your Crate and Barrels and your Pottery Barns in New York City. But the City is also a great place to find furniture that has a little more character.

MoMA Design Store, 81 Spring St. (www.momastore.org), Halfway between a museum and a store, this is the place to go if you want to turn your home into a work of art..or at least to fill it with cool, quirky objects. You can pick up an FPE (Fantastic Plastic Elastic) chair designed by Ron Arad ($335), a Z Bar LED lamp by Peter Ng ($195-215), and Nesting Tables conceived by Joseph Albers in 1926-27 ($1,950). You can make your books look like they're hovering in space by using the handy dandy conceal bookshelf designed by Miron Lior ($15). Prices vary by object and designer. Chairs $200-800. Lamps $110-2000. Vases $48-65. M and Co. clocks $52-395. Open M-Sa 10am-8pm, Su 11am-7pm. Takes credit cards. Wheelchair access.
Muji, 455 Broadway, between Grand St. and Howard St. (www.muji.us), Furniture at its most space and energy-efficient, the wares at Muji are designed in Japan and available almost exclusively in shades of brown, grey, and off-white. You can purchase a steel pipe side table ($90) that fits perfectly over your pocket coil mattress with legs ($500-700) and lay your head on a urethane foam cube ($50). Tuck your cardboard, foldable speakers ($40) in a cotton linen storage box ($50) and iron your clothing on a steel mesh ironing board ($30-50), designed to evaporate steam and absorb heat at a far superior rate than your run-of-the-mill ironing boards. Pillows $20. Beds $400-1100. Comforters $250-$475. Open M-Sa 11am-9pm, Su 11am-8pm. Takes credit cards. No wheelchair access.
Jacques Carcanagues, 21 Greene St., between Canal St. and Grand St. (www.jacquescarcanagues.com), Remember the masks at the beginning of Spiderman? How about the rug the Richard Gere uses to wrap Olivier Martinez's dead body in Unfaithful? Both came from SoHo's Jacques Carcanaguas, which carries new and antique furnishings from Southeast Asia. Furniture pieces $5-20,000. Open Tu-Sa 11am-6:30pm. Takes credit cards.