As far as I’m concerned, consignment shopping is way more fun than regular shopping. It’s literally like a treasure hunt, where you never know what hidden gem you’re going to discover. So, when a friend of mine informed me that there was a high-end consignment store in New York City for furniture, I jumped at the chance to head down and check it out. I never even knew that such a thing existed! We had a great time visiting Decor NYC and chatting with the founder, Bruce Tilley. See more after the jump!

In the same way that people bring Chanel bags to consignment stores, at Decor NYC they come to Bruce with furniture, art, decorative objects, lamps, vintage pieces, and even brand new luxury decor items that have basically never been used. How is this even possible? Well, sometimes people own apartments in several places, but they wind up not frequenting one of their homes as much – so when they decide to move, they come to Decor NYC with an apartment full of barely used, high-end furniture. Or, it could be that people are redecorating, or any other of a number of circumstances that results in Decor NYC being stocked to the brim with amazing items. Since the owners want their items to sell, not sit, Decor NYC prices them very competitively. There are some antiques and vintage items at the store that are also available through other antique retailers, but here they’re literally a fraction of the price.

Everything that Bruce takes in to sell at Decor NYC is rigorously vetted for quality, and they accept only the best. Honestly, everything I saw was in such great condition that it didn’t appear to have been used at all (and I’m guessing a lot of it wasn’t really used much by the previous owners). Another cool aspect: the rare item that doesn’t sell (and that the owner doesn’t want back), is donated to Housing Works thrift shop. Love that! One person’s trash…

At Decor NYC, there’s an eclectic mix of furniture, but they have it arranged in such a way that you feel less like you’re at a store and more like you’re at a stylish friend’s home. There’s a hugely interesting mix of different styles, eras, designers, design category (modern, traditional, mid-century), and it all works so well together. Walking through, I kept thinking, “this is the way that people should decorate” – mixing different styles and eras to create a collected, layered look. So not only is this a great design resource, but it’s actually just a huge inspiration to walk through.