Seattle Design Center

Great venue of for a wonderful event.
I had the pleasure to volunteer with Communities in Schools of Washington which was hosting their annual dinner and auction fundraiser to help keep students in our schools. The Seattle Design Center was the venue, and while this wasn’t my first time in this facility, but every time I come here, I am always taken back by not only the shops that surround the edges, as Katy H, would note, very classy and worthy of giving to your children.
What makes this space wonderful is how open it feels, but how it can, with proper setup, how intimate the location can become. For a gala, a unique event, I would recommend this location. Great access to the loading dock, easy to get stuff in. The venue itself has a great welcome foyer, which then opens up to what I would call a great hall. Outside, there is plenty of parking for a good sized event, and lots of street parking nearby.
It’s always a pleasure to help out our children, but doing it in a welcoming facility, I only give this place high marks.

I’ve been to several events here. Please see below:
1. Prom in 2003– 1.5 stars. It’s hard to make this place look very elegant and pretty even with decorations. For the same reason I wouldn’t recommend it for a wedding.
2.Humane Society silent auction fund raiser: 5 stars. Lots of tables and was organized in a very easy to navigate way.
3. NW Coffee Festival. 3 stars. Kind of a strange set-​up and smallish since the upstairs wasnt used.
Overall it’s clean and nice enough. It’s not fancy, but completely usable for a large function. There is lots of parking since they have a private lot and a garage. The bricks make it look a little 60s-​ish and dated, but it’s not gross or anything.

I work in the SDC and often have wandered around the center to see some of the great design shops.
Most folks window shop in this building as they are high end furniture to deco pieces to art.
There are quite a few spots with seating areas which are great for meeting spots or to just hang out.
Parking is also free which is a plus!

I’ve enjoyed being there for two high school proms in the last month. The large layout give you the ability to be creative with ways to fill the space. I found that running 22 uplights on the arches of the white brick wall leaves a great effect.
The venue coordinator was also great to work with.

The Design Center has an overwhelming collection of mostly, boring, stuffy, uninspired furnishings. There are a few gems but it’s very time consuming to find them. It would be very helpful to have the help of a designer who knows your style and is familair with the inventory.

My first visit to the Seattle Design Center on March 24^th was to check out the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) free Ceramic and Pottery exhibition March 26−31^st. Though one or two of the exhibits were still in the process of installation, I was impressed with everything I saw, so much so that I slipped into the «zone» that I go into when I’m taking in art I appreciate, i.e. spending an infuriatingly long time in the galleries (at least for JP who accompanied me).
My favorite piece was Dane Youngren’s «Warehouse #1», which evoked in me fond images of the Old Wild West that now are crumbling to dust — you know, the ravages of time. I also enjoyed the works of George Rodriguez and Meg Murch.
After viewing the NCECA exhibition, I took a look around the rest of the Design Center. I was amazed at the variety of media and styles visible in the four stories of businesses and galleries. What was interesting to me was observing artists in several galleries setting up exhibits.
I was amused by one particular furniture gallery in the Center. It seemed very exclusive, because there was a sign by the door that said that entry was granted only by appointment and if accompanied by a designer (note that many of the other showrooms have signs welcoming the general public).
Anyway, as I walked by the outside of the glass-​walled furniture gallery, I saw what appeared to me as two ceramic life-​sized Chihuahua mix dogs, perched on a fancy sofa. But they weren’t ceramic — one of the «ceramic» dogs suddenly went into a barking tizzy when it saw me. It just seemed funny that this gallery with nice-​looking expensive furniture had dogs lolling on the couches.

Interior designers guide you through 1) planning, 2) purchasing, 3) project management, and 4) many like me design custom one-​of-​kind bespoke creations. The showrooms and services at The Seattle Design Center are your interior designer’s regional access to the best furnishings available on the market. Hiring your designer is your shortcut to getting the best interior products and services without the headache of selection overwhelm, without the frustration of limitations at retail or online stores, and most importantly — without spending thousands of dollars on solutions that don’t work. With your interior designer at the helm, SDC makes the laborious process of furnishing your spaces enormously less bothersome with absolutely stunning results.

In spite of what a previous reviewer wrote, I assure you, you will not «think IKEA» when you walk into the SDC– it is the antithesis of IKEA. The showrooms vary between medium price range in furnishings and fabrics to the highest range. Keep in mind that medium price range in this context is still far above what the average consumer considers medium. These are not the products that one will find in most retail establishments, but what one sees on the pages of shelter magazines. Most products are not available off the floor for purchase, but serve as models for custom orders. Fabrics are chosen specifically for each piece, and may be specified from a resource separate from the furniture manufacturer. Some showrooms are not open to the public without previous arrangement with an interior designer, and you should not expect to get pricing information from any showroom. This is because SDC is a resource for professionals and does not sell directly to the consumer. In truth, you will be glad to go there with a design professional, because it is nearly impossible for a consumer to, for example, sort through the literally 10’s of thousands of fabric samples represented there.
You can expect to find the highest quality of product and service from the SDC showrooms. The SDC may not be as large as some found in other major cities but it is still an inspiring resource. You will see the styles from the original designers who have been copied by the big box stores such as Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. So why should you just not buy at one of those places? Because they take just a few styles, strip them of the expensive details that make them distinctive, give you a choice of just a few vanilla fabrics, and manufacture this narrow selection on a massive scale. So instead of owning a custom piece with a practically infinite choice of fabrics, quality construction (e.g., down wrapped internal spring construction on seat cushions), and exquisite details that the chains simply cannot provide, your house will look like a boring furniture showroom with pieces that everyone else in America owns and is trying to sell on Craigslist. Just compare the original Holly Hunt light candle fixtures, to the candle fixtures that you can buy at Lamps Plus to see what I mean– they are light years apart. (An unintended pun, but I’ll stick with it.)

Amazing! If you are looking to redecorate this is the place to be. Think IKEA as in one-​stop shop for all of your home needs, but CLASSY!
Nothing here will be cheap or cheaply made. In fact, the showrooms here are quite impressive. With more than a dozen places to pick and choose from, you’ll find lighting experts, furniture for both your indoor and outdoor needs, wallpaper, rugs, accessories, and more. I am super impressed with the SDC and if/​when it comes time to shop for more furniture, this will definitely be a stop for me.