Limn

A word to the wise — know the retail price of the item you are buying — even during their big CLOSING SALE. Their regular prices are very jacked up, so their «sale» price” is still above retail.
For example, there is a beautiful Artemide Echos floor lamp. MSRP is $ 1790. Limn’s regular price is $ 2800. The saleslady said it was 25% off, $ 2100. But because of the very obvious damage on the top, she was going to give me a whopping 50% off = $ 1400. Three weeks away from closing its doors and they’re offering 20% off the standard retail price of a damaged item. A fair price on an item with this much damage should ordinarily be 50% off $ 1790 = $ 895. But with a CLOSING SALE, I would expect closer to 70% off or $ 540.
There’s a beautiful Tobias Grau Dance Long Lamp hanging over a desk near the door to the patio. Price quoted: $ 3000 with 25% discount = $ 2250. What? Retail price everywhere else is $ 1770 for a brand new item. This is a floor model. I would expect at least 50% off of retail = $ 885 and for a CLOSING SALE something closer to 60−70% off or $ 550 – 700. Oh, and they said they couldn’t turn it on to see if it worked because they’d blown the circuit the last time they tried.
Buyer beware. There is greed afoot.

I came here during the 70% off sale when they were downsizing.
All I could afford, even with 70% off, was a garbage can.
It’s a pretty awesome garbage can, though.

It’s like the world’s most pretentious place right here in a town that takes it self oh so seriously, if I say it’s pretentious well… and I can tolerate pretentious let me tell you! I loved that «Medicine Food» restaurant that used to be in Crocker Center.
I hear they are going out of business. All I remember about that place was the escort, you need to be escorted even if all you want to buy is an Alessi teapot and it did NOT come off as courteous customer service. Modernism never really went over well in San Francisco it’s more of a New York, LA, Chicago thing.
Their website says something along the lines about coming back bigger and better. yeah, right. The idea of spending 30k on a sofa considering 50 ft outside their front door people are begging for a dollar to buy a Mcdouble, it’s at best tacky and at it’s worse, obscene. Limn just screams new money, real money doesn’t spend on this nonsense.
I see it has finally closed, good fuckin’ riddance.

My previous review still applies :).
With that said if you’ve got the money to purchase stuff here it’s worth checking out. Especially if you’re looking for pieces that are super unique.
For example:
1) a glass table with that was supported by hardened ropes.
2) a bed that would have been perfect for the playboy mansion as well, looked like an orgy bed.
3) a chair made of a tree stump (I believe)

I’m impressed because I came here on my off day and in sweatpants yet Sheryl Burke treated me like I am a top client.
When I make it big, this is where I will purchase my $ 30K leather upholstered bed, $ 22K wood desk, $ 12K circular sofa, and $ 6K ottoman.
If you want to drop by, this is the place to be inspired. Don’t forget to check out the second floor and the patio space with kitchen and bath vignettes.
Yes some parts of the store are crowded with merch and some of the people working there are snooty but for the most part it’s like a wonderful furniture museum where you can purchase a whole exhibit!

Protect yourself, esp. your TIME and your MONEY and don’t shop here. Or if you do, be prepared to experience first hand what all the other actual buyers have experienced. Yes, they will take your money. Yes, the pieces won’t show up. Yes, they will ignore your calls. Yes, if you HAPPEN to get them live, they will say things like [this is from Jim Huff — to whom i was transferred whom I’d never spoken with before]:
«You had a question?» very abrupt and sounding very annoyed. Not even a «Hello?» Unbelievable. So I paused w/​that kind of long pregnant pause you make when you are stunned w/​rudeness and got very icy. At which point he shaped up slightly. Who exactly do these people think they are?
If I were buying pieces from them, I’d pop the manufacturer reps in Europe an email and see what Limn’s importing status is b/​c HIGHLY likely it will be that they are in the dog house for payments due. And w/​this status, or course, any exporter knows not to release any further merchandise.

Oh Limn. Unilocal removed my review, so I guess I’ll just have to write another, this time with the full story.
All the five star reviews of Limn are from people who walk around and just look at the beautiful stuff. All the one star reviews are from people like me who actually bought (or ‘tried’ to) something from them.
AVOID LIMN AT ALL COSTS. THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND NOT GET YOU YOUR FURNITURE. THEY ARE FRAUDULENT AND ARE RATED ‘F’ IN THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU.
Ok, on to my story. I ordered and paid in full for a piece on July 19 — they told me it would take six weeks to arrive. After seven weeks, I called, checking in. After bouncing around from one person to the next, each one not really knowing what was going on, the verdict I got was a murky ‘it’s on backorder’. I got a little weirded out by this whole lack of organization and started doing some research myself.
The furniture manufacturer in fact could have shipped the item to me in 10 days from when I ordered, not 6 weeks. More so, ‘backordered’ really meant it was ready, waiting at the manufacturer’s shipping docks, until a check was sent from Limn to actually *buy* the item. The problem is, Limn never wrote that check — they were probably using my money instead to pay off other bills.
After finding this out, I gave Limn one more 10 day chance to rectify it. I asked for the salesperson to overcommunicate the status of the order — I never received a phone call. I finally called on day 12 and asked what was going on, and she gave another weird answer about how ‘it’s at the shipping docks, but there’s not a full freight to go out with it, but if I’m willing to pay more for shipping, then I can expedite things’.
At this point, I asked for a refund. She said that it would take 3 weeks or so for the owner of Limn to consider the refund request, and that ‘he doesn’t give them often’. I laughed, called my credit card company (Chase), and they refunded my money in 5 minutes.
Limn is a shady business on the brink of bankruptcy. It is poorly run, and doesn’t even know how to treat those rare, precious customers during a tough economic downturn.
I pray that Unilocal,the BBB, the Attorney General, or just plain capitalism sinks this ship soon.

BEWARE: As per the other April 2009 reviews Limn had taken my deposit on a very expensive B&B sofa and would not tell me why after 7 months they would not deliver my sofa which I was told was in a warehouse in NY. The sales people and shipping folks had no answers and referred me to Dan the owner who beat around the bush about his economic woes and promises to call me back three days later. He of course didn’t and wouldn’t return any of my calls. After lots of calls and pressure to B&B corporate in NYC they got me the sofa. Basically they had used my (and others deposit money) to pay their other bills and could not pay B&B. Very shady and illegal! I have bought lots of stuff there and its always a major head ache there. I could give you more horror stories with them. STAY AWAY! If you need B&B go to Diva in LA. If you just want nice designer stuff go to Arkitectura in SF. I bought stuff there with no issues at all.
BTW…my very nice Limn sales person that I have work with for years just quit. Go figure!

So, I’ve come to this store twice: when I first moved to San Francisco and needed furniture (I brought nothing with me) and when I bought my first apartment (2 ½ BR) and decided to upgrade my furniture.
Both times, my experience was the same: tons of attitude (almost contempt) and no attention. True they have lots of interesting things to look at (hence my not giving them just one star) but they should start treating customers with just a minimum level of respect.

Limn in San Francisco is the biggest, most impressive store of its kind that I have found… period. I have shopped similar stores in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Diego, London, and a handful of other cities. Limn tops them all in scale, selection and presentation.
Yes, this store is expensive. That is a fact. However, Limn is fairly priced when you compare prices with virtually every other store nationwide that carries the same product lines. You are paying for the quality and the design. Think art with a function for your living room, dining room, bedrooom, etc. If you simply want somewhere to sit, this may not be the store for you. If you want this look, prepare to pay for it.
There is a slight learning curve when you begin shopping here, but I consider that part of the fun. I enjoy researching the various lines from Italy, Denmark, France, and other European countries. I like to learn about the designer and history of the pieces I buy the same way I would research the artist who created an amazing oil on canvas.
I have purchased from Limn regularly over the past 5+ years. I absolutely love every purchase and appreciate the quality of the lines that they represent. I also purchased a piece of art from the gallery at Limn which has appreciated very nicely over the past 3 years. The gallery has new openings and events on a regular basis and features some of the best art in the city. Ask for Christine!
There was one chair that I bought and decided a week or so later that I just didn’t like it in the room. No problem, just bring it back. To me, that is great service. Of course, I will end up spending even more on the replacement chair, but the bottom line is that the customer service is there!
For the record, I have always worked with Sheryl Burke, who I highly recommend. I have read some reviews on Unilocal that talk about how people felt mistreated during visits to this store. I cannot speak to that as I have always been treated with respect, but I can tell you that Sheryl is a gem! She will assist you if you need assistance, leave you alone if you want to shop and think unsupervised, and work her magic to make things happen for you when you are ready to pull the trigger. More than once, I wanted to buy something in the store that wasn’t for sale. Sheryl made it happen. A+++ for Sheryl. Limn is lucky to have such a quality long-​term sales associate.

This place is like an interior design porno warehouse… it’s sick…
5 Stars for BEAUTIFUL things… but really, I have to ask, who needs a $ 43K couch!!! Come on…

This place is just gorgeous — love that it’s a combination art gallery and furniture store. Beautiful, huge space with a gorgeous courtyard and awesome atmosphere for displaying art.
We went here for a recent exhibit opening party and it was overall a great experience. They had a lovely bar with wine and snacks set up in the courtyard and a string quartet playing to welcome party attendees.
The show itself was great and the space played each piece off to its full advantage. Interesting crowd and one of the associates who worked there told us that they also hire the space out for private events and weddings, which could be really lovely.

Great stuff. That’s about it. Won’t ever shop there again.

You are not here to buy furniture. If you can afford the furniture at Limn, then you are not the type to go shopping for it yourself, you have people for that. No, you are here because it’s like a wonderland of amazing, surreal roomscapes. Every little section is completely unreal. You can spend an entire afternoon wandering from room to room, getting lost in the fantastically creative designs. Bring a picnic basket and a bottle of wine, and make it an adventure!

This is an event space critique on the gallery; nothing on the furniture store here…
My fiancé and I visited Limn Gallery a few weeks back to tour it as a prospect for our wedding reception location. To be fair, this space is pretty neat if you like the industrial loft feel. They have a cool courtyard outside (with tenting coverage), and what looked like a great lighting/​sound system set-​up indoors. The staff there was very pleasant about giving us information and letting us look around.
So what’s the drawback? Timing! Many events (like weddings!) tend to be held on Saturdays to best accommodate travel time for out-​of-​town guests. There are time constraints on the location — capping events off in late evening due to noise-​level for the very nearby residents. That’s completely understandable. What’s not is that they refuse to close the gallery 30 – 60 minues earlier than normal to allow for set-​up time for an event. With the timing we went over with the staff, we were told that we could basically have a 4 hour event tops. For anyone out there planning a wedding, you know the average reception (not including set-​up time!) is more like 5 – 5.5 hours.
It’s my understanding that the gallery doesn’t get much traffic (perhaps I’m wrong about that), and I can say with confidence that they would make more money off of holding an event than by keeping the gallery open for an additional hour. [We were told that Sunday is a better day for an event as the gallery is closed then — that was the only «flexible option» that they could offer.]
It was too bad about these inane restrictions they set on there space, because this is a place we probably would have strongly considered otherwise.

I have not been to the furniture store, but I have been to the art gallery that is located behind the furniture store. My friend was married today in the front courtyard of the art gallery.
The art gallery itself is small, but charming. I was impressed by some of the pieces I saw today. Some of the most intriguing pieces of art work I’ve seen in the city. I believe most of them were of Chinese origin. All of them were beautiful pieces.
The bathrooms are clean and nice.
The outside courtyard was small and set up beautifully for the wedding, which was amazing. The guests were beautiful, the food was yummy and the sangria was never empty.
IMO, it behooves you to experience the Limn Gallery and of course, the bathroom. Or the «toilet», which is what is written on the door:)
Overall, it was a great experience and I will definitely come again to this little gallery with my date.
What a great first impression!

The ancient meaning of the word «limn» is «to illuminate». Today it means «to represent in drawing or painting». Its no surprise I find myself wandering through the cavernous Limn furniture gallery simply for creative inspiration. As a «furniture store» they distinguish themselves by carrying perhaps the most comprehensive selection of state-​of-​the-​art furnishings in the country. The owner, Daniel Friedlander, has an unerring eye for the next thing. Everything from the lamps or silverware to the art on the walls (check out their associated art gallery next door) to the arrangements of the rooms… everything is thought through, that is, well thought out to achieve a particular effect.
I’ve been shopping at Limn for over fifteen years… since it was a much smaller store up on Pacific Avenue. In those days I was buying Memphis Milano and I still see a few vestigial pieces in the Townshend store. I see reviews where folks decry the lack of price tags or the high prices. The fact is, typical furniture doesn’t last very long. If you aren’t sure of your tastes there is no need to shop Limn. What you buy there you are likely to have for many years to come… this is high design, almost art, and if you know what you like you’ll likely have this stuff in twenty years. That makes it «good value» shopping.
Limn carries all the high end lines: Poltrona Frau, Capellini, Flou, etc. They offer contract services. They host design events (Tom Dixon was hosted a week or so ago). If you are looking for something remarkable to bring into your home… something that will make you appreciate good design every time you look at it… start browsing Limn. It will force you to raise your quality bar to the top notch.

We were biking around after brunch and I’ve always wanted to check out Limn after reading all the reviews as well as the imposing signage at the front, something very Gladiator-​like thing abt it a heart with a chain/​ropes across it. :)
As soon as we stepped in, we were greeted by the concierge! Which furniture store has a concierge??? This is like personal shopper at Neiman Marcus or Saks 5^th, though I never had one but only heard abt one.
He described to us the concept at Limn, the pre-​ordering process, some pieces do not have a pricetag coz the final price depends on the material, the type of wood, raw materials and then on how to work with a concierge personnel, delivery times etc. He was super nice and friendly and was providing us with a wealth of information!
We wandered around without any imposing sales personnel, oggled at all the 5 digit priced items, seriously, there was a $ 15 000 swing inside this lighted cavern! There are some items which are very industrial, some catering to very personal taste, some practical, some very abstract and some are just plain bizarre!
Second floor boosts very beautiful kitchen sets, bedroom sets, garden sets, lighting fixtures, etc. This place is massive, it’s literally an adult playground, 4000 square footage of it, everything customizable, configurable, sky is the limit!

One of the oldest, if not THE oldest, modern furniture galleries in the city. The carry lines such as Roche-​Bobois, and have not only furniture, but lighting and accessories as well. If you folllow furniture design at all, you would definitely recognize a good number of their pieces.
Not that I can afford any of them. But like others have written in their reviews, it’s a great place to go in and look around.
Best of all, is when they throw a party, they know how to party. The last one I went to had the Violent Femmes as the band playing in their back courtyard. For free. It was great.

Reading Unilocal reviews about this place written in 2005, it looks like Limn changed the system recently. When I went there in June 2006, I was only allowed in the lobby area, and I was required to have a sales agent escort me around to see rest of the store (which is 95% of the store).
I felt unwelcomed, perhaps because they knew I couldn’t afford any of their furniture, but why can’t I just walk around the place to see if there is anything I like? I am going to stuff a sofa under my shirt and sneak out? I much rather go to places that are make me comfortable like Room & Board (
).
Note that B&B Italia has it’s own entrance in the courtyard side of the building. People here was much more welcoming.