A typical Duke dorm room's space has an inherent character with its well-worn floors and classic Gothic or Georgian architecture, but something may seem to be missing. While your Target decorations may be on point, they leave the room devoid of the warmth and personality that truly makes a space feel like home.
Classic Treasures, a local consignment furniture store that also sells unique, expressive art, is a spot to find that feeling.
This atmosphere starts with the smell of fresh coffee that greets you at the door in the store's Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard location, along with the subtle rise and fall of jazz piano. The walls are covered with eclectic works of art from a wide array of regions and time periods and sections of the space are staged as different rooms, each its own distinctive space.
“A lot of times people just come in to unwind and de-stress from hard jobs at noon, and they’ll grab a cup of coffee and just listen to the music and wander, and don’t buy anything. And we’re fine with that," said Adele Addison, one of the store's co-owners.
The wide variety of merchandise and experiences available to the customer at Classic Treasures make it an ideal place to begin personalizing your space. For Addison, furniture shopping is an art form.
“You can start with a piece of artwork that’s on the wall, and you can build around that, pulling colors and ideas," Addison said. "A lot of times I’ll tell people to start with a painting or a picture that means something to them and then find a piece at a time that pulls it all together. It’s very artistic and it expresses style and personality and is a fun way to bring warmth to whatever space you’re trying to do.”
Another thing that sets Classic Treasures apart is the furniture quality and affordability. They also have fast delivery and student discounts on delivery, which is perfect during move-in.
"We want it to feel like home—like the old general store back in the day where folks would come and meet,” said Blake Addison, the store's other co-owner.
While the coffee and donuts they serve on Saturdays help create a relaxed and fun atmosphere, the primary influence on the store’s unparalleled ambience is the music. Adele and Blake Addison are both musicians. Blake wrote songs for radio in Nashville, Tenn. for four years and had some of his songs recorded by an artist on an independent label. Adele is a classically trained pianist who has played for Broadway singers in Raleigh and opera singers in Germany. Because of their background, they wanted to make music a significant part of the shopping experience in the store.
“We want to be happy and listening to good music. It’s important. It just puts us in a good spirit," Adele said. "Every now and then we’ll have an event where he plays the guitar or our daughter will play the guitar and sing.”
Their 14-year-old daughter, Savannah, is also an artist, and on Saturdays she comes into the store to work on her paintings.
“I just love meeting all the people,” Savannah said. “It's a great experience because I’m able to encourage little kids to be able to do art, and I’m also able to work with other artists who come in sometimes.”
Creating artwork is an integral part of Savannah’s life. Savannah started drawing at a very young age and now follows an art curriculum through her home schooling, noting that it is soothing to her as someone with Asperger's syndrome. She is very passionate about animals and expresses her love for them through her artwork.
When asked how she knows when a piece is finished, she replied, “when you’re able to look in their eyes and see their soul.”
As a family business, Classic Treasures provides a place to to relax and listen to good music and find high-quality furniture and unique art work to help you find the little piece of home that your dorm might be missing.
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