Robert Allen/Beacon Hill offers designer shopping at its best

Like a child with a new toy, I am one of many designers who is delighted that Robert Allen/Beacon Hill opened a showroom in the Las Vegas Design Center at the World Market Center Las Vegas on July 28. What makes this showroom exciting is its ability to satisfy the needs of an entire project. Not only does this 30,000-square-foot showroom have a coveted list of designer furniture and accessories, it displays about 15,000 fabric patterns and showcases a variety of trims, tassels and unique drapery rods.

Robert Allen/Beacon Hill has fabrics for all uses; lighter weight fabrics that are used for custom draperies and bedding, heavier fabrics for upholstery and fire-rated fabrics for commercial use. Unlike retail fabric stores, there are no bolts of fabric in this luxurious space. The larger-than-life, free-hanging fabric displays help you see and feel the patterns on a large scale.

This is designer shopping: Walk through the impressive displays of fabrics, write down the names and colors of the fabrics you like, hand your list to the memo department and your notebook-sized samples are handed to you in a matter of minutes. Next, take the fabric samples home to see if they look good in your lighting. If the colors are right, take your memos back to Robert Allen and order the amount of fabric you want. Fabrics are shipped quickly because tens of thousands of designs are in inventory at its distribution center in Gaffney, S.C.

Robert Allen opened its doors 70 years ago. When asked how it keeps its prices down, Michael Smith, showroom manager said, "... our fabric designers have a keen understanding of end use and fashion value. They travel all over the world to find the best suppliers of the many qualities of textiles we offer. We work with mills in more than 40 countries to produce the collections we introduce each year."

This showroom is the first to bring such an array of fabric to the Las Vegas Design Center. The exclusive fabrics of Robert Allen/Beacon Hill are thrilling enough, but when you add its designer furniture and impressive work environment, you get designer shopping at its best.

The furniture featured in this spacious showroom ranges from traditional to modern. Designer names like Ferguson Copeland, Guy Chaddock, Payne Street, Christopher Guy, Robert Allen Furniture and many more are available here. These showcased treasures are comparable in price to nationally recognized brands like Henredon, Baker, Knapp & Tubbs or Ralph Lauren.

"These lines were selected because they each offer unique pieces of lasting value, most of which can be customized in ways such as size, finish and decorative accents," added Smith.

When you partner the wide selection of fabrics with the options available in furniture styles, you get fabulous custom furniture created exclusively for your home.

Robert Allen/Beacon Hill has 18 corporate-owned designer showrooms in North America, three of which are in Canada. Many designers carry these fabric collections in book form, and there is a privately owned designer showroom across town, Area West, that displays (and memos) the Robert Allen/Beacon Hill collections.

If you would like to see a sampling of the fabrics available, go to www.robertallendesign.com and browse around.

Having purchased from Robert Allen during the past 20 years, I am pleased to share this great designer resource with you. I have watched it grow and expand its lines, add high-end fabrics, Beacon Hill and designer furniture while never slacking in any department.

The addition of this multifaceted showroom to our Las Vegas Design Center is a welcome step toward giving designers a notable place to shop with our clients. Whether you hire a designer to help you with a project or head out on your own to the Las Vegas Design Center at the World Market Center Las Vegas to check out the Building C showroom for yourself, don't forget the name Robert Allen/Beacon Hill.

Cindy Payne is a certified interior designer with more than 25 years of experience, a member of the American Society of Interior Designers, as well as a licensed contractor. E-mail questions to her at deardesigner@ projectdesigninteriors.com or send them to her at Project Design Interiors, 2620 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 189, Las Vegas, NV 89109. She can be reached online at www. projectdesigninteriors.com.