We were frankly reluctant to share the email we got last night from Warehouse Theater owner Paul Ruppert, because we want some of this stuff for ourselves! But we're taking one for the team, as it's too good not to spread the word. With the front part of the theater complex having already been transformed into The Passenger, Ruppert says he is about to embark on another round of improvements in the theater space in back. And that means he's cleaning out the old space, and giving away a boatload of furniture, props, housewares, assorted building materials -- even a kegerator and a piano -- in the process. more ›

Big retail news from the Washington Business Journal: Metro Center area furniture store West Elm has announced it will close in mid-March. This is especially interesting considering the store was the recipient of a $5 million, 10-year TIF package from the District government in 2007 -- an incentive that was supposed to allow the retailer to repay bonds issued by the city with future tax revenue. But West Elm's sales tax receipts were already running below estimates over a year ago last year, and the recession appears to have finally done it in. more ›

CB2, the slightly cheaper Crate & Barrel brand store that's aimed at younger, urban customers is looking for a location in D.C., the Washington Business Journal reports. The chain has reportedly been talking to Jeffrey Schonberger, the real estate developer who owns the Central Union Mission building at 1350 R Street NW, at the corner of 14th and R Streets. Central Union has long been in talks with the city to relocate elsewhere, with most recent negotiations focusing on the empty Gales School at 65 Massachusetts Ave. NW. CB2 has also reportedly been looking at other properties, but should it move into the 14th and R space, it would join the forthcoming Room & Board at 14th and T along with existing furniture stores like Vastu, Muleh and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, creating a sort of furniture corridor along that stretch of 14th. more ›

The long, long saga of the empty warehouse space at 14th and T Streets NW has come to an end. Upscale furniture retailer Room & Board has finally gone ahead and bought the building, after dropping out of negotiations for a while and then eventually coming back and making another offer, Housing Complex reports. The building at one time had been targeted as a comedy club/yoga studio/lounge combo, but all those pipe dreams have at last gone up in smoke. From the press release:

Room & Board, a 29-year-old company offering handcrafted, American-made home furnishings, announced today it will open a new store in Washington, D.C., in the early spring of 2010. The store, located in the historic Taylor Motors Building at 14th and T, will be Room & Board’s second store on the east coast and eleventh store in the U.S. more ›

Via Apartment Therapy (hat tip to reader Sara B. for the link), we couldn't help thinking this was pretty rad: local furniture designer Justin Couch (could that possibly be his real name?) is selling custom coffee tables shaped like the District of Columbia. Available in black and white formica as well as the walnut ply finish pictured above, this could be just the accessory those of you who've worn out your three stars/two bars T-shirts need to complete an entirely pro-D.C. aesthetic. Although, the "District Table" runs $600 plus any shipping costs, so you'll have to be a little more financially solvent than most of us layabout bloggers to afford this sort of Washington-focused extravagance. Maybe one of you wealthy readers would like to donate one to DCist headquarters? If we shouldn't have one, we don't know who should! more ›