"Every time I open the door, it's either ‘Wow!' or ‘Oh my god!' "

Alexis Hadjopoulos, founder of thisisnotikea.com steps aside to reveal a storage room packed floor to ceiling with vintage furniture. A white pedestal table anchors the room, and two headless mannequin forms reaching out to each other, serve as the centerpiece. Chair legs poke haphazardly into the air, lamps of all shapes and sizes line up on a shelf like mismatched soldiers.

With furniture piled up in four storage spaces, plus one room of his house, it seems like the success of thisisnotikea.com may have been a bit of a surprise. As the website explains, it grew out of the necessity for unique, well-crafted, affordable furniture . Yet, before that became the mission, Alexis was focused on satisfying slightly more basic needs.

Ten years ago, Alexis came to Los Angeles from Mexico to pursue a career in music, frankly, he admits, on his father's peso. Sick of hearing his son's constant reassurances that he was on the brink of stardom , dad finally had enough. "Five years ago, he cut me off. I had been pretty spoiled my whole life. I never had to work and I had no plan."

Alexis always loved going to flea markets to uncover old CDs, and singles from his favorite artists. He often noticed great furniture deals but never acted on them, assuming the right buyer would come along. However, with his resources dwindling, he took a chance, bought a couple of pieces, put them online and to his amazement, watched them sell like hot cakes. Five years later, he has over 2000 pieces at any given moment and the customers keep coming.

This is how it works: Alexis and his team scour flea markets, estate sales and garage sales on a weekly basis. They focus on unearthing classic pieces that still have a lot of life left in them (a danish sofa that needs reupholstering, a victorian mirror with a scratch or two) or quirky, novelty pieces (street signs, bowling alley chairs, industrial cabinetry). The inventory is photographed, organized by style, and posted online. Furniture hunters - people decorating their apartments, prop stylists, interior designers - peruse the website, noting pieces they would like to see in person and set up an appointment with Alexis via email.

With deals like a intricately hand-painted indonesian chair for $150, a Kartell design magazine rack for $85 , and a mid-century chrome chandelier for $135, Alexis has lured a steady following of customers eager to resist the pull of mass-produced decor. Thisisnotikea.com has inadvertently become a thriving business.

"Alexis is amazing creative, but his business head....." Tom Whitman, a friend and former MTV producer, shakes his head, explaining how he became a business partner. "I asked him, ‘How do you do?' and he didn't really know."

"It's true," Alexis agrees, "As long as there was money in the drawer, I was okay."

With Tom's help, they came up with a more exacting system than money in a drawer and have also refined the mission, which now includes a commitment to remaining an environmentally sound company. Tom sums it up, "Shopping at thisisnotkea.com is essentially a zero carbon shopping experience. It's a chance to get amazingly unique, well-designed pieces, and not have to pay insane prices. And except for us going to pick it up - it didn't hurt the environment."

With that, Alexis and Tom pull open the door to one of their storage facilities. They nod approvingly, and survey the collection. Two retro, triangular tables that look almost, but not quite, like something you may find at Ikea peak out from the pile, begging the question: What happens if a piece from Ikea slips under the radar?

The answer: It probably won't happen, but if it does and if you catch it, they will give it to you for free.

THE DETAILS: This Is Not Ikea
Online Only
info@thisisnotikea.com
www.thisisnotikea.com

Story by Gwen Barba

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