Thrift Studio, Dwell With Dignity’s Signature Fundraiser, is Finally Home in the Dallas Design District

“Five minutes!” yelled out a volunteer. “Everyone get in your places! Or at least get out of the aisles.”

Outside 1833 E. Levee Street in the Dallas Design District, a substantial line of shoppers had braved the Texas summer sun for the Opening Day Preview of Thrift Studio, the annual fundraiser for Dwell With Dignity, a nonprofit whose mission is to bring great design to those who need it most. The event— filled with donated and deeply discounted high-end home goods that are styled into inspiring vignettes by local interior designers — will be open for shoppers from August 25 through October 7, 2023, free of charge. But for the price of a $175 ticket, preview partygoers got first crack at the phenomenal furnishings on Thursday, August 24, and had turned out in the early morning hours accordingly.

The doors opened promptly at 10 am and bright green “sold” stickers began flying shortly after. For the next two hours, the energy never let up.

Every vignette was its own immersive world. There was Angeline Guido Hall’s textile-layered ode to the coastal grandmother trend, Joel Baldazo’s moody cigar lounge, Kristen Fegale’s chic Parisian apartment, and Noel Pittman’s time capsule of a mid-century office. A Bernhardt four-poster bed steals the show in Charmain Wynter’s glamorous bedroom, while Sari Moore’s hand-painted reading lounge elicited many an ooh and ahh.

Art from Ann Jackson and a custom fireplace screen by Claire Crowe added to Roz Murphy’s unique mix of modern and vintage styles, while Visual Comfort pendants illuminated Terra McNutt’s recreation of a well-traveled Upper East Sider’s apartment.

Beyond the vignettes, a corner filled with luxe bedding from The Citizenry and Peacock Alley was almost always in the throws of being scavenged (mainly by me).

The Thrift Studio buzz has been building since the Dwell With Dignity fundraiser launched in 2011, but this year felt particularly momentous. After years of popping up in available warehouses around the Design District, 2023 marks the first Thrift Studio hosted in the organization’s permanent 9,000-square-foot showroom on East Levee Street. The move allows for a six-week run instead of the typical four, along with smaller pop-up shops and community events throughout the year.

Thrift Studio’s doors are now open to the public (free of admission) from 10 am to 5 pm Tuesdays through Saturdays through October 7, 2023. Pro tip: vignettes are refreshed with new items every Monday, so plan a Tuesday visit if at all possible. But no matter when you go, you can rest easy knowing that 100% of the proceeds are being donated to Dwell With Dignity.