Open season at the outlet

JUST in time for holiday gift-giving and the season’s home decorating hustle, the Dock Downtown has opened its doors to the public. A longtime resource for set decorators and house-for-sale fluffers, the warehouse is now open six days a week, no credentials or invitation required. With 20,000 square feet in two buildings, the outlet handles manufacturers’ overstock at what it says is 50% to 80% off retail. Sofas, chairs and ottomans are available in dozens of styles and scores of fabrics, and the cabinet and table selection includes pieces made of recycled teak, right. Designer-label junkies can satisfy their needs with Thomas Paul’s silk pillows (left) and melamine plates, Babette Holland’s jewel-toned aluminum lamps (left), Rani Arabella’s cashmere throws and Laguiole knives. 1481 E. 4th St., L.A.; (323) 446-0281; www.thedockdowntown.com.

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NORTH HOLLYWOOD

A softer kind of sell

If you shop at Anthropologie, Z Gallerie or the Great Indoors, you may recognize some of the textiles and housewares at Villa Firenze’s annual warehouse sale from Friday through Sunday, this week and next. The firm will offer pieces such as this silk pillow ($15, a sample for Fortunoff that will sell for $65 this spring) as well as bedding, towels and bath accessories at stocking-stuffer prices. (We’re talking 50 cents and up.) Villa Firenze also will take special orders: You choose the size and fabric on dog beds, decorative pillows and drapes. Silk window panels (starting at $12.50) are lined, blind-stitched and weighted. Noon to 4 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays at F.R. Industries / Villa Firenze, 11840 Vose St., North Hollywood; (818) 503-9143.

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LOS ANGELES

Pages of handy ideas

Gifts from your hands gladden their hearts. So goes the gospel of Craft (www.craftzine.com), the new $14.95 quarterly published in Sebastopol, Calif. The magazine offers detailed plans for turning cardboard boxes into kitty castles, and castoff bowls into table lamps. In the premiere issue, the colorful digest aims squarely at hip do-it-yourselfers who might use a garage wood shop to re-create George Nelson’s Ball Clock or employ a sewing machine and soldering iron to design a geek-chic, blinking LED tank top. If all this has you feeling crafty, you can stock up on velvets, paisleys and damasks at Diamond Foam & Fabric’s parking lot sale this weekend. 611 S. La Brea Ave., L.A.; (323) 931-3626.

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CULVER CITY, ATWATER VILLAGE, L.A.

They’ve got a lot on their plate

At L.A. Goal’s holiday boutique, sales of handmade plates ($45, shown here) will benefit the Culver City studio for artists who have developmental disabilities. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at 4911 Overland Ave.; (310) 838-5274. At Atwater Pottery, Adam Silverman’s volcanic glazed pieces will be specially priced at his studio’s open house. It’s from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 3609 Edenhurst Ave., Atwater Village; (323) 666-3963. At Yolk in Silver Lake, Walteria Living’s Kathleen Walsh will be on hand for a trunk show from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday; 1626 Silver Lake Blvd.; (323) 660-4315.