UPDATED with photo gallery: Dwell With Dignity’s Thrift Studio has designer decor at a discount

Outfit your home while helping the homeless.

DALLAS — I expected Thrift Studio, the decorator-curated pop-up shop benefiting Dwell With Dignity, to be so pricey that it would be just look, don't touch -- and definitely don't buy. I was wrong, and next month's credit card statement will bear witness.

Photo by Shannon Sutlief

The entry to Dwell With Dignity's Thrift Studio features a wind chime-like hanging made from cardboard packing material and yellow yarn.

Dwell With Dignity is a Dallas non-profit whose interior designers and volunteers furnish and decorate homes for people transitioning from homelessness. Thrift Studio, which is open through October 29 at 1616 Hi Line Drive in the Dallas Design District, is one part store and one part home decor exhibit.

A fraction of the space is set up like a high fashion IKEA. Small rooms show some of the products for sale in livable scenarios, which were put together by five local design groups: Abbe Fenimore, Studio Ten 25; Beth Dotolo and Carolina Gentry, Pulp Design Studio; Emily Johnston Larkin of EJ Interiors, Material Girls Blog; Sam Reitmayer Sano, style/SWOON; and William Baker, JonesBaker -- with specialty painting assistance by Modern Relics. There's a dining room with pops of bright orange and robin egg blue and a fancy man cave with vintage hockey sticks and baseball bats.

See something you like? Grab it, if it's small enough to carry. Take the tag, if the item is not portable. You snooze; you lose. I learned this the hard way.

The rest of Thrift Studio's items are grouped by type -- housewares and knickknacks, chairs, bed frames, tables, and fabrics -- or in smaller vignettes giving examples on how to combine goods. The stock is a mix of vintage, gently used, and designer goods, all donated to benefit Dwell With Dignity's programs. There are also linens from Dallas' Peacock Alley, which are showcased in a bedroom setting. New towels, duvets, pillow shams, and more are for sale.

Photo by Shannon Sutlief

Designers combined donated items such as wire baskets ($35) and vases (starting at $20) to show off the items and their skills.

The products' prices start at $5 for small vases, bottles, and decorative pieces. A selection of clear glass vases were $20 each. Many of the items were less than a hundred bucks. A few hit the thousand dollar mark, including a wooden bed set fit for a king (provided his castle was large enough) and a whimsical, but imposing, bright yellow table serving as the cashier stand.

Keep in mind that none of these things may still be for sale. Once someone buys the $85 yellow Foo Dogs, there are no more $85 yellow Foo Dogs. Lisa Robison, Dwell With Dignity's founder and president, says they will be replenishing the stock all this week and throughout the October run. That means a whole new set of trinkets and treasures and deals and steals. And if you're still wanting more, Thrift Studio will return in April.

UPDATE: Feast your eyes on a few more photos: