The latest CB2 catalog “On the move” is filled with great pieces — love the chrome and marble bar ($199) and the picture wall shadow boxes in particular. And, as always, I’m a fan of their lighting in general.
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I’ve loved the shop window of Flessas Design from the first day we moved into the neighborhood. It turns out that the store has been in the family for a hundred years (most of that time as a florist). The owner always has just perfect objects in her window and last weekend, I fell in love with a little white leather bench that would be the perfect coffee table to the blue couch (!!). One of my core requirements of a coffee table is that it be padded so when my feet are up on it inevitably, there isn’t a harsh edge cutting into my leg. Which really eliminates 80% of coffee tables on the market so I’ve had my eye out for something lovely, small and padded.
Flessas is only open by appointment in the summer (love the lifestyle, sign me up!) so after an almost sleepless weekend full of anticipation I called first thing Monday morning to see if the bench was still for sale and if so, what the damage was. Daria, the owner, couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful. $1250 was definitely more than I wanted to spend on a bench, no matter how beautiful. However, she did tell me that the legs were vintage 1960s Danish modern but she’d had it recovered in white leather (sheer genius if you ask me and worth every penny… just to someone else). Never one to let money stop me for achieving style, I turned to my faithful foot solider Ebay and the hunt began.
And last night, the ebay delivered! After watching this for a painful week, we won an identical bench for (yes, I’m bragging) $103. Granted it’s not white leather (but we can get it re-upholstered…). Somewhereintime2 is a great seller — check our her stuff!
The Hutton couch arrived on Saturday at 8:49am via two very nice Room and Board delivery folks. First came the awesome blue seat cushion… the color looked as amazing as we thought it would. 9:04am the couch makes it through the front doors. 9:10am the couch won’t make it though the second doorway (1 inch of extra lovely frame). Horror. However, 9:20am a peppy Room and Board customer service person calls and offers to ship the couch to Dr. Sofa. We google him, note that one of the illustrative examples is OUR couch (relief, we’re not alone) and send it on its way.
Our weekend trip to Vermont yielded the armchair (my father dislikes it, so, I inherited it!) and check out the mod magazine rack from the Tampa flea market. I’m in love.
Top Left: Pillow Top Sette from Urban Outfitters, $550
Top Right: Dream Tent also from Urban Outfitters, $79
Bottom: Knoll Sette, Craigslist.org, $650
As we wait for our sofa to come (6 weeks to go, if all goes according to plan) we yearn for a small sette that could transition into the bedroom when the real couch comes…. PS How fantastic is the dream tent?
This Dillon Chair from Crate and Barrel in sapphire blue leather might not look like much, but boy it is perfect for my 5′2” little body. I could sit here for hours, days, weeks. I did some detective work and it turns out it is made by Mitchell Gold — the Perry Chair and cost some $300 dollars less from Mitchell Gold retailers.
Hours of searching on Craigslist uncovered this pair of chests: a reward of my Craigslist furniture obsession. Beautiful midcentury modern pieces with white mica tops. I’ve always associated “mid century modern” with the furniture in my grandparent’s lake house — dated, not very comfortable and not very cool. Funny that we now have a table and chests and I never would have anticipated how clean they look in our space. The other picture is of our Rico lamp in action with the orange tree bought in Chinatown. The apartment is starting to come together (although what the photos don’t show is the complete lack of organization everywhere else in the apartment (still no bookcases, filling cabinets, sofa, dinning chairs or place to hang/store our coats).
I’m lusting after this desk from Room and Board. Overpriced, yes. Delicious walnut colored goodness, yes. Feels good against my skin (major desk peeve), yes. Almost makes me want to work? Yes. Note that it is pictured with the Hutton sofa. Great minds.
Room and Board – I’d heard the hype and I thought I’d be immune. Well, I’m now the proud co-owner of a blue velvet Room and Board Hutton couch. You decide who is immune and whose not.
First, get in the mood. Indigo. This color is mystical. This color has me hysterical. I want to only wear clothes this color, dye my hair this color, get those crazy colored contacts in this color.
I put bum to couch some 50 or so times to find this one. Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Pier One, West Elm, Martha/Bernhardt, Mitchell/Gold, BoConcept, Atlantic Avenue, Madison Avenue, auctions galore. I’d actually given up. And then it happened, in all its velvet, indigo tantalizingness.
It has rounded edges, it looks just like the tables I’ve been posting about… except… its HALF the price and has the added benefit of not being made in China. Thank god for Craigslist.
I mentioned earlier that I’m looking for a dining room table with rounded edges. T. found this one from Room and Board. Tomorrow we go to check it out as well as test some couches…
So as you can see from the lite posts this week and last that I’ve been a little distracted by the start of school and my current obsession: the massive apartment hunt. I’m a nest builder/seeker by nature (ask anyone) and I take finding our next space SERIOUSLY. After more sixth floor walkups than I care to remember with tiny kitchens with no storage (cooking is a key ingredient in our marriage) we found this gem in MANHATTAN, a place I thought I’d never live again. We’ve put in an application:
Of course, since we’ve been living in a 300 sq foot room in a shared house with none of our own furniture, this leads to a frenzy of anticipation (our own space! real adult furniture! our own sofa that seats both of us comfortably!). My mother, who rarely makes pronouncements, made one: “Buy the sofa first and build the apartment around that”. Given my complete state of stress this week (work in the office till 10:30pm, starting classes, putting in the application) I found this pronouncement profoundly calming. We just need to find the sofa and everything will fall into place. While I’m not usually a fan of Pottery Barn (too overstuffed and antiqued) I do like this one but in Navy.
I’ve had my eye on this dinning room table for two years — I don’t even have an apartment large enough for a dinning room let alone a table like this. However, that is why clipping journals exist — to keep track of all the bits of the universe that appeal/inspire/haunt me.
I thought we were close when we ended up with a pretty large windfall of William Sonoma Gift Cards post wedding (William Sonoma gift cards can be used at WS Home). However, WS Home has stopped carrying this table! Horrors! Anyone out there with one they want to get rid of? Or know of a top secret WS Home outlet?
