existential crisis mode

My living room bothers me to no end.  If I had all the money in the world, I know exactly how I would decorate it.  Farrow & Ball, Jonathan Adler, Horchow, Madeline Weinrib, 1st Dibs, Rejuvenation.  But I'm on a Salvation Army & Ikea budget.  Which in theory, I don't mind.  I loooove that my orange chair was only $40 and I rescued it from a quiet corner of Salvation Army.  The Ikea bookcase in my spare room is so perfect I can't imagine anything else in its place.  My bed is a dream.  Has held up for over twelve years and the rails are narrow enough that I can hang hangers of clothes to dry, unlike Pottery Barn's version.  Or, you know, onesies for a baby shower banner.

Why spend gobs when I can get something better for less?  And that's more unique to boot?  I like furniture with character, even if it also comes with a few bumps and scrapes.  I grew up with antiques that were only old mostly because no one in my mom's family could ever afford to buy new.

But it takes time to find the diamonds in the rough.  One has to spend just about every weekend looking at the new inventory at thrift stores, whereas I can check what's new at 1st Dibs while on hold here at work.  Love multitasking.  Heck, I don't even like shopping for clothes in person.  Let me check out your selection online and try it on in the comfort of my own home.  Though buying furniture on line is hard.  I fell in love with several couches online from Mitchell Gold and Macy's only to hate them in person.  And it's a heck of a lot harder to return a bureau than a blouse. 

And then, of course, the thrift store finds often need a little TLC once they're home.  Paint, new hardware, new wiring, reupholstering.  Which takes time and I have precious little of that.

It's the reupholstering that has me in existential crisis mode right now.  After taking the pictures for Apartment Therapy and really examining my living room, I've come the to the realization - again - that I need to do something about it.  Rehang my gallery wall.  Get some new curtains.  Put SOMETHING above the little dresser in the entry.  And reupholster the orange chair.

I don't like blue and orange together.  One, it makes me think of Miami.  Not just the Dolphins, but the whole Florida decorating theme of the 80's. 

source

And then even with shades as strong as mine, I still think of rainbow sherbet.  So even though it's a really hot combination right now, I just can't do it.  It's not me.

But reupholstering the chair means I have to really pick a color scheme.  Really decide on a direction for my living room. 

Do I go with a print?  Get a matching pillow for the wicker chair?  Then I could keep my couch neutral.  But will a pattern be too much of a jolt since this is what one first sees upon entering my house.

Do I go with a solid?  Maybe a taupe-y burlap-y sort of thing to go with the cushion that's currently on the wicker chair.  Then I could either go with a neutral couch OR a patterned one.  I would love a patterned couch.

But then if I want to eventually have a patterned couch, what sort of pattern?  What color?  If I go too brown or too gray with the color for the chair, will that limit me? 

What if I do olive green velvet?  Like a kind of light-medium shade.  I always feel like green is neutral and multiple shades blend nicely together.  And velvet would be so nice and contrast nicely with the linen on the wicker chair.

But then would it be too dark of a shade and block the flow into the room?  I try to be all about the feng shui even if I only vaguely remember the tenets.  But would a lighter shade get dirty too quickly?  Though I don't sit in this chair on a regular basis.  It's more used when I have multiple people over and that doesn't happen often. 

But what if I get a boyfriend and the two of us decide to entertain often?  And what if said boyfriend then becomes a husband and moves in and hates the color of the chair yet we don't have enough money to reupholster again?  Or we move into a new place together and my decorating style doesn't go with the house?

You see where this is going.

And the only way I can talk myself off the ledge is to go all the way back to ground zero, back to doing nothing.  And then I'm fine for a while, until I buy some new pillows.  Or take more pictures of my house.  Or something.  And I'm back in existential crisis mode and spend days at work doing nothing but searching for a new couch, a new pattern that will be PERFECT and solve all of my problems.  But they never are.  Or if they are, they're $1,000/yd.  Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating.  But only a little.

I do think I figured out a solution.  My mom recently had a couch reupholstered and is really happy with the results.  I'm going to pay them a visit and flip through some fabric books, see things in real life.  And finally make a decision instead of having the decisions make themselves. Take control of my life.  Get some courage.

But that didn't stop me from spending half the day online window shopping.  Or planning out a trip to Salvation Army for this Saturday.  Though when I do remember it, I am able to quiet the storm inside me.  At least for a little bit...

update on TV stand

The other weekend I finally moved my books out of my bedroom and into the Ikea bookcase in my spare room.  So exciting.  It also freed up one of my 2-shelf white bookcases.  I have three of these.  In my old apartment, they sat in the window nooks.  Before last weekend, I was using one as a TV stand, one as a lingerie chest in my bedroom and the third held other random books.  But now I don't need that third one for books and since it's identical to the one in my living room, I brought it down and now have my TV straddling to the two.  I'm able to get rid of the stool-as-DVD player-stand, which is so nice, and the width of it all is really pleasing.

Last night I settled down to watch So You Think You Can Dance and fill up the space in the second bookcase. I pulled all of the cookbooks out of the one bookcase and then grabbed all of my colored vases from the kitchen where they're half hidden on a high shelf. The really large green vase I just got on Tuesday at Marshall's - $15! Love it.

I first identified my anchor pieces:  two large vases - the new green one and the amber glass one that's I got at Pier One at least 10 years ago, the black binders full of printed-out recipes and the magazine holder (swiped from my landing strip - in theory it's just a placeholder).  I then arranged my DVDS, cookbooks and smaller decorative pieces around them, moving things around to find the right balance of color, height and weight.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be - I kept wishing I had SOMETHING else.  But I don't want to sink a lot of money into this since the bookcases themselves are just a placeholder.  So I made do with what I have and I think the final product is pretty nice!

I think my favorite part is being able to showcase some of my decorative items, like the little chess set that was my mom's? my dad's? but has been sitting in a drawer for at least 5 years

Or some of my souveniers, like the teapot with the Bermuda landscape or my Fortnum and Mason tea caddy

There's definitely room for improvement, but I love that it's a move in the right direction.

outdoor furniture update

My outdoor furniture is installed and has been in use!

I have my two turquoise Adirondack chairs and an end table in between.  This picture makes them look almost green, but they really are very blue.

Underneath I have a brown and tan zebra print rug.  I adore this rug.  It really makes the space.

To the left (as you're coming out of the house), I have the dining table and motion chairs.  I bought tan cushions for the seats and turquoise and green print pillows for the backs.

It all fits, but with the Adirondack chairs on the deck, the table has to be squished in the corner for there to be enough room to walk between it all.  Not really an issue if it's just one or two people eating out there, but it would be hard for someone to get to the chairs in the corners.

I really like this dining set because I can add pillows and cushions to add color, but it's also comfortable without.

Yesterday was Mother's Day and my sister and I took our mom to a Nationals game.  This has become a tradition and we all love it.  But we also like to have brunch beforehand, but restaurants on holidays are a mess so I had them over to my house instead. 

To make enough space, I moved the Adirondack chairs and end table to the yard and moved the table to the center of the patio.  I actually really like them out there and may keep it that way for a while.  At least a few weeks while there's still enough grass to keep the yard from becoming a mud pit.

I just got this tablecloth from Ross ($7!) and I love the yellow on the various blues.  Very Provencal.  It doesn't go with the pillows so I just used the cushions.  See how useful it is to have comfortable-without-cushions chairs?

I ran over to the Bagel Place for 1/2 a dozen bagels (2 everything, 2 Old Bay, 1 plain, 1 blueberry) and a tub of cream cheese. The day before I bought some lox and raspberry lemonade to mix with raspberry vodka I already owned. My wine glasses are polycarbonate ($2.99 at Target), but the plates, water glasses and serving dishes are my everday stuff. They're sturdy enough to survive being outside.  The napkins were my great-aunt's or great-grandmothers.  They're monogramed and incredibly soft from so many washings.  I did have a plastic plate and dish rag for my 16 month old niece, but she likes drinking out of real glasses (with adult help) so she also got one of my bee glasses.  The bottle for water was also bought at Ross for $1.99. I love that place.

Once I was back in my house from getting the bagels, the whole table took about 15 minutes to assemble, which was great.  I love super simple entertaining where it's more assembly instead of cooking.  Brings out the decorator in me.  I love cooking, but I love decorating more!

summer bedding

I needed to change my sheets this past Sunday and didn't feel like doing laundry so that ruled out the brown sheets currently on my bed, and my yellow ones are also dirty, so I pulled out my white ones.  I haven't used white sheets in forever.  Definitely not since I moved and possibly not since 2008.  I used to be a 100% white sheet girl.  I had three sets because I hated going down to the basement to do laundry so would let it pile up.  It was great.  Crisp, cool, white sheets year-round - ahhhh, heaven.  But I've been so used to the warm coziness of my brown sheets and really wasn't a fan when I tried out my yellow last month - could I go back to white?

I try really hard to not turn on my air conditioner until Memorial Day and I figured I wouldn't change my bedroom color pattern until then as well, but with the recent warm nights, I would end up tossing my duvet on the floor anyway and with my new Liberty pillows, I decided I was ready for my summer bedroom 6 weeks early.

And I love it!  It's like pretty pink candy. 

I'm also in love with crisp white sheets all over again.  It's been a bit cool the past two nights so I do have my afghan underneath the coverlet, but the duvet has remained off the bed.  I do need to get a new set of sheets - the ones I have left are years old and I used to use bleach so there are a few thin patches that are *this close* to becoming holes.  I find that Ross and Marshalls are great places for white sheets - you can get high thread count for a low price.  It can be frustrating when you're looking for a specific color or pattern, but basic white is usually a sure bet.  And hey, if they happen to have a pretty spriggy floral in 100% cotton, well, I'm not opposed to that either.  But definitely at least one set of all white. 

Now I'm all ready for summer!  Bring on the heat!

making my bed

I like to see how other people make their bed so I thought I’d share mine with you.

Here’s my bed fully made up:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I prop my pillows up against the headboard with the shams in the back and pillowcases in front. Before I bought the orange duvet, I had the shams in front as I was trying to downplay the brown. But now I want to highlight the multiple colors so they’re out front.

I also have a tiny throw pillow. In all seriousness, it’s much too small for my bed. But the colors are perfect and I love the peacock feather. I hope to find something larger, but I’m not actively looking.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


So on top is my PrimaLoft comforter inside of a duvet. Comforter was bought years ago at Ross. I highly recommend discount stores for bedding basics. It’s so cheap and the selection just keeps growing year after year.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Underneath that I have an afghan. My mom made this for me when I was a kid and it was the perfect size for my twin-sized bed. As I grew up, the afghan came with me. When my bedding was all blue and yellow, I would keep this folded at the end of the bed. It doesn’t go anymore, but it’s warmth is very necessary.

Then under the afghan is the coverlet. I find that having these two items in this order is very important. I first had the afghan underneath the coverlet, but it would get all tangled up. No clue why having it on top keeps it orderly, but I’m not messing with what works.

Finally, under the coverlet is a blanket followed by a flat sheet and finally a fitted sheet over the mattress.

I know many have given up flat sheets and blankets, but I never will. I love the feel of a sheet right next to my body. And I love the process of folding back the top of the flat sheet. It makes the bed feel so done. And considering I only make my bed when I change the sheets or when someone’s coming over, when I do it, I like to do it right.

This all makes for a very heavy covering at night and it’s so perfect. I can burrow underneath all of this with the extra-long coverlet up over my ears and just sleep forever.

In the summer, I will store the afghan in my linen closet and fold the duvet at the end of the bed (or possibly in the spare room’s closet altogether). I may also switch out the sheets to something a bit happier. Maybe my old yellow sheets, maybe a new print. But for winter, this combination of colors and layers is absolutely right.