A Tale of Two Chairs

When we moved into our loft I knew I wanted to have two sofas and a pair of matching arm chairs in our living area. I've always loved bergere chairs, so I looked on Craigslist for a while for a pair. The only pair that came up during that month or two were $800. No bueno for me since the plan was to reupholster. Then I found a pair of these Antonia chairs from Ballard on eBay.

The seller said they were floor samples or returns because they were brand new with the tags. The price was right at $400 for the pair, so I bought them and had them shipped from Virginia. Long story short, I picked up the chairs from a freight company in PA a couple days later late at night. It had been a really long installation day and the chairs were really well packed, so I didn't inspect them as thoroughly as I should have before signing off on the delivery and heading home to NYC. Turned out that the internal back structure was made of chipboard (hello! cheap!!) and the board of one of the chairs was completely cracked in half. The problem was only visible looking at the chair from behind, but it totally made a weird sound when you sat down against the chair back. Bummer. But I was planning on having them upholstered anyway, so we could have the broken frame repaired then.

Soon though, a bigger bummer was apparent. The chairs were flat out uncomfortable. They were stiff and awkward and absolutely impossible to lounge in. I noticed that we avoided sitting in them and I always felt a little guilty if guests had to sit in the chairs.

But they were a pretty shape and I tried hard to make them work for a while. Looking back, the sheer amount of time I was taking to make a decision about the upholstery material should have been a red flag for how much I hated these chairs! I almost bought leather to reupholster them in. It would have looked great, but the underlying problem of the chairs not being comfortable would still be there.

Here's the thing that I most wanted to share with you today: It is so easy to get tunnel vision when you are decorating. I get stuck in the "make it work" mind set, which I think can be really great most of the time. I feel like that is the responsible way to decorate for 95% of decorating scenarios. But there are some situations where it truly makes the most sense to cut your losses and scrap the piece of furniture or the idea. I recognize that usually the reason I try to "make it work" is to justify the cost of the item. The bottom line though is sometimes mistakes are made. Chairs get damaged in transit. Or they look pretty online, but are awkward and uncomfortable to sit in. It happens. Rather than dumping more money into the room that you won't ever be truly happy with anyway, consider craigslisting the piece and use the proceeds to find something new that better suits the needs of the room. As soon as I decided to sell the Ballard bergeres the choices for the rest of the room sort of presented themselves and everything in the space made sense again.

And in a stroke of good luck I stumbled across a pair of mid-century bergeres with great potential at Granny's Antiques in NJ last week. They are so, SO comfortable! I find myself sitting in the chairs more than our comfy sofas these days. And guess what? They cost only half the price of my old Ballard chairs, so I'm sure I'll be able to recoup the cost and then some when I sell the old pair.

This week I'm reupholstering the chairs and painting the frames. Tomorrow I'll share the photos of the first steps. Here's a sneak peek. Remember this Victoria Hagan fabric? I had just enough in my stash for the pair!

Speaking of Acrylic...

It has been a crazy week of deadlines and installations. I feel like this is the first moment since last Friday that I've had a chance to breathe! I'm so looking forward to the weekend!

I had the camera out yesterday and my post about acrylic shelves reminded me to snap a shot of my favorite little tea table from my friends at Plexi-Craft. I visited their offices in Williamsburg a couple months ago to look at some pieces for a client and let me tell you, they are a lovely and talented group of people! If you can dream it up, they can make it in acrylic for you.

Gracie has a school concert today in the park. We're going to pick up a pizza and some gelato and have a little picnic. I hope all this lovely sunshine can wash away the stress of the week. :) Hasta manana!

New Office Chairs

I'm working on getting pictures of my office to share, but I thought you might like to see the desk chairs we decided on in the meantime?

Our new desk is really long (long enough for two large work stations), so I wanted to buy a pair of matching desk chairs. I wanted them to be good looking and super comfortable, so I figured I needed to buy vintage. I scoured craigslist and eBay for a month or two looking for a pair of reasonably priced Miller/Eames aluminum group management chairs. But since I needed two, and I didn't want to buy a new knock-off version, I struck out a lot in my pretty specific search. Most pairs were going to cost at least $1000 or more (no bueno).

Then I saw this gorgeous chair on the One Kings Lane Windsor Smith sale.

It was about $1000 I think, but it had been newly reupholstered (I LOVE the lavender linen!!).

Anyway, it got me to broaden my search parameters to just simply 'vintage office chairs' and that same day I found the perfect chairs for my office space.

They were made mid-century by company called Jansko. They are super comfortable (though I'm sure not as comfortable as the Eames chairs would have been) .

And the price? Only $135 for the pair! I got them from this great eBay seller, who has lots of fun retro/vintage furniture. He shipped them well and fast.

I love the bright blue color! Sort of reminds me of Kate Spade's (much more beautiful) blue leather desk chair.

Happy Memorial Day!! See you next week. xx

Rope Detailing

I like *touches* of nautical inspiration in home decor. Not whole rooms - but maybe like a little brass anchor on a stack of books. Or a bold navy and white stripe fabric. But as of late, my favorite thing has been carved rope detailing on furniture.

I bought these stools a couple months ago on eBay (there are still some available if you are interested in making an offer).

Even though I'm planning to reupholster and repaint them, I still love the shape.

I wish mine were a little more delicate and had the nice knot detail like this much more expensive Draper bench and Meg Braff's vintage chairs below. Someday maybe, but mine are great for now, and I think really fit the scale of our space.

images source: Coastal Living

Also, another rope project HERE:

How to Remove White Heat Marks on Furniture

During the holidays we had some friends over for a dinner party. We served an extra hot meal that night and after everyone left and the dishes were cleared and the table linens removed, I discovered foggy white marks all over my beautiful new table. This one was the smallest, though brightest mark.

Before I had a chance to freak out too much, my husband did some googling and we discovered that on some pieces of furniture if moisture (usually from the steam condensation on a hot dish) gets under the finish, white splotches called heat marks will appear and will stick around until treated.

You'll be surprised to learn, as I was, that to remedy heat marks, you apply... more heat and moisture! Weird, right? I just used two folded over clean white linen napkins and sprayed them down a little with water. You want there to be several layers of cloth between your iron and the table surface. Then I ironed over the napkins on top of the heat marks for about 15 seconds with the iron on a medium heat/steam setting. Don't just set the iron down though - keep it moving.

I have no clue why my table looks so dark here. Must have messed up the camera settings.

It was like magic and the heat marks disappeared (though in these photos I can see I missed a spot that doesn't show in person).

Anyway, random post today, but I thought maybe some of you might have had a similar issue with your wood furniture. Or if in the future you see these heat marks on a thrift store table, don't pass on it - it's an easy 15 second fix. I can remember one gorgeous coffee table that I didn't buy because of it's heat marks. I thought I would need to strip and refinish the whole thing! Who knew?

**A little disclaimer: this trick worked for me, but I guess a few other readers have not had success. It might be wise for you to try a less conspicuous area on your table first. Be sure you're using damp cloths with your iron on a medium setting with steam. And be sure to keep your iron moving!**

Cards and Chairs

Two quick things:

Firstly, Jordan rocks my world. She delivered a big ol' stack of freshly pressed business cards to me at Alt and it was like Christmas, except Santa was a gorgeous and witty brunette in a cute floral dress.

You can't really tell in these photos, but the edges are a really bright persimmon red. I love them.

Jordan's letterpress business will be going strong while she lives abroad this year. She'll be doing the designs herself and her talented business partner, Alexis, will do the printing. I couldn't be happier with the quality of my cards.

Also, I had help designing my card layout and my new logo (see the JK blind emboss behind my new business name?). My professional site is finally going to launch soon. I'll post more about that later, but I have been so incredibly happy with my designer, Eileen. If you need help with your site, shoot her an email here.

Second item of business:

Craigslist has been so good to me the past few weeks. Check out one of the pairs of chairs I got for almost nothing recently.

PS Want to be the happiest person for an hour or two? Type the word "pair" in your craigslist search box (either the furniture or antiques section) and all kinds of goodness shows up. It's true. Everything is better in pairs.

These are going to be our host chairs for the DR table. They need some work, for sure. But a little paint and fabric will go a long way.

I'm thinking white frames and something in a bold but small-scale pattern for the fabric. Or maybe like acid yellow paint on the frames and solid black Sunbrella for the fabric? Maybe still a fun pattern on the chair backs...

Daybed with a Pop-Up Trundle

Remember this layout?

Well, things have changed a lot, like they always do. In the office area, which is the bottom left room, we decided to have a long and narrow desk run the length of the windows so that we could put a murphy bed or a trundle bed where my huge partners desk used to sit.

I'm coming to realize that part of living in a big city is hosting an almost constant stream of house guests! I actually really love hosting though, so I don't mind at all. I just wish we had a real bed for them that's not of the leaky Aero variety.

Here's an updated layout:

Turns out a Murphy bed would barely fit in the office space when pulled down. It was going to be so tight that the expense would have been wasted, I think. So, we are going the 'daybed with a pop-up trundle' route. Not my first choice, but after thinking about it for a few days, I'm sold on the idea. I've got two options right now, and I think I could make either one work great with a little elbow grease and some DIY spirit.

Option 1 is a curvy number, that could almost look Swedish. It reminds me a bit of the uber expensive Marston trundle bed from Restoration Hardware.

I'd paint it and do a cool mattress cover and skirt.

OR! I can get a simple pop up trundle frame and make upholstered sides to get this sort of look:

Armonia Decor, courtesy of the Glam Lamb

What's your vote? Painted Swedish style or upholstered with a contrasting welt?

Dining Chair SOS

A friend just emailed me with an urgent request. They recently moved to a new apartment and sold their old dining set. Here's what their new place looks like:

They purchased their new table from Housing Works (a really great thrift store here in NYC). It is round and has cute spindle legs and will either get painted or refinished.

Here's where the urgent request comes in. My friend is hosting Thanksgiving dinner and needs a set of dining chairs ASAP and doesn't want to get something off Craigslist (which can be expensive and a pain without a car here).

I thought you guys would be interested in my suggestions for relatively inexpensive and readily available dining chairs that swing a little modern to go with a vintage table. So here's the list, from most to least expensive. Nothing is over $200 per chair:

These Tolix chairs from Pottery Barn (available in gunmetal gray, red or white) come out to $179 each when you buy a set of four. Or they are $199 when purchased seperately.

Talk about a classic--and the ultimate in kid-proof!

This great orange velvet chair from Pier 1 is a great price at $170. I love that it's modern but also pretty formal.

Ballard Parsons chair in off-white duck for $129. There are other less expensive Parsons-style chairs out there, but none have the traditional upholstered legs that I love.

Kmart is absolutely teaming with great chair knockoffs right now! At just over $95 per chair, this set of Eames syle chairs looks like a great deal!

There's a similar set that comes in acrylic too! $145 each.

Bertoia!

I absolutely LOVE this pair of chairs from Overstock ($265 for two). Doesn't the brown and cream fabric look suzani-inspired?

World Market just came out with these awesome French bistro chairs ($260 for a set of two). I think these would be amazing painted a bright color or white or black. Really any version of these chairs is going to be great (other than the unfortunately current state).

As a side note, this $199 bench looks so cool. It's upholstery in a woven kilim-like zebra pattern:

$100 at IKEA buys you a really cool chrome and acrylic chair.

I have an obssession with klismos chairs and I think these from West Elm are a really cool, modern spin on the classic style.

Just $79 per chair, available in many colors. I'm partial to the yellow and the red.

This $60 chair from IKEA is a great, basic buy, especially if your dining table is going to be colorful. Or if you use a colorful dining room rug.

If it's blue and lacquered, what's not to love? These chairs from Target are just $40 each!!

Do you have any favorites to share?

Gorgeous Nursery Glider

Did you see Jordan's post yesterday about her gorgeous glider? We originally had it in her bedroom, but doesn't it look great in her living room?

It's the Jennifer Delonge Luxe Glider in navy linen, and it's a splurge, but it's oh so beautiful. And I really really want one.

Do you have a glider that you love? Where did you get it? Do you feel like it was worth the cost? Jordan's glider doesn't look juvenile at all, so I feel like it was a good purchase since she's able to now use it in her living space. But what about something like this one from Pottery Barn Kids that's the same price as Jordan's Luxe glider? A waste of money (and floor space?) after a year or two?

All photos by Jordan