Have a Seat!

Left over from Chris's bachelor days, we currently have a fabric loveseat.  A loveseat that lost his partner in crime (a matching sofa) years ago but has nonetheless served us well. Guests sit on the loveseat.  And the dining room chairs.  And the staircase.  And the random cushions we throw on the floor. We joke our place is a byos (bring your own seat). We've had our eye on this guy for quite some time.  Placed our order this weekend.  While I wasnt crazy about just one giant couch against the wall we couldnt come up with any combination of furniture we liked that could be configured otherwise.  Our house is long and narrow so the popular "sofa and 2 flank chairs" set-up just wouldnt fit.  We considered just 2 kick-ass deep and compfy but stylish solo chairs but we like to sit together, plus that wouldnt offer any further seating for guests, so that was out.  There just seemed to be no other choice but a "sectional" which Ive just never really been able to get behind (just not my style).  So we present you with (drum roll please):

 

 

 

Kensington 118"

luxe depth

down fill

glove color



We chose glove as it's like a blacky browny combo that we hope will look nice with our industrial tool chest pieces nearby.  You can see the color better here on this bizarro chair:

Reminder what the industrial tool chest pieces look like:

 

We arent really framed picture people.  That said, since our passion is travel, we are thinking of framing a handful of our favorite travel photographs (in sepia, maybe?) in some perfectly "us" frames on the blank wall behind the couch.  Maybe 3-5 large rectangular frames.  Perhaps a theme-since we love nature and the outdoors I was thinking trees.  Travel and nature (sighs in contentment).

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N.B. She fought a good fight for an animal-free sofa.  She lost...

 

 

 

So Many Shoes So Little Space

We have one closet in the entire house (small-too shallow even for a hanger) which currently holds linens and sundries. So where to put all our shoes? 

Because it's "storage" I feel like the majority of people dont care what the container looks like (how else to explain aisles of "plastic tubs" in home stores). Not so for me. Why deprive ourselves of pretty things just because nobody else may ever see it?

I thought about using the area under our bed-the only existing unused space in our home. 

I created in my mind the perfect option: cute baskets with some wheels for easy use.  I figured Id have to build this myself b/c if it isnt on the Restoration Hardware website it doesnt exist right? I searched google images to get some ideas and surprise!

Thanks Pottery Barn! It wasnt marketed for under-bed use but it was exactly what I had in mind.

I had envisioned the baskets having a lid or cover of some sort b/c I was afraid dust would make its way inside.  I had some ideas on how I could fashion something tasteful, which of course I researched (here), but lets get those baskets ordered first.

We have a king bed and after very careful cuckoo measuring ordered 12 baskets.  

They fit absolutely perfectly, 3 rows of 4 from the foot of the bed to the head, coming right to edge but not sticking out on any side. Though the baskets are flush with the bed you can of course see that they are under there.  It looks so much nicer than mismatched boxes, plastic containers, or, for those unfortunate souls who lost their boxes long ago, tens of shoes smooshed and piled upon eachother. 

The baskets nearly reach the underside of the bed so dust isnt a problem and our shoes are happy with their new home (~6/basket for her size 7, ~3/basket for his size 13).

My shoes utilize 8.5 of the 12 baskets.