Tag: <span>our house</span>

Published October 27, 2009 by

The Comfiest and Prettiest Sofa

sofa and chairsAfter 14 months of sitting on camping chairs, I am thrilled to announce, we own a couch. Yes, you may remember me mentioning this very sofa, the Grayson, sometime in early 2009 and, though custom-made furniture does take months to ship–the delay was not the shipper, it was me. What was my hang-up? It seems ridiculous, but it was the fabric. The couch only came in natural linen and I just knew we’d never fully enjoy it if were constantly worried about getting the most expensive thing we’ve ever purchased dirty.

Simple chocolate brown fabric was all we wanted–and don’t ask me why after multiple trips to the New York fabric district we couldn’t find that, but we couldn’t. I’ll admit there were moments of frustration where we were tempted by other brown sofas but we held strong–and our loyalty and patience paid off. This fall Bobo Intriguing Objects released the Grayson sofa in eight colors, including chocolate brown! And that was only one of the improvements; they also added an extra throw pillow and more environmentally-friendly materials. As soon as I heard the news, I had my credit card out and raring to go, and though it maxed out my Visa, I have never been so pleased with a purchase.

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Just look at these lines!
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The deep European cut is so sophisticated yet you just want to flop down on it!

Now that the folding chairs are put away, and the 1940s French chairs are in place, our former first-class campground is actually shaping into a living room we love.

Finds

Anne's buys living room our house

Published September 2, 2008 by

Finally, The Paint Palette

paint-paletteChoosing paint is the first step in laying the foundation of home decoration–a basic concept but agonizing to execute. As you may remember from a previous blog, I wanted to take the tangerine color from an Antonia Hutt dining room design and paint my kitchen with it. It was so dramatic and delicious but a few sample pots and hundreds of paint chips later, we realized it would have been completely wrong for our apartment. The layout of our brownstone is a wide railroad style; we have wonderful natural light entering our bedrooms and our living room but our kitchen is at the center of the window sandwich. This makes it the darkest and most central room in the house and maybe not the ideal place to have my fiery color moment. The kitchen had to be inviting, livable, and most of all complement to the adjacent living room. So after some prodding, I decided to stop having my fling with the color of the moment and go back to the colors I know and love.

paint-palette-tealIf there is one color that dominates my wardrobe or one shade that draws me to a boutique shelf, it’s a silvery green. My strawberry-blonde mother is the same way and with her decorating background she knew exactly what paint color that translated to: Restoration Hardware’s Silver Sage. She has always said Restoration Hardware doesn’t have a lot of colors to choose from but whatever they have is good. Mike and I went to their store and chose this cool beautiful gray green for the living room and a very light yellow called Butter Cream for the kitchen and connecting hallway. With pure white trim, the palette is soft, inviting, and perfect for the hub of the house.

paint-palette in purpleSo when it came to painting the bathroom, I had to shake things up. It was an impulse decision half way through the day but I took one look at my neutral hub and I went to the hardware store and bought the deepest, richest plum purple I could find (Nairobi Dusk from the Ralph Lauren Paint). We painted the ceiling all the way down to the white chair rail. The dark color overhead broken up a white chair rail and a latte brown below gives this small bath real drama–its’ just the mini-color rebellion I was looking for.

The bedroom colors were taken from my two favorite wallpapers. They are still rolled up in a box so when they go up, we’ll talk pattern and palette.

Projects

decorating our house paint

Published August 8, 2008 by

House Warming

LivingRoomMantel.jpgWe closed on our condo! After months of prepping, the final meeting with the lawyer wrapped up in a mere hour and a half. In that time we signed what felt like 100 documents, but before we knew it we had an 1,100 square-foot piece of a Hoboken brownstone. We were so excited we almost sprinted there, but unlocking the door to your first home is a major moment; it needs a bit of ceremony. So we threw ourselves an impromptu house warming party. Mike bought the champagne and we stopped in our new neighborhood antique store Mackey Blue for a gift. There we found the spunkiest little vintage alarm clock; the deco feel and the fact that it was still ticking sold me.

VintageClock.jpgWe won’t actually move in for another three weeks (and it will undoubtedly be a paint-splattered, sawdust-mess for the next six), so something stylish and with no-assembly required sounded like a step in the right direction.

Next comes the palette. Tonight we are blowing up the air mattress and camping with our stacks of paint chips and fabric swatches. I’ll be sure to let you know what colors we dream up.

Etc

our house

Published July 8, 2008 by

Exciting and Petrifying Tales of Becoming a Homeowner

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I am buying my first house! I have been dying to tell you this but I didn’t want to jinx it until all the pieces were in place. But now that our loan has been approved, the inspection went well, the appraisal was on par, and our move date is one month away– I couldn’t hold the news in any longer! Its gorgeous. Its the top floor of a three-story, 1899 brownstone with the best of the original details: Two fireplaces (my favorite shown here), ten-foot ceilings, plaster cove molding, chandelier medallion, wide-plank pine floors, huge windows and all the charm that comes with that!

Now all I have to do is decorate it. This is most exciting and petrifying part. I have been living in a tiny New York apartment amongst a hodgepodge of items from different roommates and eras of my life–and only a handful is coming with me. I am on the hunt for new sofas, rugs, beds, drapes, tables, chairs, mirrors–the works. As a shelter editor, you’d think my overexposure and undying passion for design would give me the upper-hand on such a massive decorating endeavor but thats where the petrifying part comes in. This job has made me fall in love with so many styles and so many expensive pieces that finally picking one and preventing bankruptcy will be a feat. But the exciting part is that I finally have a creative testing ground. The somedays, the when Is, the if onlys, of my design scheming are over; its go-time.

Over the next couple months Ill be posting my furniture finds, design musings, and palette quandaries and I would love to hear your thoughts. I need your discerning eye and fabulous taste to help me get the dream house I have been writing about for all these years.

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our house