making my week

I am shamelessly borrowing this idea from one of my favorite blogs, Reading My Tea Leaves - a weekly feature summing up the little highlights of my week (or, at least those that were captured on my iPhone). I like that it is a way to pull together all of the random things that inspired me to snap a photo during the week, no matter how profound or mundane. 

If you have not checked out Erin's blog, you should do so now.

/ 1 / 

Azalea branches budding in the yard brought in to brighten up the bathroom.

/ 2 /

Sully is no dummy - if I were his size this is exactly the place I would want to curl up for a nap - buried in down pillows.

/ 3 /

Otto's own moment of bliss. If I panned out you would see that he is napping on top of the back cushion of an oversized chaise, all by himself. Yes, he fancies himself a king, and admittedly we don't do much to dispel the notion. 

/ 4 /

Progress in the sunroom - goodbye gold! Its a very slow work in progress, but little by little the living room and sunroom are transforming, shedding their old, unfortunate, "what were they thinking?" McDonald's red and gold identity.

/ 5 /

This page from Bringing Nature Home on the three foundational elements of a natural, wild arrangement. Game changer!

/ 6 /

The long lasting dubium - I think I bought the stems almost two weeks ago, but I just got around to making this arrangement today. 

And last, but certainly not least, finally feeling ready to make this announcement to the world at large: 

/ 7 /

At almost 20 weeks along, we are due to have our first child in September. And I have definitely popped. :)

Happy weekend everyone. xoxo

put a blanket on it

Oh, Pinterest. I am afraid you have led me even further astray from my resolution to blog more.

Have you been sucked in yet? It's wildly addicting, and once you get the hang of how to use it, incredibly easy. Too easy. With a few clicks you've created a beautiful inspiration board, and then a few minutes later, 27 strangers have liked or "repinned" your post! Woah - holy instant gratification!

It is, however, no substitute for blogging. But since I dont see this addiction/delightful time suck going away any time soon, I will try to use Pinterest as a tool for paying Dear Frances more of the attention she deserves.

To start, some images I have pinned that serve as follow up to my last post about casual sofa covers.These images prove that sofas covered in blankets, throws, sheets etc. can be attractive while being incredibly functional - comforting assurance to the owner of light colored upholstered furniture and two snuggle loving dogs.

This one is from one of my most favorite Design Sponge 

Sneak Peaks - Scartlett of Saffron & Genevieve, 

an antiques and interior goods shop in Santa Cruz, CA.

From a house tour of Kessa & Len's home in Toronto, via  

The Marion House Book.

 Originally pinned from here, but could not find this image for source.

If you were to say to me, "Amanda, if you only had one website 

to refer people to to get a sense of your 'style' - a place where you 

would giddily adopt every single thing featured into your home 

- what would it be?" 

I would say, visit the Cabbages & Roses Homeware Style Guide. 

I go back to Christina Strutt's At Home with Country 

over and over again to get inspired. The obsession began with  

another Sneak Peak/Interview at  Design Sponge.

Originally pinned from here, but could not find this image for source.

Two photos above from Apartment Therapy House Tour  

"Stefanie and Mike's Heavenly Hollywoodland Home"  

- homeowners who clearly let their pets all over the furniture 

without sacrificing style or cleanliness (their furniture is white!). 

I love these shots - our two dogs love sleeping on the top 

of the back cushion of our chair and chaise, just like this.

From Apartment Therapy's  

House Tour of textile designer Amy Butler. 

This is where clicking on the Pinterest pin takes you. 

If you know the source, please tell me!

Ok, so those last two aren't covered in blankets, but they still show how a loose, non-custom fit (i.e. affordable) slipcover can look great, wrinkles and all, with a little help from some comfy pillows. While our current living room set isn't a forever set, I would still like to keep it in good shape and as clean as possible. We bought the three pieces (oversized chair, chaise and sofa) off Craigslist for the same price that we sold our old sofa and loveseat so someone else for, so it was essentially a free upgrade! The chaise was the real catalyst for the transaction, and I would like to "trade in" the sofa soon on Craigslist for something else. 

What can I say? I get queasy at the price tag of new sofas, and love the thrill of the hunt.

twinkles vs. man flu

A tree full of sparkles and baubles, full view of neighbors' festive outdoor lights display, mug of hot mulled cranberry cider, dog at my side, and great recipes aplenty for Christmas dinner planning - sick husband aside, I'm feeling quite blessed this Christmas Eve Eve Eve.

I hope that you too are finding some peace and calm during this frenzied time of year. 

xoxo

(PS - speaking of a sick husband .... ladies, it's that time of year - my Christmas gift to you: watch this and read this thoroughly.)

practically perfect in every way

Favorite image of the day (thus far...) - this bedroom:

That is all. :)

Found via decor8's sneak peak at the newest issue of Heart Home Magazine.

The Stock Exchange on Hertel Avenue

Last Friday I took a stroll down Hertel on my new bike (her name is Violet). We are on the hunt for a few pieces of furniture, and want to see if we can get at least half of them vintage, antique, preowned, craigslisted, etc.

I had not visited the slew of antique and vintage furniture shops on Hertel Ave for a while. I rediscovered "The Stock Exchange" and had some fun poking around in their basement. This is not a place to be afraid of going into for fear of being given dirty looks by snooty antiques dealers, or being intimidated by high end prices. Mark, the man working in the shop, couldn't have been nicer, and the prices on most things couldn't have been more reasonable.

Ooh, la la. 

It appears that one of the owners shares my penchant for old upholstered chairs - as I descended into the basement, I was delighted to discover that it was entirely, wonderfully, packed to the brim with them (which, incidentally, is how Evan would describe our own basement, minus the "wonderfully.")

This one was a favorite, and if I could have imagined a place for it, I'd have come back with my car that day to rescue it from the basement. The seat cushion is full of lofty down.

Close up of the jacquard. 

Another one with a loose seat cushion of down. I'm crazy for this style!

The proportions on this one are so goofy, it made me smile. 

I imagine it fitting in well on the set of Pee Wee's Playhouse.

A lovely pair - I love the caning, which was in perfect condition.

This one was so cute, but the photos don't do it justice. 

A red gingham, would be so cute in a nursery.

This big guy was in GREAT shape. It was a newer sofa, acquired at an estate sale. I was staring at it longingly on the way in, and again on the way out. It was velvety, but not in that suede-y, microfiber kind of way that I'm not crazy about. It was deep and so wickedly comfortable. It was positioned awkwardly, right inside the doorway. "Sold, I assume?" I asked Mark. To my surprise, he said no. And furthermore, he said that if I was interested, the owner would probably let it go for a very, very good price - since its taking up way too much space. I don't want to put it in writing here, in the unlikely event that a) somebody reads this and b) decides to buy it and quotes me on it. Lets just say, it was really really tempting. Except that its huge, and would not fit into our current plans to replace our ugly mancave furniture by downsizing with smaller scaled furniture more appropriate for our living room. We're now thinking we're going to do two chairs (maybe one recliner, maybe a chaise, or oversized chair and an ottoman) and a small scale sofa or loveseat. 

I loved the chairs and loveseat in this window display. For the gazillianth time I found myself fantasizing about having enough rudimentary reupholstery skills to consider spending more than $100 on a piece that needs recovering. Everything - everything - about that loveseat is perfect in my book, except for the pink plaid. I love the lines, the tight back, and that the cushion is down filled. If I'd seen this 10 years ago as a single gal I might have overlooked the color, but it doesn't really do it for me these days (and I don't even have to ask if it does anything for Evan). 

This smaller scale sofa in the other window also caught my attention. The more I looked at it, the more I liked it. The price is very right, and Evan likes it too, so we may just end up snagging it this week! The wood trim is oddly painted brown, which we might consider repainting to contrast with the upholstery.

If you haven't been for a stroll up Hertel Ave recently, and you are a fellow addict of all things old, vintage, retro, antique - whatever you want to call it -  I suggest you do so, and pay a visit to the Stock Exchange. 

{update: visited the brown sofa again and determined that it was a little too small for our needs - its more of a "settee" than a love seat. The big light tan sofa is gone - someone must have snatched it up for a great price!}

The Stock Exchange
1421 Hertel Ave
Buffalo, NY 14216-2826
(716) 838-8294

where I'd enjoy Design*Sponge at Home

Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge is generously giving away four copies of her recently released book Design*Sponge at Home to four lucky Design*Sponge readers who send her photos of where they would pass time devouring the book (my words, not hers). 

So, here it is - the picture has to be accessible to the public, so I thought I would post it here. I could definitely pass hours and hours at a time, here in the sunroom, on my old hand-me-down chaise, with these two goofballs either staring at me until I pay attention to them, or snoring wedged in on either side of me, while I obsessively tab the sections on upholstery and flower arranging, among other subjects. 

About the picture: Otto (left) and Sully (right) on my vintage hand-me-down chaise. Church pew and crazy quilt made by my mom. Vintage persian rug scored on eBay. This spot is equally pleasing to pass the time away in the summer and long long Buffalo winter months. 

Wish me luck!

furniture escapism

I'd like to tell you that it's been almost a month since my last post because I have been crazy busy on interviews, or out enjoying the beautiful spring weather - but I haven't. I am playing the waiting game on two positions I've applied to, and the weather so far this spring has been terrible. 

For the most part I've been busy scouring job postings, making contacts, trying to stay at least a teeny tiny bit on track with training for the Toronto 1/2 Marathon, attending a class on Nonprofit Management, procrastinating in current-job wrap up activities, and planning a friend's baby shower, which I hosted on Saturday. 

Oh, and day dreaming A LOT about new living room furniture. 

Indulge me while I focus on the last and most inane of those activities, and engage in a little furniture escapism, wont you?

We are looking to replace our black leather man-cave furniture in the living room sometime this year. We haven't even narrowed down what pieces of furniture we want (sofa and loveseat? sofa and comfy chair  with ottoman? sofa and chaise? sofa/chaise combo?) ... so bear with me as I share some things that have caught my eye (and, in many cases, caused it to start twitching at the price tag)...

I have been coveting this sofa from one of my favorite house tours for so long, but haven't been able to figure out where its from.

Since the house belongs to an interior designer, chances are she had the ticking stripe slipcover made custom, and the sofa is way out of my reach anyway.

I did, however, find this sofa from Pottery Barn - a company I hate to give my money to (more on that in another post), but would probably make an exception for here, because I really, really love it. 

It just looks so wonderfully deep and comfortable - two of our requirements. And its also casual, yet classic - my preference. You can get it slipcovered in any number of machine washable fabrics, including this blue ticking stripe, which might make for a suitable (albeit still expensive) knockoff of my dream sofa. 

There's also this chair and ottoman too, also in a machine washable slipcover:

Pottery Barn

I'm a sucker for the "traditional English roll arm" style (as you'll see below).

And then there is this amazingly deep chair - somewhere in between your standard arm chair and a chaise. My legs are itching to be curled up on it with a book:

Restoration Hardware

And speaking of chaises ... they are one of my all time favorite pieces of furniture. I'm trying to  A) figure out a way to fit 2 chaises into the living room in place of a full sized sofa (and supplement with a loveseat) and B) figure out a way to pay for them (a chaise is  often as expensive as a sofa). A is proving much easier than B.

Evan's on board for one chaise if we can make it fit in our living room and budget. His aunt and uncle have a chaise big enough to snuggle up in together to watch TV and take naps. It's one of the most comfortable pieces of furniture I have ever sat in (especially after a Thanksgiving feast), whether you're in it alone or with your main squeeze. We've been keeping our eyes open for one. 

Ahhhh, if only money were no object ....

 

All of the above - Restoration Hardware. *swoon*

This "TV Lounger" from Lee Industries is big enough to fit two people. If only it came in a slipcovered or leather option. Not wild about the velvet.

And then there are recliners - which usually remind me of the man-cave furniture we are trying to replace. But after going over to a friend's house this weekend and reclining in hers, I remembered what a ridiculously  comfortable piece of furniture it can be - and that they don't have to be hideous.

 

The biggest consideration for us in the furniture hunt is durability. We have a dog who we've always allowed to curl up next to us on the sofa, which frankly we enjoy as much as he does. And then there may come a day when we decide to add a 2 legged kid to the mix. So I'd prefer something easily cleaned (like slipcovers or leather) or something very, very stain resistant (which usually means microfiber, which I am usually not crazy about). Since leather makes everything infinitely more expensive, I'm thinking we might go with a slipcovered sofa and a leather chair/recliner (if we end up going with the sofa/chair combo).

There is also the sectional/sofa-with-chaise option to consider, which seems like it would be the easiest for our space, but which also tends to come in options that I find too modern or blah. It's also rare to find slipcovered options, and leather sectionals tend to be really, really expensive.

That said, here are a few that I think are worth considering:

 West Elm:

 Restoration Hardware:

 

Lee Industries:

 

 

Speaking of Lee Industries ... I'm hoping to go with Evan soon to the only place I know of  in Buffalo that carries their furniture - DK Benson Interiors - to see what floor models they have. I am curious to see how comfortable they are, and what the prices are like. I love that they have so many tight-back sofa and chair options, since I would rather avoid loose or semi-attached cushions that constantly have to be fussed with and poofed up, and which inevitably seem to lose their shape after a few years.

Some other Lee furniture that I love:

 

A "Chair-and-a-Half" - would be similar to the 2 person chaise 

if you could find a large ottoman to go with it.

I'll keep you posted, once I move past the fantasy stage ...