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meet me in philadelphia[/caption]
I am very drawn to old wood pieces. The keyholes, the chunky knobs, the dovetailing, I love it all. I am especially enamored by antique English pine, and though these pieces are hard to find at a good price, you can score in antique stores and on CraigsList every once in awhile. I'm actually very tempted by this little beauty at the moment on my local CraigsList (although the price would have to come way way down). I have no place for it in mind, but I'm sure I could find one. (wink)
In my opinion, I think you need the warmth of a wood piece in every room no matter its decor. That natural element, the feel of rusticity or sleekness (depending on the wood) completes a room.
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velvet & linen[/caption]
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lonny[/caption]
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country living[/caption]
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perfectly imperfect[/caption]
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emily clark[/caption]
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tinekhome[/caption]
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I've actually been looking for a large storage piece
for our new room for months. I found a few I liked on 1stdibs (of course), but I have come to discover there is not much room for negotiation on these pieces. Womp womp. Of course, Restoration Hardware reproduces this look very well, but the ones I liked were still pretty pricey. I even called the outlet weekly, and they had nothing. So finally, on a trip to Dallas a few weeks ago, I decided it was game time. After making a return to West Elm, I pulled over and made a list of all of the places I thought might have something like what I wanted. Raw wood (or English pine), antique server/sideboard/buffet piece, closed storage, at least six and a half feet long, at least 20" deep. I ended up having a list of about 18 stores. So I sat there and I called. Until bingo, I found one.
Then I tried to strip them myself. (it did not go well) Which led me to writing this article about DIY fails. It was a sad day.
But I called the experts (Little Jack Horner's if you live in the DFW area), and they fixed my mess and gave my settees the beautiful grey wash finish I was dreaming of.
Then came the difficult decision of the upholstery. (see this post) The world was my oyster, and I was having a hard time narrowing down ideas and finding the perfect fabric. For several months, the settees looked like the image below, with patterns rotating in and out. 
I thought I had decided, and there were roadblocks so I started again. I knew I wanted a wide stripe down the middle of the front (tons of great inspiration here!), and something striking on the back. Well, the upholsterer brought them back last week, and my jaw dropped. Finally, nearly a year after purchasing them (oy vey), my settees are here, sitting in my living room, in all their makeover glory.
