Tiger Chest

I've mentioned before how thrift stores can be hit or miss in NYC. I get it though. Real estate here is so expensive, they have to really hike those prices up to cover the rent. So I usually don't have high expectations for great deals if I'm popping in to shop. (By the way, I recommend any of the Housing Works locations, the Salvation Army way over on 11th Ave and the Angel Store Thrift on 17th.) For the most part you can expect to find something like this. The tag here read "Pink chair in the Eames style, Broken leg. As-is, $195" Like, what? You can buy them new for less. Who's going to pay that for a busted up knock-off?

Yet, just a few feet away from the overpriced broken chair was this Tigery beauty. Price: $200 on the dot.

This type of wood and finish is practically my favorite thing in the world. I love-lurve-luff the pattern in the grain. I don't even know what species the wood it is - looks too smooth to be oak. Crotch mahogany? Maple?

So then I did what any other hardcore thrifter would do. I threw angry glances of warning to the shoppers around me and flung my body over the thing while I spent five full minutes carefully prying off the clear mailing tape they used to secure the price tag (??). Then I happily hustled to the train to go pick up my car and bring this baby back home with me.

The chest replaced the pink wire console for now, which went on the back porch - and I love it there. I'm still trying to figure out the rest of the office, but I think we're getting there. I love this big brass lamp here that I pulled out of the lamp graveyard in the basement. A big desk project is happening this week (more on that Monday), and I think a new rug will really help.

HAPPY WEEKEND! I hope you're having a great one! xo

Lately on Fab: Classic Kartell

You all know that I am a big fan of mixing high and low pieces in my own home and in my client's homes. I always suggest investing in antiques and classic midcentury modern pieces where the budget allows. This way you know your investment in your furniture will have more staying power. Or at least you know your future grandkids will be fighting over who gets the acrylic library ladder. :) 

Kartell is one of those big midcentury names, like Eames, Saarinen, Nelson and Bertoia, etc, etc that will always be classic, fresh and timeless in any room.  Most of the famous acrylic/lucite furniture pieces we all know and love are manufactured by Kartell - like Phillipe Starck's Ghost Chair.

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Fab, one of my long-time collaborators, has a great Kartell private sale happening right now. The sale technically continues for another two weeks, but these pieces are flying off the virtual shelves here! One of my clients bought three of the bar stools for her kitchen island last night and we're both excited to get them. With the free shipping especially, the Fab price is better than my trade pricing. So grab 'em while they last!

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Tips for Decorating a Really Large Living Room

I am starting a project this spring that involves a dauntingly large (mostly long) living room. I've been brainstorming layouts and since I get emailed for advice about decorating really large living rooms all the time, I thought I'd share my single best piece of advice on the subject. It's sort of a "well, duh" concept, but here it is: create multiple seating areas.

Arch Digest, home of Nina Garcia (which I prefer to say with head bobs on the syllables, in a choppy German accent, a la HK. Don't you?)

Here's the truth. If you are sitting more than 12 feet from me, we are going to have a hard time conversing in any meaningful way, so make sure your conversation areas are never more than 12 feet squared, at most. Another truth - three sofas in any space, no matter how big, is one too many sofas. I don't count settees, love seats, daybeds and chaises though. And, in fact, I think a backless, symmetrical daybed/chaise/bench floating between two seating arrangements is just about perfection, so long as it doesn't interrupt the natural flow of traffic in any serious way.

Elle Decor

Houzz

Muse Interiors

Domino

Lonny (also, well said, Angie!!)  ^^^ 

Elle Decor via

Flickr

I've been looking around for a great daybed/chaise and I'm hoping to find something really unique for this long and large living room. I'm kind of enamored with this cast iron version from Restoration Hardware. While I really love the idea and the look, I have a feeling the comfort factor of the metal will be lacking in a major way.

   Here are some other daybeds that fit the bill of what I'm after. Most of these look a bit more comfortable than the Iron Maiden up top there.

Crate and Barrel Marlowe Daybed  //  CB2 Lubi Sleeper Daybed  //  MGBW Clifton Lounge

JAR Design Alphonse Tufted Daybed  //  Wisteria Slipcovered French Settee  //  Room & Board Jasper Sofa

Ballard Afton Daybed  //  Oly Hamish Daybed  //  Coastal Classics Laguna Chaise

Carlyle Armless Daybed  //  Ballard New Canaan Daybed  //  Jayson Home 6' Field Bench

These new pieces can be just as expensive as nice sofas in many cases, so if you're on a budget, try checking out Craigslist and eBay for vintage and antique daybeds that can be given new life with an upholstery job. I poked around on Craigslist and found a bunch of great options for less than $500. This West Elm daybed would look amazing with new upholstery, and the asking price is only $100.

Come to think of it, I just might snag it for my office and recover it in a new color of linen, or maybe something fun like this:

Betsy Burnham via Lonny

Do you have a giant living room? (lucky!) What are your best tips for comfortably and beautifully designing large spaces? Also, I'd love to see photos if any of you have a daybed in your living room. I think it is such a great look.

Happy weekend! xo

Reader DIY: Mongolian Lamb Stool

I love the look of benches, stools and chairs upholstered in fluffy sheepskin. They look really great as small accent pieces in a living room or a bedroom.

     

via La Dolce Vita

via the Decorista

via Decorpad

Erin Gates via the Everygirl

via Flickr

via Design*Sponge

Reader Nadia used the simplest IKEA stool and a Mongolian lambskin pillow cover (this one would work really well!) to make a gorgeous little stool for her home.

I love the pink legs of her IKEA stool (and how about that wallpaper?)! For the full, very easy how-to, check out Nadia's post here.

If you have a project you'd like to share on LGN, please email me here. Thanks!

Making Billy Bookshelves Look Like Built-Ins

I've always loved the way that books make a home come alive. When we were planning on where to put all the books from our office in the loft, there was only really one place to put the Billys - the living room. So we bought four more sets of the extender shelves and spent a few days last fall "building in" our IKEA bookshelves.

Here's how the space looked on move in day. It looked like a giant H to me.I love it all so much more now. That nook was the worst! Ready for all the details on how we filled the nook and built up and in the Billy bookshelves?

This project got done much sooner than I had planned on. We moved into our place and we had a huge wall of book boxes that were oppressive and dangerous. So in an effort to make at least some progress on the house, we threw up the old Ikea Billy shelves on the wall flanking the fireplace and quickly unpacked the dozens of boxes. Here's what the shelves looked like for the first couple weeks we lived here:

Then my amazing parents, who are always up for a project, came in to town and on a whim we decided to tackle the bookshelf wall. We raced to Home Depot for supplies - lumber, moulding and drywall.

Joint compound, drywall tape and a grouting sponge...

We worked to quickly frame out the bookshelves and the nook in 2x4s. And actually we put 4x4s underneath the bookshelves, so they would be lifted up off the ground.

We all signed the inside of the wall. :)Drywall was marked with chalk tape and cut with a razor blade knife.
And the first pieces went up and we happily said goodbye to the nook.
Once the drywall sheets were screwed into place, we taped the seams.
Then we went over the drywall and the tape with joint compound.
Meanwhile, after "wet sanding" the joint compound with the big grout sponge, we also started the crown moulding. Also, I'd love to point out the obvious here - that we should have taken down all the books first. They were a dusty mess after all the work we did! I just didn't really have a place to put all of them before we started. I told you this was a spur of the moment project!
Probably my favorite part of the project was the footing of the shelves. Like I said, we sat the bookshelves on three 4x4s running lengthwise. This gave the bottom a lot of height.
Then we framed out the whole bottom with 2x8s, which gave the bookshelves a really chunky base and made them look less IKEA I think.
For the face of the bookshelves, we found this great small moulding at Home Depot too. We measured and cut everything to size and then sprayed it with a black gloss enamel.

It was so easy to add the moulding with my brad gun. We used thicker stripe moulding for all the vertical lines.

I love how the white shelves and shelf backs contrast with the dark black trim on the face of the shelves.

Not bad for just the cost of some lumber and supplies and a few Billy Extender shelves! Now just to find a mirror that better fits that wall space!

And also, to make a sofa back table to help hide the fireplace a little more and to hold a pair of lamps.

I tried a new method for organizing books - one that's functional and pretty! I'm excited to share the how-to!

How was your weekend?