Setting Up a Living Room Around a Cream Sofa
My colleague from two desks over came into a meeting last month holding a red Solo cup full of coffee, the kind you’d bring to a tailgate, not a Tuesday…
Olive Green Sofas and the Pillows That Suit Them
I saw someone on a Facebook furniture group declare, with real confidence, that olive green sofas should only ever get white or oatmeal pillows because “anything else fights it.” Scrolled…
Making a Fire Pit Area Somewhere People Actually Sit
Four. Four fire pits, three houses, one very confused insurance agent when I called to ask if a “pit” counted as a permanent structure. I’m not proud of the trajectory…
Small Tricks for Making Cut Flowers Last Longer
My mother in law told me last month that “back in her day” you just put a penny in the vase and the flowers lasted two weeks, no fuss, no…
Making a Billy Bookcase Look Custom by Styling the Top
Someone in a Facebook group I lurk in said you should throw the whole Billy top away, crown molding, full custom scribe, the works, or you’ve basically got IKEA furniture…
A Dresser Top That Doesnt Look Random
I realized what I’d been doing right about eighteen months ago, standing in my own bedroom, looking at a dresser top I’d rearranged without thinking about it for the tenth…
Above, Behind and Over: Dealing With the Wall Around a Headboard
“What to put above your headboard” and “what to put behind your headboard” get typed into Google as if they’re two different questions with two different answers. They’re not. They’re…
Dark Brown Sofas Deserve a Second Look
I spent about four years telling clients dark brown was a mistake. Told them it ate light, made small rooms feel like a dentist’s waiting room from 1997, and that…
Making a Black Leather Sofa Feel Like Home Instead of a Lobby
I used to think black leather sofas were a lost cause, decor wise. Not ugly, just cold, the kind of piece that looks like it belongs in a dentist’s waiting…
What Actually Lives on a Nightstand, Night After Night
My mom told me last week that her nightstand growing up had exactly three things on it, a lamp, a Bible, and a glass of water her own mother refilled…