A Pergola Over a Fire Pit: Pretty and Pushing Your Luck
I bought a solid roof pergola for my patio in April, before I’d even ordered the fire pit, because I saw a photo of one online and decided the two…
Switch Inside the Bathroom or Outside the Door?
I’ve got eleven pull cord switches sitting in a coffee can in my garage right now. Not installed anywhere. Not waiting for a project. Just sitting there, ceramic and bakelite…
Fire Pit Under an Awning: Heat Goes Straight Up
My sister Marnie walked onto my back porch two winters ago, took one look at the little steel fire bowl I’d hauled up from the yard sale on Wheaton Street,…
The Black Nightstand We Overthought
Somebody described black as “the beige of trying too hard” and the group chat did not recover for about three days. That was the entire debate, really, before we’d even…
The Black Bed Frame Nobody Warned Us About
The argument was that black shows dust worse than any other color, which sounded reasonable until someone dragged out a photo of the old oak frame with three months of…
The Black Bathroom Shelf That Looks Better in Real Life
Every product photo of a black bathroom shelf looks the same. Moody light, one candle nobody would actually put that close to running water, maybe a single fern that has…
Two Mirrors in a Bedroom
I currently own three mirrors in my bedroom, which is one more than I own opinions I’m willing to defend at a dinner party, and somehow still feels like the…
Two Floor Lamps in the Living Room
I bought one floor lamp in 2011, decided it looked lonely on its own next to the armchair, and solved the problem by buying a second one three years later…
Mismatched Nightstands: Charming or Chaotic?
My sister walked into my bedroom, stopped in the doorway, and said, “Did you run out of money halfway through buying furniture?” She was looking at the two nightstands flanking…
Two Chandeliers, One Room: Grand or Gaudy?
Carla stopped dead in my dining room doorway last spring, took one look up, and said, “Isla. Why are there two chandeliers in here. Did one multiply.” She wasn’t wrong…