Wooden Beds and Nightstands: Match the Wood or Mix It Up?
I bought a bed and nightstand set once. An actual set, matching pieces, same finish, same everything, because I’d read somewhere that matching furniture was the “grown up” way to…
Picking a Headboard Color Without Overthinking It
I’m on the floor of my own bedroom, knees complaining about it, holding up four paint chips against a stack of quilts I got off a woman clearing her mother’s…
Do Gray Pillows Work on a Brown Sofa?
I’d like to have a word with the woman who spent forty dollars on two pillows in a shade the catalog called “storm cloud” back in 2011, brought them home…
Bud Vases: How Many You Need and What Goes in Them
I was doing the after dinner dishes on a Tuesday, plates stacked, sink full of that gray water you get when somebody’s rinsed pasta sauce off four things at once,…
Protecting Hardwood Floors From a Scratchy Bed Frame
Ask anyone who’s ever bought a house with original hardwood and they’ll tell you the same thing: keep furniture off it or it’s ruined within a year. I heard that…
What Fits in a Vase With a Small Opening
I own eleven vases. I counted them properly last week, standing in my kitchen with a tape measure, because that is apparently the sort of Tuesday night I have now.…
Getting Tulips to Stand Up Straight in a Vase
I used to think tulips were the high maintenance ex of the flower world. Gorgeous for about four days, then an absolute mess, stems bent over the side of the…
Tall Vase, No Flowers: Ideas for Filling the Height
I have a friend, Marguerite, who works at a florist in Somerville, and she told me something that stuck: “The vase is not a life support machine for flowers. It’s…
Living With a White Sofa: What to Put Around It
“You’ll ruin it in a month,” she said, standing in my doorway with her shoes still on, which, fine, different battle. She meant the sofa. Cream boucle thing I’d just…
Navy Blue Sofa Pairings for People Tired of Neutral Rooms
Okay so every single navy sofa post I’ve ever read says “navy is the new neutral” like that’s a fact and not just a sentence someone typed to make you…