Meh ...

So, with tons of excitement I rushed home today to find that UPS had delivered my leather chair for the living room. I spent what felt like 20-minutes rescuing this leather chair from the grips of tape and foam and plastic to find ... 

I'm just sorta MEH about it. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love the color, and I love that it's leather. I love the nailhead trim, and the tufting. The girl who helped me at the store was AMAZING! She was incredibly helpful and found the chair for me at a super great bargain and then had it sent to me directly from a store in Michigan.

If I had ordered the chair online, it would cost a whopping $1500 with shipping and handling, as it's not a direct to store ship item. (Of course it isn't, nothing I want ever is.) I was going based on memory from what they had here in the Buffalo store, and when I saw this one among the others in a catalog I thought it was the one I wanted. She looked in their system to find that a store in Michigan had the chair in stock, in the box, and could sell and ship it to me for $500! ABSOLUTELY! I was excited for my good fortune and the dream chair.

Well, I must have been dreaming, because I think I was actually dreaming about this chair:

This chair happens to be on sale on the website for $500 less than it's original retail price, and I'm giving a lot of thought to ordering it. My only problem is that since the other chair was final sale, I'm stuck with it. It could go in a corner in the bedroom and be a wonderful perching spot for clothes I toss off (does anyone ACTUALLY use their bedroom furniture to sit?!?) but I really would rather not do that. Seems wasteful. 

So maybe I'll learn to love this one. How does the song go? 

Well there's a rose, in a fisted glove

And the eagle flies with the dove

And if you can't be with the one you love, honey

Love the one you're with ... 

I'll take the weekend to think about it and let you know. Your thoughts, comments, and suggestions are much appreciated! See you Monday! 

LOVE ... Christmas Catalog Porches

Sometimes the best inspiration comes in the mail ...

Pottery Barn Paint Colors - Spring/Summer 2011

Scott and I took a little trip today to Rochester so that I could pick up an absolute must-have in this house: Capri Blue Volcano scented candles in the mercury glass holder from Anthropologie! I absolutely love the smell ... probably because it reminds me of sweet tarts, my guilty pleasure.

While we were out, I stopped into Pottery Barn to check out the store in Rochester, and picked up the 2011 Spring/Summer deck of colors which have me thinking about repainting. Here they are:

So which are calling out to you? Having seen a few of them on the wall in the store, I have to admit that I am running to Benji Moore tomorrow to get a sample of Sandy Hook Gray (BM HC-108) to see if it's as great here as it was there.

Some of you may remember this photo from my blog, or where I found it HGTV's Rate My Space:

This beautiful bedroom is the work of a designer from the Washington DC area named Heidi Johnston. She inspired thousands through the photos of her beautifully decorated home. In this room, she painted the walls BM Sandy Hook Gray and then paired it whites, creams, and soft muted blues ... ooo, let's not forget, brown!

Lovely, isn't it? By the way - are you looking for new accessories with your new color?

Click on the photo to be redirected to some of the most beautiful glass art ever made!

Sarah Richardson meets Pottery Barn?

Did anyone else catch Season 3 of Sarah's House on HGTV? I religiously watched The Toronto based designer share her vision of country with a complete renovation of a Southern Canadian Orchard Farmhouse room by room. There wasn't one room in the house I didn't immediately fall head over hills for, but one room in particular was the large hallway made dining room - which connected the old farmhouse to the new addition. The finished space looked like this:

Sarah used this Schumacher fabric for the walls, after Tommy thankfully found someone who could and would apply paper backing. The end result, well - nothing short of stunning, right? Sarah joined the warmth of antique maple and architectural salvage with the softness of graceful lines, sumptuous fabrics, and loads of natural light.


But what I find curious is the collection of Pottery Barn items that so closely fit into Sarah's room. Are they begging, borrowing, stealing her vision? Or did Sarah have the insider peek? Either way - there's an opportunity here for you to recreate a room like Sarah's for a lot less than the $19,300 she spent. Here's how:
It's not a direct copy of the Lotus, but similarly styled with birds and flowers and a vivid background. Rather than the warm orange Schumacher calls laquer, Pottery Barn's Brighton has a warm red background with a bit of a less subdued palatte, though still sophisticated and perfectly designed.
Spy the sconces in Sarah's design? Pottery Barn has these:

I took a close look at these in the Pottery Barn store when the first arrived. I thought they were fabulous - but a little impractical until I saw the way that Sarah used them in her country dining room. Then, Pottery Barn put them on sale, at a super low $49.99, a whopping 80 bucks less than their original price. Stick a edison bulb in it - and voila. Instant art.


And although you could buy a few Brighton shower curtains or duvets and have them paperbacked to hang in a dining room, the cheaper route would definitely be this Euro Brighton Pillow Cover - 24x24" on Sale now HERE. A mere $20 for such large scale impact on a bed or sofa, even an occasional chair will be the perfect pop of color and pattern.

So what do you think? Would you pull from the PB collection to outfit your home? Does this have you thinking about redoing a room as much as I am? Let me know! Oh, and if you were as happy with the wicker chairs as I was, they're a steal from ikea at just $89 each, and quite frankly beat the $299 pricetag for something similar at PB.

By the way ... are you looking for the perfect home accessory?

Click on the photo to be redirected to some of the most beautiful glass art ever made!