Why I didn't Tuft ...

WHOA! Ok, so first, let me start off by saying this: I LOVE GETTING YOUR EMAILS! I do, truly. I get such a treat opening up my email every day and seeing sweet little notes from my readers. I don't even mind when they're not so sweet - when you put yourself out there, you have to expect a few people to have differing opinions, that's what makes the world go round, right? RIGHT! But, I was shocked that so many of you were a little disappointed that the tufting didn't actually happen.

If you emailed me about it - I've already emailed you back, but for those of you who didn't email, who are curious, maybe even a little peeved, well - here's why!

The Apartment - No Tufts

 

Many of you have been long-time readers, something I haven't taken for granted. You've seen my work in a variety of ways, but mostly in my old home which I called CDLV. CDLV was dark and moody, mysterious even. Masculine and linear. There was a lot of color in that house, it called for it. I tried white, linen, the dreaded dropcloth slipcovers, and it never worked in that house. That house needed color, it needed jewel tones to blend with the orange-y gumwood trim that I was forbidden to paint. So, when I moved into my own place, I wanted the exact opposite. No more dark, no more heavy. I decided light, bright, refreshing, and peaceful was the way I wanted to start my "new" life.

 

 

The Apartment - Light, Bright, Refreshing, and Peaceful ... Right? Oh - AND no zebra!

 

At the first apartment, I started with the sofa, then added two club chairs, both slipcovered in a sort of winter white heavy linen. Piece by piece I added, and while I added, I tried adding color. I would pull in gray and chocolate brown, orange, and once I even did blue - it never looked as good as it did with the simplicity of the white. So, I knew that was right ... for me, for now. So enter reason number one into evidence:

 

REASON NUMBER ONE

I couldn't, wouldn't go with any other color but white in the space. I looked at tons of fabric - and nothing seemed right. I knew that having a WHITE upholstered piece of furniture, with tufts, was a terrible idea! That thing wouldn't have lasted a month! 

 

The ottoman was a must for this space. And while it's huge, and there have been people who questioned me for adding a piece so big to a room that size, I don't think I made a poor decision. Not yet, anyway.

 

The Apartment - Ottoman's First Night 

 

The day that the cushion was finished and I brought it home and put it all together, I took a few pictures to show how much of a transformer this ottoman really was. Because I didn't tuft it, and instead decided to do a cushion - just like the sofa - I not only had an ottoman, I had a chaise.

 



The Apartment - Ottoman Serving Double Duty

 

Playing around with the awesome rectangular bolster pillow I designed with my slipcover maker, Michelle, the ottoman went from chaise, to tête-à-tête.

 





The Apartment - Ottoman Transforms Yet Again!

 

And the way that I've chosen to keep it, at least for the time being, the ottoman serves perfectly as a back to back armless sofa, giving me two separate seating groups, with the ability to comfortably host gatherings of 14 in a room that's less than 250 square feet.

 

The Apartment - Ottoman As Two Sofas? WHAT!? Oh yeah!! 

 

REASON NUMBER TWO:

This ottoman, this design, the separate cushion, the comfort of it makes the piece, already massive in size, more than just a fixture in the room for trays or the occasional pair of feet. It's functional beyond functional. It's an ottoman, a chaise, a tête-à-tête, a double sofa, a guest bed - oh yeah, A GUEST BED! A large tufted piece, even if I had gone with white would never have been so transformative to the space, and as useful as I need in this small but beautiful space.  

 

 

When I blog and ask for your thoughts and suggestions, I do take them into account. ALWAYS! And I weighed heavily the options for tufting and upholstery over separate cushion and slipcover. In the end, we all know which I chose. And while I loved the idea of a tufted piece just as much as all of you who voted YES to the tufts, my reasonable side looked at the two reasons above, and vetoed the buttons in favor of comfort and function. I hope, sincerely, you understand!

 

Now, onto the next controversial change in the apartment ...

 

The Red Door - I Think I'll Name Her Elizabeth Arden

 

After a few dozen coats, the closet door in the hallway is now red. That's only a mild exaggeration, by the way. I'm calling it, "I'm not a waitress" Red, after the OPI nail polish. Here it is in progress. I can't tell you how many people have told me they hate it. Just hate it. "It doesn't make any sense." "You don't have red anywhere else in your room." "I didn't think you liked red." And that's exactly why I did it. Because it doesn't make any sense. It's odd and qwirky, it's different, and conversational. AND ... IT'S PAINT! If I decide in a month, a week, hell, in the next 5 minutes that I don't like it, I grab a brush, and life as we know it is back to Dover White. Plus, you can totally blame it on Miles Redd, and his new project that was featured in this month's Veranda!

 

Alright - so there you have it, answers, more to ponder, more to love ... or hate, and I welcome you to discuss, more to keep you tuned to how this little shell of an apartment that once looked like this:

 

 

Now looks like this. Thanks for taking part of the journey. For loving it, for giving your honest opinions, for the talk back and the chatter, and for being a part of this "new" life, much brighter and peaceful than before. 

 







To Tuft or Not To Tuft ...

As many of you know by now, I moved in September. This is the second move in 2015, a move instigated by this guy:

Arlo - French Bulldog and General Awesome Sidekick!

 

There were a few things that I needed in a new place, and finding it in my budget, with a dog, wasn't easy. In fact, it wasn't even nearly possible. Thankfully, I work for a great property management company with a diverse portfolio, including apartments that are dog-friendly, in a rather elite suburb of Buffalo.

 

It was, however, not without its fair share of challenges. Here's what the living room in the model apartment looks like:

 

 

Carpeted from wall to wall, void of any molding or architectural interest, and an eye-sore of an air-conditioning unit: it's not a dump - but it's not the ritz, either. I knew that I could make some improvements, thanks to my position with the company. They'd be out of my own pocket, but the positives far outweighed the initial ding to my pocket.

 

When I took my unit, it looked like this:

 

 

Pretty, right? I got permission to put down a different floor in the living room of the apartment than the carpet that they typically install prior to a tenant moving in. Thankfully! I still have carpet in the hallway and in the bedrooms, but for just a little over $350, the living room eventually looked like this:

 

 



Not too shabby, right? Once the furniture went into place, it became a little more obvious that in order to get a look that I wanted, I was going to have to spend some more money and create some architectural interest in the space. I started with a giant piece of art, which I did myself, a Cy Twombly inspired piece that I think I could have sold 15 times already:

 

At just over 6' tall and 8' long, it's a large statement in the room. Of course, I took the squat little window on the other side and visually raised the height of it by adding my bamboo roman shades and custom curtains. It wasn't quite enough though. So, inspired by mirrored walls I created a little mirror alcove of my own:

 

 

Using mirrors from the dollar store, (yes, they were $1/ea!) and doing a fun treatment on them to have them look like antique mirrors really added a beautiful and architecturally interesting piece to the room, for about $50 for the molding, mirrors, and glue.

 

So, this is really where the living room is today. This morning in fact. So why is this post called To Tuft or Not To Tuft? See those mouton leg French ottomans? They're moving on. The room is large enough to have a pretty significant piece of furniture there, and the opportunity to have the layout I want is worth the switch up. You see, the living room is 20' long! And there's plenty of opportunity for two seating groups. The sofa and two Bergere chairs create one group, and this large ottoman I'm creating for the center of the room creates another along with two additional Bergere chairs, serving as a backless sofa to both spaces.

 

So, the question is not whether or not to fill the space with a very large ottoman that will be multifunctional. That's happening. The question is whether or not tufting is the ticket, and I think it is. Take a look at a few inspiration pics, and let me know what you think!

 

Inspiration photos sourced on Pinterest