home + garden
Welcome to Homegirls. You'll find a sassy sampling of décor and design tips, frank conversation about everything from holidays and homekeeping to home improvement and our picks and pans of new products, stores and events.
Contributors: Kim Palmer, Lynn Underwood, Connie Nelson, Kim Ode and Nicole Hvidsten.
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Posts about Furniture
Cast-off couture
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: December 4, 2012 - 12:06 PM
Our front entry got an instant upgrade last week. That's because I finally ditched our beat-up old console table and replaced it with a new one that I picked up at a bargain price because it was a floor sample, too imperfect to sell for full retail.
It's got a couple dings on it, but it's still way better than the one we had, with a finish that had cracked and peeled away in strips, as though a giant had raked his fingernails across it.
But the old table quickly found a new home -- in the apartment of our 22-year-old daughter. She and her roommate were as happy to get it as I'd been happy to get rid of it. When the roomie carried it inside, a guy who helped her maneuver it through the door even commented that it was "a nice piece."
Really? It had looked nice enough when I bought it, about 25 years ago, when we were newlyweds. But it was so cheap at the time, and so damaged and dated looking now, that I never considered it an heirloom. Still, it's real solid wood, which is more than can be said for a lot of new furniture today.
Our daughter wants to strip and refinish it, to get rid of the scratches and give it a more stylish espresso color. I explained the process to her, what she'd need and how to do it. When I said goodbye to her, my eye fell on the two little accent tables that I'd refinished myself when I was her age. They were somebody's cast-offs, bought for a buck each at a garage sale. Yet they still have a place in my family room, and they still look good.
There's an awful lot of good-looking used furniture out there. My daughter and her roommate have beem pleasantly surprised by the offerings at local consignment stores and thrift shops. A couple years ago, I toured a new Parade home (pictured above) that had been completely furnished with secondhand stuff from the warehouse of Bridging, a program that helps families in need set up households.
If you have used furniture that you'd like to find a new home for, there are lots of options. Bridging (www.bridging.org) is one; it accepts "quality gently used furniture." The Hope Chest (www.hopechest.us), a foundation that helps breast-cancer patients and their families, also accepts "upscale" furniture donations for sale in its consignment shops. The Arc, a nonprofit that serves people with developmental disabilities, accepts "select furniture with manager approval" at its Value Village thrift stores (www.arcsvaluevillage.org).
What do you do with furniture that's past its prime or no longer useful to you? Do you refinish or reupholster it? Sell it? Donate it? Or hand it down to your kids?
Sofas: How old is too old?
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: November 7, 2012 - 12:20 PM
In furniture years -- which are a lot like dog years -- our sofa is a very old lady.
She just turned 20, and she's definitely showing her age. Her cherry legs are still shapely but scuffed and scarred. Her upholstery is dull and faded, so worn by wear that it's torn in a couple of places.
When I ordered her, direct from the manufacturer in South Carolina, the rep assured me of her longevity. "You'll be tired of that fabric long before it wears out," he said of the high-grade tapestry I'd chosen.
That turned out not to be true. I still love the fabric, but two kids and three dogs have definitely taken their toll. I'd even consider reupholstering in the SAME, EXACT pattern -- if it was still available, which it's not.
The frame is in perfectly good condition. Its style is old-fashioned -- with a high curved back and rolled arms -- but it was old-fashioned even 20 years ago, so I tell myself it's timeless.
I hadn't realized how tattered and shabby she was looking -- until our 22-year-old daughter, who's now furnishing her first grown-up apartment, discreetly suggested that it was time for us to put the sofa out of its misery.
My husband and I tend to treat furniture like cars, i.e. we run them into the ground and replace them only when absolutely necessary. But I guess 20 is awfully old for a sofa. A few years ago, in 2006, the average life expectancy for a "good-quality sofa," according to a survey of prospective furniture buyers, was 7.8 years, down from 12.1 years in 1996 and 14.2 years in 1985. I found those stats while researching a story about the trend away from heirloom furniture and toward "disposible" pieces.
That trend probably slowed during the recession, when few people could afford to replace dated yet still functional furniture. But there's no denying that more people today consider furniture a short-term style statement rather than a long-term investment.
How long do you think a sofa should last? And how long do you typically hang on to yours?
Solo fantasy homes -- what's yours?
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: March 6, 2012 - 11:45 AM
I'm a sucker for exotic homes. Like this one, a Moorish-in-Minnesota fantasy inspired by the Alhambra, a medieval palace in Spain.
I'd kill to live in a house like this. But first I'd have to get divorced. My husband's taste is a lot more mainstream. He likes four-square Colonials with sensible white walls. The few times we've come across a truly unusual and beautiful home that we could actually afford, he's always managed to resist its charms and magnify its quirks. The three houses we've owned together have all been compromises.
Yes, I know -- compromise is part of marriage. But every married person has their little fantasies. Not just about the perfect partner but about the perfect home we could create if we didn't have to take someone else's taste and habits into account.
I know I'm not alone. My fellow Homegirl Kim Ode blogged yesterday about "Second chance" decorating. Huff Post blogger Liz O'Donnell wrote last month about "Divorce houses." These are "the houses married women imagine moving into when we fantasize about what life would be like if we lived alone and could decorate without compromise." Her fantasies run to antiques and feminine colors -- with no baseball bobbleheads and sports trophies!
When I'm not fantasizing about Moorish castles or George Clooney's estate on Lake Como, I sometimes fantasize about a duplex. That way, my husband and I could enjoy each other's company without having to "enjoy" each other's decorating and housekeeping.
What's your "divorce house" fantasy? And, guys, don't be shy. We know you have your fantasy homes, too.
Home trends that have lost their luster
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: February 22, 2012 - 5:14 PM
Well, that was fast! Just a few years ago, the fancy home theater was a must-have.
Every high-end Parade home had one, complete with a huge projection screen, plush seating with cupholders and dramatic mood lighting.
Now, it seems, the home theater is already a bygone fad, like poodle perms and "Flashdance" legwarmers.
We still like our home entertainment and electronics. But with flat-screen TVs all over the house and gadgets that move with us from room to room, we're more likely to want a charging station for our devices than a whole room outfitted for viewing.
The decline of the recently red-hot media room emerged from a survey by the National Association of Home Builders (www.nahb.org). Today's homebuyers are practical and value-oriented, according to an article analyzing the data, by Steve Kerch (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/kiss-these-10-once-popular-home-features-goodbye.html)
Other once-popular features that are now on the wane include:
1. Outdoor kitchens and outdoor fireplaces
2. Sunrooms
3. Two-story family rooms
4. Two-story foyers.
5. Master-planned developments.
6. Luxury master bathrooms
7. Formal living rooms
8. Whirlpool tubs
What about you? Which of these home features do you already have? Do you enjoy them? Would you buy or build them again?
Canopy beds for grownups
Posted by: Kim Palmer Updated: February 7, 2012 - 5:38 PM
When I was a kid playing with Barbie dolls, I thought canopy beds were the ultimate in elegance and sophistication. I had one in my Barbie Dream House, a white one draped in pink ruffles -- as sweet and sugary as a gumball. I loved it then, but I'd gag if I had to sleep in that bed today.
I've outgrown my taste for pink ruffles but not canopy beds. We actually have one, a massive king-size model with spiral-cut bedposts as thick as young tree trunks. We bought it about 15 years ago when we moved into our current home.
Our bedroom has one of those high vaulted ceilings so popular in new homes of its heyday (1990). But the room was so tall and cavernous that I decided to bring in some vertical height -- hence the canopy bed.
Our bed is huge -- almost a room within a room. I like that cloistered feeling -- like a cozy retreat from the cold cruel world, not to mention our cold, cavernous bedroom.
At the time we bought our bed, it was popular to loosely drape canopy bed frames with swaths of filmy fabric. It was supposed to look casual, like the wind happened to blow the fabric there, and there it stayed. That lasted a couple of years, but I soon got tired of those droopy dust-catchers and yanked them off.
I was curious about the history of canopy beds, so I did a little research. Apparently they once served a practical purpose, adding an additional layer of shelter between the sleeper and his or her leaky thatched roof. Later, European noblemen favored curtained canopies that could be completely closed, so that they could create a cocoon of privacy from their servants, who often slept in the same room.
You don't see a lot of canopy beds these days. They always seem sort of old-fashioned and baroque -- at home in over-the-top traditional bedrooms, but not in a sleek, modern boudoir.
But there are actually of lot of stunningly modern canopy beds still being made, in futuristic shapes and artful metal, like sculptures.
How do you feel about canopy beds? Have you ever had one? And what did you do with the canopy -- drape it, curtain it or leave it bare?
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