Friday, September 24, 2010

What is...The Most Uncomfortable Seat In The House

On with the series of "What is..." 

This readers is the most uncomfortable seat in the house. 

Do not be fooled by the custom slipcovers, silk pillows or needlepoint piece over the back.  This is actually two upholstered chairs with a single arm per chair that I determined looked more suitable pushed together.

Another fine example of re-use, as well as a future reupholstering project. 

I would venture to say that these chairs are circa 1940's or 1950's due to the style - curved lower backside, light maple or similar wood simple square legs and original upholstery that lies hiding under the slip covers.  Sides and back are upholstered in a gold jacquard fabric and the front has a military, dark olive green fabric with what might be small bunches of feather plumes scattered about.

Of late, I have been purging and I seriously considered retaining at least one of the very comfortable camel back love seats and putting it in this spot of the living room.  But, I could not force myself to do it, as the arms of the camel back love seats were approximately 2.5" wide each.

Personal preference, as I do not care for large, over stuffed furniture in most rooms.  If you have a large room that can handle that scale of furniture, more power to you to carry that style off.

So, off went the wonderfully comfortable love seats to a men's half-way house, as a charitable donation and here sits my future project staring me in the face. 

I confess, the seats are as hard as a solid park bench.  But, at least it looks decent.


On a positive note, my heart skipped a beat, when I recently found the beautiful wool needlepoint and blue velvet backed piece.  (This is what I have draped over the back of the two chairs.)  It does wonders for tying the two chairs together into a unified seating area, as well as complimenting the Chinese Oriental carpet.

If any of you readers has a handle and knowledge of Asian symbols and can identify those on the needlepoint center and/or the carpet, please, please educate me.

Looking at situations in a different light.  One of my hints for home goods scouting is before Christmas, if you like the color palettes associated with the holidays.  Then follow-up immediately after Christmas with shopping, when the stores want to quickly move so called holiday items out of inventory.

The off-white, genuine silk pillows with center rhinestone accent, are a good example of the holiday decor that stores sell that can be interlaced with your year round home decor. 

I found these pillows at Target, a handful of years ago, after Christmas, as well as another set in violet that I purchased for an accent in a mostly bright green decorated bedroom.

The dusty blue wool throw that is draped over one of the arms is from Pottery Barn.  It has a subtle off-white or light tan paisley design woven into the fabric.  A nice throw to have on a cold night in this room that has a cathedral ceiling that opens up to a second floor bedroom.

What is...On My Coffee Table

Indulge me for the sake of my mother who has yet to visit O'Dea-O'Dea and I hope will be shown my blog and photos by another family member.  Or for those of you with an inquisitive mind and an eye for individual design style indulge and read on.

The living room, as I have mentioned before, has an Asian theme.  A mixture of Japanese and Chinese decor that adds color, texture and interest to the space.  The coffee table is an older Japanese style wood with Japanese scenes painted on the three sections under glass.  Painted on paper, it sadly has begun to deteriorate.  The boarders of the table have a subtle gold floral stencil.

The main items that I keep on the coffee table: 
  • A bright box with a dome shaped lid and a red tassel (formerly a Whole Foods, Christmas Cookie Box) that is filled with glass coasters.
  • The glass coasters are a mixture of older coaster/ashtrays with embellished band of silver around the edge.  I am not sure what decade these were popular (though I imagine 1960's or 1970's when smoking was still popular), but I recently found a new, unused set of four (4) in the box.  For those of you that are interested in their origin, they were manufactured by Leonard and made in Italy.  (Hint...hint...  Use the coasters when you visit.  Resting you beverage on an unprotected surface is taboo in O'Dea-O'Dea.)

  • A lacquered and Asian candy dish decorated with a circle of golden fish that is filled with candies.
  • A ceramic red and orange poppy accent dish filled with brightly decorated and lacquered chop sticks and letter openers with a variety of painted ducks at the top.

  • Brightly potted chrysanthemums.*


*The current floral pieces were a compromise, as when I went to the store to purchase white carnations the store was sold out.  Instead, I purchased these chrysanthemums that caught my eye with their bright autumn colors and were available for approx. $5 a plant.  (A compromise, but actually a much longer lasting set of autumn floral arrangements than cut flowers and at a lower total cost.)

The pots are old decorative and hand painted pots made in Italy.  They are potted using pea gravel as the base within the pot to pull water away from the roots and a finished top of pea gravel to keep out Lord Fairfax, Urban Tiger, as well as dirt and water from back splashing onto the table when watered.