From Old to New

 After just posting about the ancient car I bought from the side of the road, I'm turning in the complete opposite direction and posting about new furniture.  This week we donated 80% of our living room furniture and splurged on new pieces.  While I'm not one to be matchy-matchy, I could not help but make a beautiful exception.  At least I think these pieces are gorgeous.  The end table has a match along with a living room table.  The lamps were a set.

Finding smaller-scaled pieces can be difficult.  Another problem I have is reconciling good quality and modern construction.  I have wanted seriously well designed furniture for most of my adult life, but our wallets and our circumstances just didn't mesh with my desire.  Instead, I found myself beholden to objects that belonged to other people. I did not acquire them out of desire.  Instead it was a sense of obligation -- the pieces were in my family, or they worked in the old house and someone had made them.  I had all sorts of reason for making due.  My pieces were interesting because they were unique and old, but can't really say I loved them.  

The design of the pieces we bought this week are a compromise between our two styles and came about by serendipity.  A local furniture store is going out of business because the 89 year old owner wants to retire.  I had coveted the well-designed and carefully crafted merchandise for years, but now faced with a clearance sale, I decided we had to jump in and buy some good new pieces.  Imagine that, I have grown-up stuff.

  

After bringing home the tables and lamps, I decided to get rid of an older re-upholstered wing chair and banged up ottoman.  I kept both because we needed the seating, however they did not go well with the newer pieces and the leg on the wing chair was broken.  Realistically, it would have taken me ages to find someone to fix it.  Teddy had a favorite game of hiding her toys under the ottoman and begging us to get them out.

Junking the chair and the ottoman was easy when I found this replacement.  It was uber-expensive compared to the other pricey pieces --  but when we saw it, we fell in love with it.  It solves the problem of the broken chair leg and the annoying dog-ploy.  And it's just too damned cool.

The pieces really fit well into our small home.  They are quality construction that will last a long time. While the style is contemporary, they are not "throw-away" pieces.  They won't break or wear out easily either.  I sort of view them the same as my old Mercedes.  They are solid and well-styled and built to last a long time.