Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Before & After


Once upon a time, on the Upper, Upper West Side of Manhattan (112th Street, to be exact), I found a chair on the street.  She was a lovely chair.  I painted her green and put her just inside the door to my new sublet so I'd have a place to leave my purse when I came home.

Eight years, five apartments and two paint-jobs later, the poor thing needed to retire.  Someone sat on her last month and she literally collapsed underneath them, much to my humiliation!  Sorry chair, you had a good run, but it's time to go.


Enter the bench.  
I've been thinking about a bench for this space for a few months.  I liked the idea of having a bench for extra seating; two people can sit on him, instead of only one, like my chair.  Also, I thought a bench would look great under my sewing table - something to echo the simple rectangular shape of the the design.  I knew exactly what I wanted, but couldn't find anything in traditional stores (Target, etc.) so I began to scour craigslist.  It took me a while, but I finally got the bench of my dreams from a very nice lady in Midtown who was moving and selling a bunch of stuff.  $40 - not free, but I would hesitate to pick up something upholstered off the street.  I'm not shy about garbage picking, as evidenced here, but I draw the line at fabric/upholstery.  Why, I couldn't tell you.  I just do, okay?

Four coats of paint (yes, really) and a $6 yard of fabric later and I have this:


Ta DAA!  
Not bad, right?  I'm so happy with the result!  The white paint-job really accentuates the shape of the bench and how perfectly it echos my West Elm Parsons desk.  I recently painted that wall Benjamin Moore's Labrador Blue and now everything pops against the color.  I love that I can access the drawers of my desk without having to pull out the chair, which is a bonus I didn't even think about.


Ugh, this shot isn't white-balanced but I wanted to give you a close up.  The blue of the fabric is actually more a teal but it looks very similar to the wall color in the picture.  It's not that match-y in real life.


And here's a wide shot of my office/sewing nook.  I bought that rail and hanging cups from Ikea and it's changed my life.  I love having things (scissors, Sharpies, etc.) out and easy to access but this keeps them up and out of the way - the best of both worlds.

Stay tuned for more Before & After action - coming soon!!

2 comments:

CityMinx said...

this looks amazing!! wanna come over and give me advice on my apartment? i'm serious, it's been 13 years, time for a change!

Rebecca said...

My advice would be to read lots and lots of shelter magazines and look at Apartment Therapy every day! Seriously! I spend hours looking at design websites and bookmarking things that I like.