It’s tough to find furniture that’s reasonably priced and something that catches my interest. The above picture caught my eye on Pinterest. A great styling for this chair. Something I’m still working on at my house, but first the chair saga:

The pleather Lazyboy recliner that is one of the only remnants left of Todd’s bachelor days kept breaking down (the seat ripped the other day) and it just looked terrible in our living room.

I love this chair. I pile the arms high with books and paperwork. I sleep in this chair. It was like a warm nest for me when I wanted to cuddle in for some reading/movie time.

But it’s gross. It’s pleather. And when pleather breaks down, it ain’t pretty. I think if I put this on the side of the road, with a free sign on it, I probably wouldn’t have any takers.

I knew the day was coming too. I knew that I would have to replace this chair, and so I’ve been looking. But I didn’t want another brown chair (we already have a brown leather couch) and I didn’t want to spend over 500 bucks and I did not want to go to IKEA to buy a white slipcovered Ektorp chair, because I am bored, bored, bored with the IKEA look. And my price limit removes most of the designer furniture stores from my shopping list. Restoration Hardware, forgetaboutit. Thomasville, yep, no. Crate & Barrel, nada. Pottery Barn, LOL!

But, and I don’t know how it happened, a chair at Overstock caught my eye. It had no arms, more of a velvet chaise, but I was in love with the tufting and the exposed spindle legs. And it was cheap: 250 bucks. But I still didn’t pull the trigger, because the only color that would work was brown. I would have loved a gray or even an aqua green.

Not with Overstock.

So I kept looking and then stumbled onto Pier 1 last month and saw one chair that might work. But it looked blue. I need aqua, not blue. But I loved the look of it and it seemed to fit what I had in my head. Still, I kept looking. Plus this chair was very close to 500 bucks, my price point, and I love a deal.

I drove by my local Pier 1 the other day and out of the corner of my eye was the corner of the chair I’d been considering. Hm. I liked the look of it in the window. But I still didn’t go inside to look.

And then hubby took a look at the pleather recliner over the weekend and exclaimed loudly at how terrible it looked. I agreed. “Let’s throw it away and buy something else.”

He looked up at me in surprise. “What? You have another chair in mind to replace it with?”

I nodded. “I think so.” And then convinced him to drive me to Pier 1 and we saw “the chair” first hand. It was smaller than I wanted, but that wasn’t a deal breaker. The exposed spindle legs were only in front. The back ones were a more modern block leg. The tufting on the chair was gorgeous and so plushy. Then I saw the back. This chair is one of those new trendy deconstructed chairs. It is not missing fabric, but they turned out the accent fabric and so it looks deconstructed without actually being terribly deconstructed. For a great rant on deconstructed furniture, check out Cote de Texas.

It was just what I wanted. It was spendier, but that’s because the foam of the cushion is the standard foam, not the upgraded foam available at Thomasville. But I can replace that later when I wear it out. The chair is perfect. And husband had me consider every stinking other chair in that store, I swear.

My only beef is that we bought their spare stock, so they said, and then they gave me the floor model, because they didn’t actually have the extra stock. And it has the familiar aroma of Pier 1. That too heavy, cloying smell of incense that I wish I could just erase. Maybe I’ll grab some Febreze.

Anyway, I love the chair. And so ends the chair saga. Hubby now says there is nothing left of his beloved bachelor pad. I made him take the pleather chair to the dump and painted his kitchen table. He’s bummed, but not really.

If you heard about Seattle’s torturous snow/ice storm last week (south of Seattle, we added an inch of ice to our half a foot of snow), you heard right. It was a tough one. The worst ice south King County had seen EVER.

And in spite of no power, me flying out in the middle of the night and packing a suitcase and putting on eye makeup in the dark, and packing all our food in coolers filled with snow, the images my husband snagged during the thick of it are now reminding me of a Dale Chihuly sculpture.

More images of our ice here.

The ice is gone and all is well. The squirrels are back to their antics in our backyard and the sun is out. Happy Monday!

My name is Tricia and I’m addicted to books.

Hi, Tricia.

These are the inspiration pics showing what we’re going for. Hubby is building this for me and I’m so excited to have my own finish cabinetry professional (his job in a previous life) on call just for this project!

I was away last weekend.

My husband gets all the credit for this minor fix.

Finally, the light switches in my office and in the garage all flip DOWN when the lights are off and UP when the lights are on.

Yes, minor. But so good for my soul.

And, he changed out the old decking pieces for some new freshly stained ones. These should withstand our fierce Pacific Northwest drip for a little while!

Just part of living with trees!

Have a great last few days of November!

And it’s winter. And we’ve got two projects we’re still working on that are not done. So, to tide you over, here’s our Halloween pics!

Hope you all had a great Halloween! (no, that is not my outline or the outline of Gumby)

I have an addiction.

I love looking at before and afters on house remodels. I love the voyeuristic feel as I get to peek inside other people’s houses.

Who’s with me?

I love seeing how other people live. Perhaps it’s for inspiration? Perhaps I just covet their stuff?

I bought turquoise Japanese glass fish floats at the Coburg Antique Fair this year and Todd added the little plastic pumpkins. Yes, they light up every evening about 5 pm. Hysterical.

And more of the fish floats on top of the tv cabinet. I love them!

New rug with a touch of fall color (from Target clearance).

And also in the kitchen, replacing the very old one we received for our wedding eight years ago. I love the update.

And last, but certainly not least, the pumpkins for this year’s carving. I will reenact Munch’s The Scream painting like I always do, but Todd has some terrific plans for his big one, I know.

Happy fall! I’m back at home after enjoying a week away in New York City. I’m exhausted, but it was a great trip!