Manolo for the Home

This living room below is in a loft in a converted 19th-century chocolate factory in Moscow. How cool is that furniture set-up?

Now, industrial lofts are trendy, lofts are fun, but lofts are not for everyone. Specifically, they are not for those of us who haven’t cashed in on a local oil boom, made a ton of money in the stock market, or been blessed with rich, elderly relatives. A sunken sofa, however, could be doable, if The Beard agreed to let me burrow into the cozy finished basement that also serves as his office and studio.

From Etsy sellers, here are four pretty things for the home that are evocative of a summer that is almost gone.

The colors are summery without being overtly beachy, which I like. After all, I’m trying to recall the heyday of the hottest season, not gussy up a timeshare. If you’re not sure what I mean, have a look in the lobby of your nearest warm weather holiday resort and be prepared for PEACH SEASHELL OVERLOAD.

When you want decor that speaks to you — as opposed to outside observers — there’s no need to make your stuff shout.

I adore this occasional chair from Pottery Barn…

But I love this one from Overstock.com so much more…

Hosting a party this past weekend was a real eye-opener for me. I realized at some point on Saturday that I could only comfortably host X number of people before some guests would be left standing unless Y number of people chose to schmooze in a different area of the house. When everyone was on the porch or in the living room, there would inevitably be someone on their feet. I’m not anti-standing, but less than comfortable to eat and drink when vertical.

So, yeah, I obviously need a few more chairs, even if that means buying cheapie chairs that stay hidden away in the basement until it becomes absolutely necessary to bring them out.

If you, like me, enjoy learning a bit more about that which you plan to buy, you’ll probably like 5,000 Years of Chairs in 5 Minutes. The video, created and narrated by Nick Currie for The Post-Materialist, takes a look at all the “chairs out there in the world.” It’s a bit heavy on the not-so-ancient chairs, but fun nonetheless!

The Beard and I spent the weekend jumping from shop to shop, looking for the perfect patio set. What we saw was somewhat dismaying…the sturdy metal chairs had flimsy plastic seats while most of the umbrella-ready tables were far too big for our modest deck. Even boxed, the sets we liked were too big to fit into our car, and we weren’t willing to pay $250 for shipping on a $500 item!

We eventually settled on a white wicker set from Target that received rave reviews from just about everyone who bought it. At some point in the future we’ll be buying an umbrella, but that can wait. All in all, I’m pretty excited and hope it arrives quickly.

Interestingly, wicker refers not to a material, but rather to the act of weaving fibers together. A wicker chair or table may be crafted from rattan reed, bamboo, or paper fibre rush, and a lot of the wicker-style furniture in the world today is made of plastic. Natural wicker is susceptible to the elements, so it has to be covered and brought inside when not in use…or, at the very least, in the wintertime. Unlike molded plastic patio furniture, it won’t last ages and ages.

The good news is that wicker can last quite a while with proper care, as outlined in this NY Times article. Cleaning and sealing are musts!

The house that The Beard and I own — or sort of own, because a goodly portion of it still belongs to Wells Fargo — came complete with a backyard deck painted a sort of rusty red color that burns the hell out of our feet on summer afternoons. We’ve got a power sander and a couple of jugs of deck stain at the ready. What we don’t have is time!

Recently, my MIL was in town along with one of The Beard’s cousins, my own mother, and her partner. Watching our relatives carry kitchen chairs out onto the deck was a bit humbling, to say the least. We’d had two of those molded plastic chairs one can buy at the Family Dollar and a little matching table, which was fine for us. Then The Beard dropped one off of the side of the deck, meaning no more leisurely Saturday morning outdoor breakfasts. For now, at least.

Well, it seems my MIL noticed the lack of outdoor seating because before she left, she presented The Beard with a check for a thousand dollars to put toward a nice patio set. Now I’m wasting precious time scouring the Internet for ideas. I can’t decide whether to buy something chic for two (seeing as that we’ll be the ones using it 99% of the time) or a set that can accommodate larger numbers.

Here are two possibilities:

The Provence garden set would be perfect for those intimate breakfasts mentioned above, but less than ideal when guests were in town.

The Al Fresco teak set, on the other hand, would allow us to play host to at least three other people.

We’re gravitating toward something durable that’s less than the amount donated by my MIL so we can buy a few other things for our home. I’m thinking about picking up this lamp from Bellacor:

It’s lovely, it matches my living room scheme, and it costs a mere $151, which doesn’t seem like a lot when you have a thousand bucks to play with. Would I spring for it normally? Probably not because I like the thrifting game too much, but the rules have changed for the time being!

Radar won’t detect THIS chair from Blu Dot! Its faceted surfaces give it a very low radar signature because it can radiate almost all of the radar energy away from the receiver. Okay, maybe I’m making all of this up, but I can’t help it if my brain says B-2 when I look at this particular piece of furniture.

2Modern says: “Powder-coated steel ships flat and folds along laser-cut lines to create a dynamic and comfortable chair. As skinny as a supermodel, yet far more sturdy.”

I don’t necessarily know that I want my furniture to be as skinny as a supermodel. Furniture from my local discount store is as skinny as a supermodel and that isn’t good. I wouldn’t mind, however, if my furniture was as study as a F-117 Nighthawk because that’s pretty dang sturdy. Unlike the Nighthawk, the Real Good chair is available in ivory, aqua, and red.

Oh, MetroSofa, you minx! Temptress! Or is that tempter? I mean, really now, is an only seating shop traditionally male or female? It doesn’t matter. Your antique-modern aesthetic makes me want to light all of the furniture in my house on fire just so I have an excuse to buy more.

Seriously — classic styles merge with hip fabrics in a perfect blend of old and new. They start with recyclable or antique wood frames that would otherwise end up in a landfill and work their magic to make them beautiful again, choosing “paints, fabrics, cushions and finishes with green production and manufacturing in mind.” Yep, green as in eco-friendly so you can feel good about your chair…unless you had to torch all your existing chairs to get it.

Plus, if you don’t like any of the chairs you see below, you can custom design your own!

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I like furniture like this Blue Dot Bonnie sofa and Clyde loveseat…in a showroom or on the pages of a magazine, that is. It’s fun to imagine buying a thoroughly modern house and decorating with futuristic furnishings, but I’ve always gravitated toward a countryish aesthetic because the associated furniture tends to look comfortable and inviting. Whether or not it is…that’s an entirely different story.

For all I know, this sofa is a dream to sit on, but it simply does not make me want to “take a load off.” When confronted with seating like this, I tend to park myself on the very edge and sit up very straight. It almost looks as if it belongs in the lobby of a rather nice hotel where it’s understood that while people do need to sit down, they won’t be sitting down very long.

I look at this sofa and can’t help but wonder: When does design trump comfort? Does it ever?