Conquering The Sofa Hunt

As a first time sofa buyer, I can attest to how difficult it is to pick the 'right' sofa. Being a big purchase and a piece of furniture you want to be able to keep for a while, it's a difficult decision with a lot of choices.  I'm happy to say that after two weeks of sofa researching and way too many swatches, I have found the right sofa for our new apartment, AND it's already arrived! No 8-10 weeks of waiting! I got a great deal on it, so I am even more excited and am entering that stage where I'm telling the story multiple times to the same people.

First things first in choosing the sofa, I picked the style I liked, an English Roll Arm. Then I measured my space and starting shopping around to test comfort and fabrics. Hoping from Pottery Barn to Bassett to Restoration Hardware, back to Pottery Barn and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, I finally found the perfect fabric at MG+BW. The catch - their English Roll Arm was too big and only came with a tight back. A 80" English Roll Arm is what I needed for my space and I had decided I liked a booth bench with bed pillows on the back. Through a fabric process that got me as close to Goldilocks as I can imagine, Bassett was my best option to try to find a fabric close to the one I liked. Feeling pretty deflated, I pulled together my three favorite fabrics - two from MW+BG on the left and the right and one from Bassett in the middle - and decided to take yet another trip outside the perimeter to Bassett.

Friday, the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center (ADAC) opened its sample sale to the public with 80% off deals. ADAC is an amazing resource for furniture in Atlanta offering high quality, locally made custom pieces and more, but definitely out of my price range when at full price. I did some research and saw I needed to get their right at 9 AM. So Friday, I pushed back my OTP trip and headed over to ADAC. AT 9 AM, the place was a zoo and full of people who knew exactly how to work the vendors. At 9:10, hundreds of pieces had already been purchased, marked with sold tags and pulled to the side of the floor. It was clear you had to act fast. I trolled through and ended up finding an English Roll Arm sleeper sofa, but in navy. After a frantic call to my friend in San Francisco who graciously answered my phone call at 7:30 AM her time to talk me through the buying process, I purchased my first sofa! And just in time too, a man right after me tried to talk me out of buying it so he could instead.

The sofa is made by Vanguard Furniture in Hickory, North Carolina

The delivery services on the premise took my order and delivered the sofa the next day. It is 76" and actually works a lot better than a 80" sofa would have in the space leaving ample room for side tables. The navy color was not one I was considering, but I'm so glad that's where I ended up. Functionality is another thing I'd encourage people to think about when buying a new sofa. For us, we are going to end up eating there a lot, and I had overlooked this when thinking about colors thinking a light colored sofa was needed for the space. Instead, I am going to lighten the space up with a rug, artwork and pillows and keep my sofa more low maintenance.

Oh What A Difference A Rug Can Make

Last week I visited my sister, who has her hands full with a 9-month old toddler (who will pretty much be walking tomorrow), and helped her decorate her bedroom. My nephew is a crazy man with a great temperament, and a good sport shopping with us for our hours on end at Home Goods and Target. Even though the room is not done, I wanted to share our progress.

Headboard | Curtains | Rug | Bedside

Choosing The Right Sofa

Yesterday was a big day for us. Aside from being Easter Sunday, CT and I are now officially residents of Midtown! Our move was super easy and the movers from Atlanta Peach Movers were great and efficient (and pretty much the only moving company that would move us on Easter Sunday). They wrapped all furniture to make sure it didn't get damaged and were strategic in how they moved each item in and out. Now that our big items are in the apartment aka our beds...it's now couch decision time. I have been doing my due diligence researching a million blogs out there looking for the right sofa. I've decided on the English Arm Roll Sofa, but need help with which retailer to buy from and the fabric.

{source}

I love the short arm with the extra seat cushion making the sofa arms more of a delicate decoration than a statement. The sofa is pretty deep making it the perfect sink in while you're watching your favorite TV show, but also tough to fit in my somewhat tiny apartment. I've narrowed it down to four stores - Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Bassett Furniture and Restoration Hardware.

Which reminds me, they are building a SIX story Restoration Hardware mecca in Atlanta on Peachtree Street that I can't wait to be done!! The project is insane, costing the company around $20 million, but it's for sure to be 6 stories of beautiful decor.

At Pottery Barn, the Carlisle Sofa is their English Arm Roll Sofa. They unfortunately didn't have this sofa on the floor at Lenox this weekend after their sofa sale, so if anyone has one I'd love to know what you think! Fabric - I am somewhere between Oatmeal Linen and Perennials Performance Basketweave Ivory or Oatmeal.

Bassett Furniture has a few options, but all are custom ordered, which gives me way too much free reign on fabrics, etc. Has anyone ordered a sofa from here? 

Restoration Hardware....I just love everything from this store, but it is SO expensive. Which leads me to if it's worth the price. I love their bedding but have never bought a piece of furniture from the store. Anyone have any experience with their sofas? This sofa is also on sale.

English Roll Arm Sofa

And then there are places that sell the same sofa at a discounted price, like The Home Decorators Collection. They have a deal right now which brings this lovely sofa to under $1,000, and I am definitely tempted. 

Custom Markham Sofa

I've read a lot of articles and forums from Apartment Therapy on sofas, but would love any other opinions!

Rugs To Envy

I have been working hard to scan through every piece of inspiration I possibly can to decide on the decor for my new apartment's living room. I am visiting my sister and nephew this week in Virginia, and took some time on the plane over here to browse through my Domino home decor book. It takes you through the steps you need to be successful in decorating, which came in handy redecorating my sister's bedroom this week (pictures coming next week!), and getting me ready to outfit the apartment. Domino urges you to dig through inspiration and then establish a trend or theme. For me that was all over the place because I really like a bit of everything and every style. So I decided classic, but bohemian fit me best.

Next, they urge you to think about how you will use the space. For us, the living room will serve as the place we spend the majority of our time and act as a duel dining room (insert white couch conflict). It will have to serve a lot of purposes - be a place we'd feel proud to entertain guests in, but also be a 'kick your feet up on the coffee table' kind of room. I boiled the list down to some main themes we had to have:

A Neutral/Light Couch (even though I'm scared to deal we'll ruin it)

Natural Wood Pieces

Louis XVI Chairs

Gold Accents

Mix and Matched Patterned Pillows

A large sun loving plant

and an antique rug.

Which brings me to the serious antique rug envy I have going on that comes with inspiration hunting. There are some pretty amazing rugs out there, and it seems everyone buys amazing rugs from esalerugs.com.

Margaret Elizabeth

Smitten Studio

Wit & Delight 

Little Green Notebook

Making It Lovely

And now me! I picked out this rug this week, which is perfect timing for esalerugs's 50% off Easter Weekend sale. It's an awkward size for the living room as a runner, but I'm hoping to make it work even if I have to layer.  Isn't it lovely?

Master of The White Couch

Happy Monday everyone. We had a very successful apartment hunting weekend, and have found a place to live in Midtown! Despite growing up in Atlanta, Midtown is not a part of the city either of us have ever lived in. Atlanta is such a driving city, and I am excited to keep somewhat of a pedestrian lifestyle I adopted in New York. Living in Midtown also means new restaurants and places to try, and a park within walking distance. CT is going to be heading to China in a few weeks and has given me full reign of decorating the apartment, and I cannot freaking wait. As you can imagine, my search for decorating inspiration is currently a full blown obsession. Our apartment will have dark hard wood floors and gray walls, which immediately leads me to light colors for the main piece of living room furniture, the couch. I absolutely love the look of a crisp white couch against patterned rugs, dark walls and flooring, who doesn't, but can't for the life of me understand how people keep the couches white. Even if a slipcover is involved or if a Tide to-go pin is kept in the side table drawer, I would (A) become a neurotic cleaning fanatic (B) have to institute a no-eating policy on the couch and (C) ultimately ruin it day 1. Guaranteed. Chances that CT/my mom will convince me a dark gray couch is needed...likely, but until then...does neutral count?

{source}

 This living room decorated by Grant K. Gibson has been a favorite of mine, mixing the antique rug, white couch, gold coffee tables and fiddle leaf fig. 

{source}

{source} 

[source}

Pattern Picking - Chinoiserie Chair DIY

It has been a lot of fun being in Atlanta this week during my off time between jobs. I am apartment hunting and day dreaming about decorating our apartment. Meanwhile, I finally got the chance to start my Chippendale chair redo I keep talking about, and I am going to need y'alls help picking fabrics! This picture has stuck in my head, and I ended up picking up red spray paint at Home Depot instead of a bright orange. I just love the glam bright red pop of color and how it mixes with a black background chinoiserie fabric.

So, far I have one coat of paint on the chair, and man they weren't kidding when they said rattan absorbs color. I'm guessing I'll need four cans to paint both chairs. Already, I am loving the color and can't wait for the finished product! 

Picking out just the right fabric is proving to be the hardest part, although ask me again once I've installed the seat...not sure where to start with that one since they didn't come with a seat board to reupholster. Here are some of the fabrics I'm trying to decide between. Let me know what you think!

Bohemian Inspired Jewelry - Lux Divine

I'm not really into the big music festivals like Burning Man or Coachella, but even someone who has no clue when these events happen can't avoid all of the fashion posts from publishing favorites. I can only assume that Coachella is nearing with all the buzz around festival gear, but for the life of me I couldn't even find the date of the festival on their aesthetically pleasing website. Embarrassing...maybe. The weekend-long camping concert festival assuming people just know when it is and so it doesn't need to be on their website? Likely. 

So this year, even though I told myself that Decor-Eat needed to be true to it's name and only feature decor and recipes causing me to put my one off fashion posts to the side...I just don't think I can help myself with this one. I love bohemian style, so the other day when I stumbled across this L.A. based jewelry maker, I had to share. While some of their pieces are totally meant for the festival goer like these ear cuffs -

Other pieces keep the earthly gems, stones and tribal look for a more subtle statement piece. I LOVE these wrap bracelets, the arrowhead necklace and gem rings.

The company is called Lux Divine Jewelry and was created by a husband and wife team. Jessica makes all of the jewelry herself in the U.S. and makes sure her stones and gems have a social responsible history - no child labor, etc.. You should really check out her full line of products, they are all absolutely beautiful.

Check out here store here.

Evans-Cucich House on P'Tree Battle

Having been away from Atlanta for 2 years, it's amazing how much construction has popped up all around the Buckhead area. The Buckhead bar demolition scene that's been a flatted piece of land since 2007, is finally now the booming framework of a new shopping and restaurant complex. A house that has sat vacant on Peachtree Battle for as long as I can remember, now has construction signs up and tarps covering pieces of the house.

{source}

 Growing up, this 1930s house designed by architect A.F.N. Everett, had a mystique but eery feel to it with the house's tie to the KKK and rumors of secret tunnels. It's history, website: Atlanta Curbed, jokes doesn't "tend to sell homes." Today, the rare art deco facade is what's generating a lot of buzz among the large architectural and design community of Atlanta.

Over the past few years, the house has been toured by some of my friends and other curious Atlanta natives, who have talked about the poor state of the house. Chipped paint, holes in the walls and a musky smell are some of the obstacles the house renovators will face. The house has also been registered

 {source - jryanduffey.com}

Here's what the entry way used to look like. 

{photo from, Atlanta Architecture: Art Deco to Modern Classic, 1929-1959, by Robert M. Craig via jryanduffey.com}

 {source - jryanduffey.com}

{source - jryanduffey.com}

Art Deco detailing
{source- The Peak of Chic}

Detailing outside on the limestone
source -The Peak of Chic

The backyard is pretty insane especially for the house's prime location, so I had to share. 

 {source - atlanta curbed}

Last year, the house was purchased by what looks like a custom home group, who must be bringing the historic house back to life. I'm excited to see how the renovations turn out.

Decor-Eat Has Moved...to Atlanta!

A lot of big changes have been happening for me this past month. I quit my job, got a new job, moved out of my New York apartment and moved back to Atlanta! If you're new to Decor-Eat (welcome!), I got engaged in December to my boyfriend, who lives in Atlanta, that I had been long distance dating for nearly 2 years since I moved from Atlanta to New York. For anyone else out there doing long distance dating, visiting often is key. We were visiting every few weeks, which when we counted them up the other day came out to 26 flights in nearly 2 years! Eek. And as you can imagine the frequent traveling can be exhausting and expensive.  I had such a blast living in New York and will miss the city, culture, La Colombe coffee and more, but am really excited to get back to Atlanta with warm weather, laundry machines and dish washers! Oh the little things.

Now that I'm back in Atlanta, I am going to be settling in, which means finding a new place to live and doing some serious purging! I have accumulated way too much stuff over the last 5 years or so. Moving from college to Atlanta to New York and back, you'd think I'd have cleaned house every time I moved...wrong. Everything ended up going to my gracious parents' attic. I have a lot of great clothes I need to pass along to the next, so look out for an upcoming blog sale and check out my Poshmark.

Since I'm going to be moving into a new apartment soon, I will be sharing a lot more decor and DIY posts soon. First on my list are these pair of Chippendale chairs I scooped up around Thanksgiving time that need a redo.

When I posted these back in November, redoing the chairs to this orange and gray fabric was a fan favorite, and I love how they mix with an antique rug and wooden coffee table.

source

Cheers! 

{Swift Kick in the Tito @ Salt Yard}