Posts Tagged ‘furniture’

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Furniture Ramblings

January 21st, 2011 by Suzanne | 4 Comments | Filed in oh happy day, random

If I were left to my own devices, I would be a furniture hoarder. I love furniture. Couches are OK, but there is something about a nice piece of wood furniture that gets me excited. So gleaming! So sleek! The thing is, whenever we need some new piece of furniture, I am loathe to throw the old piece out and try to repurpose it.

For example, when we got a new dining room table and chairs on sale (amazing deal, something like $700 for six chairs and the table, all real wood with fancy cushions on the chairs), I moved our old dining room table (a compact piece from Crate & Barrel that we got from a group of friends for our wedding) into the living room and called it my writing desk. Two of the four blond wood chairs from that set became my writing table chair and the computer desk chair. It didn’t matter to me that the wood matched only that of our Ikea computer desk (great deal – $59 in 2000 and it lasted through a move and holds up very well today).

When we got our new purple couch, I had to throw out a side table that I scavenged from the garbage room at my old apartment building (the couch is longer than the old one, so there was not enough room), and it nearly broke my heart. It had a funky inlay pattern. Same story with the broken-ish rocking chair I got at a street sale for $5 when we took a road trip to Boston in 2003. Oh, how I loved that thing even though the arm would come off and I feared falling backward when I rocked a little too hard.

Anyway, as a DINK (double income, no kids) couple, Husband and I have upgraded recently to some nicer stuff than Ikea or things I find the trash, which given the bedbug infestation in NYC, I would no longer take. In 2008, we picked up a stained black bookcase from Gothic Cabinet & Craft. We bought a nifty, very dark (someday I will learn what wood is what, but the stains and finishes confuse me) trunk coffee table from Crate & Barrel in 2009. Neither match the dining room/writing table, computer desk, unfinished light wood stackable bookcases, “Sverker” (the small unfinished wood Ikea shelving unit that is piled with junk of the paper, tape, scissors, and battery ilk), or the medium brown bookcase that I found on the street in 2003, but that is how I like it.

The motley crew became more so when we selected a new TV hutch this weekend. It might be our nicest piece of furniture yet. I am very excited to have it. Yesterday the smell of fresh wood tickled my nostrils whenever I walked by it:

New TV Hutch

And of course, it matches absolutely nothing. I love that Husband does not mind that we look like we live in some sort of fancy thrift shop. His colleagues probably live in big houses with immaculate, matching furniture sets in every room, but I would feel out of place in something so, well, normal. This hodgepodge feels like home.

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The Week of Furniture

November 15th, 2009 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

>My return to New York will be followed by exciting furniture deliveries. In October, I wrote a letter to Room and Board cursing them for failing to have a sofa I ordered in August. Last week, the warehouse called me and said that they will not only deliver our couch to us on Nov. 18, but that it will include the sofa bed that we actually purchased. How exciting! I would love to credit my angry internet letter, but I know that it was Husband’s phone call to the incompetent sales rep in which he said he’d cancel the whole thing that made it magically be processed in a timely fashion.

Even better, the new sofa bed will arrive in time for Steph’s visit. She shall sleep on a cushiony bed fit for the princess she is. (No need for me to demonstrate her royally high standards by putting a pea under it.)

Only slightly less exciting because the purchase involved significantly less drama, my new nightstand, which CUSS readers helped me select (and which Macy’s closed the deal on by having it on sale for 77% off), is scheduled to arrive on tomorrow.

Oh, the classiness! I almost can’t live here any more. Almost.

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>The Nightstand Dilemma: What Would CUSS Readers Do?

November 2nd, 2009 by Suzanne | 6 Comments | Filed in random

>In Ye Olden Dayes, when people had questions about situations they faced, they traveled miles and miles on foot and donkey to seek answers. The Oracle at Delphi was popular with the ancient Greeks, for example. How lucky we are today! I am extremely grateful that I don’t need to schlepp to the top of a mountain to find help for my thorny dilemmas, but instead can turn to the visionaries of the internet for their advice. This not only saves time and money, but does not require me to change out of my pajamas.*

So here, Great Sages and Visionaries of the Blogosphere, is my pressing problem: my nightstand of nine years broke. Given that I purchased it from Ikea, it’s run as my bedside companion is very impressive. The drawers went a little off track a few years ago, but two weeks ago, the plastic snapped, and now the middle drawer rests in the bottom drawer.
This will not do. It is time to invest in a new nightstand.

I initially purchased a similar three drawer model from Ikea for $40. However, Husband and I managed to fuck up putting it together in rather inventive ways, and he told me never to buy anything that required construction from Ikea again. I went back to the internets and found two alternatives:

Option A:

Option B:

Now, there is nothing wrong with Option A. I could totally be fine, even happy, with Option A. It might even match a dresser that Husband has, which would be exciting. However, Option B is gorgeous. How can I not desire its sleek design and shiny wood? O, Oracle, how I covet it!

The problem is that Option B costs three times as much as Option A. Husband told me that it’s OK to spend some money on nicer furniture (nicer furniture that will of course match nothing else we own, another bonus in my trashy eyes), but I can’t help but feel guilty at spending so much money on a freakin’ nightstand, even if it is the best nightstand ever made.

What would you do?

*To be accurate, I’m wearing my gym clothes. But whatever. It would probably be disrespectful to consult the Oracle in smelly gym pants.

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>Dearest Room and Board

October 29th, 2009 by Suzanne | 2 Comments | Filed in Asshole idiots, random

>Dear Room and Board,

Remember me? I came to your store in SoHo with my husband on Aug. 8. After several salespeople ignored us, one woman finally deigned to take our order for a fancy new couch. This was only because she was incompetent and unable to properly enter it into the system. When I pointed out that the receipt did not reflect what we attempted to purchase, she consulted with the manager, who suggested that she add a note modifying the purchase order.

We were then informed that our fancy new couch would arrive at the Minneapolis warehouse in late September, and we would receive it by the end of October. I found this a bit odd, since the manufacturer is in North Carolina and Minneapolis seems a bit out of the way for a couch going to New York, but I accepted the verdict. At the time, I did not realize that there was also a warehouse in New Jersey.

The oddity of it all made me nervous, so in mid-September, I decided that I didn’t care if I acted like a crazy paranoid lady, and called you to check on my order. Surprise, surprise. It was wrong. Adjustments were made, and you promised that the proper couch would arrive. An even bigger surprise was when your New Jersey warehouse called me two weeks later to schedule the delivery of said wrong item.

After much confusion, your staff told me that you would hold the couch in your warehouse until the proper sofa bed arrived and would be swapped for the wrong one. Since I was originally told that I would not have the couch until late October, this did not phase me much. I could wait.

However, when your warehouse again called to deliver the sofa this week, no one seemed sure what exactly I would get. One rep said a memory foam mattress would arrive sans sofa on Thursday (bad), and that a sofa with an air mattress would be delivered on Friday (bad). Another rep said I would get a sofa with an memory foam bed (good). A third said I would only get a sofa with an air mattress (bad.) Today your incompetent sales rep called to inform me that I would receive a sofa with an air mattress and that the mattress I actually ordered was on back order. One day in the future, that would be delivered to my home and the sofa bed swapping would ensue. She said you didn’t want to delay my enjoyment of the couch.

I really wanted to ask WHAT THE FUCK THE COUCH WAS DOING IN YOUR WAREHOUSE FOR FOUR FUCKING WEEKS IF THE MATTRESS WAS ON BACK ORDER WITH NO DELIVERY DATE IN SIGHT, but I instead said OK and hung up the phone. Then I called my husband and suggested that he deal with you while I go to a job interview. We concluded that we don’t really want your stupid fucking couch at this point.

Thank you,
Suzanne Reisman

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Who are the people in your neighborhood?

October 23rd, 2009 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in I love New York

>I really love my neighborhood. Husband and I relocated to the Upper West Side from Greenwich Village begrudgingly upon graduating from NYU, but once we were here, we realized that we belonged. Not even our first apartment, an illegally sublet, 200 square foot former maid’s quarters with no stove or oven, deterred us. We rented it because I wanted to live near Fordham Law School, which I was set to attend, and it was the best thing we could afford. (Seriously.) Law school lasted less than three days, but we stayed in the apartment for three years.

Once we decided to move on, we knew we wanted to live in the West 70s. Eventually the plan was to buy a place, and our residency on West 72nd above a photo studio (which decorated the basement garbage room with old wedding portraits – how hilarious is that, assuming you are not in the photo?), message parlor/day spa, and car service dispatching center lasted a little over two years. Not long after we moved in, we saw a news report about a cold case in our building. A dominatrix linked to Marv Alberthad been murdered there in 1997. (Her case is still unsolved, as far as I know.) I’m making it sound crappy, but it was a good place to live, although loud due to heavy traffic.

When it came time to buy a place, Husband’s parameters were between W. 70th and W 75th Streets and Columbus and West End Avenues. This is a five block radius, which is absolutely ludicrous given our limited budget, but so it goes. When I made an appointment to see an apartment one block outside his guidelines, he spazzed a bit, but it was the best place we saw in our price range by far, and eventually we signed the mortgage papers and moved in. Now, almost seven years later, we still love our home and the neighborhood.

Here’s why: There are lots of places to eat. My favorite restaurants include S’mac(a macaroni and cheese joint), Fred’s, Harry’s Burritos, Kefi, and Earthen Oven. Diners also abound. And three top bakeries: Crumbs, Magnolia, and Levain (greatest peanut butter chip chocolate cookie ever, butit has like a full day’s worth of calories in it) are all within a few blocks, too.

There’s culture. The JCC Manhattan has tons of free and cheap events for the public. The classic Beacon Theater was recently refurbished, and features everything from Bob Weir (who played last night, so the sidewalk was full of old hippies) to Tyler Perry productions. Right about the Beacon Theater is the Hotel Beacon, which recently underwent its own huge renovation. When my parents and bubbe came for my book party last August, I tried to get them a room there, but it was booked. (My sister and brother-in-law stayed with us, so there was no more room.) Chaos ensued. I think I also tried On the Ave and The Lucerne, but they were too expensive or booked or both. I can’t remember, and I’m off the topic now. Sorry… My neighborhood also has two large movie theaters, and, oh – Lincoln Center.

There’s shopping. Besides Fairway, the best grocery store ever, there are two Whole Foods stores within a mile of my apartment. A Trader Joe’s is coming soon to a corner near me. And I am “treated” to an ever expanding array of retail chains, like Bed, Bath & Beyond and Loehman’s, which is both a blessing and a curse.

Great public transportation. Many subway and bus lines. I can pretty much get anywhere I need to be conveniently and for $2.25, no driving required. Yay!

Anyway, I’ve rambled long enough. If you ever want to visit, I should one day, before hell freezes over, have my stupid new queen size sofa bed with memory foam mattress that we ordered in August. Don’t forget – the BlogHer conference will be in NYC in August 2010! It’s a great opportunity to hang with me in my neighborhood. I might even have the damn couch by then.

This is a TravelingMom dedicated post

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>Street Furniture

September 10th, 2009 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in random

>As I walked home from the library this afternoon, I passed a trash heap at the curb. This is a common sight in Manhattan, where we don’t have alleys. The afternoon/evening before garbage pickup is scheduled, all of the buildings heave out ginormous black bags of trash, containing the waste of hundreds of denizens. It’s smelly, but oddly fascinating, now that I’m thinking about it.

Anyway, on the trash heap was a beautiful entertainment center. It was a blond wood, and solid. None of the Ikea shit that’s usually chucked aside with gaping holes punched through the cardboard “wood.” The cabinet had a glass door and three shelves. The TV space was small, but the overall height of the unit was not so tall that a person couldn’t just plop her husband’s stupid flat panel TV on top and it would require straining one’s neck to view, like sitting in the first row at a movie theater. It also had a functional drawer. I loved it.

As I checked the piece for defects (i.e. – bugs), a woman approached the trash. She scavenged a wood tray, then hovered. “You gonna take that?” she finally asked me.

“Yeah, I think so. I just need to call my husband to help me because it is way too heavy to carry alone.”

“It’s a nice piece,” she marveled. “You got lucky. If you don’t take it, I’ll come back later and fetch it. I live in this building.”

I waited 30 minutes with my new furniture, debating the entire time whether or not I was insane. I just spent thousands of dollars renovating my apartment, and here I was giddy about a used piece of furniture that someone threw out. What the fuck is wrong with me?

Husband finally called me back. He had already returned the car to his parking garage, and had to be in our apartment for a conference call in 15 minutes. There was no way he’d make it, even if he ran down to inspect the piece and we stuffed it in an SUV cab. I wanted to cry. I seriously considered standing in the street with it until his call was over, but the digital clock on the bank down the street showed that the temperature was dropped a degree every five minutes, and I was already cold. Plus, it looked like it might rain. I reluctantly went home.

Farewell, my beautiful free street furniture. I hope you find a good home tonight.

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>ENTJ

August 24th, 2009 by Suzanne | 1 Comment | Filed in random

>The fifteen second Facebook Meyers-Briggs personality test classified me as an ENTJ. ENTJ stands for extraversion, intuition, thinking, and judgment. Normally I am skeptical about personality tests in general, and even more so about ones that take less than a minute to complete, but I’ve taken longer versions of Meyers-Briggs at leadership conferences, and I always come out an ENTJ.

What does it mean to be an ENTJ? The Facebook fifteen second explanation says:

You are frank, decisive, and assume leadership readily. You quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies, and develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organizational problems. You enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. You are usually well informed, well read, enjoy expanding your knowledge and passing it on to others. You are forceful in presenting your ideas

I agree that describes me well, particularly that last line, not the the title of this blog would illustrate that point or anything. There’s a much longer explanation on the Personality Page (along with a longer quiz, I think). My favorite line from that is, “ENTJs want their home to be beautiful, well-furnished, and efficiently run.” Ha ha ha! If “beautiful” and “well-furnished” means crammed with random used furniture, some of which was scavenged from trash, then certainly that is true, too. (Part of what freaks me out about the renovation that might one day finish if I am lucky is that it made the apartment too nice – I feel like I don’t belong here.)

Anyway, an ENTJ is basically a pushy person with strong opinions who values planning and success, hates wastefulness, and tries to hide a sentimental streak as wide as the Mississippi River. (Not the Mississippi up north where it’s narrow, either.) Yeah. How about youse?

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>Easter in the Embroidery Capital of the World

April 12th, 2009 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in hilarity, Jewishness, random

>This afternoon, Husband and I joined some lovely friends from my writing program for Easter brunch at another friend’s apartment in New Jersey. Everything was delicious, and of course, I ate too much. In particular, I loved the biscuits that one woman made.

“Hey Sara, how’d you get your biscuits to be so sweet?” I asked her, then laughed maniacally in my head because, thanks to my granny, I can’t say the word biscuit with a straight face. Granny’s euphemism for the vaginal area was butter biscuit. So, for example, when I was a wee lass and went to the bathroom, she’d ask me if I wiped my butter biscuit before I got off the toilet. Oy. (For the record, the brunch biscuits were made with honey butter. Mmmmm…)

We departed from the brunch festivities a bit early to go to Ikea. Our living room has been deprived of a couch since Tuesday, which is the only night residents in our building are allowed to dispose of furniture. For $150, Husband and I picked up a cute little couch that flips out into a bed for overnight guests. We had to fight the crowds of Southeast Asians, Asians, and Hasidic Jews to check out. (I swear I saw my super a few check out lanes over, but that’s another story.) Now I know who shops at Ikea on Easter Sunday.

Sofa safely tucked into the hatchback of Fred the Red, our PT Cruiser, Husband and I headed back home from Jersey via the Lincoln Tunnel. As we passed under a bridge, I saw one of my favorite signs: “Welcome to North New Jersey, Embroidery Capital of the World Since 1872.” Something to brag about, indeed.

Hope that everyone is having a Happy Resurrection Day!

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>I Want to Wake Up in a City that Never Sleeps

January 4th, 2009 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in random

>While I very much loved my trip and all the fabulous people that I saw that I want to see more often, I am glad to be home. The (free) luxury hotels (and yurt)were nice, but sinking my head into my deformed pillow when I arrived at my apartment this morning was like snuggling up with an old friend. Plus, speaking of old friends, sleeping with Theo (my teddy bear) only reminded me how merely adequate my well intentioned travel stuffed dog companion is.

Still, being home is not all rainbows and butterflies. I brought back an unintentional souvenir of a cold. There is a long line of gutted tile running along my bathroom wall, and everything that was in the bathroom is now cluttering the dining room. The shower is supposed to work, but doesn’t. The workmen are coming back to patch things up tomorrow, and thankfully Rebecca will be here to remind them that they didn’t really fix the shower.

Where will I be tomorrow? Downtown, starting my new job. I’m scared shitless. At least the toilet flushes better than it has in years.

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>Master of the Stairs

October 29th, 2008 by Suzanne | No Comments | Filed in random

>The rain in Spain may fall mainly on the plain, but yesterday morning, the sky opened up in New York City and it rained on the Upper West Side like a mad motherfucker. And it was chilly. I looked outside and thought, “Nah.”

Still, I needed to get some sort of exercise, so I suited up and hit the stairs. My building has 15 floors. When I reached 15, panting, shaking, and sweating, I heard the rain falling harder than ever. Looking up, I saw a skylight and another flight of stairs that led to the roof. I climbed to the top, triumphant.

On the way down, my left knee reminded me that climbing real stairs is a lot harder on the joints and knobs than the StairMaster. “Shut the fuck up, you whiner,” I told it. “We have work to do.” It somewhat complied with my demand, and we tromped back up 16 flights once we hit the bottom.

Other than learning what a fabulous workout I can get for free in my building,* I discovered that people use the landings to store a lot of stuff. On the 3rd floor, there is a broken trampoline with a paper taped to it, reading: “This belongs to #3G.” Other landings offered bikes for children of various ages, construction materials, and a map of the world (still depicting the USSR) mounted on posterboard. It is nice to know that there are other hoarders in this building.

*I can’t move my calves this morning.

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