Furniture Shopping Anxiety
We’ve been remodeling a guest house on our ranch—called “The Lodge—since last February…and I’m just now realizing we’re actually going to have to buy furniture for the place. Well, I suppose we don’t HAVE to put furniture in there. We could just go the bean bag route, drape beads in the doorways, and act like we’re trying to recreate Greg Brady’s room.
Think anyone would buy it? Probably not on a cattle ranch. Cattle ranches, as everyone knows, aren’t very groovy.
I don’t know how to buy furniture. I’ve never really had to outfit a house all at once as we’re having to do with The Lodge. Aside from being a little overwhelming from a financial perspective, it’s also intimidating to think the decisions I’ll make over the next couple of weeks—what I’ve deemed the “furniture buying weeks‗will be with us for a long, long time. The last thing I want to do is go on a big splurge over a two-week period…and regret half of my decisions later.
So I’ve decided to make The Lodge very, very sparse, at least for now. And when I say sparse, I mean it: in the bedrooms, beds. Maybe a nightstand. In the dining room, a long dining table with benches. In the living room, comfortable sofas and enough end tables to allow guests to set down a drink. Maybe a lamp here and there for light. And that’s it, I tell you—IT! (Remind me I’m saying this, okay?)
I simply want to choose a few good pieces…then live with them for awhile. Then, gradually, we can add a rug and a piece of art and a buffet if it makes sense then. But right now, with the way the economy is toying with our brains, it just feels right to approach the furniture at The Lodge the same way the Pioneers did way back in the day: they had what they needed, and nothing more. The furniture they had reflected the time they were in. And drapes, expensive rugs, and drippy accessories were nowhere to be found.
Here are some things I’ve found lately.
I love the rustic simplicity of this. But since we need a table around ten feet long to fill the space, we’d have to get two of these…and I think four of these monstrous legs in one room would be too much.
Or would it?
See? I told you I knew nothing about this stuff.
These simple farm tables are always easy on the eyes. It’s hard to argue with them.
This 7-foot table could be mine for the low, low, low, low price of…$11,500.
But that’s nothing compared to this one: price tag $33,000. It’s made of recycled wood from old tobacco barns, though, which makes it worth every penny.
Or not.
I think it’s an exceptionally beautiful table, don’t get me wrong. But what happens if you spill fingernail polish remover on it? Your day would be ruined pretty darn quick. And then you’d spiral downward into a pit of despair.
Or at least I would. And I don’t want to sign myself up for that level of pain.
Plus, and this is an important point:
I’M NOT PAYING $33,000 FOR A DINING TABLE!
There. I feel better now.
I like modular pieces like these: you’re actually looking at six different pieces here. And even though it’s decidedly country, I can’t help but be drawn to the slats behind the cabinet…and the way the stark white dishes look against the dark wood.
White dishes might be a nice approach at The Lodge.
Dishes? You mean I have to buy DISHES?
My heart is starting to race.
I love this chair I found. It’s sort of contemporary, sort of traditional…but the nailheads give it a western look.
Not that the old Pioneers ever had NAILHEADS in their furniture, but I can’t be a purist all the time.
And here’s the sofa in the same style, in suede instead of velvet. I think I liked the velvet better.
But I love how long the sofa is. Perfect for stretching out and snuggling with your one true love.
I’d have to ditch the matching throw pillows, though, and add something a little more contrasty.
I thought this was a nifty desk, with a clever place to hide a keyboard.
Hiding computer equipment is one of the biggest challenges in my own house.
I ADORE this table. I adore this table because it can be a bedside table. Or a coffee table. Or a sofa table. Or a lamp table in a hallway. It’s very simple, rustic, and cleanlined, and most importantly…it’s something I could move myself. This table lights my fire. It satisfies something in my soul.
And I had a hard time not liking this lamp. Actually, at first, I had a hard time LIKING this lamp, because I was under the mistaken impression that it was—gasp—BRASS. But upon further examination, I found that it was more of an antique metal color, and before I knew it, the darn thing grew on me.
And then, upon further examination, I found that the lamp was $1,800.
What has happened to the world? Are lamps really $1,800? Have I lived in the country too long?
This isn’t going to be as easy as I thought.
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