Williams-Sonoma Home, You Little Devil You.

Damn you and your gorgeous in-store merchandising and styling. I am powerless over it. It is exactly why I ended up with this chair.


No, not the black Chinese Chippendale-style chair, the (highly comfortable) Scottish Tartan Plaid wingback chair. I don't even like a wingback chair much less plaid. In fact, I do not like plaid so much that I gave away all of my husband's plaid shirts that he had before we met (with his approval and excepting one that is sentimental because it belonged to his grandfather). I at least like the Chinese Chippendale chair. A lot, in fact. So, how is it that I ended up with a $2,200 chair (plus shipping) that I hate, you ask?

Well, it started around Christmastime. Tartan Plaid at Christmastime made perfect sense. That, and this photo from the Williams-Sonoma Home catalog with its perfect red walls and Ralph Lauren-y art:


Speaking of Ralph Lauren, this did not help matters whatsoever; nor did having recently attended a cocktail party at an old house like ours that was completely tricked out in Ralph:


Okay, well, all that and this ad from J. Crew. This campaign actually made me think I needed a long tartan plaid skirt like this (and a house like this and drapes like that)...


So, do you see how this was a perfect storm of tartan plaid? Even this fall, they are tempting me with plaid-clad catalogs (say that three times) and tartan plaid resurrected on wingback chairs within):

I love that, though. I think it's beautiful. I know many of you have a much more modern aesthetic, but I think this is really beautiful. I have been through a lot of different styles in my lifetime - from modern (Phillip Stark-ish, Met Home Modern) to Country French to traditional with a twist which is where I think I end up.

Anyway, I have to recover that chair. It's currently in the family room with this (Ralph Lauren) sofa (that I got on sale at Bloomingdale's during that donation week where you get 25% off plus and extra 20%!):


Please forgive the unfortunate lighting (I'm working on it) and there is a different rug there now. White shaggy, just bigger. I am too lazy to take another picture. And that yellowish rug is actually inside the basement door. It's currently there just to toy with you. Suggestions are welcome and even encouraged. (Don't use all your suggestions, though. I have a bathroom issue or two that have me flummoxed and I will need your help.)

Time for some pretty.

I love the Williams-Sonoma Home store. The new September 2008 catalog cover doesn't really appeal to me, but the images inside do.


It is no surprise to me that I love this catalog so much. The March 2008 House Beautiful had an article on two of the men responsible: Patrick Wade, Sr. VP of Creative for West Elm and W-S Home and Dave DeMattei, Group Pres. for Williams-Sonoma. If you didn't see it, here is their fab place in San Fran:



I was so excited to see this because I had just finished painting my living room brown and it sort of confirmed my fabulous taste for me. :-) Here's my room immediately after painting, with furniture still moved around:

The furniture has been moved since then and the dead flowers are long since buried. Here's the before photo (you can see that I was going to try to make that yellow work with KWID's ubiquitous Imperial Trellis pattern - keep in mind this was 2 years ago, before said fabric was overdone):

It's a dark, north-facing room, so I (and apparently those before me) spent many, many hours searching for a color to lighten it up but I finally gave into its coziness and sort of recreated one of our favorite cocktail lounges which is what this room is used for practically every day in the cold months. I still haven't recovered or replaced those white chairs (which used to have leopard slipcovers).