Form follows function

Or in my case, the form can be whatever I want it to be...as long as it functions the way we want it to.

I've had a couple of emails about my carpet cleaning post...more specifically, about the furniture. One person wanted to know if we used the chaise as a sofa. Nope. The chaise is a chaise, pronounced "chayzzz", of course. I "built" the sofa several months ago after a fruitless search for something that evidently doesn't exist.

Style-wise, I'd describe myself as eclectic, but I looooove the post-modern, 1950's kinda stuff. Clean lines...almost industrial, but not quite. I also love the 'natural' stuff...wicker, bamboo, wood, wrought iron. I like what I like and I figure out some way to make it all go together. The living room is a kind of a 'George Jetson meets Pier One', which sounds like a horror, but it actually works pretty well.

But about the sofa...see, we lollygag on our sofa. It's GOTTA be comfortable. It's GOTTA be sturdy and durable. It's GOTTA be big. I've GOTTA be able to change it on a whim. And, it's GOTTA be simple. No ruffles or frills or pleats or(gawd FORBID! flowers) or hunting scenes or any of the other myriad of ghastly designs they come up with. No leather...it's cold as hell in the winter and hot and sticky in the summer. No poufy, frou-frou things.

Not being able to find exactly what I saw in my mind, I decided to make my own.

A hollow-core door, painted black and two pieces of 1x10 (for extra support while we 'lollygag') form the base. Four wooden, box-style paper towel holders on clearance from Target, also painted black make the low, chunky legs. A twin-sized mattress is the 'cushion'. A variety of colored, fitted sheets and pillowcases (so I can do the 'change on a whim' thing) do just swell as the 'upholstery'. A couple of king-sized bed pillows are the 'arms', but are generally used as...what else?...pillows. And three square pillows from Big Lots serve as the 'back'.

You can lay on it. You can sit on it. You can sleep on it. Because the 'upholstery' is as simple to clean as throwing it in the washer, you can eat on it, though we never do. You can...uh...do other things on it, too. Nevermind...

I recently recovered the ottoman from our old sofa in a funky, animal-stripe, plush fabric. I don't think Ziggy was too thrilled with the idea, but he says it's "growing on" him, now. Bless his heart...he just lets me do my thing, even though I know that he sometimes thinks I've lost my mind. Anywho, add a tray, and voila!...a small, movable coffee table that can also serve as extra seating.

It might not suit your particular style. It most certainly isn't a high-end, designer piece. It's definitely not for everyone. But it was inexpensive and it serves our purpose in spades. We also had the fun of brainstorming about how to put it together, shopping for the 'details' and actually creating it ourselves, which makes it even better.

It's "us" and we love it.