A New Thing to Obsess Over, and It's Oh So Much Fun

It's no wonder I was a litigator.  I LOVE to research.  It gets borderline obsessive, actually.  I will dig deeper and deeper and deeper and scour all available resources until I have reached near expert status.  Then I feel satisfied, abandon, and move on to the next thing to obsess over.

I go on kicks - research for vacation planning, research on local real estate listings, etc. and now.... interior design.

Yes, we have this nice new big house and nothing to put in it.  We must buy a coffee table, kitchen table, bar stools, wall hangings, knick knacks, and who knows what else.  Many, many things!  At first it was daunting, and I was dreading it actually.  After all, I'm not really a shopper, and I'm completely lacking in taste.  But slowly but surely, I have gotten into it.  Big time.

There's all sorts of blogs on the topic.  I never knew that!  Apartment Therapy has become a daily read.  And Houzz.  Have you seen Houzz?  Endless hours of fun!  I also peruse Overstock and West Elm and Joss & Main and One Kings Lane and CB2 and other websites I never knew existed. And Pinterest!  I finally understand the purpose of Pinterest!  (You can follow me by clicking here).

After all of this perusing, I have discovered I have modern taste.  Or is it called contemporary?  Who knows?  But I all of a sudden care what my house looks like, whereas before it was.... well, disheveled is a kind word.  It actually was a large piece of shit we inhabited.  So much so that we ditched pretty much all of our family room furniture prior to moving because it was just that disgusting.  But now we don't live in a piece of shit anymore - we actually like our new house (for now anyway).  And we have space!  Actual space!  So my challenge?  To fill said space as cheaply and as stylishly as possible.  (Who doesn't love a challenge?)

Don't fear - this will not become a design blog.  Because this is a momentary obsession and I'm not artistic enough to become a design expert.  But indulge me.  Just for a minute.  Because this is oh so fun.  

Here's what we have purchased for our new house so far:

This is the Karlstad.  From Ikea.  Yes, Ikea!  Experience has taught us that kids and a dog will ruin a couch, so why spend a lot of money?  At $1200, it was a great value, and I don't think it looks Ikea-cheap.  I was inspired by the bloggers at Young House Love who had it and it looked fabulous (click link to see their living room).  The only thing I don't like about it is the legs, so we sent an extra $60 and bought these aluminum legs:

Then the area rug.  Oh, how I agonized about the area rug.  The late nights, the second guessing. Finally, we decided on this one:

From Overstock, for $435 (a steal!).  It's a navy-ish color with enough cream that it goes perfectly with the brown couch.  Now I just need to buy throw pillows that coordinate.  I am tabling that for now.   Oh, did I say table?  Check out our new kitchen table:

I am a bit too  much in love with our Flatiron Rectangular Dining Table from Restoration Hardware.  Restoration Hardware, that must be expensive, you say.  Au contraire!  This table was on sale, and combined with a 20% off post-holiday sale, was under $800.  But a table needs chairs. You're just dying to know about the chairs, right?  We got two of these chairs, for the ends of the table (also from Restoration Hardware, also 20% off).

And three of these bar stools to match (also on sale, also 20% off):

 

For the rest of the table seating, we want to get two rustic benches.  We are still searching for those.  (Any tips?  We want rustic and it needs to match and coordinate with the table and chairs).

But the big white whale for me these days is a coffee table.  I am on an endless search for the perfect coffee table and I cannot reach a definitive conclusion.  It must be on the smaller side (under 40 inches wide).  It can't have hard edges (because of the young-ins).  It has to coordinate with the kitchen table AND family room since it is an open floor plan.  It has to be just the right shade of brown (or maybe not brown at all?  Hmmmm.).  Here is the short list of options.  Please feel free to weigh in.  Really.

Option 1- The Danish Modern Coffee Table, from Urban Outfitters.  $249.

Ehh?  Maybe a bit too red?  And weird?

Option 2- Carved Wood Coffee Table from West Elm.  $349

Ehh?  A bit too low?  And would the color go with the brown couch?

Option 3 - Cala Hammered Coffee Table from World Market.  $239

I love this one.  It matches the couch legs (and the stainless steel in our kitchen), and it's a but funky and eclectic.  Problem is my husband hates it.  But he could be convinced.  And lastly...

Option 4 - Sterling Coffee Table from CB2.  $499.

This is the front runner right now.   But I'm still hesitant for some reason.  Because am I really going to buy a silver aluminum coffee table?  Perhaps I shall.  Notwithstanding that someday it will be out of style and ridiculous and my kids will look at old pictures and think, man, that is so 2015.  

I realize this is all fluff, by the way.  It's not real.  I mean, who really gives a crap about what's in your family room?  Who decides what looks nice and what doesn't, and at the end of the day, why does it matter?  The fact that I am spending so much time and thought and blog posting to this is a bit pathetic, isn't it?

But at the end of the day, this is just a deflection - a way to not focus on real life and real issues and the fact that we're all going to die someday.  Like drinking alcohol, or a engaging in a hobby, or binge watching a TV show, or throwing oneself into work, or watching sports, or a host of other things people use to escape reality.

Life can get too deep sometimes.  We all need deflections.

For now, I'm enjoying this one.

So what coffee table should I get?

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