Our Article Sven Shadow Gray Sectional Sofa

Our cosy living room is slowly coming together and that’s hugely down to our brand new Article Sven Sectional Sofa! I hinted towards our new purchase a few weeks ago, but we were in no way expecting it to arrive so quickly. Last Saturday morning our beautiful couch arrived and we’ve been using every excuse since to spend more time in the living room.

We had been thinking of getting a new sofa for a few months now. We tried living with our secondhand French provincial sofa, but the reality is that while the armchair is very comfortable, the sofa was not. You couldn’t really bury yourself into the corner to watch a movie or put your feet up. And I wasn’t getting enough of the right kind of support so my hip pain was starting to return. All of that was pushing us towards investing in a new sofa. And when I say pushing I mean we were excited to have some solid excuses to get our dream couch.

Gray Article Sven Sectional Sofa with a blurry toddler having fun.

I can’t remember how I came to find Article’s Sven Sectional but it was one of those things that once I found it, I emailed Robert and then we talked about it for the next 3 months.

It’s a beautiful sofa. We were drawn to its tufted seat details, dark wood legs, overstuffed pillows, casual yet formal vibe, deep seats and built-in footrest. And it’s velvet [always my #1]. Their sectional is also big enough to double as a guest bed [which we’ll be using in a few weeks when my broseph comes to visit! All 8 feet of our couch will accommodate his 6’4″ height].

I contacted a few people through Instagram who owned the same couch and asked them how it had held up over the years. Some people had pets and some had kids and as long as a vat of hot liquid wasn’t poured across the couch and as long as you kept it out of direct sunlight and plumped the pillows occasionally, it seemed to fare quite well.

Still, because important things makes me nervous, it was a few more weeks until we actually completed the order. Throughout the process, every Article staff member and support team member I was in contact with were so helpful. I contacted Article by email, integrated chat on their website and by phone and on all accounts I spoke with real, honest people. No upselling or automated responses.

It’s such a fun sofa and is so beautiful that I sometimes can’t look directly at it. We’re counting ourselves very lucky to own such an incredible piece. AND it’s comfortable. Since it arrived on Saturday, my hip pain has decreased significantly. I’m not saying it’s a posturepedic couch and will answer everyone’s problems, it’s just a couch with the right kind of support that I needed. Either way, it’s a win-win for us!

One Room Challenge Spring 2018 – Week Two!

It’s already week two of the One Room Challenge! I don’t have much to show since sharing my dining room plans for Week One, but I am getting close to deciding on a wall colour for our dining room, the track lighting will be removed later this morning and the chandelier will be put up which means I’ll be able to start the daunting task of painting the ceiling. And coming to terms with the fact that it’ll probably need 3 coats of paint [like in our living room].

I painted the picture rail white ahead of repainting the ceiling and also painted the hall wall in my favourite Classic Burgundy on Sunday afternoon [it looks very dark here as it was a dull day]. Then on Tuesday evening I visited Home Depot to get paint samples for the main dining room colour. I looked at CIL‘s range of warm neutrals and picked up tester pots of Fossil Grey and Smooth Stone.

Both shades are warm shades of grey, but I’m not 100% on either of them. The darker greige, Fossil Grey, is more of the right colour I’m going for [vs. Smooth Stone which looks bluer], but I want to go for a much lighter version of it. That means more tester pots, but I’d rather that than buy 3.5L of the wrong colour. Which I very nearly did on Tuesday when I was looking at paint swatches [due to tiredness and an acute case of hangry].

Once the ceiling and the walls are painted I really can’t wait to try out my Coal Black pot of Fusion Mineral Paint on our dining hutch. I’m really looking forward to trying out distressing techniques on it and I might even paint a second piece in the same nearly-black shade.

I didn’t think to share these last week, but below are a few images I’ve pinned over the past while that are the same vibe I’m hoping to create for our dining room; warm, inviting, relaxed and fancy. Meaning, I hope to god a few coats of classy paint are going to make up for the fact that I’ve been teaching our almost-18-month-old fart jokes instead of the alphabet.

I’m hoping to decide on a paint colour within the next week and at the very least have the ceiling painted before Week Three. If not, then I might start to panic as we’ll already be halfway through the ORC. No pressure. Just pick a colour.

If you’re curious, you can check out the full list of Guest Participants here! There’s a seriously good group of participants this spring.

Week OneWeek Two – Week Three – Week Four – Week Five – Week Six

Image credits – neutral nook and dark kitchen.

What We Do On The Weekends

"Leave me to do my dark bidding on the internet", What We Do In The Shadows.

I’m very pro-buying-secondhand and for the most part it’s all I tend to buy. I’d even go out on a limb and say close to 80% of the design pieces I own are thrifted or nearly new. But this week Robert and I bought a very big not so secondhand piece.

It’s something we’ve been thinking about getting for a long time. We sat and thought about it for a few months, weighed up the pro’s and con’s and carefully considered our options. I even put it in a Google SketchUp model. And last night we finally bit the bullet and ordered the thing! I can’t wait to share more once it arrives in a few weeks*, so for now all I will say is it is beautiful and I can’t wait to see it IRL. And what better excuse than to put one of my favourite What We Do In The Shadows quotes on our letter board.

Shop this look!

CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60
CIL Classic Burgundy
CIL Classic Burgundy
What We Do In The Shadows
What We Do In The Shadows
$10.99
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
IKEA Jubla Unscented Candles
$8.99
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
IKEA Begavning Glass Dome
$14.99
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
Anthropologie Mimira Candle
$24
April & The Bear Letter Board
April & The Bear Letter Board
€60

*My vagueness is down to me being worried that us finally buying the thing is now jinxing its arrival. I don’t understand my brain either sometimes. I’ve also missed writing short little casual blog posts, so here’s a little pointless one to start.