Cow-ch Gag

Perhaps I've been inspired by too many nightly episodes of The Simpsons, but this came to me the other day and made me laugh. I am a ceaseless punster, as well as faithful Simpsonite. Need I explain further?

Since our leather couch and matching club chair are seriously breaking down and beginning to sprout pieces of their innards...they are over a decade old now... I got this cowhide from a guy out in Red Hook to use to hide the holes in the seat cushions. I figured it was a more affordable way for me to "recover" them for now. We kinda love it.

I know rustic shabby Americana is in, per the New York Times article "American Rustic" that ran with this photo a couple weeks ago. Note the stuffing stuffing out of the red club chair!

Photos courtesy of NYTimes.com. Top row, Randy Harris for The New York Times; bottom row, Tony Cenicola/The New York Times.

This is our club chair, below. I tried to glue a piece of thin suede over the well-worn hole, but it didn't really work. Sometimes I drape a piece of suede over it. That doesn't really cut it either.

 

We, too, use vintage suitcases, plus a few old picnic baskets, for extra storage for photos and writing.

 Our armoire is an old china cabinet (two people's clothes in a studio closet is virtually impossible) that I've dragged with me ever since snagging it at a yard sale in Columbia, South Carolina. Initially I'd painted it lacquer black and added mirrors to the doors, but later I stripped it and added faux pie tin fronts and shelves to the inside. 

Voilà! The perfect bedroom bureau.

How do you cope with storage in a "charming" NYC studio living space?