Sitting Pretty On New Kitchen Chairs

October 13, 2015January 25, 2024 / Ally Bean / 29 Comments

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Just like on HGTV, here’s a teaser for the BIG REVEAL.

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I’M ALL ABOUT MISMATCHED CHAIRS. If things are too matchy-matchy, I get nervous. [What if I stain or break something? Then what? Things won’t match.]

I prefer the positive energy that eclectic style brings to a space. So after years of perfectly coordinating table and chairs in our kitchen, it was time for a change.

Here’s the story.

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Is this box from Hannibal Lecter or Pottery Barn?

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I BEGAN THIS PROJECT BY SEARCHING for chairs in brick & mortar stores and online. Eventually I decided which new chairs I wanted around our Ethan Allen kitchen table, which we’ve had since we moved here 15 years ago.

UPS plopped this very large box, filled with chair pieces + hardware, on our front stoop and I dragged it inside.

To make the table look better, Zen-Den painted the pedestal a warm neutral shade, SW6141 Softer Tan.

I figured that we’d use 2 dining chairs from Arhaus that we already had, knew to be comfortable, and were no longer being used in the dining room. To these we would add 2 new chairs from Pottery Barn, ordered online.

We received the Pottery Barn chair pieces in a very large box. Then one of us put them together in the foyer on Sunday morning while the other one of us photographed the event. For posterity, ‘ya know?

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Looking lonely, a chair back leans against the wall, waiting to join together with other chair pieces to make a seat.

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I’M GROOVING ON THESE NEW CHAIRS, brilliantly built by Zen-Den. After sitting on the wobbly, match-y Ethan Allen Windsor chairs that came with this table, these new sturdy chairs are wonderful.

They coordinate with, but don’t match, our former dining room chairs repurposed as kitchen chairs– all of which makes my frugal, design-y heart happy.

No higher praise than that, eh?

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The BIG REVEAL shows my eclectic sense of style works for us.

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[Hello FTC! I know it’s been so long since we spoke, but I wanted to make sure that you understood that there was no monetary &/or other compensation involved with these kitchen chairs. The foregoing is my opinion about things, shared here– just ‘cuz I can. We good?]

Of Autumn Beauty & Chores Most Necessary

October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 / Ally Bean / 28 Comments

Our weather this week has been perfect.

The night temps are down into the 50s while the days are in the 70s. We have clear blue skies with sunshine going on during the day.

Twinkling stars have filled the sky at night, while the moon, which is now waning, has been such a small crescent that its light doesn’t diminish the shining stars.

With all due respect to December and the holiday season, I’d suggest that this is the most wonderful time of the year.

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I noticed the stars early this morning while I was taking the screens out of the windows.

Late yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from the man who cleans our gutters and washes our windows. He asked if he could come over today, the weather being so nice and all.

I said “sure.”

So very early this morning I removed all the screens from the windows, and gazed into the dark blue starry sky, appreciating its simple beauty.

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Tomorrow the sprinkler system will be deactivated for winter.

The man who does this is a delightful, talkative character who always leaves me laughing. The stories he tells, often about our neighbors, are, shall we say, insightful.

But after he’s finished blowing the air out of the underground sprinkler system, the rest of the winterization chores will be ours to do at our leisure.

Or not to do at all, I suppose.

And on that tentative note, I shall end this post. An old-school style blog post that offers no controversy or angst to the blogosphere, but tells its own quiet little story. Such as it is.

When It Comes To Blogging, Sometimes I Wonder About You People…

October 6, 2015August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 30 Comments

ACCORDING TO THE stats provided by WordPress, the following is when you, my gentle readers, most often show up here to read The Spectacled Bean.

I’m happy to have loyal readers, make no mistake. Fans, followers and lurkers are good. But as much as I enjoy writing and connecting with you, I’m a little nonplussed about the day and time that you are most likely to be here.

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AS THE FOLLOWING shows, this is a blog written by an well-meaning, but slightly scattered, writer, who according to Typealyzer, is an artist. This, I do believe, explains how it is that I started to write this post, intending to publish it today, Tuesday, at 8:00 am, but failed to do so, thereby risking the chance of disappointing you, my gentle readers.

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SO I ASK of you, my gentle readers, what say ye about showing up here, oh say, an hour later– at 9:00 am? And allowing for the possibility that Wednesday or Thursday make lovely most popular days of the week?

Not that I want to be the sort of blogger who tells you what to do, but I think you people are crazy. Tuesday? [Tolerable, if we must.] 8:00 am? [Decidedly uncivilized.]

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Answering The Liebster [Not The Lobster] Award Questions

October 2, 2015August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 24 Comments

Introduction

Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest.

I feel like a bit of a fraud accepting this award by answering these questions. The point of this award is to showcase new up-and-coming bloggers to your readers.

And if there is one thing I am not, it is a new blogger. [Read more here.]

However, be that as it may, I like to do blogging memes like this one because they challenge me to think differently about my life. And because I’m alway honored to be included.

So when charming delightful DearLilyJune nominated me for the Liebster Award [which my spellcheck insists on changing to Lobster], I thought to myself:

Sure. Why not? It’ll be fun.

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The Rules, Or As I Choose To Think Of Them, The Guidelines

Here are the rules for the Liebster Award. If you’re nominated and choose to accept it – you:

answer 11 questions given to you by your nominator;
leave a link back to the person who nominated you;
nominate up to 11 blogs that are relatively new (usually less than 200 followers);
notify your nominees; and
create 11 questions for the nominees.

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Here are DearLilyJune’s questions with my answers

1) Here’s the Lorelai question, posed to her daughter Rory every year on her birthday: What do you think of your life so far?

I like my life so far. Living in suburbia this far out of the city is not where I thought I’d end up, but I’ve come to accept it and enjoy it. Life is quieter here than in the city, and allows me to center myself in nature, write when I want to without distractions, and pursue my love of design. I’m comfortable being a low-key suburban person who watches the parade go by and cheers on those who need to march in it.

2) What’s the cruelest thing you could do to another human being?

Cause them pain, physical &/or emotional.

3) How do you avoid doing #2?

Pay attention to your behavior, know why you do the things that you do, make a conscious decision to play nice– and remember the golden rule.

4) What’s the kindest thing you could do for other human beings?

Support other people in their dreams, listening and guiding them to make good choices, helping them understand that you can only control the process. The results will be what they will be.

5) How do you get motivated, or motivate others, to do more of #4?

I used to think that modeling the behavior you wanted to see in other people was the answer to that question. But now, older & wiser, I’m not so sure that kindness happens that way. Meaning, I don’t have an answer to this question. Do you?

6) What do you dream about at night?

I rarely remember my dreams at night. The little tidbits that I do remember revolve around houses or dorms or hotels– being safe, seeing friends, getting rooms.

7) What do you daydream about during the day?

My daydreams are pretty benign. Walking on a beach. Being in a city park, enjoying nature. Traveling to other countries with friends.

8) If you could go back and choose it, what would your first word be?

Neato.

9) If there were anything you could remember about your life as a baby, what would be your chosen memory?

My grandmother died before I was 1 y.o. I have a photo of her holding me, but I’d like to have met her when I was more aware. They tell me that she was kindness personified.

10) Why are we so quick to pose questions, and so slow to listen for the answers?

In a word, screens. Our society brainwashes people into thinking that distractions via screens, such as social media, TV, movies and video games, are more important than real interpersonal relationships. So waiting to hear a real person answer a question becomes irritating, irrelevant– and not worth wasting your time away from the precious screen.

11) If you had to ask yourself one question each day to take stock of your life, what would that question be?

What have I done today to help my spirit grow?

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Care to play along? Here Are my 11 questions, or writing prompts, for you

1. Which day is your favorite day of the week? And why?

2. What color do you find the most annoying?

3. You’re going on a short drive to run errands around town. What will it be: radio OR personal tunes OR silence?

4. What novel has had the most influence on how you express yourself?

5. Do you like the traditional Thanksgiving feast? If so, what in particular do you like? If not, what do you think is a better meal?

6. When asked to do something that you do not want to do, what do you do?

7. You have a favorite TV show, right? Tell me about it.

8. Is the TSA the most over-rated, self-important, inept government agency around? If not, what is?

9. Guacamole is ________ .

10. To what are you allergic?

11. How much do you love my questions for you?

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Conclusion

Once again Linus, of Peanuts fame, sums it up perfectly.

If you’ve made it this far down on the post, I applaud you. You are a true bloggy friend. Meaning that if you want to do this meme, please feel free to do it.