#And hey the stool can now Match the chair not just in color and fabric but also the wrinkles!

[moongothic]

I have a lot of scrap materials. Scrap wood, foam, fabric, and god knows what else. Just, a lot of leftovers from previous projects.

So I figured I could try to MAKE something out of them, just to put those materials into use so they could become something instead of just sitting around uselessly, taking space and collecting dust.

I thought making a footstool could be a fun, easy-ish project for me to do this winter.

So here, come along with me on this journey of making a wonky, scrap footstool

So key thing here is that I very specifically wanted to avoid buying ANYTHING for this project. I did end up buying two things, a pullsaw (which is a general tool I can use in other projects, so I figured I could get away with it), and one itty bitty thing that ended up costing like, what, 2€?

But yes, my goal was to use things I already have and give them a purpose, not accumulate any MORE scrap materials. This is important because through out this project I ended up using many Unideal Methods For Doing Things, mainly because I didn't have enough material to do it The Ideal Way.

This is not a tutorial for efficiency, this is my journey to repurpose garbage. Just wanna be clear about that. There are better ways to build a footstool.

Anyway, I started the project from arguably the weirdest part; figuring out how much fabric I had from the chair project

The thing was that I wanted to make the footstool as big as I possibly could with the material I had, so I had to start this project by figuring out the maximum size I could do with the fabric I had.

So I figured out the dimensions I could do (even cut the fabric pieces while I was at it), and then using those dimensions as a guide, I went off to figure out the wood pieces I would need for the frame of the stool, as well as the feet. Once I had things measured out, I cut the pieces and boom

Wood pieces obtained.

Sidenote, yes, a 90 degree angle on the corners would have looked much prettier than what I did, I just figured that this would be easier to cut (I cut those pieces before I bought my new pullsaw), also, I wasn't sure how I would perma-attach the pieces if the corners were done like that. Like, with these corners, I could fortify them with dowels or nails or whatever, but clean corners at an angle? I have no idea how to pull that off, and I don't have the energy to to try anything fancy, man, I wanted this to be semi-easy

(There was no way in hell I was gonna attempt somekinda dovetail joint here, I didn't have enough wood to work with (there was a point where I was actually worried I wouldn't have enough wood to build the frame at all) and god knows I'm nowhere near good enough at wood working to pull something like that off)

Anyway, I did originally intend to attach the wood pieces with dowels, since they'd be hidden and look neat (by not being visible at all), but when I drilled the first hole for the first dowel, I realized that 1) I didn't have a drill bit large enough for the dowel to fit in, and 2) I did not have it in me to actually do it. Like, to make sure the wood pieces would allign correct I would have to make sure I was drilling Very Straight into the wood, not once, not four times, but 16 times (since I was planning on using 2 dowels at each joint). If I didn't drill the dowel holes perfectly straight and perfectly aligned, the frame wouldn't come together, and I did not want to risk fucking that up, man, no

So I took the easy way out.

Nails.

I do kinda regret picking these nails, I should've used less obvious ones OR waited until the wood was painted before nailing them together because these are kinda pretty nails, so it ended up being kind of a waste to use them (since there was no way I was gonna AVOID these nails while painting the wood). IDK I was worried the glue alone wouldn't hold the wood strong enough while I was working with the frame or something and chose poorly here. But it is what it is. (On the plus side, we seemed to have exactly 12 of these nails, which was the exact perfect amount)

Anyways, yes, I chose to paint the frame because I have leftover paint (and primer) from the previous project so I figured I might as well use it up. Even though I hate this fucking paint so much

Two or three coats of primer, a gentle sanding after them, the wood was perfectly smooth and lovely

Then came the paint and it looks like shit, just like last time

I did like. What, four coats of paint. Sanding between the coats. Dilluting it so it wouldn't be so thick. And yet. And yet it looks like shit. Just like last time, with the chair I refinished. I mean I knew it was gonna turn out like ass but I'm still kind of shocked by how bad it turned out.

Anyway. Ideally you'd probably make a cushion onto some random piece of plywood (or something similar) that you would slot into the frame of the stool. I did not have any plywood pieces, nor did I have enough wood to make a small, thinner frame to slot into the main frame. So.

To create a bottom I used this ribbon that I have an entire fuckload of (since I bought it for that fucking lamp before realizing I couldn't use it and couldn't return either, literally have nothing better to do with it so here it goes) to weave a bottom onto the frame. And a bit later I attached a piece of fabric on top of the weaving (another leftover from the lamp project), as this would be what I'd glue the cushion onto.

But first, I had to make a cushion!

As you can see, I have a lot of scrap foam

(Yes I've kept the original foam from the styrofoam chair, I did cut it down to get rid of the damaged edges (after taking this photo) but otherwise the foam is fine, shhhhhh) (Also the white foam is what I bought for the chair project, the yellow foam is something my mom had bought years ago that we've had laying around for ages)

I wanted the cushion of the stool to have some height to it, but I didn't have any thick pieces of foam, so I figured I could just make a thick foam piece from the scraps I had, with some help from the foam glue I have (the same stuff I bought for the styrofoam chair but wasn't able to use since it melted the styrofoam).

Started by figuring out the rough dimensions of the foam piece I'd need (from the biggest, cleanest piece I had)

And I got started making a Foam Sandwich

Let me tell you my hands were an absolute mess during this whole process, I was essentially washing my hands with fucking nail polish remover (I just noticed the foam glue smelled like nail polish remover and realized it would probably get rid of the residue on my hands, which it did, thank fuck), it was nasty

But yes, Big Foam Sammich. I did start lowkey cutting it WHILE I was building the cushion, since my goal here was to not waste materials so. Y'know. I tried to make sure I wouldn't waste materials.

After the cushion was formed, I let it dry for a good while before I went in to shave the edges and cut it down. After that I used this floofier scrap foam to cover the sandwich. I could have glued it on, but I figured I had killed enough of my braincells while making the foam sandwich and breathing in the glue fumes that I decided that sewing would be good enough.

Two flooffy foam pieces were enough to cover the cushion, I just sewed them together on top and sewed them to the bottom of the cushion. It was quite easy indeed.

With that all done, I could attach the finished cushion onto the frame!

Brought the glue back out so I could just glue the foam onto the fabric that was stapled onto the frame, and I allowed it to dry (upside down, with some weights)

And yes, ideally you would staple the foam down onto a separate piece of wood, but since it was going directly on top of the frame and I didn't want to staple it onto the frame, I didn't. I wanted the wood (and my shitty paint job) to be visible, and the fabric would need to be stapled onto the frame anyways, so the glue just had to do the job here.

ANYWAY, UPHOLSTERY TIME

Since the fabric pieces were long done, I could just get straight into it. I pinned the fabric pieces down and handsewed the whole thing. I do admit I regret not ironing the fabric before I started though, I forgot and by the time I realized it was too late, and there was no way I was going to lift the fabric off the stool at this point. I learned my god damn lesson with the styrofoam chair, I know there would've been no way for me to put the fabric back down as neatly as it had been before, it was not worth it.

Anyway, I sewed the fabric and to finish things off I stapled the bottom of the fabric down, onto the frame. And yes I did a wonky ass job, shush

And here comes the one thing I ended up buying for this project, the thing that cost me like 2€

Decorative ribbon to hide the staples! Since I couldn't think of any other way to hide the staples.

And y'all, I understand now why people normally just glue this shit on, it took me like FIVE FUCKING HOURS to sew the ribbon onto the stool!! Mainly because my smallest upholstery needle was WAY too big for this job, and my thinner straight needless were too hard to use for this. My fingers were hurting so bad even the next day, like I understand what thimbles are for now, holy shit

Also. I did not have black sewing thread. So I ended up using yellow thread and then gently went over it with a black (waterproof) marker so the thread wouldn't be visible over the ribbon. (I didn't take photos of it so you'll just have to take my word for it)

So yeah. Shit took forever, I wish I had a hotglue gun but I don't, so it just had to be done the hard way. All things considdered though, it worked out alright, and the ribbon is nice and secure on the stool.

Now, you might've noticed that I haven't mentioned doing anything to the feet of the stool. That's because I haven't finished them.

It's the middle of winter. It's cold. I can't be bothered to go outside to stand the cold for hours to finish the feet of the stool. I need to shape them, I need to sand them, I need to make sure they're all the same lenght etc, all this before I can even prime and paint them and attach them to the frame. But since I can't access our patio, I can't use my orbital sander to speed things up. And I can't be bothered to do all that word by sanding the wood by hand. I am far too lazy for that man, nah

So I'm going to finish this project when the weather gets nicer and our patio isn't covered in a meter of snow.

I'll finish the feet of the footstool later.

So there will probably be a follow up to this post later

But yeah, here's my unideal, imperfect footstool, made almost entirely out of scrap materials.

It looks like ass, but hey I've never tried to build a piece of furniture before, give me a break, I'm a comic artist not a furniture maker

[octupus-on-the-moon]

A table

~It's been done *laughs in Dr. Frankenstein*. After a lot of sweat, cursing and repeatedly flipping of my laptop and tablet. A new part of a nightmare is ready. It's a bit longer because of my absence and I hope I can keep my motivation up~

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Ninth part of nightmare

Word count: 1,814

Pairing: Bucky X Reader

Warning: Non I guess. Just some fluff and a burned gratine.

Bucky opened the door, awaiting the cold, baldness of the walls. To end up being surprised by the green he saw everywhere.

He totally forgot the little plants, y/n bought for him. They really made a difference. A welcome one. His clenched jaw and frowned eyebrows disappeared.

After taking of his jacket, he took an empty glass and went around pouring some water in all the colorful pots. He cursed under his breath, after he spilled some water for the second time. Mentally making a note to buy a watering can. Without noticing that his dark thoughts lifted and the silence around him was a welcome one, rather than a threatening menace.

Barnes looked at his wristwatch. It was still over an hour, till y/n would come back from college. He felt a sting of joy in his stomach.

That was new, Bucky wondered. It was probably just the excitement of finally having something to look forward to, instead of enduring one day after the other with the same maddening routine.

In the meanwhile, he could be useful and cook lunch. Y/n would be hungry after college and he had promised to cook the next time. Bucky looked in the fridge and cupboards. Potatoes, cheese and bacon. Exactly what he needed

Y/n had 30 minutes of lecture left, till she was free. She really wanted to go back to her little room in James’s apartment after the first class, but Monday was full of important courses, so she somehow managed to convince herself to stay.

The short call with James lifted her spirits considerably. It was his stoic way of talking, as soon as she showed a bit of interest in him, that made her feel warm inside. Her thoughts wandered off. To him. To the unpleasant night and how she finally saw the scared child he was. But then they went off to his blue eyes and the little crinkles around them when he frowned.

He must have been quite a look back in the forties.

Of course she had seen the photos in the Smithsonian, but she pictured him in a classier way. With a fitted suit and a fedora hat, walking down the street stealing hearts. Maybe a girl at his side and his eyes constantly lingering around her, as if she were the whole world and more. At the thought of it, y/n caught herself picturing a girl just like her, beside his tall figure.

That made her stop and turn back to reality. It was not a good sign. Or maybe it was. It felt like forever, since she let someone into her life and James was pretty much the last person she would have thought of. But she also did not expect her father being a criminal and her whole existence a facade.

Life was full of twists and turns lately. Some good, some bad. Maybe it was time to let something good happen.

“Ms. y/l/n, could you resume the discussed topic?” The professors sharp tone ripped y/n out of her train of thought. This will be the longest 30 minutes of my life, she thought.

A quite knock on the door distracted Barnes from intensely starring at the oven. He decided himself for a simple potato gratin, that would hopefully suite y/n’s taste. With is heart beating a bit too fast he neared himself the door.

And there she was. Her hair a little mess. A bag casually hanging around her shoulder and a beam as bright as the sun itself.

“Will you let me in or just keep starring?” Her playful greeting made Bucky’s heart stumble and without wasting words he stepped aside. He made another mental note. His gaze is not to be trusted. “How was therapy?” she asked letting her bag slide to the floor entering the kitchen in on smooth motion “Who of you two bit off the other one´s head first?” It took Bucky moment to get out of his trance.

“I….. We…. It went good” Barnes cleared his throat closing the door behind him “But she got a little suspicious about me deciding to cooperate” Y/n was drinking a glass of water leaning against the counter and once again Bucky could not get his eyes off of her.

“I did not think about that. We should have done one thing at a time. But I guess it´s too late now. Oh! And it smells amazing” she replied signing over to the oven. The quick hand move, the way her voice floated in the air, that one fuzzy hair in her face, everything captured him. “I…” A sharp smell tingling his nose interrupted Barnes. It came from the hot oven in the middle of the kitchen. His concentration fully gathered again, let him act quickly, reaching over for a rug and rescuing his gratin in the last moment. The crust was now a bit darker than needed but it was still acceptable.

“It´s a burned potato gratin” Barnes darkly commented, placing the form in the center of the already ‘set up table’.

“Hey, don´t be so hard on yourself. It still looks amazing”

“I´m not being hard with myself, I´m blaming you. It wouldn´t have burned if you wouldn´t have distracted me” Bucky’s eyes were glimmering amused.

She gasped overly dramatic, laying one hand on her chest “Me?”

“Yes. You” He broke out into a smile, without wasting another thought he reached over to her, brushing that fuzzy string of hair out of her face. Y/n’s giggle stopped for a moment at the closeness between both, making place for a shy smile, her eyes searching the floor. Barnes retreaded himself, feeling a heavy stone inside his stomach, as he realized how intimate the gesture was.

She did not expect him coming so close, her heart was already fluttering and was about to explode at his touch. Then he moved away causing an emptiness inside her. The same emptiness she always felt since the day of the notification. It was the last time she felt truly fulfilled and at ease, she had dreams and goals. Then everything changed. Life suddenly was a landscape of grey. Every task dull and meaningless. Time passed. She soon enough noticed that the emptiness would stay and the grey would only flourish.

Then the nightmare happened. And the already grey landscape had now even dark shadows to be afraid of.

James moved away to cut and serve the gratin. Giving her a little time to calm down her heart beat and ‘take a seat’ on the kitchen counter. After another heartbeat of discreetly observing Bucky serve the plates, y/n decided to break the silence “James”

He looked up with a shy grin “Yes?”

“We really need to get you a table”

….

“Is it really necessary?” Bucky and y/n were standing in front of the furniture store. Bucky incredulously, Y/n exited.

“Well at least I am not going to keep eating on the floor and, or the counter. My back is literally hurting from eating the gratin”

“Yes, it’s true. But. I…” Barnes closed and opened his fists a few times weighting his options “Okey. I guess we can take a look around” She nodded enthusiastically leading the way into the shop, James sighted heavily and followed.

The store was more or less deserted, which relieved Barnes. He didn´t like being in a already overwhelmingly filled hall with an ever more overwhelming count of people in it. The exit routs were explicitly signed which calmed his anxiety a bit more.

The most urgent thing for y/n was definitely the table, which led them to the dinning room section.

“I feel like a mafia boss” Y/n declared sitting down on the front side of a heavy wooden table. The chair, throne-like, up-holstered in a red velvet.

“Yes. A very scary mafia boss” Bucky jeered from the other side of the aisle.

“Hey! I can be scary if I want to”

“Jupp, as scary as a teddy”

She got up from the huge seat and walked over to him “Have you ever started into the cold dead eyes of a teddy bear?”

Bucky thought for an overly long moment “No, I haven´t. What about this one?”

“James. That’s a plastic table and it isn´t even a good quality one. In half a year, you will need to buy a new one” grabbing his arm she dragged him away “Come on these place is gigantic, we can find something better”

Yet, they didn´t. Every table y/n suggested was rejected by Bucky and vice versa. It was mostly to big, to small, to pompous, to dull, to much seats, to little seats and so on.

Both had almost reached the end of the section, when y/n suddenly dragged Bucky over to another exemplar. It´s design was simple, a glass top and a blond wooden frame with matching metal legs. Four chairs coated in a clear fabric rounded the dining set.

“This one. It´s the perfect size and I think I saw stools that would match, for the counter” Y/n sounded near desperate. Bucky took his time to look around the table. He was searching for something specific on it.

The price tag.

Y/n had picked out the most beautiful and practical tables, but the price was often more then exorbitantly high, which led Bucky to refuse all her suggestions. And the same happened with this one, it was by far the best table she had found today. It would look amazing between the plants, near the window, the chairs comfortable to sit on, in the early mornings to drink coffee and read the paper. It was a shame the table was out of Bucky`s scarce budget.

“I don´t know” Barnes commented “The chairs will get dirty pretty fast” Y/n´s face dropped.

She really didn´t expect it being so hard to satisfy Bucky´s furniture taste. Y/n thought that given Bucky´s cloth taste, he would have somewhat the same taste for furniture. Modern, comfy and in style with the room. Yet, every piece he had found acceptable was old styled, plastic or just straight out in a horrible color “You really liked that plastic table didn´t you?” She sighted.

For the break of a second Bucky frowned disgusted, then he nodded convincingly. But it was enough for her to know, what was keeping them from agreeing for a piece of furniture.

Cheap.

Every single table he elected was not because of its design, colour or material, it was because it was cheap. For a moment y/n felt bad. It was selfish of her not thinking that way, even though she truly believed that she didn´t have a rich complex, sometimes she did forget that not everyone had unlimited resources.

“Maybe it´s time for a little break. I think I saw a popcorn stand outside” Bucky’s conflicted face lit up a bit at her words.

All rights reserved.

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Tags: @ginger-swag-rapunzel

[yugyummygot7reactions]

Into the Night - 3

Prelude | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

New chapter posted every day from now to 10/31!! at 8pm EST!!!

Pairing: Jaebeom x You

Genre: Smut

Word Count: 2511

Warnings: Blood Kink

After the morning you had, you knew you had time for one more small, much needed, detour. You ventured to the local bar, which you knew opened at 11am sharp, and figured you had time for one quick shot of tequila before looking for your next target.

Unbeknownst to you, that target was already there… waiting for you.

The bar was dark, but the front door was propped wide open. You were immediately suspicious when the bartender was sitting on a barstool, slumped over the bar, almost looking like he was taking a nap. “Hey! You okay?” You asked him as you slowly approached. He didn’t move a muscle. “Seriously dude, quit playing around. You just opened and you’re already passed out?” You knew the bartender here was a drunk, but you didn’t think he had gotten that bad. You gently shook the man whose name you never bothered to learn. His body felt ice cold as he slipped off the stool and onto the floor, two small marks on his neck suddenly coming to view. “You were faster than I expected.” A voice said from the other side of the bar. You made the mistake of turning and making eye contact with him, “Now you don’t know how to use a crossbow at all in my presence. You are going to put it on the bar and not touch it until I am done with you.” The man stepped closer, his eyes flashing red, matching the liquid in the old-fashioned glass he was drinking out of. You knew immediately he was using his powers on you and you would once again be helpless to a monster. “What do you want?” you asked, setting down the weapon as if you were controlled by puppet strings. “You.” He said as he walked closer, licking a drop of blood from his lips. You stared at him a moment, taking in his lean, yet muscular figure and striking face. He was like a walking/talking marble sculpture with skin the color of the purest porcelain and hair as black as a starless night. You knew all too well that looks could be deceiving, but he looked as if he wouldn’t hurt a fly. “Why” You asked calmly as he took another swig of the bartenders blood and stepped closer to you. “It is a long explanation princess, but in short, I have wanted to taste you since you began guarding that wretched portal.” “I need to stop you, vampire.” “Jaebeom. Im Jaebeom, princess. If you’re going to attempt to stop someone, you should at least know their name first.” He laughed, “Why do you want to stop me princess, I can control myself you know,” he said, cockily. “It’s a long story.” You said, fighting every urge you had to fulfill your wildest fantasy of fucking a vampire. “I am all ears.” He pulled up a chair and sat, crossing his legs in front of him. “If you’re all ears, then I trust you won’t interrupt me?” You said, feeling like there was a game going on that you did not yet know the rules to. Jaebeom downed the last of the blood and crushed the glass in his hand. He waved his hand at your question, gesturing for you to continue and expecting you to say your piece. However, you enjoyed having the element of surprise, and so instead of saying anything, you dashed towards him and pulled him into a kiss, hoping to throw him off his game enough to gain the upper hand. You felt him stiffen like this was the first time he’d ever been kissed. After a moment, he pulled you close and held you there, pressing your body against his. Through your clothes, you felt how solid his body was. After a few seconds, you pulled away. You saw his expression shift immediately to one of irritation, and he opened his mouth to say something, most likely another snide comment, yet you had been expecting this type of reaction and placed your hand over his mouth. “You said you wouldn’t interrupt me, remember?” You said with a smirk of your own. You watched with great amusement as his expression turned even more perplexed. You were changing the rules to the game you didn’t know how to play and he was impressed. “Jaebeom, I want you to do one simple thing for me, that I think will help our… situation.” You paused again, watching his expressions. You saw his eyebrow twitch, and his pupils dilate in either desire or blood-lust. “I want you to fuck me.” Jaebeom’s previously twitching eyebrows shot directly upwards. He was clearly surprised that you would just offer yourself up to a monster and give him exactly what he wanted. You waited a few seconds for a response, yet Jaebeom remained completely silent, trying to figure out your end game. He suddenly moved with an incredible swiftness and pulled your hand away from his mouth before bringing you in for another hungry kiss. You responded immediately as his cool tongue brushed across your lips. Your arms wrapped around his neck instinctively as you leaned into him, your fingers coiling around his long, black hair. You felt two tiny pricks on the inside of your lower lip as he pulled it into his mouth. You heard him inhale sharply as the faint taste of blood hit your tongue. You pulled away from the kiss and opened your eyes to see his expression. His crimson irises had been completely engulfed by blackness as his pupils dilated in carnal desire and blood-lust. “You taste a thousand times better than I could have imagined.” He spoke against your lips, licking your bottom lip for another taste, “After drinking from that man, I feel as if I went from a cheap wine to a rare vintage.” Jaebeom’s hands trailed down your body, starting with your jawline, lingering a little too long at your neck, before skimming over your breasts and down to your waistline. He grabbed at the hem of your shirt and pulled it up and over your head in one swift motion, before stopping to gaze at your half-naked form. Jaebeom then spun you around and planted his hands on your hips. He pulled your back against him, and for the first time you felt his hardness pressing into you. “You see what you’ve done to me?” You heard him whisper, his mouth suddenly at your ear. “I’ve spent years wondering how you’d taste. Now I get to finally find out.” He grabbed at your pants and pulled them down. He could see all of you, yet with your face two inches away from the wall, you could see none of him. However, this slight embarrassment melted away as soon as he pulled your hips back towards him and pressed you against his still-clothed hardness. You shifted your weight to your other leg and reached between your thighs. You heard Jaebeom huff behind you, as his hand glided down your hipbone before coming to join yours at your wet core. You pulled your hand away before placing it atop his and guided his movements. The dull ember in your core grew with each passing second. Before long, you felt your lover grow bolder in his movements, and when he pressed more forcefully against your clit, you let out an involuntary whimper that only made him want to do it more. As if reading your mind, you felt Jaebeom slide one long finger into your heat. You let out a gasp as his cold finger slid deep into you and you heard him deeply hum in approval as he met no resistance. You felt yourself melt under his touch; each second making you lean heavier into the stone wall for support. Your legs began to quiver before long, and you weren’t sure how much longer you would be able to last like this under his touch. You didn’t know if it was years of being obsessed with fictional vampires, his powers, or just his skills that made this so good, but you didn’t want it to stop. You let out a cry when he added a second finger. You felt your walls stretch to accommodate this new intrusion. The last 24 hours had been so crazy, it felt like it had been days since your encounter with the incubus, but it had only been an hour. You’d almost forgotten how good the slight pain of being stretched open felt. Every second had the fire burning brighter within you, yet it still wasn’t enough. You let out a huff as he pulled his hands away from your body. You heard the sound of moving fabric before one large hand pulled at your hips and the other at your upper back, forcing you to bend forward. Instinctively, you opened your legs to keep your balance, giving Jaebeom all the prompting he needed to line himself up and press into your core. You let out a gasp as Jaebeom thrust into you from behind. Your fingers scraped at the rough stone walls as he pulled out, and thrust back inside with ever-increasing speed. Every thrust made you feel like your blood was on fire, had your legs shaking, had your blood coursing through your body a little bit faster, and you knew he could sense it too. You’d seen the way his pupils dilated every time your heart was beating earlier. You’d wager he could hear your heart beat from across the room, so you knew he was also going mad. “Jaebeom, I-” You weren’t sure what you were going to say. You couldn’t think. You couldn’t breathe. Every movement from the man behind you had you aching for more. You felt him pull on you tighter, causing your back to arch even further from him. You let out a stifled whimper as he wrapped one of his arms around your torso, pulling your body impossibly closer to his, and wrapped one of his large hands around your throat. It only took a few seconds for the light-headedness to kick in. You weren’t sure if he knew exactly what he was doing to you, or if his hand on your throat was simply an allusion to the control he seemingly so desired. Nevertheless, it was making it even harder for you to have any coherent thoughts. With his free hand rubbing your sensitive clitoris and his hard cock buried deep inside of you, you fell over the edge. You let out a strangled moan as you orgasmed hard, your walls squeezing down on your lover. As your walls fluttered around him, you heard your lover let out a low groan. He lowered his head to your neck, and you felt two small pricks as his fangs sank into your skin. He sucked hard, and you felt blood flow from the wound. You let out another strangled whimper as he drank from you freely, before his tongue caressed your skin and sealed the wounds closed. “You taste better than any wine ever could,” he said, his voice muffled against your skin. “You should take care that I don’t take a liking to this.” Yet even after your orgasm, Jaebeom didn’t stop. Every thrust of your lover’s hard cock into you had you winding back up, and every second led him closer to an orgasm of his own. You felt his hipbones digging into your ass with every movement, and every thrust had your sensitive nipples scraping against the stone. “Bite me again,” you pleaded, wriggling back against him. “Please.” Jaebeom didn’t reply, but you felt him push your head to the other side and bite down again. This one was harder, much harder, and you let out a pained moan as he did so, but it wasn’t anything you didn’t want within that moment. His control on you had you not willing to fight him or fight back and you were enticed by this danger. Stopping him would have to wait until you both had your fill. He drank from you again, his hand still around your throat like a vice. You saw stars, and with another strangled whimper, orgasmed again, causing him to suck harder and moan against your bleeding neck. But this time, you weren’t alone; Jaebeom’s thrusts became more erratic with every passing second. He pulled you down onto him with increasing force, chasing his own release. You looked over your shoulder just in time to see him orgasm too. He was in such bliss you believed this could possibly be his first time in both his life and death. His mouth hung slightly ajar, revealing two long fangs among his perfectly straight teeth, and your blood covered his face and neck. His eyes were still seemingly black, his red irises completely eclipsed by dilated pupils. His hips slammed into you a few more times before he shuddered, spilling into you. You felt him thrust into your core slowly as he finished before he gradually stilled and withdrew completely. Without Jaebeom behind you for support, you nearly fell over. Your neck ached from the multitude of bite marks that he’d left and the whole lower half of your body ached from the way Jaebeom had fucked you so primally. Yet you wouldn’t complain to anyone about the pain. You’d enjoyed every second of it. “Wasn’t there a long story you were supposed to be telling me?” Jaebeom asked, his now severely bloodied smirk making an appearance. You shook your head slowly. “Not right now,” you replied, your voice slightly slurred, “but I think the next time we meet the story will end.” Jaebeom licked his lips, “So do I.” The vampire wiped his face with a bar rag and grabbed his clothes before coming close to you again. He held your face still as he locked his eyes on you. “You are going to forget I was ever here with you.” He whispered, “The marks on your neck came from another monster and I was never here.” You felt your mind get foggy. “You were never here.” “You are going to close your eyes and count to ten.” He whispered before wiping the blood off your neck and kissing you one last time. You closed your eyes and began to count. When he knew his mind control worked, he left in the blink of an eye. When you opened your eyes the bar was empty, sans the deceased bartender, and you didn’t remember anything after leaving the gas station. It was clear another monster has been here. “Hello?” You yelled out as you quickly dressed yourself, picked up the crossbow, and cleared the bar. You missed the monster, probably only by a few moments. “What did Yugyeom do to me?” You asked out loud as you reached behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of 1800 tequila. You took the bottle, leaving some money behind on the bar, similar to how you did at the gas station, and headed out of the town towards the local lake. You spent many days relaxing near the water and knew that you had to regroup without any distractions so you could find the remaining monsters. Once you arrived at the normally serene waterfront, you realized that you wouldn’t be getting any alone time any time soon.

[revisionaryhistory]

Three Days ~ 10

~*~Sebastian~*~

 I parked next to Emma, grabbed the food, and followed her into the condo. The door opened directly into the family room. There were wood floors with a large patina gray and blue area rug. She had one of those couches with a chaise on one end. There was an oversized chair with an ottoman in the same dark gray. Tables sat at either end of the couch. Natural light flooded the room from a window on one wall and French doors on the other. A TV hung in the corner of the front door and window wall with a fireplace between the TV and windows. Pillows in a blue to match the rug and a dark berry were tossed on the chair and in the corner under the TV were a stack of three big floor cushions. My guess was they were for sitting in front of the fire. The room felt comfortable. I wanted to jump onto the chaise and hug one of the berry pillows.

I followed Emma's lead and kicked my shoes off in the entry. I don't wear shoes in my place either. New York streets are disgusting. I don't want that shit tracked through my home.

 She headed left to the kitchen. It was an open floor plan with a breakfast bar separating the two rooms. Grey fabric bar stools tied the areas together. Lower cabinets where black, uppers white, Carrara marble counter tops, and black appliances. There was another window over the farmhouse sink.

 "Wow. I love your kitchen." 

She smiled at me over her shoulder, "Thank you." 

I almost lost the ability to breathe. Her shy smile dropped my heart to my knees. She looked so beautiful with her hair messed up from where she'd pulled it out of the ponytail. Seeing her against the backdrop of her house... breath taking. 

I put our food on the bar, "Can I use your bathroom?" 

"Of course." She pointed to a door in the far corner of the kitchen. "Ignore the clothes." 

I closed the door behind me. Laundry room and bathroom. Convenient. There was a pile of folded clothes on a long counter across from the washer and dryer. 

When I came out, she had lunch set out. I sat on the stool next to her and put the roll I'd grabbed for her in the top of her take out container, "For you." 

"Thank you." 

I jumped in where we left off at Whole Foods. "It's really thoughtful how you use people's names."

 "I think everyone likes to hear their name and most people don't even look at the person checking them out or bringing their food." She looked over from her salad, "It may sound naive, but I hope that small nicety makes their day better."

"Wouldn't be surprised if it did. I don't think it’s naive. It's nice. Lots of people don't think to do the nice thing. Those small acts of kindness can change the world for someone." 

"Our brains involuntarily respond to the sound of our own names, even if we're unable to respond to or act on anything else." She smirked, "Can you ignore it when someone yells your name?" 

I'd just shoved a forkful of salad in my mouth. I chewed and shook my head. "Nope." I pointed my fork at my ear. "I wear earbuds a lot." I cringed, "Don't take that the wrong way. When I'm at an event or on a stage and people are screaming my name it's... fantastic and humbling. I'd be crushed if they stopped. But when I'm going about my day it's easier. I know people who can ignore hearing their name, but I can't. So, if I hear my name I look over and usually it’s taken as an ok to come over and talk." I cringed again. "It is. I like talking to fans. I love hearing stories. Most people aren't rude." My shoulders slumped, "Sometimes I just want to get to the subway and go to my friend's place." I shrugged and tilted my head, looking at her, "Earbuds." 

She nodded, "I get it. Those guys at the restaurant weren't rude and didn't stay too long." 

"I don't like when someone interrupts when I'm eating. They waited and, like you said, didn't stay too long." 

She looked curious, "What if they had?" 

"The hostess recognized me, so management knew we were there. Usually, if someone stays too long or lots of people start coming over, management will clear them away. If they hadn't, I would have gotten us out of there." 

She laughed, "Do you always know an exit route?" 

"Not even close." I laughed too, "I'm good at winging it." 

She ran her hand down my bicep, "If I made you uncomfortable, l'm sorry." 

I'd done a lot of cringing in the last few minutes. "Nothing to be sorry about. I'd rather you ask." Pretty sure I was looking uncomfortable again. "I don't want you to think I don't realize how blessed I am." 

Emma stopped me with another touch on my arm, "Not at all, Sebastian. Privacy shouldn't be the price you pay for doing what you love." 

This would also be a perfect time for a kiss. However, one of us had a mouthful of blue cheese and spinach. 

It wasn't me.

 We laughed and talked about the gym while finishing eating. There was a lot to laugh about from the yoga class. The woman who kept shushing us scared me. It was a good thing Emma got us out of there. She didn't believe me and laughed. When she laughs, she gets the cutest dimple in her cheek. Just one. Left cheek.

 Emma closed the lid on what was left of her salad, "You were right. The roll was delicious." 

"I would never lie about bread." I was finished too and closed the lid.

 Emma stuffed the containers back in the bag then into a garbage can under the sink. She came back around the breakfast bar, "I'll get you towels and show you where everything is."

 I grabbed my bag and followed her up the stairs. The bathroom was the first door on the right. Emma opened the second door, pulled out a set of towels and a washcloth, and handed them to me. "Thank you."

 "No problem." She pointed to the third door. "That's the guest room. You can use it if you want. I'll meet you back downstairs."

 I nodded and walked into the bathroom. When I pulled my phone out of my shorts, I noticed the blinking light. My mom texted asking what time I'd be home and when I was leaving tomorrow. Fuck. I was taking the train back to the city tomorrow morning. I leaned on the counter and looked at myself in the mirror. I watched myself start to smile. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't taking a train anywhere in the morning.

 Naturally, I over thought this in the shower. There were tradeoffs to be made. I felt guilty blowing off helping my parents to go to a festival with Emma. If I stayed through tomorrow it would negate skipping out today. I could leave Monday morning. But that was the holiday. Schools are closed. Wonder if Emma has plans? I had plans Monday, but nothing I couldn't skip out on.

 I realize I've only known her twenty-four hours and I'm making decisions based on the rest of the day going well. I don't know why it wouldn't. This has been good and fun. Who the hell knows where it will go, but there's a little voice telling me not to go home yet.

 I beat her downstairs and sent a few texts updating my plans while stretched out on the chaise. The remote was on the table next to me. I hit the power button and brought up something like Netflix, but wasn't.

 I heard Emma come down the stairs and looked over, "Hey, what's this Plex thing?"

 She sat down on the other end of the couch. Too far away. "You look really good in that color, Seb."

 I looked down to see what I'd put on. Dark red t-shirt. "Thanks."

 Emma smiled and nodded to the TV, "My father digitized his entire movie and TV series collection. Plex organizes everything. It's like your own personal Netflix."

 I'd been poking around for a little while, "This is cool. How does it group things into collections?"

 "We do it. I can sign into the server and add things to favorites or fuck around with Amy's."

 I clicked on Fave-Emma. "You like a lot of reality TV."

 Emma laughed, "That’s Amy messing with me. I hate reality TV. It's like the worst parts of people sensationalized for the masses. I don't like watching people be horrible to each other. I don't like people being put in prescribed situations and rewarded for being nasty."

 It was cute how worked up she was. I must have smiled.

 "What?"

 I raised my shoulders, "No Survivor or Keeping up with the Kardashian's for you."

 She understood I was teasing, "Or Big Brother or American MasterChef. Australian MasterChef is good. I like Great British Bake off and The Repair Shop. Polite British reality TV."

 "What about movies?"

 Her demeanor changed to wide eyed excitement. "Oh, they're completely different. They're not real people being horrible. It's scripted. I love in movies what I hate in reality TV. One of my favorite movies is 'Closer' and it's," she shook her head and cringed, "harsh."

 I startled, "With Natalie Portman?"

 She nodded, "Love it. It's one of the most honest movies I've ever seen."

 I sat up, threw my head back, and put my hand up, pretending to be exasperated. "Honest? Everyone in that movie was a big fat liar." Her smile let me know she recognized the quote from the movie.

 "Everyone is incredibly unlikable, but Larry didn't lie."

 I raised my eyebrows.

 She stuck her tongue out a little and pointed at me, "He was a horrible person, but not a liar. He was so hurt when Anna cheated."

 I leaned forward, "No, no, no. That scene was horrifying."

 "Yes, but it was real in how people can destroy each other. The whole interchange where he wanted to know all the details. Where they were, what they did. He even asked what the other guy's cum tasted like." She fell back onto the couch. “In a movie full of lies that was the most honest thing I've ever seen." 

I leaned back, mirroring her. Partly because I wanted to pounce on her. The back and forth had been fun with both of us fervently involved in the conversation. Then she used the words “what his cum tasted like” and my brain short circuited a little. I laced my fingers on my chest and thought. I turned my head to look at her, "You're right. I remember sitting in the theater with my mouth hanging open. I thought it was the language, because it was almost obscene. Only now... I wonder if it was because it was a brutally unsanitized version of a break up."

 She smiled and shrugged one shoulder, "Made you think."

 "It's the teacher in you."

"Occupational hazard."

Important question. "Are first grade teachers allowed to say the word cum?"

She drew her eyebrows down with a look of disgust, "Not in front of the children."

 I laughed so loud I startled myself.

Emma shook her head, stood up, and held out her hand to me, "Let's go play, Sebastian."

 I took her hand, letting her pull me up. I put up enough resistance for her to drag me out the door. As soon as I closed the vehicle door behind her, I realized I'd missed the perfect moment. When she pulled me off the couch, I should have pulled her back, taken her in my arms, and kissed her.

I fucking missed it. Again.

 We pulled out and Emma told me which way to go. “One of my favorites is similar. Husbands and Wives. It’s funny and tragic. It’s real too. You'd probably like it. Godfather. Lots of classics for the acting and film making. I loved Boogie Nights.  Life of a male porn star. I enjoyed seeing how the porn industry worked."

"Tempted?" Mischief was in those green eyes.

 "Porn and acting aren't always so very different. Scum bags in both."  I wanted to hear more from her. "What do you love besides fucking cavemen?" Another quote from Closer.

 "Um, Sliding Doors. Princess Bride. I like trilogies. Lord of the Rings is the best thing ever. The extended cuts. Dad is a huge Tolkien fan. He read us the Hobbit when we were little. We couldn't focus on reading the Fellowship, but the movies worked. Loved The Force Awakens.”

I could tell by what she didn’t say she wasn't in love with number two, "Opinion on Last Jedi?"

 "Hated everything about Canto Bight. They made Poe both stupid and sexist." She growled, "Fucked up script."

 I nodded. I was biting my tongue. I wasn’t a stranger to fucked up scripts. I wanted to ask. She would tell the truth, which was good, but I didn't know the way she'd go. Next stoplight I looked over, "Dare I ask?"

 She laughed, "Don't care for the Hulk. Like Spiderman and Ant Man only in ensemble movies, not the solo films. Love Tony's genius and arrogance. I almost peed my pants because of fat Thor. Love Wanda and Nat. Love everyone in Guardians except Peter Quill and not just because he could have stopped Thanos. I thought I just didn't like Pratt because I didn’t like him in 10 Years and Parks and Rec, but loved Jurassic World. So its Peter. I can watch baby Groot dance all day. Did I miss anybody?" Her eyebrows were pulled down with the question she was facetiously asking.

I went with it. "Falcon. Hawkeye, Vision." Left out a couple of major players. The one’s I really wanted an opinion on. I put the ball back in her court.

"Snarky fun, steady, a bit over bearing." I just nodded and we were quiet. A few seconds passed before she put her hand on my arm, "I can't keep this up. Seems mean."

"A little teasing never hurt me."

 She smiled and went on. "At the beginning Steve and Bucky were all boy. They ragged on each other and I didn't really care for either. I know they were best friends, but I didn’t like how they interacted. Bucky was cocky and dismissive of Steve. Steve was annoying in his earnestness. I liked how the characters grew. Beautiful bad boy, who’s not really bad. I like broken characters. Bucky is definitely broken. Was broken. We'll see."

 I was good with her take on Bucky and Steve. I don’t completely disagree. "I hear there are plans for Bucky."

"You would know."

I nodded, "You thought Bucky was beautiful?" I said this with a straight face and looked at the road.

"Wanna know a secret?" 

I guessed she didn't want to answer, "Sure."

"Bucky is much hotter than Steve."

"I think I'm glad to hear that." Yeah, more than good with her opinion.

 Parking was a bitch. The positive about parking so fucking far away is I got to walk a couple of blocks down the street holding my date's hand. It's amazing how sometimes the simplest things make me happiest. Right now, I'm pretty damn happy.

[jojoreadwhat]

T W E L V E • A Gwilym Lee Story | 3. the one with the same cliche story

Sylvia •

Gwilym and Joe’s apartment was intellectually eclectic, and expensive looking. Exquisite crown molding around the room. White washed walls with art and photographs along them. Various different aspects, colored vases and decor. Lots of greenery hanging from the ceilings and shelves. Large bookcases covering the wall from top to floor, opposite of the entertainment center. With a grey couch in the middle of living space. Completely laid out differently compared to ours.

Lucy and Joe could be heard in the kitchen, leaving me to look around. I stood in front of the bookcases. Examining the poets and authors lining the shelves.

All pretty editions, Capote, Burroughs, Huxley to name a few. I picked up On The Road, impressed and just wondering who read these between the two gentlemen living here.

"Liking New York so far?" One of the gentlemen, Joe asked standing next to me now, holding out a glass of wine.

He was quite handsome. Tall standing at five foot nine.!Dark chestnut eyes that somewhat gold from the amber glow nearby. Rich auburn hair. Dressed in a white button down short sleeve, nicely loose against his build, showing off his semi toned arms. Along with a pair of black faded jeans, shaping him out quite admiringly.

I smiled, trying my best to disguise the slight startling of his entry. Placing the book back, before my fingertips met Joe’s lightly.

I shrugged a little, "I mean I've only gotten as far as my fire escape." I answered, then. "But so far I like it." Watching the corners of his lips curl while I took a sip from my glass.

"Please make yourself comfortable." He suggests, his large hand extending to the sofa. His voice lathered in a light New York accent, smooth throughout the room.

I sat down next to him, still observing the artwork on the walls. "Your apartment is really nice." I broke, Joe nodded slightly with a smirk. "Thank you, its more of my roommate's tastes than mine." He replied. I slowly nodded, "Even the books?" I pressed, taking another sip of the bittersweet mix of berries. Joe nodded again, looking over at the collection behind us and resting his arm onto the back of the sofa. "Yeah, I'm more into music."

"Is he like an English professor or something?" I kept going, he shook his head. "He's a photographer." He corrected, "An artiste, he likes to say." He mocked jokingly, before grabbing a peppermint from the wooden box on the coffee table.

"And what do you do?" I asked once more, leaning back and adjusting more comfortably than what the stiff sofa could offer. Trying to balance my interests in both of the neighbors I was gaining for my stay here.

Joe’s lips parted lightly, "A barista in the morning, a deejay by night." The charming pearl of his teeth unveiling. "You know, the cafe is actually hiring. I can ask Jimmy to fit you in for an interview sometime this week." He finished, taking another swig if his beer.

I never worked that task in my life and my mouth just rattled with questions. Joe chuckled, comfortingly that it was easy. Before going on about things he's heard from Lucy at numerous occasions.

"Isn't she a trip?!" Lucy pointed, entering the living room. Joe nodded to the statement when she sat down on the arm chair nearby, her wine glass resting in her hand.

I sat listening, chuckling and pouting to myself because I was running low on the wine I was nursing. Smelling the aroma of the sauce just about done.

Lucy and Joe picked up on a story. Joe talking about my interview for Thursday and Lucy talking about how much of a riot Jimmy is. She was in the mist of beginning a story about him when I heard keys jiggling against the knob.

A dark haired figure coming through before the keys hit the dish on the table next to it. Dressed in black with a brown paper bag resting in his arm.

Lucy turned towards the sound, "Gwil!" She greeted, "Running late like usual." She added, turning and shooting a smile my way. He shot a faint "Hey" before he walked closer to the chair she was in, and the amber lights hitting him more clear now. Portraying more of his features, the dark scruff peppered over his cheeks and jaw. The two buttons undone at the beginning of his collar, shining a silver chain faintly.

"Long day?" Joe added, Gwilym sighed. "Something like that." He answered, his accent being completely different than from Joe. His eyes immediately meeting me, with his brow angling a bit. My eyes bashfully hitting the table in front of me.

"Gwil, this is Sylvia. She'll be staying with me for a while." She explained, catching the slight awkwardness fill the space. His expression relaxed, probably remembering what he was told before. I shyly waved, he smiled when I did so.

Lucy offered to get him a beer, while going to check on dinner. But he shook his head, "I'm good." He replied, fixing the sleeve rolled on his arm. "I have a few in my room." He finished, saying goodnight and exiting himself.

"I wonder what's wrong with him?" Joe said before turned and looked over to me, "He's quite a character." He reassured, only leaving me baffled and gulping the last sip of my glass.

-

A variety pop station played through the alarm clock I uncovered while unpacking my new room. It was a nice room. A blank canvas with white walls and big windows looking out a fire escape to the street and building across. A full size bed, with a nightstand and a white shaped lamp. A large dresser and rack, making up for the closet that was converted into a bathroom.

I kneeled onto the dresser across my bed, lining up ten books and a few vases on the shelf above it.

"Please tell me you've never worn this." Lucy slurred after opening the second bottle of Wine. I turned my head down to her, as she sat pretzel legged on the floor and holding up a cluttered patterned blouse. Finding it as she went through my boxes of clothes, her specialty.

"I have, it was a big hit at the office." I mentioned confidently, she chuckled. "Of course it was, you worked with people over forty." She corrected, folding it before adding. "Another thing we'll work on while you're here. Let you indulge in my discounts." Quietly enough for me to catch.

I rolled my eyes, going back to sorting the look of my shelf. We got quiet again into our jobs. I hummed to myself to the bubblegum playing while I switched to the piles Lucy made on my bed to place into my dresser. The silence between got me thinking, rehashing tonight at dinner across the hall.

I wasn't sure why I allowed it to bother me, I never even heard of Gwilym until today. His first impression made me weary I guess, like I didn't belong. Even with the whole 'something's bothering him.' I was probably overthinking it all, it just gave me a weird vibe.

I looked down at Lucy again, refolding her sloppy technique. "So that guy Gwil." I spoke, seeing her head pop up suddenly.

"What about him?" She questioned, grabbing the bottle and sipping from it. I felt so silly, I shook my head. Forgetting about the whole thing but Lucy insisted.

I place my hands on the dresser with the ugly blouse still in them, "Like" I began, "Is he always so short like that?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, not always." She said, then. "I think he must've had a difficult client or something. He's a bit pretentious at times but confusing most of the time."

I felt my lips form out "Oh." Continuing with the fabric in my hands until I grabbed the next.

-------------------------------

Gwilym •

My morning has been in total chaos from the start. From waking up late and missing the first chute to work, to spilling my coffee over proofs. Then for Lolly to set passwords to all my upcoming appointments. She even went through the extent of calling three clients and booking them all in the same time. Rushing two and losing my touch to get them done. Finally reaching the waiting room for the third and noticing they left and I wasn't going to get paid from Allure anytime soon.

Luckily lunch came around and some of the pictures of the sessions I was able to finish came out exceptional. I closed shop and headed three blocks up to 15th and Canal to Jimmy Bean. Where Joe worked and made my coffee better than what Lolly would get me.

The bell over the door dinged when I entered. The place was busy for the little time before lunch. The dark wood tables taken by one to three people at each. Matching nicely with the different colors painted on the walls and odd pieces of art. Eclectic as the shop was now owned by a bearded hippie man and his wife.

The color leathered stools aligned the counter happened to be empty. I grabbed a newspaper by the door, making my way before I sat heightened from the floor. My black clads resting on the bar below. Reading the city's headlines. Waiting for my friend to get done being flirty with the blonde at table three.

"Want a scone today? Jimmy made blueberry ones." Joe asked, taking a rag to the counter in front of me. I nodded, mouthing a "Please" before my glasses back to the paper and Joe grabbed the fresh pot.

I felt the steam nearing when he poured the hot liquid into the color block mug, "So were you okay last night?" He began, before placing a plate with the scone in front of me.

I sighed, bringing the mug to my mouth and indulging the bitter black mud down my throat. "Lolly quit on me and left me a mess at the studio." I fulfilled.

I went on with a further explanation on what could've made her split. My looks, my persona, the way I was with Keya, or that I played with her feelings which I'm always good for. I know the kind of guy I am, I don't blame her for walking away, even though she left with haste. But I'm glad she learned that nothing was ever going to happen after just fucking her.

Joe eventually derailed the conversation to the importance of our rent and how he had a gig tonight at Drougie's. I was getting a little carried away about a possible gallery show being booked when the kitchen door opened. Jimmy came out blabbing to himself at first while he held it open. Then a short brunette followed after, it was Sylvia, Lucy’s friend.

"Joseph, you'll be training Miss Altman tomorrow morning in between customers." Jim  explained, as he reached her a pin name tag to decorate and a fresh black apron.

I watched as she stood poised, but it was hard for her. "Make her something on the house will ya?" He added before reminding her to be in at seven and going on to greet regulars. Once he turned around, the straightness of her lips curled.

"Thank you soooo much Joe!" She exaggerated gleefully. He just smiled at her, "No problem, no problem." He repeated, before telling her to take a seat and going to give her a 'first lesson.'

Sylvia turned the corner of the counter, her curvy figure coming more into play. Dressed in a black camisole cover by a little black cardigan. With a burnt red skirt meeting at her thigh with buttons down the middle. Loose strands of her dark brown hair falling from her ponytail and meeting her collarbone, wearing a minimal of makeup. She was quite pretty, a lovely smile and so delicate like. She sat with her posture so well and her legs crossed over the knee, showing off her platform slides.

She ordered an iced macchiato, I glanced sheepishly, seeing that she was too from the corner of her blue eyes. I smirked, deciding to redeem myself from last night.

"I apologize for my choppy behavior last night," I began, watching as she turned to me. "I'm Gwilym."

She smiled lightly, "Oh no worries." She reassured, stretching her hand towards me. "Sylvia." Her skin soft to the touch in mine.

We went back to our silence before Joe joined our conversation and opened the door for all to come out on the counter. I watched as she twirled her straw between every sip of her drink and how pretty her lashes were.

"So what made you come to New York?" I asked, she smirked looking at her cup. "Well you know Lucy. She can be abrasive in a good way." She began, "But mainly for a change and I'm looking for something bigger."

The same cliched story for every woman I've ever come across in this city. I nodded slowly, unimpressed. "Typical." I muttered quietly to myself.

Or at least I thought it was.

"Excuse me?" She asked, I shook my head trying to play it off. "Nothing." I pressed, but she crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you mean by 'typical'?" Making air quotations.

I sighed, "It's just your story is just the same like everyone else in this city." I explained, just allowing my foot to go further into my mouth.

Sylvia just huffed, mumbling a simple "Rude."

"And your story is different?" She mocked me, I chuckled. "I mean yes, I came here with a plan." I replied, she chuckled piercingly. "Wow, so different."

I looked at her straight from her mock comment, surprised to say the least that she was not going to back down but I did.

She shook her head by my sudden quietness. Placing a five dollar bill from her clutch into the tip jar before stepping down from the stool.

"Well Im not here to entertain you." She added once more, catching a swift of her perfume as she reached in front of me. "In the mean time, thanks for the scone." Saying a goodbye to a confused Joe and heading on her way.

[unholyhelbig]

Prompt: After being dragged to a carnival by her friends Emily and Jesse, and later dragged to a "real" seer that can reveal your "one true love." It's been revealed that Beca's one true love happens to be a legendary evil/dark being (a person you ship Beca with). Beca thinks its bullish*t, but strange things have been happening ever since the reveal of her supposed one true love. Question now is, will Beca try to escape her fate or embrace it?

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[A/N: anyone up for a part two?? also, sorry I haven’t been posting. Things are… busy.] 

Beca kicked the toe of her sneaker into the loosedirt lot. She could practically taste the earth as it mixed with freshly poppedcorn and dripping batter topped with powdered sugar. The scent coated her lungsand as her stomach clenched in hunger, she thought, maybe this wouldn’t be sobad.

Thelights were mesmerizing: twinkling against reflective signs advertising simplering toss games that would win cheap stuffed animals. She wouldn’t admit thatshe wanted the purple tiger. There were greasy carnies that leaned heavilyagainst bar stools that had the leather casing stripped off. They shoutedthings at people walking by- step rightup, if you have what it takes! Think you can win the big prize? Why don’t youtest your luck! Hey shorty, want to test yer’ strength?

Becahad glared at the last guy and he shut right up.

Jessestuck the tip of his tongue out in concentration as he cocked his head andclosed one eye completely. He tossed another ping pong ball and it bouncedright off the water filled milk jugs with a clank. Beca cringed and Emily letout a heavy sigh.

“Toobad, Kid.” The Carney sneered, palming the little white ball. “That was yourlast shot.”

Hefrowned at the swimming fish that tapped against the jars and dug in his jeanspockets for another five dollars. Beca wanted to stop him, maybe tell him thatthese things were rigged and if Emily really wanted a fish this bad, she couldgo to the superstore in the center of town and get a 25-cent goldfish.

“Giveme three more balls.”

“I’mnot even sure if you have two.”

“Whatdid you say?”

Becagrasped at his flannel and kept him from hopping over the counter as Emily letout a small grunt in response, pushing the boy away from the small little boothand the grinning high school dropout. “Alright, buddy, think you’ve had enoughof that game.” Emily said, “Not that important.”

“Yeah,dude, I don’t think Em can take care of a fish anyway. You remember hercactus?”  

Emilytook a moment to look offended. “Excuse me, I took very good care of Oscar.”

Jessesnorted and let the tension fall away from his body. They had pushed him farenough away from the stupid little game that he seemed to move onto somethingelse, like the intoxicating scent of carnival food and the set of parents bythe picnic table that struggled to wipe the dripping chocolate from theirchildren’s chin. It was too late to have them out like this, but Beca couldn’thelp and warm at the twinkle in their eyes.

“Yeah,until you overwatered it.”

“he looked thirsty.”

Becatuned the rest of the argument between her friends out and shoved her handsinto her pockets. Her fingers were cold and felt almost numb. She could neverwarm them. The colors of the Ferris Wheel reflected across the food cars andthe metal casing on the boat ride. It went up and down and the metal screeched,probably cold itself.

Shesquinted against the edge of tents, through the screaming kids and exhaustedparents. There was a tent, something small compared to the others. Somethingdarker. It was a deep violet instead of the standard pinstriped red and white. Itsflaps were closed, zipped even, and a neon light up sign of a crystal ball wasbuzzing like incessant mosquitos hovering against stagnant water. Find your one true love. It read in alurid green.  

“Ohno, we’ve lost her.”

“I’mjust happy we got this far.”

Becablinked a few times and glared at her friends. They were both stocky andawkward. Jesse’s features were shaded in a deep blue and red each time a newlight cycle moved across the Ferris Wheel, and Emily still peered over at thelittle goldfish that swan in glass jars, turning her attention to Beca.

“No-I just… That place looks interesting.” She lifted her chin towards the littlepurple tent.

“Theone thing that doesn’t have a line?” Jesse said.

“No,no, I like that about it. I think we should check it out. You go get us funnelcake.”

Jessesputtered out something for a few seconds before his own hunger got the best ofhim. The scent of freshly fried dough had won his inner battle and he salutedat Emily before trudging off to stand at the end of a long line. Beca bit hertongue and decided against asking for a diet lemonade. Emily pulled her closeand Beca let out a small grunt. “Let’s go get our palms read, shall we?”  

Becawas beginning to regret even making the suggestion as they wandered closer tothe violet tent. And Jesse did make a point, it was the only place in this whole entire carnival that didn’t’ havea line, or even a single soul waiting to see what was behind the sheet offabric. She dragged her feet in the dirt and stilled herself as they stood infront of the opening.

“Youfirst, dude.”

“Noway,” Emily whispered back harshly “This was your idea. Not like they’re goingto tell you that you’re going to die or anything.”

“Ididn’t think they were going to until just now.” Beca bit back, but she steppedinside of the dark tent regardless. She was overtaken immediately by the scentof roses, a dark coolness combating the mid-summer heat. It wasn’t like the othertents. There were only two lights, one hanging from the very center as it swungback and forth, the other situated against the fabric of a table. Beca wasexpecting to see a crystal ball or something. Not just a fold out surface witha patterned cloth over it. The place was empty.

“Oh,they’re not home.” Beca mumbled, “It’s not meant to be.”  

Shefelt Emily dig her elbow into her ribs and it kept her from taking a stepbackward. She breathed in another heaping of flowery air before letting hershoulders drop as she glanced towards the table. “Hello?”

Afew beats of silence. “Okay, maybe you’re right. This place seems empty. Nowonder there wasn’t a line-“

“Peopletend not to appreciate my services.”

Becalet out a gasp, while Emily stifled her own screech of fear by pushing herfingers against her lips and stumbling into the center of the room that thetent harvested. Beca instinctively shot her hand out in front of Emily,stiffening her own stance as she took in the stranger.

Hereyes were limey green, illuminated in the lantern that sat on the table, herhair such a jet black that it nearly blended in with the surroundings. She wasdressed casually, as casually as a circus-like this would allow. The womanreminded Beca of a cat, her stare close to half moons as she forced a toothysmile. Her canines were pointed, and it gave Beca chills.

“I’mScarlet, I’m a seer.”

“Oh,”Emily cautiously let her shoulders relax “I’m Emily, and this is Beca. But I’msure you already knew that.”

Scarletchuckled and the sound made her seem less intimidating. It released the tensionin the air “That’s not quite how it works. It’s nice to meet the both of you.Please, sit.”

Becagave Emily an apprehensive look before the three of them settled around thesmall rounded table. That floral scent was ever encompassing now, but it wassoothing. She was sitting up straight in the uncomfortable chairs, none of themmatching the surface in front of them. She sat in one that had peeling yellowpaint, letting her hands rest in front of her.

“You’renot very open to this, are you, Beca?”

Shewondered if it was her stance, or maybe the way her eyes were darkened thesecond they made contact with scarlets. Either way, her skin buzzed with theheat of the carnival and she was pretty sure she could smell her own sweat. Thequestion rubbed her the wrong way.

“No,I just don’t know what any of this is.” She adjusted her stance, lessening theharshness of her voice when Emily snapped her eyes towards her. “Sorry, I just-this is kind of insane.”

Scarletchuckled softly, reaching her hand forward and curling her fingers a few timesas if begging for Beca’s own touch. It was what she did, and the older girlrelented as she finally trusted her enough to grasp it.  It was cold compared to the sticky air.

“I’mnot going to tell you you’re going to die or anything, it doesn’t work likethat. I won’t tell you anything you’re not ready to hear.”

Emilynudged her shoulder. “That’s reassuring, right Bec’s?”

Shewouldn’t quite use reassuring as the word. Comforting, maybe, but not enough toquell the uneasy feeling in her stomach. Still, she saw the way the pretty youngwoman flexed her fingers, waiting for Beca to grasp it. She breathed in the incense and finally did.

Thewoman tensed up in a way that made Beca’s stomach drop even more than it had inthe first place. Scarlet’s touch reminded her of the way her doctor used to wrapthat rubber band around her upper arm and tap a vein. It would pinch againsther skin and the painted black nails of the seer did the exact same.

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

Becacast a paled look at Emily who simply shrugged and gave her a sheepish smile.Maybe this was apart of the theatrics. The reason people tended not to visit a psychicin the middle of a fun fair. Her grasp tightened a little more before shescooted closer to the table, her face contorted into a frown.

“What?What is it?” Emily burst at the seams.

“There’ssomeone in your future. Someone dark and powerful.”

“Like…a businesswoman?” Beca asked carefully.

“Likea queen.”

Shecouldn’t’ help the scoff that moved past her lips. This was the 80’s. As far asshe was concerned, the closest queen was hundreds of miles and an ocean away. Certainly,nowhere near her future. This was a load of chalked up stories, notecards that Scarletprobably kept taped under the table, hidden by a sequin table cloth.

“Beca,listen to me.” Her eyes were suddenly open, emerald and sparkling. She had pulledthe girl closer and the wicked smile on her face was wiped away. She could smellthe pungent odor of her breath, feel it on her cool cheek. “This is no joke. Whenyou meet this woman- you mustn’t let her take control of your soul. Not the onepart of light that you have left. No matter how captivating, how innocent she mayappear- do not let her in. It could destroy us all!”

“Oookay,”She drew out the word after a long round of silence. She took her hands back inthe gentlest way possible, as not to offend the woman. “Thank you for that. Whatever that was. But we should be going. I’m sure our friend is worriedabout us”  

Becadidn’t wait for Emily to get her reading, because the open tent was suddenlyfeeling very claustrophobic. Instead, she let the chair scrape against theloose dirt, scrambling for the flap in place of the door. Emily digging throughher bag for some type of compensation before she burst into the open space ofthe fair.

Itwas dark.

TheFerris Wheel had stopped turning, it’s lights shut off completely, loomingstructure shaking as the wind howled, cold and unforgiving. The stands had shutoff their own lights, the scent of greasy food still there, but barely. Litterfloated around in the breeze and the music had given way to crickets and bullfrogs singing their symphony.

“Beca,I am so sorr-“Emily ran straight into her, the air knocking from her lungs asshe cut off her own speech. “What the hell? I swear we weren’t I there for morethan a few minutes.”

Sheglanced around, the moonlight stark and jarring compared to how lively it was oncewas a few moments ago. She stiffened herself. “We should get back to the car. LetJesse know that we made it home.”

Emilyswallowed dryly but quickly agreed as she shoved her hands in her pockets. Becawas careful not to step in any trash, forgotten paper plates, and Styrofoam cups.It gave her some type of odd comfort- knowing that there was, in fact, some lifehere before. Emily walked closer than before but Beca didn’t’ mind. Not whenthe world felt like this: Empty and desolate.

“Whatshe said back there… I’m sorry. I thought it would be fun.”  

“Aboutan evil queen popping up in my life? Please, Em, that was fun. You don’t reallybelieve that stuff, do you?”

“Well,you’ve got to admit, the world is too black and white to not have a little grayaround the edges.”

Becascoffed for what seemed to be the second time tonight, maybe even the third.Emily had that childlike wonder in her eyes, even as they walked to the dirtpacked parking lot. Her crimson red firebird was the only thing in the stretchof land. They both drew in simultaneous breaths.

“Whatare you two doing out here?”

Emilystiffened and Beca tightened her grasp around her keys, not turning around, notyet. That voice was a dark and low purr. Something that made her blood flickerwith ice and it wasn’t just the roaching cold. Soft but something completely incontrol.

Shewas short compared to Emily, but everyone was. Her shoulders drawn back and acrew shirt hugging her into the darkness. The girl’s eyes were a crisp bluelike freshly frozen over ice. Waves that broke apart the sheets and created anelectric current. She had a smile that was close to demon-like, even in the hissinglight of the above lamp post. Beca didn’t’ even realize it was buzzing untilnow. Like the second stage of a plague. She had a toothpick shoved between herlips.

“Sorry,we uh- we were caught up in that psychic tent over there.” Beca made a generalmotion towards where they had just come from. “We didn’t’ realize how late itwas. We’re leaving now, though.”

“Yeah?Madame Scarlet right?” The strangers’ voice became somewhat comical as she wavedher hands in the air and scrunched her face up. “First time I met her she saidI would get a dog, well- find one on the railroad tracks.”

“Didyou ever?” Emily asked, piping up. “Find a dog, I mean.”

“No,I’m afraid not. Shockingly enough, I don’t wander around tracks in towns I don’tknow.” She smiled broadly at that, working her hand through locks of fire-filledcurls. It looked almost effortless. The girl moved the toothpick from hermouth. “Anyway, you two be safe. Don’t cheat on Scarlet with any other psychic’salright?”

“Nopromises,” Beca found herself saying, running her thumb against the edge of herkey, but loosening her grip. The girl raked her electric blues up and down herbody, taking in the chills that wracked her body, but she could easily blamethat on the cold. “have a good night.”

“Youtoo.” She placed the toothpick back between her lips, narrowing her eyes beforeturning on her heels and walking back towards the direction she came. Becawatched her every move before she cleared her throat and turned towards her car.

“Whatthe hell was that?”

[randomly-injured-blog]

James Charlie

Okay so I’ve been writing as an extra thing for school, and I’ve decided to share it with you guys here.

Word Count - Around 3200

This is my first time writing anything in this capacity so I’ll try and update every Friday but idk if I can.

@khorenym Here’s the story I was talking about

There was one thing I knew for certain. All I had left was Alex. Alex Black was the sole reason I am alive in this moment.

“Hey”

The sudden light from the door lit up my room. I squinted and glanced up. Alex was waiting in the doorway.

“What are you working on?” They walked over to the bright orange bean bag chair in the corner. Alex plopped down with a sigh. I ran my fingers through my hair, tugging slightly at the ends. After a few minutes in silence they perked up.

“James. It’s okay to be scared, I am too. Even so, Mumma would have wanted you to try to talk to someone.” Alex trailed off, looking dejectedly at the posters on the wall. “You turn eighteen next month, my parents left the house to me. We got this, you and me against the rest of the world. Just like it’s always been.”

I studied my desk, it’s dark brown wood close to matching my skin tone. It was messy. That was something Mom always chided me for. My room at Alex’s house was always a mess. They were cool with it as long as the disorder was contained. It seemed like that was an analogy for my life. A contained mess.

I started to stretch, raising my arms. My shirt rode up exposing the bruises on my torso, the purple and yellow forming patches. My ribs ached as they brushed the sides of the chair. I must have audibly gasped, given that Alex looked up, their face etched with concern. Looking around, the room seemed unreasonably bright given what had occurred in the past few days. White walls covered in posters. A desk shoved in the corner, covered in papers, books, and snacks. My bed with the obnoxiously bright orange bedspread. The matching bean bag chair thrown to the middle of the floor. The chair filled with my best friend, their blue hair clashing with the room’s aesthetic, pieced together by them.

The house itself was large. To Alex, it was just another vacation home. The home they grew up in, the majority of the time was mansion on a private estate in Virginia. That was technically their home too. I’m still amazed that, me, an abused poor boy managed to befriend the child of the richest people in Virginia.

I was shaken out of the depths of my thoughts as I heard a figure come crashing down on my bed.

“Hey man, how you holding up? I got Oreos and some of that sweet ice cream. Three pints and three spoons,”  Sara stated briefly as she dug through her bag. She was the latest edition to the squad. Only sixteen and banished to the streets for kissing another girl. The cruelty was hard to believe until I experienced first hand

But Sara was something else. This girl was the friend that everyone needs. Kind and adventurous but relaxed enough to do nothing all day with you. With her dark hair and warm skin, just her presence in the room is calming.

I remember when Alex had first brought her home. I was just popping in to ask if they wanted to hang out at my place or if Alex wanted to chill here. When I first walked into the living room, nothing was out of the ordinary until I realized the house was too quiet. When I’m not there they takes it upon themselves to blast music or some YouTube as loud as possible to drown out their self-deprecating thoughts.

I took a few cautious steps into the area leading to the kitchen. I looked up as I walked under the archway, just in time to see a small girl sitting down on a bar stool. She looked up startled as I walked completely into the kitchen.

“Hey Alex?” I called out.

“Yeah man what’s up?” was the immediate reply.

“Explain,” I said motioning to the girl.

“Oh yeah, well. . . um, you see,” They rubbed the back of their neck. One of the many quirks used to deal with anxiety. “She was sitting alone on a bench outside the boutique I was walking out of. Well, she had a duffel bag with her and I was curious because that wasn’t a bus stop, so I stopped to talk to her. Turns out her parents disowned her. Questioning her sexuality. Conservative christians parents I believe she said. So I may have. . . sort of. . . adopted her.” Alex was motioning with their hands, a small blush spreading.

“Hey, it’s fine. She’s still going to have to go to school and everything though. You don’t get a buddy to hang out with all day.”

The sound of a chair crashing brought me back to the present. I must have stood up too fast, and the chair went flying backwards. It’s a simple chair. Cushions worn from years of use. The four wheels, mismatched, only two of the original wheels left. Dark colors swam across the fabric, an endless void. I shook my head. My thoughts were getting to be too much. Maybe Alex was right. A therapist could help, possibly if only the words I were to string together, could be strong enough to describe the feeling of drowning on dry land. Suffocation while above ground. Dying, even though there’s nothing visibly wrong.

“What do you think, Jamie? You like the idea?” Sara looked up expectantly. Like a younger sibling looks to an older sibling. Admiration. Pure admiration. I’ve never been looked on in such a way before. Maybe when Mom was around, but not often.

“Sorry,” I trailed off. “I wasn’t really paying attention,”

“It’s fine Charlie, we were trying to decide if we wanted to catch some dinner and a movie. You were talking about seeing Split, weren’t you?” Alex was speaking this time. Their words were slow, easy to understand. Soft and caring.

“Yeah, that sounds fun,” I said, speaking more confidently with every word. My friends were there and despite everything they were trying to make sure I was having a good time. “Where do you guys want to eat? There’s a burger joint down on main street that opened recently. Let’s check it out,”

“Split looks really good, if you wanna see it I’m down” Sara’s voice echoed down the hall.

I moved to leave the room, only to be beat to the door by Alex. They threw their head back and flashed that cocky smirk. My laugh bounced off the walls, resounding deeply within the room. Alex’s followed suit, a few octaves higher. Their smaller form ducked through the hall, bouncing on their feet between steps.

I trailed behind the easily excitable people, my steps noticeably slower than normal. Don’t get me wrong I was excited but there was an eerie sense of foreboding. As I didn’t really want to ruin the girl’s night out, I didn’t mention it. Sara popped back up at my side and tugged at my arms. The universal sign to hurry up. I smiled at the kid I went to school with every day. Her hair bouncing as she drug me along. My smile had not ceased since I left my bedroom. In fact it was stronger than it had been in days. A small sliver of hope was starting to reappear. The light at the end of the tunnel, except this time death wasn’t waiting. In fact death was waving goodbye to my broken but healing soul. The sight of a savior only my saviors might abandon me. Realize that I wasn’t worth it anymore.

I shivered. It was almost ninety degrees out, I shouldn’t be shivering. Turns out, self depreciating thoughts could make anyone shake. Maybe I was just more prone, given the trauma I was put through. But I wasn’t going to let that ruin tonight. We were going to have fun.

Main street wasn’t too far away from Ale- wait- our house. A few blocks from the small cluster of buildings we called a town. Soon, I was pushing open the new buildings door, an unfamiliar jingle, into a small shop. The shop had an urban vibe to it. White tiles with decorative posters and splashes of red greeted us. Boxes of deep fryer oil created a path to the front counter. There were peanut shells littered on the tiled flooring, they were few and far between, but they were still there. Tables were populated with kids, some on dates, others just hanging out with friends on a Friday night.

I ordered for Alex and Sara while they found a place to sit. I got a giant order of fries, to share between the three of us, and a few different hamburgers. The smell was intoxicating. Sounds of burning grease boiling and popping could be heard from the second you walked in.

“Order 83” a voice called out.

I moved forward. Nervously reaching out for the tray, I could feel my hands start to shake. I took the tray from the counter. My breathing was coming in shorter breaths now. My body went to autopilot, one foot in front of the other. A slow shuffle, slowing even more when I realized that I didn’t know where Alex or Sara was. This wasn’t good. Not again. I couldn’t focus on anything. Suddenly there was a large mass standing right in front of me. I ran straight into them. All of the different foods on the tray went to the floor.

“Oh no, dang it,” the mass mumbled, shifting his weight from his right foot to his left.

“It's fine, I can,” the end of my sentence was lost to the void when I looked up. The guy I ran into was really pretty. He had longer hair, like he needed a haircut badly, and it was styled in a quiff. The tips were a nice shade of green. What I thought to be his natural hair color was a dark brown color, almost black. His hand was waving in front of my face.

“Hey there? You doing alright? You're hands are shaking pretty badly. Let me help you up,”

My cheeks flushed. I knew that without even feeling them. My blackness saved me once again from my entire face going red when a cute person looked at me. I reached for his hand anyway, thinking I might be able to get his number or at least talk to him for a while.

“Sorry, I should have moved. I might have made you late or something,” I said. I subconsciously grabbed for the ends of my sweater only to remember that it’s eighty degrees out. There’s no way Alex or Sara would let me out of the house with multiple heavy layers on.

“No it’s chill, I’ve been here waiting for my date,”

So he had a girlfriend. I should have known. He looked too dressed up to just be wandering around town without purpose. Now that I was looking closely at him, he looked really lovely. His skin was tanned, but it was a natural tan. He must be Latina like Sara, or possibly Native American.

“But I’ve been here for an hour so I don’t think he’s coming,”

“If you want you can sit with me and my friends. I’m James Charlie by the way. We were going to grab some food and catch a movie. You seem pretty chill, so if you want to join us you can.” I said, hoping I didn’t sound too desperate. My phone buzzed as I finished up speaking. When I pulled it out of my flannel pocket, I saw a text notification from “Ray of Sunshine”. It was Sara alerting me of where they were sitting. About time I thought.

“I’m Jason Lutz. Don’t get me wrong I would love to go I just don’t want to intrude. Well as long as it’s okay with your other friends I would be okay with that. I think,” He laughed. It was a strong hearty laugh. One that reminded me of someone I used to now.

“Well then follow me for a good time,” I said laughing. He made me feel warm, fuzzy. I liked that feeling. I haven't experienced it in a long time.

He laughed again, his laugh a. It different this time. A good different though, it sounded more real. We walked to the counter to get my replacement order, grabbed it, and wandered back to the table the girls had picked out earlier.

“Finally man, I'm starving,” Sara smiled, making grabby hands at her order. She lunged at the tray, only missing by a few inches when I took a step back. “C’mon Jamie you made me wait long enough,” She paused. “Speaking of which, why did it take you so long?” Sara decided to look up from her mission, devouring her burger. Her eyes looked around until the focused on Jason. She nodded, “Okay, nevermind I get it. I'm Sara” she motioned towards Alex, who was absorbed in her phone, probably in the middle of a twitter war. “That's Alex, their nicer than they seem, despite what they want you to think,”

Alex must have been slightly tuned in as they stuck their tongue out childishly when Sara mentioned them. “Shush, I’m bashing Kymia on twitter. She's gonna get shrekt,” Alex said, mumbling along with the words she was typing out vigorously, their thumbs flying a mile a minute. Their hair must have gotten pulled back at one point because it was thrown up carelessly into an extremely messy bun.

Sara pursed her lips, a habit her parents forced upon her, and said, “ Alex, you can bash Kymia later, Jamie found a friend and brought some food.” She snapped her fingers scoldingly, another habit she’s been trying to drop ever since Alex “adopted” her.

“Snapped,” I added. Sara cursed. She was doing really good about not snapping too, it had been almost three weeks. “So anyway, who have you dragged around this time. This must be a record we were only alone for maybe five minutes,” She nudged my side with her arm. My face flushed again. Was my face able to flush if it wasn’t visible? I pondered this instead of reacting to her question.

“C’mon man, stop spacing out. This delight just let me deliver a great rant about how a dollar store with regular pricing is a good non-gendered insult. I like this one, you can keep him.” Alex said. Jason grinned at that, but Sara and Alex flashed him knowing smiles of support. If they knew I like him it must be obvious. And that meant that Jason already knew, so either Jason liked him or really just wanted to be friends. People think you’re cool until they hang out with you. He’s just going to leave one day and never come back. Alex should kick you out. I shook my head, hoping the thoughts would disperse. It would be a temporary fix, but it was a fix.

“Alright, so you got our relations, right?” Sara asked. It was something she always asked new possible friends, or in this case significant others. I really hoped that the both of them weren’t just putting on a show and that they did truly like him. He was so nice to look at. He had dark gray skinny jeans on with a blue sweater. I noticed the top of a plaid shirt peeking out of the collar of the sweater. He dressed a lot like I normally did.

“No, our conversation earlier was mostly one-sided. It was like James barely noticed I was there after running directly into me.”

“Oh, sorry, but to be fair I was having a panic attack and that why I wasn’t talking. At all.” “I got it! A rectangular sphere!” Alex shouted. Several conversations around the restaurant where interrupted with their sudden declaration.

“Think about it! What would it look like though”? They looked so deep in thought I didn’t want to bring it up that a rectangular sphere would be geometrically impossible. I was happy to see that Jason and Sara were happily chatting, most likely about how we are all “related”. I’m not sure why but she always wanted to make it known that none of us were dating each other. I always made known that Alex was off-limits to everyone. It’s not that I didn’t want them to date, I would have been fine with it as long as they were happy, but their  aromantic. And anyone who tries to hurt her will face not only my wrath but also Sara’s.

Now despite Sara’s innocent appearance, this girl had been through so much. Kicked out of her house because she thought she might like girls, struggling with anorexia, and trying to keep her social life live. She was tough. Her experience hasn’t been completely destructive. Sara had discovered she does like guys and girls, she wasn’t on the streets for very long before Alex found her, and now she is apart of a small band of misfits. It’s been Alex and I since the beginning, I only had a few partners and they don’t date. Sara came along about eleven months ago, and I can’t imagine life without her. She brings so much life, especially when Alex and I fall out of it.

“Hey, Jamie? You invited this completely random stranger to join us around? Explain.” Alex said, words directed at me.

I shrugged and picked at my food. A quick glance over to Sara’s tray confirmed my suspicions. She wasn’t eating again. I nudged some french fries her way, she looked up and smiled. Her hair fell over her face as she pushed the food around.

“Sara,” I said, lightly brushing my shoulder against her’s. “At least eat a little bit. Six fries, okay?”

“I’m sorry, Charles. I’ll try my best,”

Sara looked so crestfallen. It pained me to see such a young kid like that. The good thing was she was eating some fries. At least Sara was acting like she enjoyed them.

Alex had been messing with the cup of coffee they brought along. A normal cup would have gone cold by now, but I was pretty sure that thing was enchanted with something. They were getting absorbed in their phone again so I used my foot to knock her bag off the edge of the booth. With a whirl of blue hair, they were staring me dead in the face looking ticked off. Thankfully there was still a mischievous glint in Alex’s eyes.

“Is my coffee bitter?” They asked.

They went to take another drink, eyes still focused on me.

“Nope,” they looked confused. But their face soon was replaced with a grin. “So it must be James,” They had just barely finished the sentence when Jason burst out laughing. The same laugh as before.

It’s been awhile since I have felt sincerely happy. I was starting forget the feeling. The feeling of feeling unique. One of belonging, making a difference. Alex was usually able to tell when I needed the pick me up. They always noticed when something was off with me. Sara could easily tell with Alex. I watched out for Sara. It was a good system, one so that no one got forgotten. Us against the world.

[endlessarchite]

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair!

I’m not sure an emoji even exists to capture how THRILLED we are to announce that our furniture line is finally out! The one that represents me would probably be the salsa dancing woman, except she’d be wearing all black with a skull for a face because I’m 95% dead from the excitement. Also let’s add a taco in her hand because that’s always a good idea. Am I already talking about tacos? That got off track quickly. Anyway, I know a lot of you have been following along as this day has crept closer (thank you for that, btw!) so now you can officially shop the whole collection (over 30 pieces! way more than we could cram into this post!) at Wayfair.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa | Stenciled Coffee Table | Mellow Armchair

I’ll do my best to keep the cliches to a minimum, but designing furniture has been a dream of ours for years and it still feels like this isn’t real. There’s actual physical stuff that you can sit on, sleep on, eat at, and rub your face all over (is that just me?) and we’re just so happy with how everything turned out.

Keen Dining Chair | Trestle Dining Table

Both the finished look and the quality exceeded our expectations when we saw everything in person – and we LOVE how they mix and match together. I CANNOT WAIT for you guys to have it your houses.

Scalloped Sideboard | Spiffy Armchair

Like I’m actively preparing to have my brain explode when you start tagging me in your pictures.

Skirted Upholstered Dining Chair | Pedestal Table 

So today we wanted to share some of the pieces (there are way more over on Wayfair) and show you some behind-the-scenes of how it all came together.

Wisp Chest | Marble End Table | Swoon Upholstered Bed

Speaking of which, here’s a peek at what it took to get that shot above. This is from the photoshoot we did back in August down in North Carolina and, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw us road trip down there with a car full of accessories to excitedly style each shot (you can view a recap of it all here).

All of the photos of the furniture “in situation” were photographed in a real person’s home that we rented for a week (she’s an interior designer, so she had THE BEST architecture to work with). Things were constantly getting moved around, the garage was filled with tables of accessories, and there was camera equipment everywhere you looked. These photos are of the living room, which became a makeshift bedroom more than once.

We had some of the samples from the photoshoot delivered to our house a few weeks ago – which fully completes the dream of designing things we’d love to live with in our own home! And let’s just say that moving in with them has taken our relationship to the next level. “Our” meaning me and the furniture. But hey, at least I let John third-wheel it in this armchair that basically acts as a chair-and-a-half when you take the side pillows off. Plus the performance fabric means I don’t have to fear the kids or the dogs smearing it up – or myself spilling tea on it – both literally or figuratively speaking (Atlanta Housewives, anyone? No? Bueller?). 

Mellow Armchair

We’re working with a company based in High Point, North Carolina that also makes Universal Furniture, a name you’ve probably heard advertised on our podcast. That’s actually how we first got to know them, and about 18 months ago we started developing a line of furniture with them too. We traveled to their showroom a few times to gather inspiration and they came to our house to see our style firsthand. And together with their team of designers we started drafting up a whole slew of furniture ideas.

That sheet above is partially blurred because not everything survives the development process. Sometimes the design doesn’t work out the way you hope, it may not be feasible or cost-effective to produce, or the retailer just doesn’t pick it up. It’s certainly sad to let go of some things, but the good news is that we’re already working on more stuff and can hopefully revive and reimagine some of what didn’t make it into this first batch.

Stenciled 2-Drawer Chest

We’re also hoping to release alternate colors and fabric finishes of the bestsellers as time goes on. Like I’m DYING to do these x-back chairs in white, emerald green, light gray, and a natural wood finish (and in a counter-height stool version – AHHHH! Somebody stop me!).

X-Back Dining Chair | Drop Leaf Table

And how great would these white chairs be in a soft mint or pink color with a lightly bleached all-wood version of this table?

Keen Dining Chair | Chipper Dining Table

We snagged those navy chairs shown above from the photoshoot, along with this white pedestal table, and have used them to upgrade our kids’ crafting corner in our bonus room. There used to be a kid-height table with some cute little green chairs in that spot, but our tall kids were ready for a more regular-sized set-up. Added bonus: now we can sit with them without developing butt cramps from the old mini-chairs.

X-Back Dining Chairs | Pedestal Table

Overall, our goal was to make super versatile pieces (says the person who just used a dining table as a kids’ craft table) that are classic but still interesting. Like the dresser below that has a fun diamond pattern (inspired by my beloved diamond windows in the duplex) but comes in two goes-with-anything colors (white or gray).

Diamond Chest in White | Spiffy Armchair

Interesting details in easy-to-integrate colors make it so simple for these pieces to slip in seamlessly with your existing furniture. So you can upgrade that old dresser, coffee table, media cabinet, or dining table without having to redesign (or rebuy) your entire room. Or even just add this cute little side table next to your sofa for a soft hint of greeny-blue color and some bonus setting-things-down space.

Valet End Table in Blue | Mellow Sofa

In our bedroom, we swapped out my former dresser (the one with the stuck drawer that you saw on my closet video tour) for this 6-drawer one so I can finally have a fully functional piece. The vintage dresser that used to live here now happily resides in the guest room – where that sticking middle drawer bothers nobody – and I finally have six drawers that open and shut without a fight! Everyone wins!

Mellow Armchair | Wisp Dresser

We wanted things to feel like us, so we worked in lots of little nods or details – like the dentil molding along the Wisp Dresser above (just like the dentil molding along the roofline of our house). Several pieces have an inlay-inspired pattern (you know that makes me SO HAPPY), and the Noble Dresser below is based on the aforementioned vintage dresser that John’s dad handed down to us. It’s hard to find pieces with cool old details like fluted legs or tops that aren’t just rectangles (see how the top of the dresser below is so much more of an intricate shape?) so we LOVED working those in.

Noble Dresser

It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. So all of the dresser drawers have dove-tailed joints and there are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything (these pieces are SOLID – believe me we have carried them up and down the stairs – ha!). Plus all the sofas and armchairs are made with performance fabric – which isn’t chemically sprayed, but actually created from tightly woven durable fibers to better repel stains and wear. We also snuck in some fun bonus functions and features on some of the pieces too, like these:

Skirted Dining Chair | Noble Dresser | Debonair Dresser | Valet End Table

I’ve already said more than I need to because I’m probably just distracting you from actually looking at the furniture. There is SO MUCH MORE than what we’ve shown in this post, so feel free to head over to Wayfair to browse it all.

Dashing End Table | Mellow Chair

There are sofas, coffee tables, nightstands, dining tables, chairs, headboards, a bed, and even this mirror that’s earning all the extra credit in our bedroom for reflecting my capiz chandelier (it’s like I have two of them now ;)

Debonair Dresser in Grey | Stenciled Mirror

So this is me officially zipping my trap, getting out of your way, and spooning with my new chair boyfriend (John’s fine with it because he’s busy gushing about how smoothly the dresser drawers glide).

Mellow Armchair

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so excited and supportive about this whole new adventure for us! We are SO EXCITED to have these things out in the world!

The post Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! appeared first on Young House Love.

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

[truereviewpage]

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair!

I’m not sure an emoji even exists to capture how THRILLED we are to announce that our furniture line is finally out! The one that represents me would probably be the salsa dancing woman, except she’d be wearing all black with a skull for a face because I’m 95% dead from the excitement. Also let’s add a taco in her hand because that’s always a good idea. Am I already talking about tacos? That got off track quickly. Anyway, I know a lot of you have been following along as this day has crept closer (thank you for that, btw!) so now you can officially shop the whole collection (over 30 pieces! way more than we could cram into this post!) at Wayfair.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa | Stenciled Coffee Table | Mellow Armchair

I’ll do my best to keep the cliches to a minimum, but designing furniture has been a dream of ours for years and it still feels like this isn’t real. There’s actual physical stuff that you can sit on, sleep on, eat at, and rub your face all over (is that just me?) and we’re just so happy with how everything turned out.

Keen Dining Chair | Trestle Dining Table

Both the finished look and the quality exceeded our expectations when we saw everything in person – and we LOVE how they mix and match together. I CANNOT WAIT for you guys to have it your houses.

Scalloped Sideboard | Spiffy Armchair

Like I’m actively preparing to have my brain explode when you start tagging me in your pictures.

Skirted Upholstered Dining Chair | Pedestal Table 

So today we wanted to share some of the pieces (there are way more over on Wayfair) and show you some behind-the-scenes of how it all came together.

Wisp Chest | Marble End Table | Swoon Upholstered Bed

Speaking of which, here’s a peek at what it took to get that shot above. This is from the photoshoot we did back in August down in North Carolina and, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw us road trip down there with a car full of accessories to excitedly style each shot (you can view a recap of it all here).

All of the photos of the furniture “in situation” were photographed in a real person’s home that we rented for a week (she’s an interior designer, so she had THE BEST architecture to work with). Things were constantly getting moved around, the garage was filled with tables of accessories, and there was camera equipment everywhere you looked. These photos are of the living room, which became a makeshift bedroom more than once.

We had some of the samples from the photoshoot delivered to our house a few weeks ago – which fully completes the dream of designing things we’d love to live with in our own home! And let’s just say that moving in with them has taken our relationship to the next level. “Our” meaning me and the furniture. But hey, at least I let John third-wheel it in this armchair that basically acts as a chair-and-a-half when you take the side pillows off. Plus the performance fabric means I don’t have to fear the kids or the dogs smearing it up – or myself spilling tea on it – both literally or figuratively speaking (Atlanta Housewives, anyone? No? Bueller?). 

Mellow Armchair

We’re working with a company based in High Point, North Carolina that also makes Universal Furniture, a name you’ve probably heard advertised on our podcast. That’s actually how we first got to know them, and about 18 months ago we started developing a line of furniture with them too. We traveled to their showroom a few times to gather inspiration and they came to our house to see our style firsthand. And together with their team of designers we started drafting up a whole slew of furniture ideas.

That sheet above is partially blurred because not everything survives the development process. Sometimes the design doesn’t work out the way you hope, it may not be feasible or cost-effective to produce, or the retailer just doesn’t pick it up. It’s certainly sad to let go of some things, but the good news is that we’re already working on more stuff and can hopefully revive and reimagine some of what didn’t make it into this first batch.

Stenciled 2-Drawer Chest

We’re also hoping to release alternate colors and fabric finishes of the bestsellers as time goes on. Like I’m DYING to do these x-back chairs in white, emerald green, light gray, and a natural wood finish (and in a counter-height stool version – AHHHH! Somebody stop me!).

X-Back Dining Chair | Drop Leaf Table

And how great would these white chairs be in a soft mint or pink color with a lightly bleached all-wood version of this table?

Keen Dining Chair | Chipper Dining Table

We snagged those navy chairs shown above from the photoshoot, along with this white pedestal table, and have used them to upgrade our kids’ crafting corner in our bonus room. There used to be a kid-height table with some cute little green chairs in that spot, but our tall kids were ready for a more regular-sized set-up. Added bonus: now we can sit with them without developing butt cramps from the old mini-chairs.

X-Back Dining Chairs | Pedestal Table

Overall, our goal was to make super versatile pieces (says the person who just used a dining table as a kids’ craft table) that are classic but still interesting. Like the dresser below that has a fun diamond pattern (inspired by my beloved diamond windows in the duplex) but comes in two goes-with-anything colors (white or gray).

Diamond Chest in White | Spiffy Armchair

Interesting details in easy-to-integrate colors make it so simple for these pieces to slip in seamlessly with your existing furniture. So you can upgrade that old dresser, coffee table, media cabinet, or dining table without having to redesign (or rebuy) your entire room. Or even just add this cute little side table next to your sofa for a soft hint of greeny-blue color and some bonus setting-things-down space.

Valet End Table in Blue | Mellow Sofa

In our bedroom, we swapped out my former dresser (the one with the stuck drawer that you saw on my closet video tour) for this 6-drawer one so I can finally have a fully functional piece. The vintage dresser that used to live here now happily resides in the guest room – where that sticking middle drawer bothers nobody – and I finally have six drawers that open and shut without a fight! Everyone wins!

Mellow Armchair | Wisp Dresser

We wanted things to feel like us, so we worked in lots of little nods or details – like the dentil molding along the Wisp Dresser above (just like the dentil molding along the roofline of our house). Several pieces have an inlay-inspired pattern (you know that makes me SO HAPPY), and the Noble Dresser below is based on the aforementioned vintage dresser that John’s dad handed down to us. It’s hard to find pieces with cool old details like fluted legs or tops that aren’t just rectangles (see how the top of the dresser below is so much more of an intricate shape?) so we LOVED working those in.

Noble Dresser

It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. So all of the dresser drawers have dove-tailed joints and there are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything (these pieces are SOLID – believe me we have carried them up and down the stairs – ha!). Plus all the sofas and armchairs are made with performance fabric – which isn’t chemically sprayed, but actually created from tightly woven durable fibers to better repel stains and wear. We also snuck in some fun bonus functions and features on some of the pieces too, like these:

Skirted Dining Chair | Noble Dresser | Debonair Dresser | Valet End Table

I’ve already said more than I need to because I’m probably just distracting you from actually looking at the furniture. There is SO MUCH MORE than what we’ve shown in this post, so feel free to head over to Wayfair to browse it all.

Dashing End Table | Mellow Chair

There are sofas, coffee tables, nightstands, dining tables, chairs, headboards, a bed, and even this mirror that’s earning all the extra credit in our bedroom for reflecting my capiz chandelier (it’s like I have two of them now ;)

Debonair Dresser in Grey | Stenciled Mirror

So this is me officially zipping my trap, getting out of your way, and spooning with my new chair boyfriend (John’s fine with it because he’s busy gushing about how smoothly the dresser drawers glide).

Mellow Armchair

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so excited and supportive about this whole new adventure for us! We are SO EXCITED to have these things out in the world!

The post Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! appeared first on Young House Love.

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! published first on https://aireloomreview.tumblr.com/

[statusreview]

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair!

I’m not sure an emoji even exists to capture how THRILLED we are to announce that our furniture line is finally out! The one that represents me would probably be the salsa dancing woman, except she’d be wearing all black with a skull for a face because I’m 95% dead from the excitement. Also let’s add a taco in her hand because that’s always a good idea. Am I already talking about tacos? That got off track quickly. Anyway, I know a lot of you have been following along as this day has crept closer (thank you for that, btw!) so now you can officially shop the whole collection (over 30 pieces! way more than we could cram into this post!) at Wayfair and Wayfair Canada.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa | Stenciled Coffee Table | Mellow Armchair

I’ll do my best to keep the cliches to a minimum, but designing furniture has been a dream of ours for years and it still feels like this isn’t real. There’s actual physical stuff that you can sit on, sleep on, eat at, and rub your face all over (is that just me?) and we’re just so happy with how everything turned out.

Keen Dining Chair | Trestle Dining Table

Both the finished look and the quality exceeded our expectations when we saw everything in person – and we LOVE how they mix and match together. I CANNOT WAIT for you guys to have it your houses.

Scalloped Sideboard | Spiffy Armchair

Like I’m actively preparing to have my brain explode when you start tagging me in your pictures.

Skirted Upholstered Dining Chair | Pedestal Table 

So today we wanted to share some of the pieces (there are way more over on Wayfair) and show you some behind-the-scenes of how it all came together.

Wisp Chest | Marble End Table | Swoon Upholstered Bed

Speaking of which, here’s a peek at what it took to get that shot above. This is from the photoshoot we did back in August down in North Carolina and, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw us road trip down there with a car full of accessories to excitedly style each shot (you can view a recap of it all here).

All of the photos of the furniture “in situation” were photographed in a real person’s home that we rented for a week (she’s an interior designer, so she had THE BEST architecture to work with). Things were constantly getting moved around, the garage was filled with tables of accessories, and there was camera equipment everywhere you looked. These photos are of the living room, which became a makeshift bedroom more than once.

We had some of the samples from the photoshoot delivered to our house a few weeks ago – which fully completes the dream of designing things we’d love to live with in our own home! And let’s just say that moving in with them has taken our relationship to the next level. “Our” meaning me and the furniture. But hey, at least I let John third-wheel it in this armchair that basically acts as a chair-and-a-half when you take the side pillows off. Plus the performance fabric means I don’t have to fear the kids or the dogs smearing it up – or myself spilling tea on it – both literally or figuratively speaking (Atlanta Housewives, anyone? No? Bueller?). 

Mellow Armchair

We’re working with a company based in High Point, North Carolina that also makes Universal Furniture, a name you’ve probably heard advertised on our podcast. That’s actually how we first got to know them, and about 18 months ago we started developing a line of furniture with them too. We traveled to their showroom a few times to gather inspiration and they came to our house to see our style firsthand. And together with their team of designers we started drafting up a whole slew of furniture ideas.

That sheet above is partially blurred because not everything survives the development process. Sometimes the design doesn’t work out the way you hope, it may not be feasible or cost-effective to produce, or the retailer just doesn’t pick it up. It’s certainly sad to let go of some things, but the good news is that we’re already working on more stuff and can hopefully revive and reimagine some of what didn’t make it into this first batch.

Stenciled 2-Drawer Chest

We’re also hoping to release alternate colors and fabric finishes of the bestsellers as time goes on. Like I’m DYING to do these x-back chairs in white, emerald green, light gray, and a natural wood finish (and in a counter-height stool version – AHHHH! Somebody stop me!).

X-Back Dining Chair | Drop Leaf Table

And how great would these white chairs be in a soft mint or pink color with a lightly bleached all-wood version of this table?

Keen Dining Chair | Chipper Dining Table

We snagged those navy chairs shown above from the photoshoot, along with this white pedestal table, and have used them to upgrade our kids’ crafting corner in our bonus room. There used to be a kid-height table with some cute little green chairs in that spot, but our tall kids were ready for a more regular-sized set-up. Added bonus: now we can sit with them without developing butt cramps from the old mini-chairs.

X-Back Dining Chairs | Pedestal Table

Overall, our goal was to make super versatile pieces (says the person who just used a dining table as a kids’ craft table) that are classic but still interesting. Like the dresser below that has a fun diamond pattern (inspired by my beloved diamond windows in the duplex) but comes in two goes-with-anything colors (white or gray).

Diamond Chest in White | Spiffy Armchair

Interesting details in easy-to-integrate colors make it so simple for these pieces to slip in seamlessly with your existing furniture. So you can upgrade that old dresser, coffee table, media cabinet, or dining table without having to redesign (or rebuy) your entire room. Or even just add this cute little side table next to your sofa for a soft hint of greeny-blue color and some bonus setting-things-down space.

Valet End Table in Blue | Mellow Sofa

In our bedroom, we swapped out my former dresser (the one with the stuck drawer that you saw on my closet video tour) for this 6-drawer one so I can finally have a fully functional piece. The vintage dresser that used to live here now happily resides in the guest room – where that sticking middle drawer bothers nobody – and I finally have six drawers that open and shut without a fight! Everyone wins!

Mellow Armchair | Wisp Dresser

We wanted things to feel like us, so we worked in lots of little nods or details – like the dentil molding along the Wisp Dresser above (just like the dentil molding along the roofline of our house). Several pieces have an inlay-inspired pattern (you know that makes me SO HAPPY), and the Noble Dresser below is based on the aforementioned vintage dresser that John’s dad handed down to us. It’s hard to find pieces with cool old details like fluted legs or tops that aren’t just rectangles (see how the top of the dresser below is so much more of an intricate shape?) so we LOVED working those in.

Noble Dresser

It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. So all of the dresser drawers have dove-tailed joints and there are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything (these pieces are SOLID – believe me we have carried them up and down the stairs – ha!). Plus all the sofas and armchairs are made with performance fabric – which isn’t chemically sprayed, but actually created from tightly woven durable fibers to better repel stains and wear. We also snuck in some fun bonus functions and features on some of the pieces too, like these:

Skirted Dining Chair | Noble Dresser | Debonair Dresser | Valet End Table

I’ve already said more than I need to because I’m probably just distracting you from actually looking at the furniture. There is SO MUCH MORE than what we’ve shown in this post, so feel free to head over to Wayfair to browse it all.

Dashing End Table | Mellow Chair

There are sofas, coffee tables, nightstands, dining tables, chairs, headboards, a bed, and even this mirror that’s earning all the extra credit in our bedroom for reflecting my capiz chandelier (it’s like I have two of them now ;)

Debonair Dresser in Grey | Stenciled Mirror

So this is me officially zipping my trap, getting out of your way, and spooning with my new chair boyfriend (John’s fine with it because he’s busy gushing about how smoothly the dresser drawers glide).

Mellow Armchair

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so excited and supportive about this whole new adventure for us! We are SO EXCITED to have these things out in the world!

The post Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! appeared first on Young House Love.

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! published first on https://ssmattress.tumblr.com/

[additionallysad]

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! https://ift.tt/2PcZqN1

I’m not sure an emoji even exists to capture how THRILLED we are to announce that our furniture line is finally out! The one that represents me would probably be the salsa dancing woman, except she’d be wearing all black with a skull for a face because I’m 95% dead from the excitement. Also let’s add a taco in her hand because that’s always a good idea. Am I already talking about tacos? That got off track quickly. Anyway, I know a lot of you have been following along as this day has crept closer (thank you for that, btw!) so now you can officially shop the whole collection (over 30 pieces! way more than we could cram into this post!) at Wayfair and Wayfair Canada.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa | Stenciled Coffee Table | Mellow Armchair

I’ll do my best to keep the cliches to a minimum, but designing furniture has been a dream of ours for years and it still feels like this isn’t real. There’s actual physical stuff that you can sit on, sleep on, eat at, and rub your face all over (is that just me?) and we’re just so happy with how everything turned out.

Keen Dining Chair | Trestle Dining Table

Both the finished look and the quality exceeded our expectations when we saw everything in person – and we LOVE how they mix and match together. I CANNOT WAIT for you guys to have it your houses.

Scalloped Sideboard | Spiffy Armchair

Like I’m actively preparing to have my brain explode when you start tagging me in your pictures.

Skirted Upholstered Dining Chair | Pedestal Table 

So today we wanted to share some of the pieces (there are way more over on Wayfair) and show you some behind-the-scenes of how it all came together.

Wisp Chest | Marble Accent Table | Swoon Upholstered Bed

Speaking of which, here’s a peek at what it took to get that shot above. This is from the photoshoot we did back in August down in North Carolina and, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw us road trip down there with a car full of accessories to excitedly style each shot (you can view a recap of it all here).

All of the photos of the furniture “in situation” were photographed in a real person’s home that we rented for a week (she’s an interior designer, so she had THE BEST architecture to work with). Things were constantly getting moved around, the garage was filled with tables of accessories, and there was camera equipment everywhere you looked. These photos are of the living room, which became a makeshift bedroom more than once.

We had some of the samples from the photoshoot delivered to our house a few weeks ago – which fully completes the dream of designing things we’d love to live with in our own home! And let’s just say that moving in with them has taken our relationship to the next level. “Our” meaning me and the furniture. But hey, at least I let John third-wheel it in this armchair that basically acts as a chair-and-a-half when you take the side pillows off. Plus the performance fabric means I don’t have to fear the kids or the dogs smearing it up – or myself spilling tea on it – both literally or figuratively speaking (Atlanta Housewives, anyone? No? Bueller?). 

Mellow Armchair

We’re working with a company based in High Point, North Carolina that also makes Universal Furniture, a name you’ve probably heard advertised on our podcast. That’s actually how we first got to know them, and about 18 months ago we started developing a line of furniture with them too. We traveled to their showroom a few times to gather inspiration and they came to our house to see our style firsthand. And together with their team of designers we started drafting up a whole slew of furniture ideas.

That sheet above is partially blurred because not everything survives the development process. Sometimes the design doesn’t work out the way you hope, it may not be feasible or cost-effective to produce, or the retailer just doesn’t pick it up. It’s certainly sad to let go of some things, but the good news is that we’re already working on more stuff and can hopefully revive and reimagine some of what didn’t make it into this first batch.

Stenciled 2-Drawer Chest

We’re also hoping to release alternate colors and fabric finishes of the bestsellers as time goes on. Like I’m DYING to do these x-back chairs in white, emerald green, light gray, and a natural wood finish (and in a counter-height stool version – AHHHH! Somebody stop me!).

X-Back Dining Chair | Drop Leaf Table

And how great would these white chairs be in a soft mint or pink color with a lightly bleached all-wood version of this table?

Keen Dining Chair | Chipper Dining Table

We snagged those navy chairs shown above from the photoshoot, along with this white pedestal table, and have used them to upgrade our kids’ crafting corner in our bonus room. There used to be a kid-height table with some cute little green chairs in that spot, but our tall kids were ready for a more regular-sized set-up. Added bonus: now we can sit with them without developing butt cramps from the old mini-chairs.

X-Back Dining Chairs | Pedestal Table

Overall, our goal was to make super versatile pieces (says the person who just used a dining table as a kids’ craft table) that are classic but still interesting. Like the dresser below that has a fun diamond pattern (inspired by my beloved diamond windows in the duplex) but comes in two goes-with-anything colors (white or gray).

Diamond Chest in White | Spiffy Armchair

Interesting details in easy-to-integrate colors make it so simple for these pieces to slip in seamlessly with your existing furniture. So you can upgrade that old dresser, coffee table, media cabinet, or dining table without having to redesign (or rebuy) your entire room. Or even just add this cute little side table next to your sofa for a soft hint of greeny-blue color and some bonus setting-things-down space.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa

In our bedroom, we swapped out my former dresser (the one with the stuck drawer that you saw on my closet video tour) for this 6-drawer one so I can finally have a fully functional piece. The vintage dresser that used to live here now happily resides in the guest room – where that sticking middle drawer bothers nobody – and I finally have six drawers that open and shut without a fight! Everyone wins!

Mellow Armchair | Wisp Dresser

We wanted things to feel like us, so we worked in lots of little nods or details – like the dentil molding along the Wisp Dresser above (just like the dentil molding along the roofline of our house). Several pieces have an inlay-inspired pattern (you know that makes me SO HAPPY), and the Noble Dresser below is based on the aforementioned vintage dresser that John’s dad handed down to us. It’s hard to find pieces with cool old details like fluted legs or tops that aren’t just rectangles (see how the top of the dresser below is so much more of an intricate shape?) so we LOVED working those in.

Noble Dresser

It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. So all of the dresser drawers have dove-tailed joints and there are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything (these pieces are SOLID – believe me we have carried them up and down the stairs – ha!). Plus all the sofas and armchairs are made with performance fabric – which isn’t chemically sprayed, but actually created from tightly woven durable fibers to better repel stains and wear. We also snuck in some fun bonus functions and features on some of the pieces too, like these:

Skirted Dining Chair | Noble Dresser | Debonair Dresser | Valet Side Table

I’ve already said more than I need to because I’m probably just distracting you from actually looking at the furniture. There is SO MUCH MORE than what we’ve shown in this post, so feel free to head over to Wayfair to browse it all.

Dashing End Table | Mellow Chair

There are sofas, coffee tables, nightstands, dining tables, chairs, headboards, a bed, and even this mirror that’s earning all the extra credit in our bedroom for reflecting my capiz chandelier (it’s like I have two of them now ;)

Debonair Dresser | Stenciled Mirror

So this is me officially zipping my trap, getting out of your way, and spooning with my new chair boyfriend (John’s fine with it because he’s busy gushing about how smoothly the dresser drawers glide).

Mellow Armchair

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so excited and supportive about this whole new adventure for us! We are SO EXCITED to have these things out in the world!

The post Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! appeared first on Young House Love.

[interiorstarweb]

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair!

I’m not sure an emoji even exists to capture how THRILLED we are to announce that our furniture line is finally out! The one that represents me would probably be the salsa dancing woman, except she’d be wearing all black with a skull for a face because I’m 95% dead from the excitement. Also let’s add a taco in her hand because that’s always a good idea. Am I already talking about tacos? That got off track quickly. Anyway, I know a lot of you have been following along as this day has crept closer (thank you for that, btw!) so now you can officially shop the whole collection (over 30 pieces! way more than we could cram into this post!) at Wayfair and Wayfair Canada.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa | Stenciled Coffee Table | Mellow Armchair

I’ll do my best to keep the cliches to a minimum, but designing furniture has been a dream of ours for years and it still feels like this isn’t real. There’s actual physical stuff that you can sit on, sleep on, eat at, and rub your face all over (is that just me?) and we’re just so happy with how everything turned out.

Keen Dining Chair | Trestle Dining Table

Both the finished look and the quality exceeded our expectations when we saw everything in person – and we LOVE how they mix and match together. I CANNOT WAIT for you guys to have it your houses.

Scalloped Sideboard | Spiffy Armchair

Like I’m actively preparing to have my brain explode when you start tagging me in your pictures.

Skirted Upholstered Dining Chair | Pedestal Table 

So today we wanted to share some of the pieces (there are way more over on Wayfair) and show you some behind-the-scenes of how it all came together.

Wisp Chest | Marble End Table | Swoon Upholstered Bed

Speaking of which, here’s a peek at what it took to get that shot above. This is from the photoshoot we did back in August down in North Carolina and, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw us road trip down there with a car full of accessories to excitedly style each shot (you can view a recap of it all here).

All of the photos of the furniture “in situation” were photographed in a real person’s home that we rented for a week (she’s an interior designer, so she had THE BEST architecture to work with). Things were constantly getting moved around, the garage was filled with tables of accessories, and there was camera equipment everywhere you looked. These photos are of the living room, which became a makeshift bedroom more than once.

We had some of the samples from the photoshoot delivered to our house a few weeks ago – which fully completes the dream of designing things we’d love to live with in our own home! And let’s just say that moving in with them has taken our relationship to the next level. “Our” meaning me and the furniture. But hey, at least I let John third-wheel it in this armchair that basically acts as a chair-and-a-half when you take the side pillows off. Plus the performance fabric means I don’t have to fear the kids or the dogs smearing it up – or myself spilling tea on it – both literally or figuratively speaking (Atlanta Housewives, anyone? No? Bueller?). 

Mellow Armchair

We’re working with a company based in High Point, North Carolina that also makes Universal Furniture, a name you’ve probably heard advertised on our podcast. That’s actually how we first got to know them, and about 18 months ago we started developing a line of furniture with them too. We traveled to their showroom a few times to gather inspiration and they came to our house to see our style firsthand. And together with their team of designers we started drafting up a whole slew of furniture ideas.

That sheet above is partially blurred because not everything survives the development process. Sometimes the design doesn’t work out the way you hope, it may not be feasible or cost-effective to produce, or the retailer just doesn’t pick it up. It’s certainly sad to let go of some things, but the good news is that we’re already working on more stuff and can hopefully revive and reimagine some of what didn’t make it into this first batch.

Stenciled 2-Drawer Chest

We’re also hoping to release alternate colors and fabric finishes of the bestsellers as time goes on. Like I’m DYING to do these x-back chairs in white, emerald green, light gray, and a natural wood finish (and in a counter-height stool version – AHHHH! Somebody stop me!).

X-Back Dining Chair | Drop Leaf Table

And how great would these white chairs be in a soft mint or pink color with a lightly bleached all-wood version of this table?

Keen Dining Chair | Chipper Dining Table

We snagged those navy chairs shown above from the photoshoot, along with this white pedestal table, and have used them to upgrade our kids’ crafting corner in our bonus room. There used to be a kid-height table with some cute little green chairs in that spot, but our tall kids were ready for a more regular-sized set-up. Added bonus: now we can sit with them without developing butt cramps from the old mini-chairs.

X-Back Dining Chairs | Pedestal Table

Overall, our goal was to make super versatile pieces (says the person who just used a dining table as a kids’ craft table) that are classic but still interesting. Like the dresser below that has a fun diamond pattern (inspired by my beloved diamond windows in the duplex) but comes in two goes-with-anything colors (white or gray).

Diamond Chest in White | Spiffy Armchair

Interesting details in easy-to-integrate colors make it so simple for these pieces to slip in seamlessly with your existing furniture. So you can upgrade that old dresser, coffee table, media cabinet, or dining table without having to redesign (or rebuy) your entire room. Or even just add this cute little side table next to your sofa for a soft hint of greeny-blue color and some bonus setting-things-down space.

Valet End Table in Blue | Mellow Sofa

In our bedroom, we swapped out my former dresser (the one with the stuck drawer that you saw on my closet video tour) for this 6-drawer one so I can finally have a fully functional piece. The vintage dresser that used to live here now happily resides in the guest room – where that sticking middle drawer bothers nobody – and I finally have six drawers that open and shut without a fight! Everyone wins!

Mellow Armchair | Wisp Dresser

We wanted things to feel like us, so we worked in lots of little nods or details – like the dentil molding along the Wisp Dresser above (just like the dentil molding along the roofline of our house). Several pieces have an inlay-inspired pattern (you know that makes me SO HAPPY), and the Noble Dresser below is based on the aforementioned vintage dresser that John’s dad handed down to us. It’s hard to find pieces with cool old details like fluted legs or tops that aren’t just rectangles (see how the top of the dresser below is so much more of an intricate shape?) so we LOVED working those in.

Noble Dresser

It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. So all of the dresser drawers have dove-tailed joints and there are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything (these pieces are SOLID – believe me we have carried them up and down the stairs – ha!). Plus all the sofas and armchairs are made with performance fabric – which isn’t chemically sprayed, but actually created from tightly woven durable fibers to better repel stains and wear. We also snuck in some fun bonus functions and features on some of the pieces too, like these:

Skirted Dining Chair | Noble Dresser | Debonair Dresser | Valet End Table

I’ve already said more than I need to because I’m probably just distracting you from actually looking at the furniture. There is SO MUCH MORE than what we’ve shown in this post, so feel free to head over to Wayfair to browse it all.

Dashing End Table | Mellow Chair

There are sofas, coffee tables, nightstands, dining tables, chairs, headboards, a bed, and even this mirror that’s earning all the extra credit in our bedroom for reflecting my capiz chandelier (it’s like I have two of them now ;)

Debonair Dresser in Grey | Stenciled Mirror

So this is me officially zipping my trap, getting out of your way, and spooning with my new chair boyfriend (John’s fine with it because he’s busy gushing about how smoothly the dresser drawers glide).

Mellow Armchair

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so excited and supportive about this whole new adventure for us! We are SO EXCITED to have these things out in the world!

The post Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! appeared first on Young House Love.

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! published first on https://novaformmattressreview.tumblr.com/

[lowmaticnews]

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair!

I’m not sure an emoji even exists to capture how THRILLED we are to announce that our furniture line is finally out! The one that represents me would probably be the salsa dancing woman, except she’d be wearing all black with a skull for a face because I’m 95% dead from the excitement. Also let’s add a taco in her hand because that’s always a good idea. Am I already talking about tacos? That got off track quickly. Anyway, I know a lot of you have been following along as this day has crept closer (thank you for that, btw!) so now you can officially shop the whole collection (over 30 pieces! way more than we could cram into this post!) at Wayfair and Wayfair Canada.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa | Stenciled Coffee Table | Mellow Armchair

I’ll do my best to keep the cliches to a minimum, but designing furniture has been a dream of ours for years and it still feels like this isn’t real. There’s actual physical stuff that you can sit on, sleep on, eat at, and rub your face all over (is that just me?) and we’re just so happy with how everything turned out.

Keen Dining Chair | Trestle Dining Table

Both the finished look and the quality exceeded our expectations when we saw everything in person – and we LOVE how they mix and match together. I CANNOT WAIT for you guys to have it your houses.

Scalloped Sideboard | Spiffy Armchair

Like I’m actively preparing to have my brain explode when you start tagging me in your pictures.

Skirted Upholstered Dining Chair | Pedestal Table 

So today we wanted to share some of the pieces (there are way more over on Wayfair) and show you some behind-the-scenes of how it all came together.

Wisp Chest | Marble Accent Table | Swoon Upholstered Bed

Speaking of which, here’s a peek at what it took to get that shot above. This is from the photoshoot we did back in August down in North Carolina and, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw us road trip down there with a car full of accessories to excitedly style each shot (you can view a recap of it all here).

All of the photos of the furniture “in situation” were photographed in a real person’s home that we rented for a week (she’s an interior designer, so she had THE BEST architecture to work with). Things were constantly getting moved around, the garage was filled with tables of accessories, and there was camera equipment everywhere you looked. These photos are of the living room, which became a makeshift bedroom more than once.

We had some of the samples from the photoshoot delivered to our house a few weeks ago – which fully completes the dream of designing things we’d love to live with in our own home! And let’s just say that moving in with them has taken our relationship to the next level. “Our” meaning me and the furniture. But hey, at least I let John third-wheel it in this armchair that basically acts as a chair-and-a-half when you take the side pillows off. Plus the performance fabric means I don’t have to fear the kids or the dogs smearing it up – or myself spilling tea on it – both literally or figuratively speaking (Atlanta Housewives, anyone? No? Bueller?). 

Mellow Armchair

We’re working with a company based in High Point, North Carolina that also makes Universal Furniture, a name you’ve probably heard advertised on our podcast. That’s actually how we first got to know them, and about 18 months ago we started developing a line of furniture with them too. We traveled to their showroom a few times to gather inspiration and they came to our house to see our style firsthand. And together with their team of designers we started drafting up a whole slew of furniture ideas.

That sheet above is partially blurred because not everything survives the development process. Sometimes the design doesn’t work out the way you hope, it may not be feasible or cost-effective to produce, or the retailer just doesn’t pick it up. It’s certainly sad to let go of some things, but the good news is that we’re already working on more stuff and can hopefully revive and reimagine some of what didn’t make it into this first batch.

Stenciled 2-Drawer Chest

We’re also hoping to release alternate colors and fabric finishes of the bestsellers as time goes on. Like I’m DYING to do these x-back chairs in white, emerald green, light gray, and a natural wood finish (and in a counter-height stool version – AHHHH! Somebody stop me!).

X-Back Dining Chair | Drop Leaf Table

And how great would these white chairs be in a soft mint or pink color with a lightly bleached all-wood version of this table?

Keen Dining Chair | Chipper Dining Table

We snagged those navy chairs shown above from the photoshoot, along with this white pedestal table, and have used them to upgrade our kids’ crafting corner in our bonus room. There used to be a kid-height table with some cute little green chairs in that spot, but our tall kids were ready for a more regular-sized set-up. Added bonus: now we can sit with them without developing butt cramps from the old mini-chairs.

X-Back Dining Chairs | Pedestal Table

Overall, our goal was to make super versatile pieces (says the person who just used a dining table as a kids’ craft table) that are classic but still interesting. Like the dresser below that has a fun diamond pattern (inspired by my beloved diamond windows in the duplex) but comes in two goes-with-anything colors (white or gray).

Diamond Chest in White | Spiffy Armchair

Interesting details in easy-to-integrate colors make it so simple for these pieces to slip in seamlessly with your existing furniture. So you can upgrade that old dresser, coffee table, media cabinet, or dining table without having to redesign (or rebuy) your entire room. Or even just add this cute little side table next to your sofa for a soft hint of greeny-blue color and some bonus setting-things-down space.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa

In our bedroom, we swapped out my former dresser (the one with the stuck drawer that you saw on my closet video tour) for this 6-drawer one so I can finally have a fully functional piece. The vintage dresser that used to live here now happily resides in the guest room – where that sticking middle drawer bothers nobody – and I finally have six drawers that open and shut without a fight! Everyone wins!

Mellow Armchair | Wisp Dresser

We wanted things to feel like us, so we worked in lots of little nods or details – like the dentil molding along the Wisp Dresser above (just like the dentil molding along the roofline of our house). Several pieces have an inlay-inspired pattern (you know that makes me SO HAPPY), and the Noble Dresser below is based on the aforementioned vintage dresser that John’s dad handed down to us. It’s hard to find pieces with cool old details like fluted legs or tops that aren’t just rectangles (see how the top of the dresser below is so much more of an intricate shape?) so we LOVED working those in.

Noble Dresser

It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. So all of the dresser drawers have dove-tailed joints and there are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything (these pieces are SOLID – believe me we have carried them up and down the stairs – ha!). Plus all the sofas and armchairs are made with performance fabric – which isn’t chemically sprayed, but actually created from tightly woven durable fibers to better repel stains and wear. We also snuck in some fun bonus functions and features on some of the pieces too, like these:

Skirted Dining Chair | Noble Dresser | Debonair Dresser | Valet Side Table

I’ve already said more than I need to because I’m probably just distracting you from actually looking at the furniture. There is SO MUCH MORE than what we’ve shown in this post, so feel free to head over to Wayfair to browse it all.

Dashing End Table | Mellow Chair

There are sofas, coffee tables, nightstands, dining tables, chairs, headboards, a bed, and even this mirror that’s earning all the extra credit in our bedroom for reflecting my capiz chandelier (it’s like I have two of them now ;)

Debonair Dresser | Stenciled Mirror

So this is me officially zipping my trap, getting out of your way, and spooning with my new chair boyfriend (John’s fine with it because he’s busy gushing about how smoothly the dresser drawers glide).

Mellow Armchair

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so excited and supportive about this whole new adventure for us! We are SO EXCITED to have these things out in the world!

The post Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! appeared first on Young House Love.

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! published first on https://landscapingmates.blogspot.com

[vincentbnaughton]

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair!

I’m not sure an emoji even exists to capture how THRILLED we are to announce that our furniture line is finally out! The one that represents me would probably be the salsa dancing woman, except she’d be wearing all black with a skull for a face because I’m 95% dead from the excitement. Also let’s add a taco in her hand because that’s always a good idea. Am I already talking about tacos? That got off track quickly. Anyway, I know a lot of you have been following along as this day has crept closer (thank you for that, btw!) so now you can officially shop the whole collection (over 30 pieces! way more than we could cram into this post!) at Wayfair and Wayfair Canada.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa | Stenciled Coffee Table | Mellow Armchair

I’ll do my best to keep the cliches to a minimum, but designing furniture has been a dream of ours for years and it still feels like this isn’t real. There’s actual physical stuff that you can sit on, sleep on, eat at, and rub your face all over (is that just me?) and we’re just so happy with how everything turned out.

Keen Dining Chair | Trestle Dining Table

Both the finished look and the quality exceeded our expectations when we saw everything in person – and we LOVE how they mix and match together. I CANNOT WAIT for you guys to have it your houses.

Scalloped Sideboard | Spiffy Armchair

Like I’m actively preparing to have my brain explode when you start tagging me in your pictures.

Skirted Upholstered Dining Chair | Pedestal Table 

So today we wanted to share some of the pieces (there are way more over on Wayfair) and show you some behind-the-scenes of how it all came together.

Wisp Chest | Marble Accent Table | Swoon Upholstered Bed

Speaking of which, here’s a peek at what it took to get that shot above. This is from the photoshoot we did back in August down in North Carolina and, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw us road trip down there with a car full of accessories to excitedly style each shot (you can view a recap of it all here).

All of the photos of the furniture “in situation” were photographed in a real person’s home that we rented for a week (she’s an interior designer, so she had THE BEST architecture to work with). Things were constantly getting moved around, the garage was filled with tables of accessories, and there was camera equipment everywhere you looked. These photos are of the living room, which became a makeshift bedroom more than once.

We had some of the samples from the photoshoot delivered to our house a few weeks ago – which fully completes the dream of designing things we’d love to live with in our own home! And let’s just say that moving in with them has taken our relationship to the next level. “Our” meaning me and the furniture. But hey, at least I let John third-wheel it in this armchair that basically acts as a chair-and-a-half when you take the side pillows off. Plus the performance fabric means I don’t have to fear the kids or the dogs smearing it up – or myself spilling tea on it – both literally or figuratively speaking (Atlanta Housewives, anyone? No? Bueller?). 

Mellow Armchair

We’re working with a company based in High Point, North Carolina that also makes Universal Furniture, a name you’ve probably heard advertised on our podcast. That’s actually how we first got to know them, and about 18 months ago we started developing a line of furniture with them too. We traveled to their showroom a few times to gather inspiration and they came to our house to see our style firsthand. And together with their team of designers we started drafting up a whole slew of furniture ideas.

That sheet above is partially blurred because not everything survives the development process. Sometimes the design doesn’t work out the way you hope, it may not be feasible or cost-effective to produce, or the retailer just doesn’t pick it up. It’s certainly sad to let go of some things, but the good news is that we’re already working on more stuff and can hopefully revive and reimagine some of what didn’t make it into this first batch.

Stenciled 2-Drawer Chest

We’re also hoping to release alternate colors and fabric finishes of the bestsellers as time goes on. Like I’m DYING to do these x-back chairs in white, emerald green, light gray, and a natural wood finish (and in a counter-height stool version – AHHHH! Somebody stop me!).

X-Back Dining Chair | Drop Leaf Table

And how great would these white chairs be in a soft mint or pink color with a lightly bleached all-wood version of this table?

Keen Dining Chair | Chipper Dining Table

We snagged those navy chairs shown above from the photoshoot, along with this white pedestal table, and have used them to upgrade our kids’ crafting corner in our bonus room. There used to be a kid-height table with some cute little green chairs in that spot, but our tall kids were ready for a more regular-sized set-up. Added bonus: now we can sit with them without developing butt cramps from the old mini-chairs.

X-Back Dining Chairs | Pedestal Table

Overall, our goal was to make super versatile pieces (says the person who just used a dining table as a kids’ craft table) that are classic but still interesting. Like the dresser below that has a fun diamond pattern (inspired by my beloved diamond windows in the duplex) but comes in two goes-with-anything colors (white or gray).

Diamond Chest in White | Spiffy Armchair

Interesting details in easy-to-integrate colors make it so simple for these pieces to slip in seamlessly with your existing furniture. So you can upgrade that old dresser, coffee table, media cabinet, or dining table without having to redesign (or rebuy) your entire room. Or even just add this cute little side table next to your sofa for a soft hint of greeny-blue color and some bonus setting-things-down space.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa

In our bedroom, we swapped out my former dresser (the one with the stuck drawer that you saw on my closet video tour) for this 6-drawer one so I can finally have a fully functional piece. The vintage dresser that used to live here now happily resides in the guest room – where that sticking middle drawer bothers nobody – and I finally have six drawers that open and shut without a fight! Everyone wins!

Mellow Armchair | Wisp Dresser

We wanted things to feel like us, so we worked in lots of little nods or details – like the dentil molding along the Wisp Dresser above (just like the dentil molding along the roofline of our house). Several pieces have an inlay-inspired pattern (you know that makes me SO HAPPY), and the Noble Dresser below is based on the aforementioned vintage dresser that John’s dad handed down to us. It’s hard to find pieces with cool old details like fluted legs or tops that aren’t just rectangles (see how the top of the dresser below is so much more of an intricate shape?) so we LOVED working those in.

Noble Dresser

It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. So all of the dresser drawers have dove-tailed joints and there are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything (these pieces are SOLID – believe me we have carried them up and down the stairs – ha!). Plus all the sofas and armchairs are made with performance fabric – which isn’t chemically sprayed, but actually created from tightly woven durable fibers to better repel stains and wear. We also snuck in some fun bonus functions and features on some of the pieces too, like these:

Skirted Dining Chair | Noble Dresser | Debonair Dresser | Valet Side Table

I’ve already said more than I need to because I’m probably just distracting you from actually looking at the furniture. There is SO MUCH MORE than what we’ve shown in this post, so feel free to head over to Wayfair to browse it all.

Dashing End Table | Mellow Chair

There are sofas, coffee tables, nightstands, dining tables, chairs, headboards, a bed, and even this mirror that’s earning all the extra credit in our bedroom for reflecting my capiz chandelier (it’s like I have two of them now ;)

Debonair Dresser | Stenciled Mirror

So this is me officially zipping my trap, getting out of your way, and spooning with my new chair boyfriend (John’s fine with it because he’s busy gushing about how smoothly the dresser drawers glide).

Mellow Armchair

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so excited and supportive about this whole new adventure for us! We are SO EXCITED to have these things out in the world!

The post Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair! appeared first on Young House Love.

[truereviewpage]

Our Furniture Is Officially For Sale On Wayfair!

I’m not sure an emoji even exists to capture how THRILLED we are to announce that our furniture line is finally out! The one that represents me would probably be the salsa dancing woman, except she’d be wearing all black with a skull for a face because I’m 95% dead from the excitement. Also let’s add a taco in her hand because that’s always a good idea. Am I already talking about tacos? That got off track quickly. Anyway, I know a lot of you have been following along as this day has crept closer (thank you for that, btw!) so now you can officially shop the whole collection (over 30 pieces! way more than we could cram into this post!) at Wayfair and Wayfair Canada.

Valet End Table | Mellow Sofa | Stenciled Coffee Table | Mellow Armchair

I’ll do my best to keep the cliches to a minimum, but designing furniture has been a dream of ours for years and it still feels like this isn’t real. There’s actual physical stuff that you can sit on, sleep on, eat at, and rub your face all over (is that just me?) and we’re just so happy with how everything turned out.

Keen Dining Chair | Trestle Dining Table

Both the finished look and the quality exceeded our expectations when we saw everything in person – and we LOVE how they mix and match together. I CANNOT WAIT for you guys to have it your houses.

Scalloped Sideboard | Spiffy Armchair

Like I’m actively preparing to have my brain explode when you start tagging me in your pictures.

Skirted Upholstered Dining Chair | Pedestal Table 

So today we wanted to share some of the pieces (there are way more over on Wayfair) and show you some behind-the-scenes of how it all came together.

Wisp Chest | Marble End Table | Swoon Upholstered Bed

Speaking of which, here’s a peek at what it took to get that shot above. This is from the photoshoot we did back in August down in North Carolina and, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw us road trip down there with a car full of accessories to excitedly style each shot (you can view a recap of it all here).

All of the photos of the furniture “in situation” were photographed in a real person’s home that we rented for a week (she’s an interior designer, so she had THE BEST architecture to work with). Things were constantly getting moved around, the garage was filled with tables of accessories, and there was camera equipment everywhere you looked. These photos are of the living room, which became a makeshift bedroom more than once.

We had some of the samples from the photoshoot delivered to our house a few weeks ago – which fully completes the dream of designing things we’d love to live with in our own home! And let’s just say that moving in with them has taken our relationship to the next level. “Our” meaning me and the furniture. But hey, at least I let John third-wheel it in this armchair that basically acts as a chair-and-a-half when you take the side pillows off. Plus the performance fabric means I don’t have to fear the kids or the dogs smearing it up – or myself spilling tea on it – both literally or figuratively speaking (Atlanta Housewives, anyone? No? Bueller?). 

Mellow Armchair

We’re working with a company based in High Point, North Carolina that also makes Universal Furniture, a name you’ve probably heard advertised on our podcast. That’s actually how we first got to know them, and about 18 months ago we started developing a line of furniture with them too. We traveled to their showroom a few times to gather inspiration and they came to our house to see our style firsthand. And together with their team of designers we started drafting up a whole slew of furniture ideas.

That sheet above is partially blurred because not everything survives the development process. Sometimes the design doesn’t work out the way you hope, it may not be feasible or cost-effective to produce, or the retailer just doesn’t pick it up. It’s certainly sad to let go of some things, but the good news is that we’re already working on more stuff and can hopefully revive and reimagine some of what didn’t make it into this first batch.

Stenciled 2-Drawer Chest

We’re also hoping to release alternate colors and fabric finishes of the bestsellers as time goes on. Like I’m DYING to do these x-back chairs in white, emerald green, light gray, and a natural wood finish (and in a counter-height stool version – AHHHH! Somebody stop me!).

X-Back Dining Chair | Drop Leaf Table

And how great would these white chairs be in a soft mint or pink color with a lightly bleached all-wood version of this table?

Keen Dining Chair | Chipper Dining Table

We snagged those navy chairs shown above from the photoshoot, along with this white pedestal table, and have used them to upgrade our kids’ crafting corner in our bonus room. There used to be a kid-height table with some cute little green chairs in that spot, but our tall kids were ready for a more regular-sized set-up. Added bonus: now we can sit with them without developing butt cramps from the old mini-chairs.

X-Back Dining Chairs | Pedestal Table

Overall, our goal was to make super versatile pieces (says the person who just used a dining table as a kids’ craft table) that are classic but still interesting. Like the dresser below that has a fun diamond pattern (inspired by my beloved diamond windows in the duplex) but comes in two goes-with-anything colors (white or gray).

Diamond Chest in White | Spiffy Armchair

Interesting details in easy-to-integrate colors make it so simple for these pieces to slip in seamlessly with your existing furniture. So you can upgrade that old dresser, coffee table, media cabinet, or dining table without having to redesign (or rebuy) your entire room. Or even just add this cute little side table next to your sofa for a soft hint of greeny-blue color and some bonus setting-things-down space.

Valet End Table in Blue | Mellow Sofa

In our bedroom, we swapped out my former dresser (the one with the stuck drawer that you saw on my closet video tour) for this 6-drawer one so I can finally have a fully functional piece. The vintage dresser that used to live here now happily resides in the guest room – where that sticking middle drawer bothers nobody – and I finally have six drawers that open and shut without a fight! Everyone wins!

Mellow Armchair | Wisp Dresser

We wanted things to feel like us, so we worked in lots of little nods or details – like the dentil molding along the Wisp Dresser above (just like the dentil molding along the roofline of our house). Several pieces have an inlay-inspired pattern (you know that makes me SO HAPPY), and the Noble Dresser below is based on the aforementioned vintage dresser that John’s dad handed down to us. It’s hard to find pieces with cool old details like fluted legs or tops that aren’t just rectangles (see how the top of the dresser below is so much more of an intricate shape?) so we LOVED working those in.

Noble Dresser

It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. So all of the dresser drawers have dove-tailed joints and there are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything (these pieces are SOLID – believe me we have carried them up and down the stairs – ha!). Plus all the sofas and armchairs are made with performance fabric – which isn’t chemically sprayed, but actually created from tightly woven durable fibers to better repel stains and wear. We also snuck in some fun bonus functions and features on some of the pieces too, like these:

Skirted Dining Chair | Noble Dresser | Debonair Dresser | Valet End Table

I’ve already said more than I need to because I’m probably just distracting you from actually looking at the furniture. There is SO MUCH MORE than what we’ve shown in this post, so feel free to head over to Wayfair to browse it all.

Dashing End Table | Mellow Chair

There are sofas, coffee tables, nightstands, dining tables, chairs, headboards, a bed, and even this mirror that’s earning all the extra credit in our bedroom for reflecting my capiz chandelier (it’s like I have two of them now ;)

Debonair Dresser in Grey | Stenciled Mirror

So this is me officially zipping my trap, getting out of your way, and spooning with my new chair boyfriend (John’s fine with it because he’s busy gushing about how smoothly the dresser drawers glide).

Mellow Armchair

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so excited and supportive about this whole new adventure for us! We are SO EXCITED to have these things out in the world!

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