Picks from The Nest Egg for House Beautiful's "I'm Looking For A Storage Ottoman"

I always enjoy the "I'm Looking For . . ." feature in House Beautiful magazine each month where their writers scour the design landscape looking for the best of certain types of rugs, accessories or furniture pieces. We've featured one such issue in our blog before where the subject was "I'm Looking For A Banquette" and which highlighted "The Wong" by Joe Ruggiero which is one of my favorite settees. I recently read the "I'm Looking For A Storage Ottoman" piece and enjoyed all of the wonderful colors, shapes and sizes included in the feature. I thought I'd share some of our favorite storage ottomans from a few of our terrific manufacturers that we carry in the store.

Brunner Small Storage Ottoman by Uttermost (23w x 20h): I have the larger version (37w x 21h)of this in my family room. It's faux leather which makes it wonderful for small (and messy) children. It wipes right off, doesn't scratch easily and can store throws, extra pillows, stuffed animals, etc. The larger size also holds children quite comfortably (with the top off of course) -- our boys love to snuggle inside the ottoman with pillows and a blanket and watch a movie. The price ($595 for the 37" round and $310 for the 23" shown above) is also hard to beat for a piece that gets tons of use and holds up so well. It's nice to not cringe when you find a 4 or 6 year old boy standing on the top.

The Laughton by Joe Ruggiero for Miles Talbott is a truly beautiful and functional piece. It has wedge feet and standard biscuit tufting on the top. It stays open when lifted which is also a nice feature for small children and has two lifting tabs that hide inside for easy opening. At 53w x 27d x 18h, it has ample room for storing large blankets, magazines, sweaters, toys and more which makes it a nice piece for the end of a bed or for a family room. It is available in all of the gorgeous indoor Sunbrella fabrics by Joe Ruggiero, any of the Miles Talbott fabrics or in leather.

The Article No 54 wooden cube by Aidan Gray is a favorite piece of ours at the store. It brings such wonderful textures to a room with the washed wood, metal nail head edges and burlap cushion. At 18x18x18, you could tuck a pair under a console or place a tray on top and use as a cocktail or side table.

This is the 9491-40 from Lee Industries. At just 20" deep, it's a nice size to tuck into a hallway or into a family room to use for extra seating.

Eastern Accents makes gorgeous bedding as well as lovely storage ottomans. There are so many terrific fabrics and trims to choose from. You can order one of their pre-designed fabric pairings or customize to make your own. We love this Paris map fabric on the bottom of the piece. This would be lovely in an office or bedroom.

A storage box ottoman, also from Eastern Accents. Ottomans are a great way to bring in more pattern and color to a room. They aren't overpowering but you can add some playful or modern elements with the fabrics you choose. It's much easier to commit to a bold pattern when it's on an upholstered accent piece versus one of your main upholstered seating pieces.

Also from Eastern Accents, this pattern would be really fun in a young girl's bedroom or playroom. This is a great option for injecting a pop of color when you're using a softer base color that you can grow with.

As House Beautiful described them, storage ottomans can be used as "an extra perch, a little table, a secret hiding place" (they may not have known how true that was)! You'll never regret purchasing a storage ottoman. Any piece that can serve dual purposes is a smart choice in our book.

Summer Stripes

Stripes just seem to say summer! From fashion trends to entertaining essentials and of course, home decor, the crispness and clean lines created by the contrast of colors is always appealing. Here are some of our favorite stripes currently in the store and available to order from our manufacturers:

Sunhaze Yacht Stripe Woven Cotton Rug from Dash & Albert

Slate Candy Stripe Throw by ASI

Striped Pencils from Curly Girl Design

Lollie Monkey in Striped Shorts from Bla Bla

Barbara Stripesand Coral Pocket Rocket by Scout

Germain Cactus Sunbrella Fabric by Joe Ruggiero for Miles Talbott Furniture

Beautiful New Upholstered Furniture Arrivals!

Our spring cleaning sale earlier this month was a success as we were able to create lots of room for the new merchandise that we ordered in High Point. On Friday our new 1100 series sofa and chair from Miles Talbott arrived and it is beautiful! The colors are wonderful for this time of year.Our sofa is in Claridge Ice and highlighted by contrasting throw pillows in Seville Steel. We chose a sock arm, straight cushion, box back and dressmaker skirt.

The coordinating chair is in a wonderful stripe called Robin Khaki that would work in so many different interior styles. For the chair we chose an English arm, t-cushion and turned leg. We also upgraded the chair seat and back cushions to pillow down and it's incredibly comfortable!

The best part of this option series is that you can really make it your own by choosing any fabric and then selecting the cushion style, skirt or feet options and arm style to fit your home perfectly. Stop by soon to see our new floor models in person and let us help you dress your nest!

Our trip(s) to see The Joe Ruggiero Collection in the Miles Talbott Showroom

I'm pretty sure there were some records set this week for the most visits we've made to one showroom during market. Ranking at the top has to be the number of times that we visited the Miles Talbott Showroom. Sean and I did a quick tour of the showroom on Sunday and then Jenny (our Store Manager), Rachael (our Interior Designer) and I spent more than half of the day there on Tuesday and a few hours more on Wednesday morning. We all really wanted to learn as much as we could about the line, the collections, the frames, the cushion options and of course, the fabrics!

The showroom consists of the main line of Miles Talbott upholstered furniture as well many other collections including Rachael Ashwell's Shabby Chic line and The Joe Ruggiero Collection. All three lines are represented in our store and this week we chose some fabulous new collections that we'll have on our floor in late May/early June.

Here's what we found in The Joe Ruggiero Collection:

First and foremost, we found Joe Ruggiero himself! Joe designs all of the frames and Sunbrella fabrics in his beautiful collection. The collection features clean lines, classy style, incredibly comfortable sofas, chairs and chaises and of course, the fabrics are stunning. The best part is that all of the Sunbrella fabrics are stain and fade resistant which makes them such a great option for many lifestyles (mine included . . .two little boys and a large dog require any and everything that's stain resistant . . .hmmm, when will they make Sunbrella clothing?!) We had a hard time narrowing down our choices for our showroom samples because there were so many wonderful options.

This is where we ended up! We'll be bringing in the Tribeca Sofa in Meridian Wren with a Meridian Dove welt, accented with mitered Remix Slate pillows (these are going to be beautiful!). We're pairing that with the Sloan Chair in Montecito Papyrus (second fabric from the left above) accented with throw pillows in Tie Dye Wren (fourth from left) and a Trax Cadet contrast welt. We can't wait to see them in person!

Washington Post "House Calls" Features the Joe Ruggiero Tribeca Sectional from The Nest Egg

What a lovely surprise this morning to be reading the "House Calls" feature in The Washington Post's weekly "Living Local" section and see that they had featured the Joe Ruggerio Tribeca sectional from our store!

The designer, Gloria Borza, of Oak Hill was right on target with choosing a Joe Ruggerio indoor Sunbrella fabric (she chose Trax Cadet) for this particular family. They needed "an adult space that can stand up to children and pets." The indoor Sunbrella fabrics are perfect. Completely stain resistant they can stand up to all of that and more! Thanks Gloria, for visiting the store and including the Tribeca Sectional and The Nest Egg in your design plan.

Here is the sectional and fabric featured. The best part is that there are so many fabulous Sunbrella fabrics to choose from and the options with the Tribeca collection are virtually endless!

See the full Tribeca collection on the Miles Talbott Furniture website and stop by the store to sit in our Tribeca sofa floor model and view all of the fabrics. It's a wonderfully versatile collection that allows you to customize the size and look of your sofa or sectional. Enjoy!

Shabby Chic & Washable Wonders have arrived!

Talk about a comfortable chair to curl up in! Our new Dover Armchair from the Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic collection by Miles Talbott Furniture arrived yesterday. We now have the full handle of all available fabrics from the collection including everything from washed velvets and linens to exclusive Shabby Chic prints and wonderfully distressed leathers.

"Uncomplicated elegance" is often how the Shabby Chic style is described. Slipcovered armchairs, sofas and ottomans are easily at home in a cottage, an urban apartment or a traditional sun room.

Nothing beats the ease and comfort of this line and this chair beckons to be sat in! Like every customer who has walked in today, as soon as Julie got to work at the store this morning she took a seat to test it out. Stop by soon to try it yourself!

We also received a new shipment of the Miles Talbott Furniture Washable Wonders Collection. Our first shipment for the floor sold in a matter of days after arriving, so we are quite happy to have new pieces in. This time we chose Washed Carlton Fog for the Sara Loveseat and Washed Portofino Saffron for the Judy Chair. Our designer Rachael also picked out the fun accent pillows in Washed Linen Fly which are kicked up a notch with an unexpected contrast welt in Washed Portofino Saffron to tie the pieces in together. All of the Washable Wonders slipcovers are machine washable and all of the fabrics have been tested to hold up to the rigors of everyday life!

(we also received an AMAZING shipment of Bougainvillea arrangements this week . . .will post on that soon too!)

Why decorate your home with items that can't become part of your everyday life and used by everyone in the family (4 legged friends included)? Get comfortable with Shabby Chic and totally practical with Washable Wonders . . .a lesson I could have learned when we decorated our first house.
This was our cat Sully, in one of his many favorite sleeping chairs. He was a stray that was always hanging around outside our first house. One night during a thunderstorm I let him in and carefully placed a towel on top of an ottoman for him to lay on. He graciously obliged and laid on that towel for roughly 3 or 4 days. Flash forward 5 years and there wasn't a cushion in the house that Sully didn't consider his own. Oh how nice a washable slipcover would have been!

House Beautiful Features My Favorite Miles Talbott Settee/Banquette

I'm always excited when my new issue of House Beautiful arrives and today was no exception. For months after we introduced our upholstery line Miles Talbott Furniture last year, I'd been fawning over Joe Ruggerio's Wong Settee (MTF calls it a settee . . .House Beautiful features it as a banquette . . .either way it's lovely!) Just last week our designer Rachael was telling me she thought she'd found a spot for it in a project she's working on in a client's home. I hope it works!

I was thrilled today when I saw it in the March issue of House Beautiful in the "I'm Looking For A Banquette" feature. Their description of how to use a banquette is just right: "Tuck it into a corner, place it at the end of a bed, pull it up to a dining table. Don't you just love a banquette?" Yes, I do!

I also love when I'm reading design magazines and come across products that we carry in our store. It's a nice reassurance that the things we love are also being singled out by editors and designers. This month's issue was no exception. Here are a few other items featured in the March issue that are also available at The Nest Egg.

In their feature on rugs they highlight runners, describing that "runners are all the rage, and not just for hallways. They're showing up next to beds, in kitchens - all over the house." The Company C Chloe rug is featured in Pewter (#6 above, bottom left). Just one of the many beautiful runners that Company C has to offer. We have all of the swatches in our store, available to check out to color match in your home before ordering.

I see this antiqued gold sunflower mirror from Two's Company (above fireplace) pop up in magazines quite a bit but it's so versatile, it's easy to see why designers choose to use it so often. The mirror is 34.5" and is a great price at $345. In fact we just received a shipment of them yesterday!

For years, we've had a selection of ceramic trays from Tozai Home called the St. Honore Tray that were always a best seller. We were thrilled last year when we saw they were introducing two new patterns. The geometric brick tray is shown above (top right) in Blue/Olive. It's also available in 2 other color options as well as a zebra pattern. It's just 8" long and can be used in so many places in addition to just the bathroom. It's great on a desk for corralling paperclips, on a nightstand for jewelry or in an entryway for keys. All styles are currently available in the store. Both the geometric brick trays and the zebra trays are available for sale on our website and in our store at $40 each.

Thanks House Beautiful for another great issue!