Slat Wall Part 5: The Accessories

With the slat wall and bench completed, we knew we wanted to upgrade the nearby furniture as well. This loveseat, a Craigslist find that was already very well loved when we bought it in 2009, was the first candidate for removal. The problem at the time had been that very few sofas/loveseats were under 5' (most being significantly more) and we could not find a single new product that matched our measurements for a reasonable price. This little guy was a mere 55":

Fortunately, 16 years later, there were more choices and we found ourselves seriously considering four or five options from three different stores. We knew we wanted the sofa to be blue, to continue our red/blue color motif for the room and that meant a LOT of swatches:We also knew we wanted velvet or microfiber, having read that cats don't usually like to scratch at them since the weave is so tight/nonexistence that they can't get purchase (which is probably also the reason none of our cats ever used our leather sofa as a scratching post). They definitely LOVED scratching at our cheapo gray love seat and also occasionally scratch at the chaise lounge in our sunroom sometimes.

The loveseats we considered (and went so far as to test out in stores, as much as we could based on floor model availability):

• The Caitlin by Interior Define, but it started at 63"--a tad big for the space. And it was a bit pricy considering it was still a made-in-China kind of piece,
• The Oslo by Interior Define, at 62" and a little less sleek and swoopy,
• Nomad, by Burrow, which sadly only had one acceptable color,
• The Andes by West Elm, with a split seat, metal legs, a little cheaper looking,
• The Andes by West Elm, but with a bench seat,
• The Eddy by West Elm, on a fancy (but also a little funny-looking) base, and
• The Jasper by Room and Board, priced high but made in the US and known for good quality.

It was nice to have options. Maybe too many options...We ended up with a LOT of swatches:

At the same time, we had to clear the side wall to put together a new storage unit. Our brown IKEA Expedit had been a good fit for the space, but all of our wall trim is white and all of the wood in the room was a medium reddish brown, rather than dark chocolate brown. We had help from the cats.

We swapped it for an IKEA Kallax (which is basically a redesigned Expedit--the cubes are the same but there is less trim along the outside). It's a bright "glossy" white rather than the standard white, to make it stand out even more. The new model even has an optional base to get the piece off the floor (easier to clean under it. We also briefly stored our Roomba under it, which was nice way to hide it away.

Again, we had some cat "help" during assembly:

We moved over all of the baskets and doors from our Expedit (there's a picture here to remind you what it looked like.) Because this was against a wall and not being used as a room divider, we also felt we could fill more of the cubbies, rather than leave it more open and airy. So we grabbed a few *more* baskets from around the house to see how it looked, and we also bought a few more buildable doors and drawers from IKEA (plus these cool little globe lamps, Fado)

We realized that while we loved the added storage, we didn't like the mismatched look as much as we had thought. Usually we like to strive for "thoughtfully eclectic" or something, but the various baskets all just looked messy. We turned to Amazon to buy a set of matching ones, while keeping the mismatched drawers and doors and we liked this look much better:

(In keeping with the random pet cameos, I figured the dog could have a turn as well). The most popular new addition was the mirrored door (in this picture, you can see the slat wall behind the camera). Unfortunately the cats really like the wide woven fabric on the bottom baskets, but at least they were not expensive if we have to replace them.

Returning to the sofa, after weighing all the pros and cons over MANY weeks of discussions, we decided on the West Elm Andes with the bench seat. The quality wasn't as high as Room and Board and the look wasn't quite as cute as Interior Define, but knowing that we have pets, we decided maybe we shouldn't buy a top-of-the-line "forever" love seat. The real risk was that for whatever reason, the swatch for the color we thought we preferred did not arrive with the rest of the West Elm swatch, and ended up arriving well AFTER we picked the sofa. I'm sure it took quite a journey through the postal system.

The top swatch is Petrol in performance velvet. The bottom swatch is Ink Blue in performance distressed velvet. We decided we liked the darker blue but not in the distressed look. So we held our breaths and ordered the loveseat in Ink Blue performance velvet (what you see behind the swatches):

And we love it. Thank goodness. The blue is the right color for the room (it goes amazinglu well with a throw we got on a trip). The cats like to scamper on it but not claw it. That does leave some claw marks in the velvet as they take off, claws extended, but those seem to wipe out. Clearly they have accepted it as a place to lounge, as have the kids (it's their favorite spot to lay down on weekend mornings to watch TV and we usually hear them argue over whose turn it is to sit there).

And with that, the slat wall and entry space redesign is over.