Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Our Sofa Story

Hi there!
It's been a while since I last posted. I've been on Instagram a lot and if you'd like to check out more behind the scenes you can follow me @tapaliving.If this is your first time here let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I'm Suzy, born and raised in Fiji now living in Phoenix, Arizona. I have a passion for music, South Pacific culture, art, mid-century modern design, traveling and my many potted plants that I talk to everyday. kind of. I can't complain, God has blessed me with an amazing life, my main squeeze Luke, who has Jim Carey/Will Ferell's personality and has that hot, gritty, manly, ocean blue eyes look like Russell Crowe.  Ok I'll stop now. We made two beautiful babies Eden (5) and Jude(almost 3).They make me very happy and keep me very busy. I terribly miss Fiji and all that God created in it. The beach, waterfalls, luscious green landscape, the markets, the food and of course the people. I could go on and on... I badly miss it. For now, I'm surrounded by cacti and pokey things that hurt if I walk barefoot in my backyard. BUT regardless of the pokey things and 120 degree summers I must say I am getting use to the desert and appreciating the little things. Like how we have 70-80 degree winters, and the beautiful succulents. ah yes, love me some succulents. 

Ok, enough of me blabbing.  Today I wanna share with you our sofa story. In October Luke and I purchased the Tillary Tufted Sectional(below) from West Elm. Isn't she a beauty?!



When we tested it out at the store we knew that backs were removable because it would provide more lounging space, which was fine. We thought it would be cool to rearrange the sofa in many different ways for entertaining. We did a custom order in performance velvet fabric (great for kids)shadow color. When it arrived, it was like welcoming a new baby without the labor part. BUT then the inevitable happened…..after we rolled, laid and sat on the Tillary we noticed that the backs weren't so sturdy. It kept slipping off of the edge when we sat against it. We tried placing it two inches off of the edge to help it sink into the base. Unfortunately that didn't work because the kids kept pushing or pulling it off. When Luke and I tried to sit against it, it would keep falling back. Design wise it was gorgeous but when it came down to it, it wasn't a functional sofa for our family. I really tried to like it. I really did. But it just wasn't working. I was bummed. really bummed. Not at West Elm but bummed because we should have put some more thought into it and realistically thought about how functional it would be for our family. It was like a big "loser" "DUH" sign ran across my forehead at that moment. So thats the sad part of the sofa story. Now onto the happy ending. 

To make long story short, the folks at West Elm were so nice enough to let us exchange our sofa(that NEVER happens for a custom order)so I was VERY VERY grateful that they did that. Thank you so much Laura from West Elm Scottsdale!  

After a few nights of "pinteresting" research, Luke and I decided  on what we wanted. I had seen this sofa a few months back on Emily Henderson's blog (one of my favorite interior designers) When I saw it again on her blog I knew it was the one. She had produced and designed Orlando Soria's living room and there she was, the beautiful and cuddly Dunham Sofa in performance velvet fabric, ink blue color. I was in love. Not in love like with my main squeeze in love, but pretty darn close to it. Here she is. Yep take it all in. She's one hot sofa.    




What I love about this sofa is it's modern lines, down filled cushions and lets not forget it's got a back that the  kids can't remove no matter how many times they try to kick it off. 

It will take about 8-10 weeks to arrive and I will patiently wait for it like my kids on Christmas morning. When she does arrive I'll be posting my Dunham up like Kim Kardashian posts selfies.  

What about you, do you have any sofa stories to share? Made any bad sofa choices that had a happy ending? I'm sure glad mine had a happy ending, or I'd be sitting on my floor right now drinking my earl grey tea miserable. Now that wouldn't be a good way to end 2013 would it? nope, not one bit. Thank you Lord, Luke and West Elm for making my sofa dreams come true. Amen. 

I hope you and yours have a safe new years eve and a very Happy 2014! 

With love
Suzy