Screen porches and outdoor rooms

It snowed here last week.
But yesterday the Forsythia were in full bloom and the time to get outside is coming, even here in the northlands.

I put together these screened porch looks for a new client and thought I'd share the ones we didn't go with.  The trick with mixing outdoor items is in the materials--unlike an indoor living room, most affordable outdoor pieces have exposed frames and there's less fabric all along.  In these looks I limited my frames to 2 materials and kept the palette tight.

They are putting new windows into the porch which means install is maybe 6 weeks away, but I can't wait to see this one come to life!

Make it work

I've been watching season 14 of Project Runway with my kids.  One of the contestants, Merline, never stops talking/moving/dancing/singing.  In an early episode, she was repeating Tim Gunn's "Make it work" over and over, like a tic, or a broken record.

Make it work make it work make it work make it work.

I'm having a make it work moment.  I've been in my office for 3 months now, and I FINALLY ordered a desk chair.  (why are practical things so much harder to commit to than impractical ones?)  I knew I essentially wanted a tan leather knock off of an Eames management chair but spent a lot of time deciding between padded or ribbed, real leather or "vegan" leather (which really came down to budget.)  I finally pulled the trigger on the ribbed style, in faux leather.  It came quickly and then sat in a huge box for a week.

I unpacked and assembled it this weekend.  It is not tan.  It is brown.  Which would not be that big of a deal (tan will show more marks from blue jeans etc), except that this particular shade of brown CLASHES WITH MY DESK.  (a table I found on craigslist).

Ugh.  This is the danger of ordering online when the subtlety of the color really matters.

So now, do I disassemble the chair, repackage it, and haul the huge box away, and order a lighter, TANNER tan chair?  I am so not inclined to this solution.

Do I find a textile to fold and drape over the back?

Do I paint the tabletop?  (the base is ivory, the top is currently wood.)

I'm hanging art behind the chair but don't know what it will be yet (apart from a row of white frames with white mats.)  Do I choose something to draw the eye away from the desk-chair combo?

I love the idea that this space be somewhat minimal, without a lot of pieces and layers.  When you do that, in neutrals to boot, everything has to be just right.

This is a VERY easy mistake to make (and a difficult one to avoid when you can't see something in person.  I suppose the tip is, when ordering online, make sure the items you are ordering are in contrast colors to adjacent items.  Less nuance in color = more wiggle room).  Obviously it is my job to avoid or fix such mistakes--but it is much harder to do that for myself, on a weekend, than for my clients, as part of my job.

I can tell you this: I'm sitting in the chair right now and it is comfortable.  The thought of going back to the sagging upholstery of the vintage Milo Baughman chair I have been sitting on for weeks is NOT appealing.

Time to make it work.