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!).
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 their website) 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?).
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.
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.
It was also important to us that everything was well constructed and durable. There are no paper-thin cardboard backs on anything, and 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 tiny castors for easy rolling on our skirted dining chair, and a small sliding velvet jewelry tray inside the drawer of our debonair dresser:
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 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).
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!
