If you haven’t heard of furoshiki continue reading. The ancient art of Japanese gift wrapping with fabric can be a great way to make wrapping easy, elegant and beautiful!
I like new dish towels or flour sac dish towels in colors to wrap a gift of wine or home baked bread using the art of furoshiki.
A large scarf can be used for wrapping bigger items or even to create an instant shopping bag! Watch the video to see just how easy it is here.
They are beautiful, useful and reusable. Bulky wrapping paper, ribbons and bows – gone! An empty shelf in my linen closet – yes!
Just like the picture above, I have often used a scarf to create a small coordinated evening bag. It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s great when traveling and it folds flat into my suitcase.
On other occasions, if you need to dress up in the evening, simply wrap the same scarf sarong style over black or white slacks. It quickly dresses up a casual look and is used often in the Middle East.
Our furniture moves around – often. The pieces we have are multi-purpose and we use them for many purposes. Sometimes my desk is in the dining room being used as the dining table. Other times it may be found in the living room working as a desk or in the bedroom functioning as a beside table.
The same can be said of our sofa table, server, bookshelves or the two square tables that are currently serving as a coffee table. Our futon sofa is also a guest bed. Guest linens and down comforter are stored in a zipped quilted bag behind it.
Most of our furniture is lighter weight so I can easily move it without help. Depending on what is happening we may need more room in the living area. I like that we can open our home to women’s spirituality groups, our small Christian community or Mary’s Pence gatherings.
Our living room is small, like those shown in these pictures. It serves as a living room, dining room, guest room, office and meeting space. It must be flexible and open.
Movable, multi-purpose furniture keeps it easy and simply. Most of our furniture is medium toned wood – so it doesn’t show dust. Another way to simplify my life.
Image Southern Living.com
The furniture industry has a real opportunity here.
What about inexpensive, lightweight upholstered chairs on wheels that could be used separately or combined into a love seat, sofa or sectional?
West Elm tries with their Tillary sofa but it is very low to the ground (at only 15 inches high for the base) making it arduous to sit down and get up. Also the back and arm rests don’t stay where you put them – not even in the store – very annoying! Also who wants to bend to the floor for the coffee table in this photo?
Many of West Elm’s coffee tables sit only a foot off the ground. The one below is only 13 inches high -really a foot high? Again, why do I want to bend over that much just to reach something on the coffee table? – and it’s not adjustable. It’s not only West Elm – other makers have the same problems, but West Elm had the promise of adjustable, flexible furniture.
Why not make tables that easily adjust height? Wouldn’t it be great to have a 40-inch diameter, round pedestal table that could be adjusted from coffee table height to chat height to end table height to dining height? Round tables make it easy to add additional seating. There’s always room for one more.
Or how about a 30-inch high dresser on wheels that could be used as a server, buffet, bedroom dresser, TV stand, or sofa table?
What about packaging ready-to-assemble furniture that fits in a vehicle smaller than an SUV or minivan? Why should I have to pay for expensive delivery or rent a small truck?
Lastly, when will someone make an attractive, inexpensive, lightweight futon??? You’ve all seen this “lovely number” 🙁 and this 🙁
and let’s not overlook this classic (which looks similar to ours, BTW):
Of course there are the Klik Klak versions which look slightly better but feel like cardboard.
Returning from Costa Rica we got caught in the big snow storm which reached as far south as Dallas. As a flight couldn’t be scheduled until the next day we decided to enjoy our extra day of vacation. We ended up at the Element Hotel. In the midst of this snow and ice storm, our cab driver James, safely delivered us to the hotel. What we found there was a little unexpected.
Element Hotels are green. Each space has ENERGY STAR qualified kitchen appliances, eco-friendly bath fixtures, and recycling bins for paper, plastic, and glass. They used recycled paper towels in the kitchen. We found a filter system for drinking water at the sink to replace plastic bottles, and silverware and glassware instead of disposable products.
The shower had dispensers for shampoo/conditioner and body wash, rather than wasteful mini-bottles. The manager informed me that the rainfall shower fixture saves 5,300 gallons of water per room, per year.
Carpets with up to 100% recycled content and low-VOC paint. Large windows and compact fluorescent bulbs that use 75% less energy than conventional bulbs.
Our room was well designed with a kitchen on one wall, a sectional sofa, desk and queen sized bed (with luxurious linens) filled the rest of the space.
Prices were comparable. I would stay there again and recommend it. Why not support green if you can? We vote with our dollars after all.
Here’s what our room looked like below. Amazing. An entire apartment in 450 square feet.
Around our small townhouse these days, simplicity looks like this:
Eliminate an entire set of dishes. Just because retailers and manufacturers try to get us to buy entire sets of dinnerware doesn’t mean we have to. Buy only those dishes that work for you. We have discovered that using these plain, white, porcelain low bowls replaces dinner plates, salad plates and soup bowls. At 10″ diameter, they are durable and inexpensive at $2 to $3 each. You can find them at IKEA, Pottery Barn, West Elm or Crate & Barrel. This clears out an entire shelf in my kitchen cabinet. There is an added benefit. If we eat in the living room or serve many buffet style, the scooped edges keep food and sauces in the bowl and off your lap or napkin. We stack six of them in the corner of our kitchen counter for easy access. This corner is otherwise wasted space. Best of all, because they are inexpensive, if one breaks it’s not a disaster. Simply buy one more.
Right now I am looking for thick-walled clear glass tumblers to use for both hot and cold drinks. Hopefully with a wider base than the picture above so they won’t tip easily. This would eliminate a miriad of mugs, wine glasses, cold drink glasses, etc. If you use cups with saucers, it would eliminate those too. Again one item, many uses. Kitchen shelves with space here we come!
Similar to this picture, we are using three tall glasses to hold forks, spoons and knives for quick use on our counter top. This makes our ONE large kitchen drawer available for knives and other utensils. Of course jam jars, canning jars or even antique tea tins could serve the same purpose.
These sturdy, but beautiful cotton dish towels in bright, seasonal colors function as kitchen towels but also as cloth dinner napkins. Look for a flat weave or jacquard weave. One item, two uses. They are often on sale this time of year.
With seasonal and Christmas decorations put away I spent a few minutes to do a winter arrangement on the mantel. I kept it simple and continued using the large pine cone and giant cinnamon sticks because they speak to me of the lack of greenery this time of year. Then I decided to break out the romantic treatment here as well. Again, layers of texture showed up in sliver, pewter, wood and glass candlesticks. What’s more romantic than candlelight? I kept the muted print in a metal frame and added white and cream colored candles.
Remember the autumn mantel decor before:
Photo A. Meshar
And here’s the romantic winter version:
Photo A. Meshar
This took less than ten minutes, used what I already had, looks clean and fresh AND it’s romantic!
