Hi Everyone,
Hope you’re all doing well one week before the big holidays commence.
Okay, by “here” I mean the George Smith sofa has safely sailed across the pond, and is resting comfortably in a New Jersey warehouse.
Oh, common’ Laurel. You said it was HERE. I want to see it in your living room!
Yes, I know that. ;] Me too!
However, remember when I said there would not be any “big reveals?” You’ll need to exercise some patience as I try to bring more balance to my life, help my son, work on my poor, neglected business, get enough rest, exercise, clean my house, and have a few hours a week devoted to having fun.
What do you mean, “Work on my poor, neglected business, Laurel?”
For those who don’t realize, this blog/website is my livelihood. In fact, every December is my “PBS fund-raising period.” I try to keep it as low-key as possible; however, I’m afraid it’s so low-key that those interested don’t yet know about it.
However, this is the time to get your Laurel Home rockin’ digital interior design guides.
Laurel’s Rolodex (you’ll get free lifetime updates every year) and the Etsy guide are newly updated.
The prices are going up in early January. In the meantime, if you order Laurel’s Rolodex, The Laurel Home Paint and Palette Collection, or the Six Figure Income Blogger (a terrific resource for anyone with a website), you’ll receive it for FREE.
- the all-new Etsy Guide with some 200 of the best home furnishings vendors
And
- 333 Decorating Rules & Tips You Need to Know!
These guides also make terrific gifts.
When ordering, click the gift icon, enter your recipient’s information, plus the date and time, and your dear one will receive the gift via email.
Okay, yes, I received notification that the sofa is in New Jersey, and my lovely rep at Charles Spada sent me three pics.
She also hooked me up with a delivery company.
Shortly thereafter, I received a quote for over $1,700 to deliver the sofa to my Boston living room.
Uh-huh. $1,700. One sofa, from New Jersey to Boston.
I kindly declined.
You know, about 20 years ago, it was roughly $200 to have a sofa delivered to my clients from North Carolina to New York.
The last time I ordered a sofa was in 2015; by then, the delivery was about $300 for a sofa or $400 for a big Chesterfield.
So, I figured the delivery would be about $600 to as much as $800.
For most of my career, I used Metropolitan Warehouse in New Jersey.
Sometimes they were terrific, and sometimes they were my worst nightmare. However, unless someone has a better idea, I’ll give them a call tomorrow.
Soooo, I couldn’t resist and did a semi-virtual image of the new George Smith Jules sofa in my living room.
But first, let’s look at my sofa—not one like mine, but the one I just paid for in full!
This is the view that will be seen most frequently.
I am about to show you the front view; however, because the room is only 10 feet deep where the sofa is going, this view won’t ever be seen.
Like the guard rail, the sofa will always be seen from an obtuse angle, as shown in the image below.
Coming out of the den, the back of the sofa will look something like this.
It extends beyond the guardrail by about 30″.
Okay, I first tried doing this exercise with all the furniture in the room.
My images have gone blurry again, and I turned off the live photo. I will have to investigate, but I didn’t have a chance today because I had to go out. Anyway, this was yesterday.
Today, I changed my angle slightly to accommodate the angle of the sofa image better.
Well, it’s not that different, except, as you can see, I moved the furniture out of the way.
By the way, I just ordered the Englishman’s 60″ extension birdcage base dining table in the mid-cherry finish and one-inch yew wood band.
I requested heavy hand-planing for that authentic antique table look.
This table is similar. I’m super excited about it.
Okay, let’s look at the blurry living room and dining area with the new George Smith sofa!
Above, I placed the George Smith sofa about a foot from the guard rail. We’ll have to see what looks best in real life. I could also move the coffee table closer to the sofa I haven’t ordered yet.
For now, I’m probably not doing anything about the dining chairs.
I love this design for the Roman Shades and used it in a rendering I did more than four years ago!
Oh, I almost forgot. Thank you for all of your terrific suggestions regarding my closets. There will be more about that soon.
Some of you, like Elfa and Cale, assembled two storage drawer units for my New York Vanity in 2020. I still use one of them.
However, for my 19th-century home, I want wood shelves—at least in most of the closets.
So, I talked to Robert, my GC, and Brendan and Eugene, my two darling carpenters, who are returning this Friday to help me. They are scheduled to come back on Monday. I won’t be here. I’ll be out getting my kidney poked.
I’m feeling quite well. I’ve been pushing my walks, and this month, I’m averaging about 15 flights of stairs every day!
xo,
***The (11th) edition of Laurel’s Rolodex for 2025 was released on December 1, 2024. Below is more information about my rockin’ interior design guides. Please remember that these are digital PDF guides. You will receive them in your email. You can print one copy for personal use if you prefer to have it in that format.***
If ready to order, click this link or the button below to go to the purchase products page.
(Clicking on the links will send you to the pages to learn more about each guide.)
Laurel’s Rolodex is a unique shopping guide that shares hundreds of my favorite sources and, especially for decorators and designers, tells you the best sources that sell directly to the design trade, especially for decorators and designers.
.png "Please Help The Rest of Us With Low Ceilings!")
The Essential Paint Color and Palette Collection (two volumes)
This is a must-have guide for anyone struggling with paint colors. If you don’t believe me, there are dozens of testimonials on the Palette Collection page.
Six-Figure Income Blogger. (Newly Updated for 2023!) (This should be required reading for every website owner who wishes to get more business.) You do not need to be a heavy-duty blogger. But, consistently, once or twice a month will do wonders for your business. But, it would be best if you also learned some other things. Believe me, when I say in the early years, I made every mistake and then some.
.png "Please Help The Rest of Us With Low Ceilings!")
333 Decorating Rules & Tips You Need to Know – There is so much information,
and much I’ve never seen anywhere else. The window treatment glossary alone is several pages long.
The Etsy guide on its own. It’s 200+ seriously cool vendors.
Etsy is known for exceedingly helpful, personable vendors and great pricing. I always shop on Etsy and have numerous items for my renovation—everything from hardware to lighting and my cool Chinoiserie cabinet. We did remove a few shops that are gone or have virtually nil product lines. There are one or two shops that we left in, hoping that they’ll return.
Gifting is available for my guides. When you go to order,
just click on the gift icon on the first screen after
you click the buy now button.
If you are ready to order, click this link or the button below to go to the purchase products page.
***Please check out the recently updated HOT SALES!
***
Also, please check out the newly updated HOLIDAY SHOP, filled with Christmas and Hanukkah decor and gifts for everyone!
***
There is now an Amazon link on my home page and below.
Please note that I have decided not to create a membership site. However, this website is very expensive to run. To provide this content, I rely on you, the kind readers of my blog, to use my affiliate links whenever possible for items you need and want. There is no extra charge to you. The vendor you’re purchasing from pays me a small commission.
Please click the link before items go into your shopping cart. Some people save their purchases in their “save for later folder.” Then, if you remember, please come back and click my Amazon link, and then you’re free to place your orders. While most vendor links have a cookie that lasts a while, Amazon’s cookies only last up to 24 hours.
Thank you so much!
I very much appreciate your help and support!
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How Much Does A Whole House Renovation Really Cost?
Beautiful Boston Holiday & Christmas Decor 2022
35 Responses
NICE BLOG
I purchased your paint guides and Rolodex almost ten years ago and all the other guides as they became available over the decade. They continue to be invaluable to me and to all the friends and family who call me for paint color advice! Every color in my new home is a color you recommended, and the place looks amazing. I never could have accomplished this without the guide.
This article is very nice and informative.
Love the sofa!! Actually love everything you’ve done with your new home!!
Hate is a strong word but let’s say Metropolitan is not yet my favorite moving and storage. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing!
And they are very expensive. And their invoicing is awful. Having said all that I do not have the name of any other🙃
Happy Holidays to you and your family.
Can confirm, the paint guides very much trained my eye. I’m painting all of my house, and many colors I’m using are from the guide and many are not (but I found by using the guides as a starting point). I’ve gotten HOURS of fun just looking at paint colors online and self-teaching/developing my eye (but I’m also a little weird/intense/obsessive about colors)
I even bought a $10 mis-mixed gallon of Benjamin Moore Regal Select, and used the little samples I had to mix the gallon to very, very closely match the actual color I wanted. Super proud of that one!
The color of the sofa in your room is spectacular! And I love it against the black of the railing – just perfect! How do you do it, Laurel?! Warmest wishes for a restful and merry holiday with your boys!
Boston to New Jersey is similar to San Antonio to Dallas, pretty easy drive. Grab your son or a friend and rent a pickup. Road trip!
Hi Ann,
Well… I do think I need a professional company for this one. But I don’t need a freaking crate!
I second the suggestion for uship. I have bought several items through AptDeco, who coordinates shipping on all their items through uship. Spring of 2024, the shipping for a large, extra heavy sectional from NYC to MA was $400. A few months later, 8 dining chairs were also $400 to ship from NJ to MA. In both instances, all items were wrapped well and arrived without damage. While the quotes you’d get from uship are from all different movers, my experience has been good.
Thanks so much, Kim!
I love all of your choices, Laurel, and think your apartment is stunning. Hope the delivery of the couch is quick and less than $1700. Yikes.
And I love your 333 decorating tips guide. Highly recommended it.
Happy Holidays,
Sharon
Thanks so much for the endorsement, Sharon!
Laurel,
I read your response to my suggestion to consider Plycon to ship your sofa. An odd thing about Plycon is I always got a less expensive quote through their Miami office. I was shipping between Florida and California and Florida to Massachusetts so I don’t know if the Miami office will provide a quote between NJ and MA.
Maybe call crown point cabinetry and ask who the use for delivery of their cabinets. Best of luck with the poking.
Great idea, Denise. If I recall, the company they use only ships cabinetry. I just checked and their truck said “specializing in shipping cabinets.” They might also be shipping out of New Hampshire. I’m not sure.
I can attest that your guides are spectacular and that sofa is a beauty. And I completely agree that fitting in all the “things” of life is hard to do – even in retirement (which, by the way, is wonderful)!
Thanks so much for the endorsement, Anne! Much appreciated! And congratulations on your retirement!
Thank you for the reminder to purchase your guides. I am hoping that if you are up to it you might do a guide that is specific to your renovation.
As for the sofa, I love the color. If you haven’t settled on a shipping company you may want to consider Plycon. I have used their furniture and art shipping shipping services multiple times over a decade ago. I trusted them to ship a $9K wood game table and antique French dining table from Naples, Florida to Silicon Valley and all went well. I also used them to ship very large framed paintings from Florida to Massachusetts. I would definitely use their services again.
Hi Anastasia,
Plycon is the company with the $1,700 quote. That included a crate. In my career I’ve ordered hundreds of pieces of upholstery and other furniture and never had anything crated. The only furniture that ever arrived damaged was made of cheap MDF. That company no longer exists, thank God!
Love, love your dining table! I just ordered your Etsy list- can’t wait. I need a number of small tables and pieces that can multi-task as storage. Thank you and hopefully see the finished design in person at a Chestnuts event!!
Thanks so much Sharri! I’m hosting the Chestnuts PWAP in February!
Hi Laurel,
I hope your beautiful sofa arrives in time for Christmas. Santa needs a spot to rest before he continues on in his travels.
The table & shades are also lovely. Will you be having someone from Etsy construct the shades? Or someone local? And will the be functional? Or a faux shade?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Hi Mary,
I don’t think Santa will be able to fit more than the tip of his boot inside my chimney.haha However, just in case, I recently had it swept for him. ;]
That sofa is a beauty as well as the table. Envision both being delivered to your home during the poke. I find that helps. Best wishes to you and thank you for all you so generously share with us.
Your new sofa looks very luxurious! Charles and Isabelle are lovely to work with, but working directly with a moving company might be more affordable. Can’t wait to see a pic of you lounging on it!
Wishing you Season’s Greetings ~ Happy Hanukkah ~ and easy poking!
Hi Candy,
Yes! In my flapper dress! haha
Laurel, the table is gorgeous, so is your sofa. The color is just luscious. Was wondering about your floor – meaning the kitchen & downstairs. Are you still planing to paint the harlequin design yourself? or hire an art-design student? Also have you checked out the custom designer closet systems at Container Store? It is called their Preston Impresses line. I was in the Natick store recently and was salivating over it. Looks similar to the closet room that the Big Guy had built for Carrie in the Sex in the City series. And, sending you & sons best wishes for the holidays. Hope they are relaxing and peaceful.
Hi Marlene,
That’s a beautiful system, however, by the time it’s designed, ordered and installed, it’s going to be quite expensive and none of my closets are big. Only one is a tiny walk-in. I’m sold on lots of handsome shelves. And maybe some of them will have pullout drawers.
For right now, if the guys can get started on one or two of them, it would be very helpful.
As for the harlequin, I’m not sure. Right now,I don’t have the energy to even think about it and the white is pretty. However, the kitchen is difficult to keep clean as is as there’s no topcoat.
There is a website called UShip where you put in your information & delivery timeline then receive quotes.
Hi Laura,
Thanks so much. I will look into that.
I’ve been getting email messages from a company called “White Glove Transportation.”
White Glove Transportation
269 Randolph Street
Brooklyn, NY 11237
Contact Us Today 718-628-8900
I’ve never used them, so I can’t vouch for their service or prices, but you may want to give them a call.
Thanks so much, Diana! That sounds good, too.
Like your entire home and its elements , this sofa is A Thing of Beauty, and I imagine incredibly comfortable in which to read the Sunday paper, entertain friends, or take a blissful afternoon nap.
Enjoy it, when it arrives, in good health!
Sincerely
Marguerite
I’m afraid I’m confused about whether the Rolodex in particular is meant more for design professionals, or is it equally intended for the rest of us trying to make our houses less … whatever they are? You’ve probably said this time and again, but apparently I don’t have the bandwidth during the Christmas season to read carefully. Although I adore your blog. There have been many days over the past few years that your latest post is the thing that finally lets me relax enough to get to sleep. The combination of eye candy together with your intelligent yet snarky attitude are a treat. Thank you, and Merry Christmas, and good luck.
Hi Jill,
The Rolodex is meant for everyone. After all, everything is available to both designers and non-professionals alike. These days, most vendors sell directly to the public, or through another vendor, and if not, one can still purchase through a design professional. The Rolodex links to all of the vendor/manufacturers websites, so a designer or design enthusiast can browse through the websites, educate themselves, or shop!
For design pros, there are dozens of “designer friendly” vendors who sell directly to designers who don’t have a “brick and mortar” store. That way, a designer doesn’t need to go through a third party that’s taking a hefty cut of the retail price. By going direct, designers can earn a little more and still remain competitive with online sources.