Our Trip To Stanton Home Furnishings

As many of you who have been to my house lately know, we are in desperate need of new furniture.  The hubby and I put off getting anything new because we kept thinking that we would be renovating soon (long time readers of this blog know that soon is a relative term).  As a result, our current furniture is a hodge podge of stuff we bought in the '90's when we were newly married and didn't have a lot of spare cash.  Oh don't get me wrong, in a lot of ways I like our old stuff, but it has definitely seen better days and I am more than happy to replace it.

That's why I'm so grateful to our designer Karen and the good folks at Stanton Home Furnishings.  They were able to hook us up with some very stylish new furniture at a reasonable price (which is a must if you have to basically refurnish your house).  I knew when I first walked into the showroom that I liked the vibe of the place:

I'm not a designer, but I really love all the nubby linen textures, the pops of bright color, and the rustic accents in this room.  I asked later what you would call this style, and I was told that it is a blend of Modern and Traditional known as Transitional.  Doesn't that almost sound poetic?

When we first walked in we were greeted by Jimmy Stanton and his lovely assistant Alyssa.  They were both very cheerful and gracious and since they had already been talking to Karen, they had a table set up with samples and furniture suggestions:

Sorry for the wonky angle, it was the best we could do without standing on a ladder to take the photo.

Along the top of the table is a pillow that we are using for inspiration (I just love all the bright colors) as well as the floor samples, counter samples, and tile samples for the kitchen.  The magazine page in the lower right is from an October issue of Country Living.  Believe it or not, we are using it for inspiration in the bedroom.

The next hour or so was a fun mix of running around and trying out different furniture in the showroom (we had to see if it was comfy) and picking out upholstery fabrics.  It was definitely unlike any other experience I've ever had and I must say I felt really pampered to have so many design professionals helping us.  So, what did we decide on?

On the left in the above pic is our new dining room chairs.  They will be padded and upholstered in that large black check. Yay! No more butt numbing during family dinners and games nights!   On the right is the stools that we picked to go around the island in the kitchen.  I wanted to make sure that the stools were really sturdy, because my fat butt will spend many an hour sitting on them while I'm cooking.  It's hard to tell in the photo, but we picked a nice burgundy upholstery microfabric for them that will be stain and cat scratch resistant (another must in our multi-cat household).

What? As if we could be bothered to scratch your furniture...

 But we didn't stop there!  While we were in the showroom we also picked out some furniture for the living room:

On the left is the new couch (obviously).  It will be upholstered in another stain and cat resistant fabric.  On the right is our spiffy new rocking/swiveling living room chairs.  The hubby and I each get one (with our own special pillows, no less) and we will have ottomans to put our feet up on during marathon TV watching sessions.

Now I know what you're thinking...you're thinking "But Chris, those fabrics are beige and you are all about the color!" and you would be right.  But you see, I have all sorts of colorful pillows and throws, so we wanted the furniture to be sort of a soothing, neutral backdrop for them.  I don't want people to walk into our living room and pass out from color overload.

All in all our time at Stanton Home Furnishings was among the most pleasant experiences we've had during the renovation.  Jimmy and Alyssa took really great care care of us and made us feel very pampered and special.  If you are in the Atlanta area, I highly recommend you swing by and take a look at their showroom.  I guarantee they will hook you up with some beautiful new furniture.  Oh, and be sure to check out a copy of this October's Country Living.  Jimmy's house is being featured and you can see more of his neat Transitional style.

Well that's about it for now.  Tune in over the next couple of weeks for some more design posts, construction posts and maybe even a post dedicated completely to wiring for you wiring fanatics.