Kick the Habit: Chalk Talk

Enough with the chalkboard paint, people.


We applaud the first person who came up with this idea and agree that painting a wall with chalkboard paint sounds brilliant...in theory.  The perfect spot for a grocery list, a sweet note to your honey, a place for the kids to unleash their inner artists.... It doesn't get any more "form meets function". 


And we're sure the first time you write something on your freshly painted wall, it looks great.  


But how does it look after you've erased it and written the second thing?  Or the 5th or 16th thing?  Probably not as clean and magazine spread-worthy, huh?


And don't even get us started on all that chalkboard dust.  ew.

Kick the Habit: Dining Room Chairs Don't Have to Hurt

99% of the time our mantra is "form over function," but when it comes to dining room chairs our butts win out in the end.  Don't get us wrong, we love a Louis Ghost chair just as much as the next gal.  Until we had to sit in one for an hour-long business meeting and shifted our weight from one cheek to the other the entire time. So not fun.  (The folks below figured that out and are trying to soften the blow with pillows.  Good luck with that.)

And then there are benches and stools - good idea in theory, painful idea in practice.  Case in point, the following dining room we found in Living Etc.  It's over-the-top gorge(!), but we'd dread having to sit through a 2-hour dinner party on one of those tiny, backless stools, especially the one with the cushion.  How many times do you think that puppy would slide throughout the night?!

Oh and for all you barstool owners, do everyone a favor and make sure they have footrests.  Those of us under 6'0" start to lose feeling after 15 minutes of leg dangling.

We're not saying you should skip out on beautiful chairs altogether, just don't expect people to actually sit in them. Instead treat them like art -- and allow people to enjoy their beauty from afar.