subject: Leather Furniture: Make Your House a Home [print this page] Leather Furniture: Make Your House a Home
My favorite place in the world is a tiny, old cabin up in the Rocky Mountains, at the end of a skinny dirt road, secluded from everything. From the outside, it looks like any other cabin- worn logs, cracking grout and a chimney. But on the inside, it is the wonder of my childhood and the respite of my adulthood. Old national park posters line the walls, along with Ansel Adams' photographs of California's redwood park. There's a wonderfully large fireplace right in the main room (which is one of two rooms total), and a few well-worn pieces of leather furniture in front of it. I don't think there is anything better than sitting on that old leather sofa listening to the crack and pop of the fire while the first snow of the season falls quietly outside.
So many summers and Christmas breaks have been spent in that cabin, and by spent I mean every second luxuriously enjoyed.
Do you have a place like that? Where everything outside just seems to disappear, and you can completely let go? If you want to explore the woods, you do; if you want to sit in front of the fire and read a book, you do. If you want to experiment with a dutch oven dinner, you do. And the best part is, there's no cell reception up there. There is really nothing to distract you from the simple things everyone always wants to get back to, but doesn't seem quite able to find.
Everything about my cabin quietly whispers, doesn't scream, the word "simple." That word is never screamed. What is simple to you? To me, it's having time to prepare a real meal and then sit down with family to actually enjoy it. A life lived on microwave dinners or burgers eaten in the car is missing so much, in my opinion. I think there is much to be said for thinking about the food we eat and how we eat it. Another element (there can't be too many; remember- simple!) is the act of being with who you're with. This might seem rather obvious- of course if you are in the same room with someone, you are with them- but oftentimes we are actually absent from the present reality, thanks to an urgent email or a call to our cell phone. Turn all of those electronic appendages off for a day and see how you feel. At first, it might seem like you've lost connection with the world, that you're out of the loop. But after a while, you'll realize that you're actually more connected with the world, by nature of being more connected to the people you're actually with.
I suppose I'm fairly biased, but when I envision the perfect home for living the simple life, I see my cabin, with just a few variations. I love the look of natural wood, and I feel like that just grounds everything. It reminds me that no matter how important we try to be, we are still part of the world and it's a part of us. I'll always picture a great fireplace because I think watching the fire burn and feel it giving its warmth is a great reminder of all those who've lived before us and depended on fire for cooking and warmth through the winters. And then, since I'm still a rather modern person, I just have to have leather furniture. Preferably old and broken in, but all of it has to start new sometime, and the earlier you get it, the sooner it will be broken in to your exact specifications. Leather furniture is the key to a simple, modern dwelling, be it a cabin up in the mountains or the living room of your suburban home. It somehow has a sense of age and history, even straight from the factory. From the moment you put it in your home, it will start to really become a part of it. Take your time when choosing pieces of leather furniture, because they will last a very long time. Think carefully about the color, style, size and shape that you prefer, and choose pieces that fit your home's style.
Your leather furniture will be a purchase you'll never regret. In fact, I've been writing this from the comfort of my own. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go outside and get more wood for the fire.
