Have you thought about your couch today? I am being quite serious. Pause for a moment and reflect.
On most days, I take my couch for granted. Perhaps because it is the biggest, most obvious thing in my living room. Given it’s so there, I tend to take its presence for granted. Often, I don't see it for what it is but rather resent it for the space it devours. Or perhaps it's because most of the couches in my home have, at one point, intimidated me.
What I mean is that every time I get a hankering for a new couch, I ask a myriad of questions. Does my space want an introverted or extroverted couch? Is the proper character of my couch prim and pristine or solicitous and sanguine? For this reason, selecting a couch always reminds me why it is that we date before jumping into marriage. And now, more than a few years into a three-couch commitment, I am suffering from marital malaise.
What did I ever see in the 70s shag couch with all the potential who exposed itself as truly post 1800s chinoiserie shortly after we tied the knot? It’s so loud and in my face all the time, I just need some peace.
And the nice cream one that was sure to be a soft place to fall for the nap of my life? It’s so boring, and how is it possible a couch gets harder over the years?
And then there’s the white leather sectional: The One. Or so I thought. Marriage to that beauty? Chic and sophisticated all the way to the altar, high maintenance and shrill the minute we crossed the threshold of the door.
Buyer’s remorse blues hit me in seven month cycles (apparently the "seven year itch" in couch years), and when I am in the throes, therapy is the only way out. My couch therapist? Kate Hersch of Austin based August Morgan.
Hersche creates the most delectable pillows I have ever found. She started three years ago with nothing but a sophisticated and quirky eye, a love of crafting and a penchant for haunting eBay in search of fun finds. Today, she sells her couch candy in boutiques all over the country, on her website and--if you’re really in a bind--in her own home for a fast fix.
Her needlepoint pillows are clever, beautifully constructed and her range is exhaustive, which is why she is the premiere couch counselor in Austin.
Needing to tone down couch number one, I purchased an orange suede number with just a wee-bit of needlepoint. Suddenly, my overhwelmed eye had a place to go, serenity was restored and my once beloved couch was back in my good graces.
Couch number two? A cinch. A set of quirky seascape baubles in alternate shades of bright blue and rich browns did the trick.
And lastly, for couch number three, I desperately needed to lighten up the mood. Hersche had just what the doctor ordered.
As it happens, I now have an August Morgan pillow in every room and my couches are once again irresistible.
As for my issue with couch commitment? Completely resolved.
