Blog
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I Bought a $199 Glass Wall Cabinet for My Tiny Bathroom. Two Months Later, the Honest Verdict.
I Bought a $199 Glass Wall Cabinet for My Tiny Bathroom. Two Months Later, the Honest Verdict. My quest for a bathroom cabinet started the week my sister-in-law visited and asked, politely, where gues…
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I Bought All My First Apartment Furniture for $1,469. Here’s the Receipt.
When I signed the lease on my first one-bedroom, I built a spreadsheet. Then I stared at the spreadsheet the way you stare at a parking ticket. Furnishing a first apartment furniture setup from absolu…
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I Swapped My Wicker Patio Set for Cast Aluminum Patio Furniture. Two Seasons Later, the Rust Math Settled It.
Two springs ago I bought a 7-piece wicker patio set with an acacia wood top for $489.99, convinced the weave would age gracefully on my back patio. It did not. By the end of season one the cushions sm…
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How to Clean Velvet Furniture: My Stain-by-Stain Field Guide
How to Clean Velvet Furniture: My Stain-by-Stain Field Guide I used to believe velvet furniture was for people who did not have kids, pets, or snacks in their house. Then I bought a navy velvet accent…
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I Bought an $88 Acacia Wood Stool as an End Table. It Now Does Three Jobs.
I Bought an $88 Acacia Wood Stool as an End Table. It Now Does Three Jobs. I was supposed to buy an end table. A proper one, with drawers and a lower shelf and a name like “Coastal Charm Accent …
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I Bought a $288 Glass Sideboard Cabinet. Two Months Later, the Display-vs-Clutter Verdict.
My dining room had a problem I had stopped seeing: a $40 wire shelf from a big-box store, slowly buckling under a landslide of plates, board games, and mail I would never open. Every guest walked righ…
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I Bought a $199 U-Shaped Desk with LED Lights for My Home Office. Three Weeks Later, the Honest Verdict.
For two years my home office was a 47-inch straight desk with a folding table shoved against one end to fake an L. The joint between them wobbled if I leaned on it, my monitor sat on a stack of hardco…
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I Rented a 450-Sq-Ft Studio for Three Years. These 7 Pieces of Renter Friendly Furniture Survived Two Moves.
For three years I lived in a 450-square-foot studio with beige carpet, a radiator that clanked, and a lease that banned wall anchors in bold print. Then I moved to a one-bedroom across town. Two years…
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How to Measure for Furniture: the Room-Fit Rules That Ended My Returns
How to Measure for Furniture: the Room-Fit Rules That Ended My Returns The third time a delivery crew carried a piece of furniture back out of my house, I stopped blaming bad luck and bought a nine-do…
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I Bought a $2,999 Bathroom Vanity with Sink. Here’s What the Money Buys.
Two months ago I ripped out the vanity in our hall bathroom. It was the original builder-grade box — particle board with a thermofoil face — and after nine years the toe kick had swollen like a sponge…
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I Bought a $188 Bar Table Set with 2 Stools. Six Weeks Later, My Kitchen Feels Twice as Big.
Six weeks ago I moved into a second-floor walkup with a kitchen that measures eight feet by seven feet. The fridge eats one wall, the stove eats another, and the countertop was already claimed by the …
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I Bought a $99 Acacia Shoe Rack Bench. Six Weeks Later, My Entryway Is Finally Shoe-Free.
I Bought a $99 Acacia Shoe Rack Bench. Six Weeks Later, My Entryway Is Finally Shoe-Free. Every house has a triage zone, and mine is the four feet of floor between the front door and the hallway. For …
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I Bought a $1,888 U-Shaped Sectional Sofa. Nine Months Later, the Holiday Math.
Nine months ago I stood in my 14-by-16 living room holding a tape measure and doing arithmetic I did not like. My parents were coming for Thanksgiving, my brother’s family was flying in for Christmas,…
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How Many Guests Can My Dining Table Actually Seat? The Thanksgiving Math
Last November, eleven people said yes to my Thanksgiving dinner and I owned exactly six dining chairs. Not six matching chairs — six chairs total, and two of them were desk chairs with wheels that rol…
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I Bought a $388 Makeup Vanity with Lights. Six Weeks Later, the Honest Verdict.
Why I finally bought a makeup vanity with lights My wife has done her makeup standing at our bathroom counter for nine years. Elbows knocking the soap dispenser, foundation blended under a single warm…
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I Bought a $999 Zero Gravity Massage Chair. Six Weeks Later, Here Is My Honest Review
I Bought a $999 Zero Gravity Massage Chair. Six Weeks Later, Here Is My Honest Review I’ll be straight with you: I bought this zero gravity massage chair because my lower back started filing formal co…
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I Swapped My Dog’s Ugly Wire Crate for a $288 Furniture Crate. Two Months Later, the Honest Verdict.
For three years, the single ugliest object in my living room was a black wire dog crate. It sat in the corner by the window, rattling every time my beagle mix stretched, collecting dust on bars I coul…
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I Bought a $99 Rattan Nightstand Set of 2. Here’s the Honest Bedside Verdict.
I never planned to become someone with strong opinions about a nightstand set of 2, but three weeks of living with this $99 rattan pair from FLNORW MALL changed that. I bought it for a guest room redo…
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I Bought a $69 Macrame Hammock Swing Chair. My Reading Nook Finally Exists.
Three months ago I hung a macrame hammock swing chair in the dead corner of my bedroom — the corner where a dusty floor lamp and a laundry basket had been quietly failing to coexist for two years. The…
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Solid Wood vs MDF Furniture: Is It Worth It?
Five years ago I bought two pieces of furniture in the same week: a solid wood dresser from a local furniture store and a cheap bookcase from a big-box retailer that said “wood” on the box…