{Giveaway is Closed}
The Winner is: #134 – Elizabeth!
Have you sat down and pondered the furniture you bring into your home and have you wondered exactly which pieces you should be looking for that are both stylish and useful. Those pieces that can move from apartment to house, working in each space equally well?
Mother/daughter duo, Suzanne and Lauren McGrath have a background in interior design and fashion design. Mom, Suzanne hails from Martha Stewart Living as Style Editor and Producer and daughter, Lauren, spent time at Teen Vogue, where where she worked in the fashion features department. Their philosophy is that the right combination of pieces can flow through a home, moving from room to room and still working well for years down the road.
Making a house a home is a lifelong pursuit, but this team has written a fun new book to help the process. Good Bones, Great Pieces is chock full of beautiful photography, rooms designed by interior designer, Suzanne, along with beautiful and stylish rooms from many top designers out there today.
Written from personal experience and a lifelong love of buying thriftstore treasures, as well as new pieces, they have compiled those top 7 pieces of furniture that can be so beneficial in building those good bones of a home we are all pursuing.
Suzanne and Lauren also blog at Good Bones, Great Pieces and share inspiring stories of designing and decorating spaces. I was fortunate to get a copy of my very own to add to my decorating book arsenal and I loved reading through this book and seeing all the great ideas.
What are those 7 pieces?
I’ll give you a couple of them and psst, they are all listed on the blog linked above. Most of these pieces you probably already have in your home too, but this book will give you some fresh new ideas on how to incorporate them in a little different way than you might have thought of before.
I had to stop and think about it, but I do believe I have all 7 pieces in my collection too.
Demilune from Ballard Designs
Loveseat from Amazon
Occasional chair from Overstock
From loveseats, to occasional chairs, to side tables, these 7 pieces are workhorses in the home. Move them, paint them, reupholster them and love them. That’s the message I got from Good Bones, Great Pieces.
The great news is that I got an extra copy to give away to one of my readers, so leave a comment for a chance to win ONE copy of Good Bones, Great Pieces for yourself!
What is your favorite “workhorse” piece of furniture in your house that you just can’t live without?
I’d have to say mine is the antique French buffet piece I had in my old kitchen. That piece has served as clothes storage, a breakfast buffet, and a TV entertainment center. I’d say that is quite the workhorse. It is going to end up in my den this time around holding the TV.
So, leave a comment and I’ll choose a winner in a few days!
You can also order the book at the links listed here at Good Bones, Great Pieces.
NOTE: I received a free copy of the book and one to give away to one of my readers.
I have so many pieces of furniture that I don’t think I could live without! I guess if I had to pick one it would be the small farm table I have in my kitchen at the moment. I’ve used it as an island, a desk and now as a regular table! Who knows where it will end up next?
I, like so many others, have several work horse furniture pieces but the go-to for me and so many others that grace my home is the large kitchen counter/work space/coloring table/mail grabber/plant stand, etc. Methinks I do need that book! Thanks, Rhoda for this great opportunity!
I have a pine Welsh buffet that is currently in my dining room. While it is not great for storing things out of sight (it only has 3 small drawers), it is great for storing/displaying things that are attractive enough to see the light of day. In the past, the bottom shelf has held our stereo system and at Christmas, it holds our set of Nikko holiday dishes and glasses. The top holds my favorite baskets and pitchers. Currently, my tea pot collection is on view.
I’d love to read this book! I can always use help in this area. I’m having a hard time choosing my ‘workhorse’ piece but I think it would be my farmhouse table & bench. Partly because I move them around, sometimes separating them depending on the event & partly because they’re handmade by my father-in-law.
My go to piece(s) are a pair of three-drawer dressers we bought as unfinished years (30?) ago. They’ve acted as end tables, bedside tables and first as dressers for our young girls. Now they’re bedside in my main floor guest room, and hold extra supplies for guests along with books to read for those guests, and a few supplies for my grandbabes when they need an unplanned change of clothes. One drawer holds puzzles and books for them as well, and one holds fabric and trims for a future room makeover. We’ve refinished them many times and my daughters are now begging me to pass them on to them, but I think I’ll keep them so they don’t get separated – that’s the only way that the other daughter won’t get upset! =)
My workhorse piece would have to be my dining room table. Over 25 years have used it to dine on, help the kids with homework on, paid bills on, entertained on, even have cute pics of my daughter when she was a little gal dancing on it, lol. what would i do without it? Thanks for a chance to win this lovely book 😉
My “workhorse” piece is technically not in my house right now. It’s in my daughter’s college apartment, but I plan to reclaim it when she graduates. It’s a sofa that my husband and I bought 30 years ago when we got married. The down cushions on the back and the shape make it so comfortable – the best for napping! It one of just a few upholstered pieces I have that are worth the cost of reupholstering.
It would be my table and chairs. They didn’t match but they looked right when you put it all together, the top of the table was burned recently so I re-painted it black it always looks dressed up and elegant regardless of how messy the house is.
Oh, this book looks wonderful! I think my workhorse piece would be my library table (named so because it is a table from an old library in the town where my parents grew up)…it has been an entry table, desk, bedside table, entertaining surface and currently serves as my sofa/laundry folding table. I don’t know what I’d do without it!
We have an antique bookcase from the 1800’s (We believe) that we pulled out of my husband’s grandmother’s NON-weatherproofed garage. It had been in there for over 25 years and with a little elbow grease it is STUNNING! I love the idea of this book!
My workhorse furniture is a small bookshelf in my kitchen area – it holds napkins, cookbooks, pictures, and mail!
My work horse if def an antique dresser my parents refinished/gifted to me several years ago. It has served as a dresser, shoe hider, desk, and side table! I love it and I would love to win this great book!
My workhorse is my Mom’s old drop down table desk. She used it for me and my sister as a changing table when we were infants. Then it turned into a letter writing desk. I used it as a changing table for my baby and now it’s being used as a dresser. Someday it will probably be used as a desk again!
My workhorse piece would have to be an occaiosional talbe that I aquired at my job. It was headed for the garbage pile when I rescued it. I have used it as a sideboard in my office, a microwave table in the kitchen, a table for our bearded drageon and now as an occasional table in the family room…..not bad for a table meant for the garbage….Peace
I love your blog…..
Mine would have to be the cedar chest that is now at the foot of my bed holding more bedding.