Sept. 16, 2011 (ShapeShiftas.com) -- The first pieces of furniture my husband and I bought together were a red leather couch and loveseat, seven years after we got married. We were expecting our first child and were looking at furniture out of a nesting instinct (at least, I was, he was obliging as always). Up until this time, we had been using a cheap, foam, cartoon-shaped, hunter-green sofa that was one of my first adult furniture purchases.
I picked that couch up in Chicago, along with - two red chairs.
Chicago is the city where I met my husband, started the fashion career, and became interested in furniture and interior design. There are all these lovely modern buildings in Chicago, with space-age contemporary furnishings, and there is also the Merchandise Mart, full of furnishings and interior design showrooms. There is a lot more space in Chicago to fill with interesting stuff.
So when we moved to New York, the couch & two red chairs came along to an apartment that my future husband had rented and I was moving into sight unseen. The poor movers were somehow from West Virginia, they had never been to New York City and were totally traumatized by trying to drive a huge tractor/trailer into Manhattan mid-day. Still, they graciously and gallantly tried to stuff all my belongings into this tiny, two-room, ground-floor apartment that cost 3x what I had been paying in Chicago. Somehow, unbelievably, they got the green sofa down the spiral stairs, but the red chairs came off the truck last, and there just wasn't any room at all in the apartment. We couldn't get them in the door. We had to leave them in the hallway, and I called Salvation Army the next day.
Maybe because I had lost those red chairs, I started buying and wearing a lot of red. Perhaps too because it goes so well with black, the New York uniform. I was designing dresses by now, and we always noticed that red outsold every other color (black took over as the #1 dress color during the Clinton years, post-Monica Lewinsky. Coincidence?). I think it was my husband, seeing me wear another new red item, who first quipped, "It's like you think - Red - I'll BUY it!"
When we moved to the Vermont house, I bought two oversized red leather chairs, to replace those I lost and that couch and loveseat that had since been destroyed by little kids and the cat. I bought a red Kitchen-Aid and red rugs. I don't wear as much red these days, doing the cool-blue colors now, but I still wear my red coats, including my newer, red & black ski coat. I use red all throughout the ShapeShiftas line, the logo has red, almost every style comes in red.
Red - I'll BUY it!
Perhaps this is why the Red House feels so right, right now. After Irene, we can't get to our house easily now, so we are staying in this couple from Boston's vacation home on lower Stony Brook Rd. I have always admired this house, of course - it's red. I drive by it every day. Inside, it's a little gem, with funky little attic rooms, spiral staircases (a recurring theme?), red rugs, and a red chaise.
The owners of the Red House have my undying gratitude. They are letting us stay in the house just covering the utilities, even though they had it rented to a guy starting Vermont Law School and were counting on the income. He was one of the first to get out after the flood, breaking his lease & switching to Vanderbilt. We've been wondering if he had to forfeit his tuition at VLS...
Anyway, the Red House has brightened our outlooks this past week. We've got internet, enough bandwidth for all (the girls like that, they can stream movies and videos). There's a phone, so FEMA can get ahold of us and complete their inspection, and we can get on with rebuilding the driveway and bridge to our own house. (Which, you may wonder, is painted light yellow and it looks nice, but maybe next time it needs painting, we'll try -some?- other color.) My younger daughter is now living close to her best friend, they have been riding mountain bikes to get to school, and we are able to drive out & over to get our older daughter to her school (it takes about three times as long as it did B.I.).
And - there is even a space that I can use to continue shaping and shipping my pillows! It's small and will be freezing cold this winter probably, but, it's workable. I'll just bundle up in my red coat.
"When you are feeling blue, wear red." --Pauline Trigere
ShapeShiftas will be offering select ShapeS in limited editions and high-end fabrics, including a special-edition Eye of the Hurricane Irene, to raise money for flood victims. Please check back for more information.
Peace, Deborah
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