Tell it to your Neighbor

butterfly chair, living room, the Designer |

Mama’s Got a Brand New Chair

The gift my family gave to me for Mother’s Day was delivered this week!  I had been looking for a chair for our living room for over 3 years and always hesitated to make a big purchase but when it was given to me, I finally felt free to make it happen.  Here’s how it all went down:

These are the before pictures that show a void of where it would be nice to have a chair. 
At first I thought I’d go with the chair I had always wanted, a brown leather butterfly chair.  I had seen one in an Orvis catalog in college and LOVED it.  Ever since then the chair kept popping up in the coolest settings indoor and outdoor.  Here are a couple examples of the look:
Top photo: Covet Garden: Jenn Hannotte
Bottom photo: Elements of Style: The Parker Palm Springs (Jonathan Adler)

I started to research and pin the heck out of butterfly chairs.  After a week of going back and forth between the CB2 and Circa50 butterfly chairs, I found exactly what I was looking for, the real butterfly chair, the BIG BKF in Buenos Aires.  I was so excited, ready to order and I just needed to decide which brown I liked the best.  Then, I started talking with my various consultants, my sister, my neighbor, my husband… and I quickly realized we needed a substantial chair that couldn’t get moved around by our kiddos.  We have a problem with keeping things tidy. 🙂  Anyway, I had a PotteryBarn tufted chair in the back of my mind that I would be happy with, but it wasn’t extraordinary.  Then the glorious Serena & Lily catalog arrived and their new Bruno chair was 20% off with the Memorial Day sale, tell it to your neighbor!!!  Somehow the style of the Bruno chair is a marriage of the butterfly chair and the tufted chair, interesting…

A few days later, the Bruno chair was ordered to these specifications: Fabric – Oat Linen, Legs – Dark Walnut, and Casters – Natural Brass.  And several weeks later the chair was delivered and I LOVE it.  Here it is:

And now the void is filled!  I’ve also always wanted a wingback chair but thought it would be too tall and block the view to our back yard.  It turns out this Serena & Lily Bruno chair is like a low wingback!
The chair is deeper than I thought so I had to do some shifting of furniture and rearranging of artwork.  I think I like it better like this!  Oh, and I decided to leave my dog kennel in the picture because that’s life, kennel in the living room where our big dog is happiest!
In a couple years I think a sectional would be great in here, can’t wait to figure that out!  In the meantime, will you please help me, pillow or no pillow?

This chair has no arms but look how comfy it is!
If you’re ever looking for a butterfly chair, save time and go straight here to the Big BKF.  The leather on the Vaqueta Playa reminds me of the leather on a  Louis Vuitton, it would wear so nicely over time.  I like the Whisky too and I still see a butterfly chair in our future. 

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