Emily A. Clark - design. simplified.

Good Things (May 2019)

Jun72019

I’m beginning to think the last week of school is the equivalent of the week before Christmas on steroids. My people have all been performing and promoting and I haven’t missed a second of it. (I need a nap!) In between all of those good things, I managed to put together my “good things” list for May.

This sweet devotional book. I love her honest and conversational writing style. (It also helps that I faithfully listen to Melanie’s podcast and can hear her voice in my head as I read it.) It’s on sale now and I bought several as gifts for later.

These embroidered tanks. (They’re an extra 40% with the code right now.)

This is a fun Summer necklace. I’ve been wearing mine layered with one similar to this.

Pretty patterned bowls. (And plates and cups.)

This is also a good source for patterned–and affordable–tablecloths for your Summer table.

I love these shorts so much that I ordered three pairs. They’re sporty but still a good length and they have a little panel that goes across the tummy so there’s no “over-lappage.” (Is that a word?)

I also like these tanks. I’m trying to look like I work out–can you tell?

I ordered these water shoes for the kids to easily slip on and off during the day.

These sheets get great reviews and come in a lot of patterns. I bought them for my daughter’s bed and our master bedroom.

This rattan accent chair with a vintage feel.

This breezy $25 dress.

This casual button-up top.

I just finished this book that so many of you recommended. I loved it, so thank you!

My oldest daughter and I went to a concert last weekend where I heard this song for the first time. It overwhelmed me in the best way. (Listen when you have a minute to sit still.)

See last month’s Good Things post here.

I Bought a Patterned Sofa. . .

May292019

And I love it. After weeks of going back and forth over whether I wanted to commit to a patterned sofa, I pushed “complete my order” and just did it. I knew it was probably meant to be when I couldn’t find it on the site for a quick minute and started sweating. Once it arrived, I liked it in the room even more than I expected.

Before the change, you might remember we had two matching IKEA slipcovered sofas. To change up the look, I moved one of them upstairs to our playroom. I also added a wingback in a modern stripe on the other side of the fireplace. (My 10-year-old asked me why none of our furniture matched. Because I don’t want it to!)

Here was my thought process when choosing to go for the pattern over a new solid sofa:

Our IKEA Ektorp in the beige cover helps to balance it out.

The pattern is busy but a geometric is a little less of a statement than a bold floral, for example. It helps that it’s only blue and white vs. multicolor.

It’s all about scale. I can still pair it with other patterns (floral, animal prints, etc.). And a solid pillow or two helps to break up the mix.

And yes, I did order it online without sitting on it first. (I live on the edge like that.) It’s deeper than I expected and really comfortable. The arms definitely are not cushy so we use the bigger pillows with down inserts on the ends. I can vouch for it being a good napping couch and I’m loving the clean, modern lines next to the more traditional, rolled arms of the slipcovered one.

The good news is that this sofa comes in a ton of colors (and has a sleeper option). The bad news is that the pattern I bought was already sold out by the time mine was delivered. (I did find this pillow in a similar print if you just want to add a little pattern.)