my beef with barstools

Okay bar stools come in 2 standard heights 24" and 30" -- And in my opinion 24"s too short for a counter and 30" is to tall (you can't get your legs under the counter). Seriously I don't know who picked these standard heights and why they think they are that great- because I think they are all wrong. My kids spent a lot of time in the bar stools and if I put them on 24" ones their kids would be scraping the counter. So every time we get bar stools we buy 30" bar stools and I make my husband cut them to fit my desired height specifications. Which is generally 27.5 inches.

We just got new bar stools because our old bar stools which had been with us, lo these last 6 yrs died. Died a hard, slow, and painful death. They had wooden backs and rush woven seats. After much wear and tear and my son was picking at it and it the rush seat began to unravel. I was not ready to invest in new stools at the time so I whipped up some spiffy "anthropologie"esque skirted seat covers to hide it and we made do. But all the while they would shed little bits of rush down onto the dark hardwood floor below which drove me CRAZY! Then one day so weakened by the loss of rush that my 2 year old put his foot through the seat. Okay definitely time for new bar stools. Thrifty smart daddy-o tried to convince me to just remove the remaining rush and he's make wooden seats for them--(that did not sound like an aesthetically acceptable outcome- slab of wood seat- no way)! I put my foot down and adamantly determined we were just getting new bar stools. So we made numerous trips, looked at numerous bar stools and couldn't find just the right thing. My requirements were solid wood (preferable hard wood) (no rush- I learned my lesson on that one), no metal, no sharp edges, not too tippy, must have backs, and somewhere in between traditional and contemporary. Last Sat we stumbled upon some in my search for a new plushy bathroom rug (to make my coat closet of a bathroom feel more spa like) and they are great. Last night they were trimmed and are now officially open for sitting.

(barstools old and new (before the "cut down") but oh don't they look so shiny and new-- unmarred, unbesmduged with sticky paw prints! Pure heaven!

1. new furniture

2. small town library's (where you can never lose your children)

3. breaking out the sandals