With its curvy lines and absurdly soft baby-pink velvet covering, this little Dh3,695 number stopped me dead in my tracks when I first saw it in The One. I couldn't help but smile at the sheer, delicious folly of it. Not just because of what it is but also because of what it evokes. This is strictly a no-cats-no-children chaise. And it's certainly not destined for a life as a place to toss your clothes on those nights when hanging them up seems too hard. It deserves better than that.
So very Jean Harlow somehow, its natural accessories are a bias-cut silk-satin nightdress and high-heeled marabou-trimmed slippers. It suggests a life with time to lounge. Lots of time. Perhaps even a life with a separate room just for you and your chaise (and perhaps also a vast floor rug made of cream sheepskin, and some very expensive scented candles). For this is no shrinking violet: it needs space around it so you can appreciate the curves and it needs to be set amid colours and textures that don't try to compete. If you are going to put it out on public display - in your living room, rather than a bedroom - it will give you the opportunity to design a whole scheme around it. (Do you really need an excuse to chuck out those curtains you hate?)
Defiantly, wonderfully impractical it may at first appear - but, guess what, this chaise also has a practical side: it is very, very comfortable. Remember, though, a chaise longue is what this is; the matching sofa with its (oh-so-normal) two arms and full-width back is not a substitute.
slane@thenational.ae
