Rebecca Henderson

Once upon a time in China, I owned a beautiful red leather couch. I loved that couch and enjoyed it as the centerpiece of my living room for years. Alas, red leather couches don’t fit in duffel bags, and my lovely couch remains in China.

I’m ok with that. If I had to choose a couch again, I would choose the same one. But I’m at a point in my life where I just don’t feel like buying a couch. Because they don’t fit in duffel bags.

My dining table and chairs were a necessity because I love to have people over for dinner. I’m thankful for friends who loaned me a bed and dresser for my room, and I now have a desk and bookcases (sadly, two boxes of books still languish at the dead letter offices in Seattle and Dallas — if you see any of my stuff for sale at a mail recovery auction in Atlanta, please buy it back for me, ok?).

But I’ve decided that for now my living room will go couchless. I’m also TV-less, but that’s not a “for now.” I plan to never own one of those again.

Instead, I’m putting lots of cushions around the walls and on the floors. A friend also hooked me up with a nice coffee table that works perfectly for eating on from a sitting position.

My living room will be my daily reminder of Asia. Asian seating on the floor and Asian cushions. The large red and black one came from a Dai market in Yunnan. I found standard size pillows for $2.50 at WalMart and bought a bunch to destroy for the sake of my cushions. I put the stuffing inside this big cushion and several other smaller ones, and I’m going to use the white fabric from the outside of the pillows to make cloth napkins. How thrifty and domestic is that?

The other cushions come from various parts of Asia — a set of covers with Hmong embroidery came from Thailand, another embroidered cover came from Yunnan, and one set was a gift from a fellow teacher who vacationed in India one Christmas.

I’ve also set about using fabric from old clothes to make more cushion covers. I have an embroidered top from Thailand that never fit quite right — easy to recycle into a small throw pillow. And for some reason I’m not sure of, I bought a pair of stripey-sparkly fisherman pants in Thailand many years ago and never wore them. Actually, I know the reason I haven’t worn them: they’re big enough to put an entire standard size pillow in one pants leg. New pillow coverings!

No need for a couch around here. Cushions fit much more easily into duffel bags.