Not only is it space-efficient, it also rewards bad behavior My husband and I have hoarding tendencies that are often disguised as being environmental. Plastic take-out containers, twist ties, Trader Joe?s shopping bags?if it can be used again, it stays.
For other items, like clothing and printed matter, it?s about posterity. We keep every issue of the New Yorker and other specialty magazine subscriptions because we?ve heard print is dying. (Also because we can?t possibly read everything in real time, and because we paid for them. Throwing anything away is literally throwing money away!)
Still, our one-bedroom apartment with one closet?which is outside in the hallway, by the way?doesn?t look too much like a dump thanks to inexpensive shelving from Ikea, a generously-sized pantry in the kitchen, and, most importantly, this transforming coffee table from West Elm. Maybe I love this table so much because of how easily I got it: on a whim and on the cheap and with a minimum expenditure of physical energy. It showed up one Saturday morning on my previous building?s e-bulletin board for $100, posted by a woman three doors down the hall. All I had to do was walk a few feet, hand her the money, then bring the table (with some help) back to my apartment.
Even without its legendary origin story, the Industrial Storage Coffee Table stands on its own. Made of a solid wood body ?lofted on airy steel legs? (per West Elm?s copy), the hefty table features a pop-up tabletop that reve...