Intelligencer - How I’d Spend $1,000 at Home Depot

A lot of people ask me for advice on altering and repairing clothing, which I love to talk about. When in doubt, add a patch, and check out the book Creative Mending, by Hikaru Noguchi, for knit-mending ideas. If you’re in New York City, I’d also recommend Eva Joan Repair.

The one thing I recommend to everyone is getting a soft tailor’s tape measure. They’re $3 on Amazon, but you can also find them at any craft store or dollar store. It will unlock a world of great-fitting clothing to buy online and dramatically reduce the number of things you have to return because they fit weird. Most vintage sellers list measurements, but if not, it’s normal etiquette to send the seller a message asking for specific dimensions. (As a short king, I often ask for the sleeve length, shoulder width, and total length.)

I’ve become sort of obsessed with what I call “solved products,” categories in which there’s already an item on the market that’s affordable, reliable, and would only get worse with tweaks or upgrades. (The Lodge cast-iron pan is a classic solved product; ditto Felco garden pruners.) I used to think every category had its solution, even if it hadn’t been invented yet. But when working on our article on bar carts, I realized that it’s more fun when that’s not the case. I talked to a ton of drinks and design people about bar carts, and each of them had a different answer, some which weren’t even furniture; gin distiller Morgan McLachlan uses the top of her piano. I think we will never solve for bar carts, and that’s okay. Beautiful, even.

If you’re buying new, I’d say you can get a pretty solid dining chair for $60 — that’s the price of the Article Svelti, my best-in-class pick. If you’re buying vintage or secondhand, $20. Or free! You can find great free furniture on the street or on Craigslist. Just look for something sturdy and trust your intuition.

I’ve been deep in a quilt hole for the past week — I love all the different things a quilt can be made of and used for. While trying to ID some patchwork-quilt patterns, I found this great resource from Michigan State University called the Quilt Index, which has been online since 2003.

I bought a few things at the Baserange archive sale, which had some incredible deals; I mentioned it to deals editor Sam Daly because I’ll never gate-keep a good sale. I got a knit polo and one of the brand’s lettuce-edged long-sleeve tees with a yawning hole just south of your right nipple. The shirt wants to ride up, which is why, I imagine, it was on sale. But since I got top surgery six months ago, I am going through the canon event of wearing a ton of artsy nipple-baring tops, so it’s perfect for me.

My sofa and coffee table. They’re secondhand Gae Aulenti for Knoll that I got from Aran Simi, a.k.a. The Fetish Priest, a vintage seller who is incredible at historicizing his stock and is just a really nice person. I got a good deal in exchange for being able to pick it up ASAP — it was about $2,100 for both the three-seater sofa and the coffee table. It was worth it; both the couch and table are well made and durable, with a heavy metal frame. I’m still kind of mystified that I found it at a price I could afford. Thinking about anything happening to my couch and table is the only reason I have renter’s insurance.

I’d get a Makita drill and a jigsaw, a shop vac, some limewash paint, a 36-inch-square panel of mirror for the porthole thing, and some oriented strand board (OSB) for a shoe rack I’m working on.

I keep my shopping list on Airtable to avoid tab clutter (here’s a link). Some things I wish I could justify buying right now: a latex polo shirt from British company Libidex in the “translucent natural” color (I picked up its button-down shirt last year, but it didn’t fit right, so I resold it on Depop; I’m hoping the polo will fit better), an undyed wool rug from Hook & Loom, and a photo-printed fire pillowcase from the brand Serapis.