Between the two of us and the past ten years, we've lived in a total of thirteen New York City apartments (which is crazy, but so is living in New York City). In our early twenties, our homes were walkups with 500 square feet on a good day, and some even had bathrooms in the kitchen, but the “imperfections” didn't seem to matter one bit.

Those tiny studios were learning experiences, creative spaces, and all-hours cocktail bars; our biggest worry was the mess we’d have to clean up in the morning. We can count on one hand the number of times we used our kitchens to actually cook in those early days, but we always had enough glassware for a pour of wine (or, more likely, Crystal Light and vodka).

But as our lives grew together, so our spaces grew up (thank goodness). We moved in together and eventually got married, and our apartments slowed down into cozy spaces for unwinding or hosting impromptu dinner parties. The meaning of home has changed to us throughout life, so when we moved out of NYC to look for a more permanent sense of home, we realized we had accumulated a lot (like a lot) of mismatched stuff from here and there. Everything we’ve gained along the way is special, but we thought there should be a simpler way to set the table.