ELTE launch party.

Last week, my lovely friend Heather invited me to a party at her work, the high-end furniture and rug store: ELTE. They’ve recently opened up their 2nd floor showroom and it was their official launch party for media and trade folks.

I’m a bit of a chicken so I brought along my also-lovely friend, Sarah, who has recently started her own interior design business.

While I’ve seen their ultra-luxe ads shot by David Drebin, for the sake of my credit cards, I’d never been to Elte before. So I was quite surprised to recognize some familiar names and brands — and I say “familiar” because I am “familiar” with drooling — often — for these coveted designs. In addition to their high-end furnishings, they now offer more affordable lines like Gus* Modern and Kartell. There was a distinctly youthful and modern feel to their spacious 2nd floor, as epitomized by a hot pink neon sign reading: Sex, Rugs and Rock ‘n Roll.

I’m a big fan of mid-century inspired and modern design so it was a bit overwhelming, seeing as how I utterly loved and wanted to bring home everything. I was trying hard to keep my hands to myself.

Of course, I could only resist for so long.

There was this one chair that was more objet d’art than furniture and it was garnering quite a bit of attention. When I first saw it, I didn’t even realize it was a chair! I thought it was a giant spool, meant for those lucky types with giant warehouses for homes.

Anyway, by the magic of design, you can sit in this chair without ever falling out of it, despite the fact that it can — and will – spin entirely around and with you in it!

Here is a shot of some stylish lady trying it out:

This is where I think to myself: Hey that could be fun! Seeing my temptation, Sarah urges me to try it and even offers to take my picture — a decision that I now regret.

Here I am, half-way around, with the chair STALLED at its scariest point. I have my eyes squeezed shut because I am terrified.

Thankfully this lovely woman came to my rescue and rolled me upright. When my husband saw this picture, he said: Wow, you’re really embarrassed!

I guess there’s only two ways to take that: either I’m not embarrassed often (despite my antics) or the way I reveal my embarrassment is to guffaw like a horse.

Either way, it’s not a flattering idea.

This spool chair continued to create quite a sensation, especially with this woman who seems to be quite rapturous in it.

But look, you can sit and be pretty in it too! (An experience that I, unfortunately, was not able to reproduce.)

Anyway, it was really fun and they’ve got loads of really cool designs worth checking out. I’m definitely going to come back with Husbo — we’ll just make sure to leave the credit cards at home.