DECOR
Firs
Home
A newlywed couple
shop, decorate and
set up house.
BY SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
M
iriam and Yoli Silverstein's first home
started out somewhat like their lives
together: brand new and ready to be
filled with treasures.
"But finding a place to live was so difficult,"
said Miriam, who married Yoli in December. "We
finally found our home at the end of a day when
we must have looked at 20 places. But it was per-
fect, and we loved it. It had fresh paint, curtains,
great carpet and built-in shelves."
The couple, both 25, were thrilled with the
1,500-square-foot West Bloomfield condominium
they purchased; but, suddenly, they had three
empty bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and liv-
ing room-dining room to fill.
"We started out with air mattresses, one bean
bag chair, folding chairs and a folding table, said
Miriam, a student at Wayne State University's
School of Social Work in Detroit. She interns and
volunteers at the Friendship House in West
Bloomfield, helping those with addictions find
recovery.
While the couple were pretty well stocked in
terms of small appliances and
kitchen, bathroom and bed-
room accessories — received as
bridal shower and wedding gifts
— it wasn't long before they
realized it was time to start
shopping for some of the larger
items.
After visiting shops ranging
from some of the more pricey
furniture and decor places to the Friendship
Wheels (the donation-based Friendship Circle
stores), Miriam and Yoli discovered an ad in the
Jewish News for BPG furniture warehouse in
Commerce Township.
"We ordered our beds, a black leather couch
and matching recliner, our dining room table and a
china cabinet for a great price: S4,000," she said.
As the pieces gradually arrived, Miriam and
Yoli's home began to gain comfort and livability.
One decor extra that Miriam and Yoli really love
is something that wasn't even their doing.
"The previous owner painted each room a dif-
ferent color," said Yoli, a student at Walsh College
of Business in Troy who also works at Silver's
Metal Co. in Detroit, his family's business. "Our
bedroom is pink, the kitchen is dark mauve, one
guest room is dark purple, and the other — which
is our office — is light blue."
The couple is constantly searching for pieces to
accent and furnish their home. "Yoli is always look-
ing through circulars or on Web sites to see what
we can buy," Miriam said.
"We discovered we like the
Pier 1 style," Yoli said. "A lot of
our accent furniture — like our
magazine rack and matching cof-
fee table, a console table and a
couple of small corner tables are
from there."
The two accumulated a mul-
titude of household items from
Meijer's and Bed, Bath &
Miriam and Yoli Silverstein at home
7
4 •
JUNE 2005 •
JNPLATINUM
Beyond, where most of the $500 they received in
gift certificates were from.
"Our bathroom is filled with really cute Nicole
Miller accessories, and everything in the guest
bathroom is lavender with butterflies all over,"
Miriam said. "And we are obsessed with the Tat
Chefs' design," she said of the whimsical pattern
that depicts a trio of hefty cooks.
"We just put our pictures up and it makes a
huge difference," Miriam said.
"We are gradually collecting our artwork," Yoli
said. They include framed van Gogh posters, a
photograph of the Western Wall in Jerusalem and
Miriam and Yoli's ketitbah. "We learned that fram-
ing can be a huge expense," Miriam said.
They even found they were finally ready to
entertain in mid-April, hosting a Shabbat dinner for
17 people, adding the leaves to their new dining
room table and expanding it into the attached liv-
ing room. "There's just something about sitting in
our own home watching our Shabbos candles burn
throughout the evening," Miriam said.
But getting to that comfortable point wasn't
quick and wasn't simple.
"I didn't realize how much work it would be to
own our own place," Yoli said. "Sometimes, it gets
stressful and expensive and sometimes overwhelm-
ing. But, in the end, it's all worth it."
And as far as feeling settled in, Miriam said,
"We knew we were totally comfortable in our new
home when we purchased an unlimited Block-
buster pass, so we could just sit on our new couch,
eat tons of microwave popcorn and relax." ❑