Still, we’ve learned to be thrifty with our space and have relied on some choice pieces of furniture for making our molehill feel more like a mountain. Not least of which: these mid-century modern stools from Target. The Linon Bentwood Stools come in a set of four and have played the role of nearly every piece of furniture imaginable: around the table as extra chairs when our dinner parties grow reliably outsize, at the side of the sofa to hold mugs when a pillow insert turns our coffee table into an ottoman (another small-space hack), as a step stool to reach high-up shelves where blankets and trunks are stored, as extra counter space to accommodate various kitchen appliances or to rig complicated systems when my boyfriend, the chef-in-residence, gets an idea in his head. They’ve even been welcomed into the bathroom on evenings when I’d like to soak up the latest episode of Succession while soaking in the tub. And then, when they are not in use floating around helpfully like Mickey Mouse’s household orchestra in Fantasia (pre-sabotage, of course), the stools stack satisfyingly with their legs in a waterfall formation, a straw basket housing extra hats perched on top, making themselves more useful yet as storage.
Linon Set of 4 Bentwood Stools
To buy: $80; target.com. What initially drew me to the stools, before I learned how handy they would prove, was their familiar look. Inspired by Alvar Aalto’s stool no. 60, which he designed in the ’30s, the Linon Bentwood Stools perfectly capture Aalto’s signature style, down to the L-shaped leg that wound up occupying an important place in Mid-Century Modern design. While the Linon stools were the first purchase I made to satisfy my interest in Aalto’s work, I also ended up investing in an original dining table in the same style produced in the 1970s. The Target stools look truly authentic (especially after they get a bit of wear in them), even when positioned next to the real thing; they could easily pass for model no. 60 stools themselves, except they cost $80 for a set of four, rather than $2,800. My light brown stools perfectly match the tone of my dining table and flatter my slightly darker-stained wood floors. A friend, who I influenced to purchase a set for herself, says the espresso brown version is a great fit for her deeper wood dining room. While the stools are only available in those two shades, I’ve always held that they’d be great candidates for some simple DIYing—a quick coat of color on top would make a great accent in any space, and possibly even make them look more like certain original Aaltos from the time, which feature a linoleum circle on the seat. My Linon stools have held up for a few years already, an impressive feat for such simple construction. Still, I appreciate the fact that if anything were to happen, I could easily and cheaply reorder a set for just $20 apiece on Target.
