Announcing the Best-disguised Foreign Service couch contest

One thing many of us in the Foreign Service compare notes and laugh about is our furniture. I haven’t personally seen any examples of government-provided furniture I dislike, but it’s still early. Plus, I’m told that the new lines some embassies and consulates now have are way nicer. More than like vs. dislike, the issue in my mind is institutional vs. personal.

So if everyone at post has this:(Our loveseat in Port of Spain; the sofa was the same pattern)

Or this:(A sofa in a friend’s apartment, which I took a photo of because we were her sponsors)

How do you make it your own?

That proverbial question leads me to announce the BEST-DISGUISED FOREIGN SERVICE COUCH CONTEST.

The ground rules:

Photo(s) should be posted on your blog or submitted to me via e-mail. (My e-mail address is available through my Blogger profile.) The e-mail option is really for those who don’t have blogs; any photos sent via e-mail will be posted on my blog. If you post on your blog, please comment on mine with a link so everyone will know you’ve entered.

Any GSO-provided couch at any overseas post qualifies for the contest. It doesn’t have to be from your current post – or even an ugly couch. This is about working with what we have and giving people ideas for how to personalize their living spaces. If you’ve got great slipcovers for which you procured the fabric during a leisurely stroll through the souk on an American holiday, that’s great. If you’ve used your old jeans to create a patchwork quilt to drape over the back of your couch, awesome. Whatever the story behind your entry, please share it. Slipcovers are great, and I’m sure we’ll see some awesome ones (both mass-produced and custom). But I’m really hoping someone’s done something fabulous outside that realm.

On April 1, I will compile a list of all of the entries in a single post on my blog so the voting can begin. Votes will be submitted via the Comments link on this single blog post. Only people currently or formerly affiliated with the Foreign Service qualify for the contest, but anyone can vote. The voting will last for one week – until the evening of April 7 -- and there will be a prize for the winner. The nature of that prize has yet to be determined, and although I’m certain it won’t be anything fancy, feel free to send prize ideas my way.

To state what I hope is the obvious: This contest isn’t official in any way, shape or form. No government agency was involved in its creation, nor does any endorse it in any way. This is all for fun.