Love and Other Rugs

3 weeks ago | loveandotherrugs.substack.com | Lily Sullivan

A few weeks ago, I was standing in a group as one man questioned the claims of another mans height. I did what any always-looking-for-another-furniture-item kinda gal would do and pulled out a tape measure to settle the score. The 6’1 man (who was actually 5’9) was not thrilled. In an early edition of this newsletter, I told the story of a suitor who offered me a branded t-shirt from his company on my way out of his apartment. Are you a small or medium?, he asked.

1 month ago | loveandotherrugs.substack.com | Lily Sullivan

In April, I wrapped up a 12-week grief group for people who had lost parents to suicide or complications from addiction. I had decided, even after almost 8 years without my mother, I needed a weekly time to grieve—this would be the start. Throughout session, I went back to things I had written about her and continued to return to the words Leah Faye Cooper, Digital Director at Vogue said to me this time last year.

Mar 1, 2025 | loveandotherrugs.substack.com | Lily Sullivan

Today, today right now, the second print volume of Love and Other Rugs is available for purchase. 52-pages of essays from this season, travel guides, and shopping recs with a double-sided poster as the centerfold. Two of the essays—On Floors, which is all about my love for fraternity basements, and Drinking & Other Drugs, a guest essay by Eliza Dumais—have not yet been published on the internet. You can buy the issueHERE and starting next week, IRL at stores in NYC, LA and Austin.

Feb 17, 2025 | loveandotherrugs.substack.com | Lily Sullivan

I remember the day when my mother told me I should never marry a man from St. Louis. There was an undercurrent of look how it turned out for me in her warnings. She had phenomenal taste. Except perhaps in men. She had the chopped up wedding albums to prove it. But what was it about her warning that drew me even closer to Midwesterners? What was it about my upbringing—split between Los Angeles and St. Louis—that made me crave something that felt like home?

Jan 30, 2025 | loveandotherrugs.substack.com | Lily Sullivan

The premiere volume of Love and Other Rugs is presented by Backdrop. If you are new... check out the archive. I complain about ghosting and grey sofas and exes in proverbial storage units, among other things. In 2021, I bought myself an apartment. Vibrator sales must be good, people would say. Dead mom money. I would assure them. People would nod and express their condolences. I really couldn’t afford to buy an apartment.