New Couch

Almost seven years ago, Erik and I did our first bout of furniture shopping. As a wedding present, his grandma gave us $1000, and we decided to buy a living room set. It took us all of maybe an hour and one stop to find what we wanted...and at a great deal, too. Sofa, love seat, and coffee table (with a Formica top - how I LOVED that table) - all within our budget.

The great thing was that after wandering around the store for that hour, we consulted with each other and discovered that the set we ended up purchasing was the favorite for both of us. I've heard that you will have a good indication of how your marriage will go if you just go furniture shopping together. I figured it was a good sign. :) But this never happens for me; I almost always gravitate towards the most expensive item in a store, so the fact that my first choice was in our budget was AMAZING. But I've come to discover that, with furniture, the most expensive items are often the most tacky in the store, and I wouldn't put them in my home if the store paid me what they expect me to pay them for the same item.

The day our overstuffed green couches arrived, I was so excited - especially when we realized the throw pillows came as a package deal. Looking back, it was something so silly to get excited about, but I honestly didn't realize the pillows were included. I just assumed they were part of the display the furniture store uses so it doesn't feel like a big warehouse with rows and rows of sofas. You know: Coffee table? Check. Lamps? Check. Fake flowers? Check. Weird art sculpture I can't imagine anyone would purchase? Check. Pillows? Check, check.

The couches and awesome coffee table (supposedly ding and dent, but we never did find anything wrong with it) fit perfectly in our living room, and they went through several configurations in the four years we lived there. When we moved to our townhouse, there was barely room for the couches in our tiny living room, so we gave up the coffee table. But even though the couches took up every square inch of space, we kept them. Mostly because they were comfy and still in good condition, but also because we doubted we'd be able to find such a good deal and still have the same amount of seating.

Recently, I decided they took up too much space. I hate feeling cramped, and while we don't spend a ton of time in the living room, it was beginning to get to me. So I took to the internet to find a better solution. The first viable solution I found was a sectional on the website of a local furniture store. Prices weren't listed, so I set about finding how much other places may be asking for the same thing. I found the EXACT same couch online and realized I didn't really want to pay that much. Just out of curiosity, I decided to check out walmart.com. We need to make sure Erik stays in a job, after all. They actually had something very similar for quite a bit less, but I decided to keep looking. Then, that very next week in the Sunday paper, another local furniture store had a sectional in the style I wanted for less than half the price of the original one I had fallen in love with. I was sold!

Imagine my disappointment when we went to look at it and couldn't find it anywhere in the store. We finally asked, and they had sold out of them already. But another shipment was due in about a month. Oh...and all but four were sold already. So, without any more information than a picture and the apparent recommendation of the people who had been lucky enough to see it in person, we bought it.

Six weeks later, it was delivered Monday, complete with throw pillows and ottoman. :)


It opens up our downstairs so much and (luckily) the sage color was close to what our other couches were anyway (I like change in baby steps), so it worked with everything else in the room already.

Of course, I now have two couches sitting in my garage without any prospects. So if you know anyone in need a of sofa/love seat set, send them my way. We'll make them a deal! (On a semi-unrelated note: for those who watch my tweets, on Monday I (rhetorically) asked if anyone wanted to buy them, and some random twitter-er placed them on a twitter classified board and acted like he'd done me a favor. Um....thanks, I guess?)