Out With The Old

I sucked it up, and went out furniture shopping. 

I needed to (finally) replace the 30 year old sofa, disentigrating before my eyes in my living room. 

W teases me often about the state of my sofa. to the point it was almost an inside joke. I haven't even dared to have LG come over from Jackson.  LG has really, really, nice furnature. "I like what I like," he says whenever I comment on something, but I know that he can afford it, so furniture shopping must be easy for him.

I feel so grown up all of a sudden.  With the exception of a few small pieces, I inherited most of my furniture. And I am happy with that. Furniture shopping is....well....boring.

One would think that I would love furniture shopping, because of my love over other shopping, but I really don't. In fact,  I loathe it.  I am like the kids that you see, dragging along behind their parents in the furniture store with the "just-pick-something-already" looks on their faces. I think it's primarily because furniture is so flipping expensive and I have really expensive taste.

I am happy to report that I finally did pick out a couch and love seat for my living room that I feel that I can live with, and paid for it outright.  That must not happen much. The sales guy had to go to some hidden office in the back to find a sales slip, rather than pull  yet another page off the stack of credit aps on his desk. "Wow" he kept saying, wiping his forhead.  I guess no one pays cash anymore.

To save the delivery charge, and avoid having to take a vacation day, I had my brother and dad go pick them up for me. They met me after work at the store. What a funny little caravan we were. My dad in his duely, my brother in his F150 and me.

There were some minor assembly required, as neither piece came with the bun feet installed.  They were in a little bag, tied to the cushion, along with many very long screws.

I was very pleased with how beautifully they had matched stuff I already have (maybe some of that magic Cyn has is finally rubbing off on me!!) , including the new area rug that I purchased 2 or 3 weeks ago.  It is a blue-tinged gray (they describe it on the tag as "slate") and they came with four, blue and gray striped throw pillows. I was going to ditch those, but they blend with my living room so well, I just might keep them.  I will post pictures here later.

I am not sure if it was because it had spent most of it's life bound up in plastic, but it eminated a very odd, chemical-like scent. It made my eyes water.  Like new-carpet-smell. I guess it's New Couch/Loveseat smell. I had already taken my maximum allowable allergy medicine for the day so i was kinda stuck. I hope it passes because I would hate to be allergic to my first, big purchase.

When JB finally came out of hiding, he walked big, cautious, circles around them.
His eyes were wide and unblinking as he skulked around in a low crawl. He would crane to sniff them and then look at me with an expression that said "What exactly is going on here?" Even my best coaxing (and eventually picking him up to place him on the carefully placed towel beside me) could not convince him to come near.

Some time during the night, he apparently got over his fear, because this morning I found a large, fur-covered area on the right-hand seat back that corresponded with his "spot" on the previous sofa.  The towel I had placed there to prevent such a spot, was laying in the floor in a crumpled heap.

I was surprised at how much they fill the living room but also how much space there still seems to be. As my mother would say, "It looks like a grown up lives here."

Yes, it is the year of changes to better things.

And I do deserve better.

~EnJOY