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4.26.2012

COUNTING COUCHES

 So call me crazy, but over the years (16 to be exact), my husband and I have had seven couches and three love seats.  We still own two of the couches and two of the love seats.  Fickle, who me?

I have been talking about getting rid of our sectional since about a month after we got it.  Don't get me wrong, it was comfy and seated a whole bunch of people.  But it was very cheaply made, my kids treated it as trampoline and I knew it wasn't going to hold up for very long.  
Why not let them just tear it up for a few years, right?  I thought long and hard about that.  
In the end I decided we would be better off cutting our losses and getting a better quality couch 
(that wasn't big enough to do flips on).  On a whim two Sundays ago, I listed it on Craigslist, for just a few hundred dollars less than what we originally paid for it last year.  Wouldn't you know, I got tons of e-mails and a buyer who never even tried to negotiate the price.  Seriously, people, if you have ever bought anything on Craigslist, you know the first thing you do is ask if they will take less.  
Oh well, I'm not complaining.  

Knowing we would be couchless by the weekend, my husband and I went couch shopping.  
First stop, Restoration Hardware.  I fell in love with one of their giant sofas on-line, and, of course,
I wanted to actually sit on it.  



Pretty, right?  Also, pretty overpriced and not practical at all for my kids.  
I thought I wanted down and the sales ladies actually talked me out of that.  
I knew better than go with linen, but they stock that couch and it was going to be $1,000 cheaper 
to go with the linen slipcovered sofa.  To order the sofa in the fabric you can wipe boogers, snot and dirt off of, was more than I wanted to spend, given my track record with sofas.
I left defeated and couchless!

The next day, I wandered into a local furniture store right here in the heart of my small town,
Best Furniture.  In the 13 years I have lived here, I have only been in there one other time.  
I was pleasantly surprised by their selection.  I lucked out and found a floor sample that was on sale. 
What luck, we wouldn't have to sit on the floor for four weeks.  Enough rambling, meet the new sofa. 


It was delivered while I was out with the kids and when we came home and saw it,
they immediately said, "It's way too small!".  Well, considering the gigantic sectional
that was just moved out of here, it did feel small. 
I worried I'd made yet another sofa mistake. I went into panic mode.  
My husband had to calm me down.  It was a sad sight. 
Tragic avoided - I pulled the huge ottoman in from the living room and placed it in front of the new sofa.  The kids lounged back and threw their feet up there, quick like.  All was now right in the world!


Here's a close up of the fabric on the couch. 
It has a nice texture and most importantly, it's the color of DIRT!!


I also ordred two swivel arm chairs to go in front of the window. 
They will be here in a few weeks. 


The chairs are this style. 
And this is the fabric that is going on the chairs. 


I had really wanted to use these chairs in the room. 
I still LOVE the chairs, but they just weren't going to be practical 
or comfortable enough for our used and abused family room. 
Don't worry I have big plans for them still. 


So for now, all five of us will pile on the new comfy sofa.


Tell me, am I the only one who changes couches so often?  
And is there a support group out there for this issue?

19 comments:

  1. chris and i bought a pb couch from the outlet when we were first together... i worked at williams sonoma so we got it 40% off the outlet price! then we got a sectional from storehouse in our first house. that sectional did not work in the last house so we got a new one finally a year ago from west elm. then we moved andTHAT sectional didn't work in this house, and we bought 2 new west elm couches.... so that puts us at 5, if you count the sectionals as one each. so i am close in the running... ;) love the new couch and its awesome texture!

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  2. We have 4 couches and frankly at least one of them is on my "hmmmm, maybe it's time for an update" list. Your new sofa is perfection in that room! I went back to make the side by side comparison. and really, there is no comparison, size, color, look the new one is just right Goldilocks!

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  3. We are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. We've only purchased one couch. Had it not been a slipcovered couch I'm sure we would have bought at least two more in those last 7 years :) Love your new couch! And I can't wait to see everything with your new chairs too!

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  4. I think it's perfect!! I love the "dirt" color and the piping on the cushions too. And it looks like you found some great looking chairs too - I like that they swivel, but still look like "normal" chairs. I need some of those myself!

    I have had the same couches for awhile now, and feed my sofa addiction by purchasing more slipcovers and getting my cushions replaced. ;-)

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  5. Love it Andrea! You make me laugh. You do things I have done. A little OCD? Your home is beautiful. And I'm thinking I need to pay Best Furniture a visit. It's been years since I've been in there.

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  6. Your new sofa is great! We have the RH sofa...English roll arm in Army Duck fabric, in our great room. The girls have a sofa in the downstairs play area, where they have their wii etc, but the RH sofa still is used by them a lot. The army duck fabric is great...I ordered the slipcovered version in a beige colour (I would have gone lighter if it weren't for the kids). It is the part down version. yes, it was expensive, but it's great quality and so durable. I will admit, though, that the RH sofas are so low to the ground. Older people, or anyone with a medical issue (or pregnant as I was) can not easily get up from sitting on it. That's my one issue with it.

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  7. Your new couch looks great! When we moved into our house, we bought the stereotypical contemporary dark leather that all our friends had. And I've hated them ever since! Although it is nice not to have to worry about stains. One day they'll be relegated to the rec room, and I'll have my dream living room sanctuary.

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  8. I love the new couch! I think you it's too bad, especially if you have moe than one couch at a time, that works out to about 4 years per couch, which, with 3 kids, seems about right. 10 years, very tippy-top for a couch I would say, although mine are running between 4 and 6 years before they "die".

    Can't wait to see your plans for the fancy-pants chairs:)

    Jessica
    stayathomeista.com

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  9. We went through couch's like crazy, too, for a long time...4 kids, two dogs. My kids would nap on the couch before they were potty trained and let's just say that it got to smelling strong! The sectional was the worst, it took up the whole room. Everyone loved to lounge on it but to me it was an elephant. I finally have what I love but I am always in a panic that someone will spill {or pee} on it!

    Love your new couch and the chairs are going to look fantastic!

    XO,
    Jane

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  10. I go through furniture like crazy too. It's so hard to decide! Love what you did though. Excited to see the chairs, too!

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  11. I have a gi-normous Restoration Hardware sofa in our family room -- the big people love it. I'm not so hip on it. We've had it for 5 years and i spent way too much on it to part with it now, so we're stuck. Wish I'd gone the route you did!

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  12. You sound like me. We bought a sectional when we moved in a year ago and I just sold it on Craigslist and bought another. Like you, I felt the quality wasn't going to hold out over the years. In the end, I got what I really wanted.

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  13. Great choice for your new couch - I have a problem of not getting rid of our old couch - and we need a new one badly. And my hubby is not in favor of a white slipcovered couch so it's going to be difficult. I really want a new couch badly. Need want, must have!!! :)

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  14. This cracked me up! You sound like me in many ways. I love the new one!

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  15. Well, I'm sure you're aren't the only one but we are the opposite extreme. We've had TWO couches in 25 yrs. Yes, that's right, two couches, one of which we've used now for about 15 yrs.(& it looks that old without the cover) We also have a love seat we've used for the past four yrs.

    We are extreme compared to some I know. We also have only bought two cars in 25 yrs, have no cell phones, have been mortgage free for 13 yrs & debt-free for 8 yrs but we have three desk top computers, a laptop & a netbook for three people. We all love the internet.

    I do love your new couch & chairs - I would be so excited about them!

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  16. I'm with you. I could write a book on the life and death of the Bliss Ranch couches.
    The only thing I have to add to booger, snot and dirt, is dog hair. I will never get the couch of my dreams, first comes kids, then comes grand kids.

    ~Bliss~ (I did ask the dealer last time I bought a vehicle if he had anything in dirt road brown)

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  17. I love the new couch! It's the perfect color for a family ;). It looks great in the room too!

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  18. i've been married 17 years and we've gone through quite a few couches too. and currently we are living with 3 couches, 2 love seats, a sectional and an oversized chair. i DID give away a 3rd loveseat that was living in our garage recently, so i'm making progress. i bought the couch of my dreams last year at Arhaus...i've never spent so much on a couch before so i plan on being buried on it.

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  19. Superb! Generally I never read whole articles but the way you wrote this information is simply amazing and this kept my interest in reading and I enjoyed it.

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I love reading each and every one of your comments!