In another stunning installment of both What Did Surely Take Apart Now and We Shouldn't Be In Charge of Our Own Lives, we present this weekend.
It started with a couch cover. Well, also with the fact that Kevin needed a new recliner. Yes, this is confusing. Just wait.
One of my (requested) Christmas/birthday gifts was a cover for the loveseat. It is a lovely burgundy velvet. It was fun for a little while but I'm over it. In case you're questioning my interior design tastes: it was given to us. Because our original couch wouldn't fit in this small house. See, we clearly plan things ahead of time. This is a THEME.
The cover is an olive color that read more tan than green on the interwebs. In this house, it reads green. Because of course it does. Just that didn't qualify as a fail because the green still plays. It was also too big. Or it was on the first attempt of installation late on Christmas Day when my patience was at an all time high (Sarcasm)
The other day I decided to try again and had success mostly. With a down, faux suede lap blanket from Kevin's mom that I never used, it looks good. Hooray for hoarding linens and bedding!
This then started me decluttering the kitchen and living room. I had mentioned to my BFF about a month ago that it was my next goal: Put away/get rid of anything that was extraneous. Stuff that was out because...reasons.
But I still had Christmas decorations out so I half-heartedly began defrocking the house. I also half-heartedly put them on the floor of the office. I KNOW. Welcome to my alphabet brain, please step carefully over those loose wires.
So that's how we got to Thursday. Yep, for those of you who just thought about what day it is. Thursday.
Kevin needs a new recliner. It's well past it's expiration date. We inherited it when the parents moved up here so it's about twelve? fifteen? years old. I mentioned that when we get our refund or covid cash, we should get him a new recliner. He was interested but not super excited about the actual getting of said recliner. (this is what we call "foreshadowing".)
On New Year's Eve, after some racecar parts drama, we went into town to look at chairs. We first stopped at the store that we thought the parents liked. It was dim, we couldn't tell if they were open. But the sign and the interwebs said they were. They shouldn't have been.
The woman working couldn't have been LESS interested in helping us. She vaguely gestured to the section of recliners then walked away. So, this is starting well. Then as Kevin is trying various chairs, she approaches me with a catalog of entertainment centers and starts talking mid-conversation. I had to stop her, gesture to Kevin sitting in a recliner six feet away from me, and decline the catalog. She got flustered and walked away. Now I'm looking around to see if there were actually others in the store. Thankfully, there were. AN ELDERLY COUPLE. I know I just had a birthday but C'mon.
Kevin had narrowed it down to two chairs, his favorite is OF COURSE about two hundred dollars more than was reasonable to spend. We lingered, waiting to ask if there were upcoming sales or anything wiggle room. She remained uninterested and distant. So we walked across the street to look at another store.
This salesperson needed to calm down a little. She was a little too excited there were people in the store. And she told a Billy Graham story so I'm out. (it was fine, I just was all "Umm, you don't know me.") We then returned to the original store and Kevin got the reluctant salesperson's attention. He asked if there were any upcoming sales or wiggle room. She was annoyed, complete with heavy sigh and an "I'll have to look" After some grumbling, she said that she could reduce it $50. This doesn't even pay the taxes on this item. We left again.
Now I'm googling furniture stores near me. We stopped and looked around at store which I knew would probably be expensive but maybe worth stopping because of the holidays. For this, we were granted a salesperson who didn't believe in personal space. And bonus: super expensive furniture. Now we're annoyed and dejected.
Next stop was a franchise. We wanted to shop local but also wanted to bring home a chair. And no dice. More expensive than the first store for the same products. SIGH. Then I consulted the google again and realized that we had actually WALKED RIGHT PAST another furniture store back at the first store. Because of course we did.
This store has seen better days. It needs some serious TLC and I was a little skeptical. And with that, we bought a chair. It's family owned, run by a couple who were in their early sixties and charming. Kevin narrowed it down to two chairs and then developed a decision making disorder. We agreed we would be back first thing Saturday morning to buy a chair. (because now it's 4:00 on New Year's Eve)
Kevin decided to let me sleep in on Saturday. While: hooray! We had plans and now I felt late. I scurried to get ready and we went to get a chair. He'd decided for real and we were good to go. We entered the store and they say "You're late! This is not first thing in the morning!" They completely made up for our disappointing experience at the other store.
While they are loading Kevin's chair in the truck, I'm wandering around because Hi, Hello, Hey, it's me. I don't know how I missed it before but the chair I've been coveting for months now was it Right There. Display model, clearance priced. OMG. I sat in it and sighed. Then I took a photo and went to find Kevin.
I helped him wrap the chair up in a tarp because it's January in Washington State. I mentioned that there was a chair that I liked. He's all "Let's go get it." but I'm still processing dropping $cough on his chair so I'm all No, we'll wait. He was skeptical and wanted to just go get it now but I'm still not convinced.
Next stop is lunch because now it's later in the day. Kevin continues with the whole "You should get the chair" throughout the meal. (it's a drive-in burger place for those of you wondering about covid) I did the thing that was making me mental a mere 24-hours earlier: "Let me think about it. Maybe we'll go look again."
And we bought the chair. I'm still a little shook. I do not make big purchases for myself, like ever. EVER. Remember how long it took me to buy a laptop? and I NEEDED it. Also: hilariously, the owners both said "Uh oh" when we walked back into the store. "Did it fall out of the truck? do you need a replacement?" (I once lost a stove off my truck so this was extra funny. That story is for another day)
We loaded it into the truck in now wind and rain. Kevin only mentioned twice that this would have been easier if I'd just bought it when we were there the first time. Fair enough.
Now. *brisk hand clap* Have we thought about we live in a small house? Nope. Have we thought about end tables, bookcases, lamps? Also nope. But we have two new chairs. One of which is new to the space and not replacing an existing chair.
Stay tuned for the riveting conclusion...
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