We stopped by a furniture store one day last week and they were having a big tent sale. They have these tent sales about every week. I have been saying I was getting new living room furniture this summer. In particular, a new sofa. I'd had a pastel colored nice sofa for a long time, maybe 15 years. I paid $900 for it and had it for 15 years.
When we first went to the "tent sale" area, we looked around and didn't see anything that I wanted.
In the back was a big, dark grey sofa and it was $297. I looked at it and noticed it has a sofa bed and I thought that was a great deal. The couch was just plain and ugly grey, but really nothing wrong with it. Our carpeting is a grey mottled pattern and this sofa would look fine. We went inside and saw nothing that caught my attention. We went back to the area outside with the ugly grey sofa. I had an aha moment. I wanted that sofa. I knew it was ugly, but would work in our living room and even after that, could put in our spare room and have company sleep on it with the pull out sofa. If it's in the spare room, no one will notice what color it is, but will still be comfortable and pay it's way by being an extra bed.
I paid for the sofa and told them they should pay me to be taking this ugly thing off their hands. They didn't think so. My husband went and picked it up today. They couldn't find it for a long time and it was probably in the "to be trashed dept." It is extra heavy with the bed inside. He had to find two neighbor guys to help carry it in. It was so heavy it took 3 men. I had mixed feelings as they were bringing it in. They put it in place and went back outside. I was there by myself and staring at this thing I had just bought. My sofa is a big white elephant that is grey. I made sure it was long enough for me to lie down on, as this is my favorite place in the whole house and I spend most of my days there. I wanted it long enough, but not much longer. It's perfect. It is also very firm right now as it's new and not broken in yet.
I had a nap on my new couch already. It couldn't have slept any better. So, now I'm still trying to get used to my sofa and "like it." I will have to wait and see when we have visitors, if they notice our new sofa and say anything. Now, I'm thinking what will go with the gray/charcoal colored sofa? I am in the process of looking at chairs and/or recliners. Now I will have to take a picture of this big old sofa and take to the furniture store to match it. Or, maybe I'll move the couch in the spare room and buy a new, beautiful sofa. I'll just have to wait and see. This will take awhile to know if I'm going to settle on liking this dreadful piece of furniture. I knew I might have Buyer's Remorse, but it's only $300.
Lucy
Lucy, I love your couch and I haven't even seen it. You did what you wanted to!!!
I did have to laugh though as I have a similar issue with my couch. We had a corner couch with 2 recliners and it is about 15 years old also. We had it in our smaller family room. It was perfect. Hubby and I could both sit in our recliners (me- with my hearing ear towards him) and we could also each take a nap Sunday afternoons at the same time. Well, progress changed that.
We had an old garge that needed lots of work. I was also not attached to the house and I was having increased difficulty carrying the groceries through the snow banks. I issued an ultimatum---There will be a double garage built with an entry between the house and the garage that would become our main entrance. I had been saving for this for years.
Well, the kids built it for us and it was a huge task because of the horribly hot weather. We had to put a doorway in the outside wall of the family room where the couch sat. We moved that couch here and there and everywhere and it drove me nuts. No way did it work in that room anymore but hubby was emotionally attached to it.
Enter my 24 year old brown multiflowered couch that I would not get rid of because I told the kids I would use it in my old age. Well, old age has come and I love that old couch. It now sits in my famly room. The corner couch has sat stacked in the entry way waiting for a son to come and pick it up to use. So that is the way life turns. My "new" couch cost me nothing. Don't care if anyone else likes it or not. I love it. Sleeps good. It is long and firm and has a low back so I can put it in front of the picture window and still see out. I sleep out there sometimes and I can watch the stars.
Hope I didn't steal your thunder, Lucy, cause I loved your story. Guess we old girls do things different!!! Irish
Nothing wrong with neutral furniture. Just think what you can do with colors for the pillows, drapes and rugs. Bed Bath and Beyond has some cool pillows - none of which will go with our sage green couch :( What a bargin for a sleeper sofa!
Hi Lucy,
I prefer a neutral coloured sofa myself, and as Crymeariver said, you can dress it up with colourful pillows, a throw and an area rug. And grey goes with just about everything.
I envy your quality nap. ::)
Lucy - congrats on your new couch! ;D
As the others said, you can "dress" your couch up with a throw, or maybe you have an afghan somewhere you can bring out and drape over the back of it. Lots of pillow options for you. If you get tired of one color, it's pretty inexpensive to change out pillows or a throw. What color are your walls?
My sad couch story is this: I bought a new couch with MY Christmas money back in 2004. Double recliner - which was the rage versus the "regular" couches everyone use to have. Mighty proud of this couch.
Hubby plants his bum on the left hand side of this couch . . . . EVERY day . . . all evening long once he gets home from work. Many, many times he falls asleep reclined on this end of the couch.
Fast forward to May 2012 - my poor couch - (did I mention that I PAID for with MY money??) - is ruined on the left hand side. The stuffing is gone from the arm rest, there is a permanent butt print from hubbies constant sitting there and no padding here either, and the couch has a "smell" from my hubbies greasy hair (sorry, too much information).
It breaks my heart . . . . the middle section and the right hand side of the couch is brand new - "maybe" sat on a half-dozen times. Wish there was some way to cut the "bad" part off and turn the double recliner couch into a single recliner loveseat. :'(
Anyhow . . . back to you . . . . ;) Enjoy your new couch. When you find one that sleeps well and feels good - good, bad, or ugly . . . it's a keeper!! ;D
Bucky
Quote from: Crymeariver on May 15, 2012, 10:32:49 PM
Nothing wrong with neutral furniture. Just think what you can do with colors for the pillows, drapes and rugs. Bed Bath and Beyond has some cool pillows - none of which will go with our sage green couch :( What a bargin for a sleeper sofa!
I was actually thinking how mice it would be to have a moss green couch. Saw one I liked, my friend hated it but I liked it coz I'm an earthy sort of person and think it'd look great with other earthy colours and pics of trees on the wall. The one I have got right now hasn't got covers on it a all as they crumbled to pieces n the washer s I bought a cream coloured throw to put over it and it looks fine.
I bet we could all have a couch story. Lucy, I bet you love your couch. As far as I am concerned the thing that matters is the comfort. If you can't sit, lay, lie, recline, whatever, without enjoying the event it isn't worth it.
Also, to buy a couch for that amount of money is beyond awesome. I am jealous.
Bucky, I was just thinking---can you take a saw and just cut off hubby's end of the couch. I am being cynical, but you know what I mean.THAt is the trouble with all the stuff these days. They are made so that they wear out---just to get us to buy another new one that will wear out again. Heck, years ago people had their couch their whole life. Of course, the couch sat in the parlour and no one sat on it unless they had company.
Remember the stiff covers the old couches had. They were so stiff and prickly. They used to be made out of horse hair. I digress about the old days. Irish ;D
I'm sorry but INSURANCE should pay for a really nice couch (ugly or not) for all of us with autoimmune diseases, LOL - we spend enough time on the things to warrant some good quality!!!! :-P
You can always dress it up with throw pillows and cute blankets....
Can't you see the big wigs at the insurance companies sitting around trying to come up with the criteria for their "new couch" claims payments. lol Flowers allowed? Plaids? Long couch? Short couch?? Stripes?
Nobody can decided of much of anything anymore cause of all the "political correctness" surrounding all and everything in this country. Irish ;D
These are things I found after getting all the tags off the ouch..........It is an original SIMMONS HIDEABED SOFA.
They didn't have those tags where I could see them. I thought the brand was probably something sleazy from the corner garage sale. Well, it is the famous Simmons brand. I can feel my chest puff up with pride.
Man, Lucy, talk about some luck. I could hear your chest expand with pride. A grey couch that looks good in your house, sleeps good and is a Simmons. Yeahhhhhhh. Irish
Quote from: eyeamdry on May 17, 2012, 10:37:48 PM
These are things I found after getting all the tags off the ouch..........It is an original SIMMONS HIDEABED SOFA.
Well, it is the famous Simmons brand. I can feel my chest puff up with pride.
Lucy - well your tags on your "ouch" (see above) shed a whole new light on your "new, big, grey, plain ugly as sin couch" - huh? ;) ;D
Glad you are feeling better about your purchase and I bet you will proudly show any visitors your great find! :D
Irish - yeah,
I WISH I could cut hubbies end of the couch off . . . then I'd have a new mini couch!
Bucky
Yes, I am thrilled that my new couch is an original Simmons Hideabed. I didn't even see all these tags until we got it home and all. The thing weighs a ton. I couldn't even pull it out from the wall on one end to plug in my electric blanket. That means I'll have reason not to bother pulling it out and vacuuming under it. When they took the old couch out, it was a tad dusty. Now I have my electric blankie on there and I'm all set. Even though it's getting hot out, I run my A/C and if I get too cold, I lay in my blanket on the couch.
You know how the hot/cold thing goes. I cannot go around the house and outside in the yard without a shirt on like hubby can. I keep making him put on a shirt and not embarrass me when he's out riding the lawn mower and bumping along and all the traffic can see him. He doesn't care, but I do. lol He doesn't look too good any more without clothes. Has good legs and buns though. Lucy
Quote from: eyeamdry on May 18, 2012, 11:01:03 PM
He doesn't look too good any more without clothes. Has good legs and buns though. Lucy
;D
Oh Lucy, I am so sorry that your hubby's chest has fallen into his drawers. lol
That is my hubby's excuse anyway. By the way, I don't look any good without my clothes, come to think of it, I never did. Thank goodness we lose some of our sight as we age. Irish
I'm late coming in here, but oh my! Irish, the comment of the husband's chest fallen into his drawers. ;D :D Lol
The poor guys; the chest falls down and the butt just falls away. My husband's has started already and my father's was so bad my brother-in-law told him he had a "bad case of the gone-##$." :D
But, back to the couch: Lucy, you have a great find! Personally, I love plain (neutral) couches. You can dress them up however you want with different pillows, a throw, etc. A soft blue and yellow would be pretty, or almost any combination of colors would work.
Pat yourself on the back for finding such an awesome piece of furniture!
Melinda
Meld, Just want you to know that this is is a highly intelligent conversation between very informed people. HeHeHe!!!!
Have to have some fun.
Question!!! Why do men's butts leave them and womens get bigger??? I have never been able to figure that one out. It must be hormonal!! IRish ;D
Yes, Irish, highly intelligent discussion we have...LOL Just gotta be silly occasionally.
That's a good question that will probably never be solved; why IS it the guys lose their rears and ours spread out?? Doesn't seem quite fair, does it? At least, I don't need a belt to keep the pants up. Suppose that's some solice. :D
It must be the time of the sofa. LOL I've been thinking about doing something similar because I just can't see paying for a new sofa with the way my cat shreds the one I have, but its so uncomfortable I won't sit on it and I feel guilty asking guests to sit on it. Maybe finding one in the back room is the way to go. I looked on craigslist and was appalled at how much people want for junk. I mean once its used it is used and some of these used one's cost more than what you paid. Furthermore, some of them were ugly as heck too. Gray is good in my book but big orange and brown plaid print and a wagon wheel frame that's probably 40 years old shouldn't cost a person $150. At least I'm not paying that for that. I don't care if the cat is going to shred it. LOL Ewww. A solid gray sofa sounds like heaven to me. I have a speckled brown one. Once upon a time I guess it was brown pleather. But now every time, Spike sharpens his kitty claws I get brown flecks on the floor and another speckle on the sofa until the poor thing hardly has any brown left. LOL Sometimes, I want to strangle that cat. Anyway, since I know I'm buying a disposable sofa... I don't want to pay too much for one. And if I had gotten a cloth one that was solid and comfortable, I'd be able to get a cover for it and let him shred those one by one. But a cover on this thing wouldn't solve my problems. Anyway, I'll keep an eye out for tent sales now that you've given me a great idea. GG
ashewoman,
The tent sales are great, and I just thought of another idea: those furniture outlet stores that offer what is actually new (or nearly new) furniture. It's usually only been used in a new home or condo that's been "staged" for sale. You know, when they use it just for looks.
Sometimes the rental stores have sales of things they either couldn't rent (which means you might not want it either :)) or someone has rented it for a short time and returned it. We actually bought a big TV that way; it was a little older model, it was rented out for a while and the store slashed the price...gotta love the deals!
Some of the home town papers and shppers have a "bargain" column or many colums with things for sale. Our town paper has this. There are many things for sale and the telephone numbers are always listed in order to call them.
This is one way to sort of "screen" the used couch you may want to buy. You can call the people and ask to see it. Get the address and if the address is a part of town where unsavory characters live you can just tell them you will think about it.
It is easier to buy a used piece of furniture when you have seen where is has lived and how the place is taken care of. I hate paying full price for anything. Man, I am sure glad I insisted on saving my 24 year old couch. I have even thought about recovering the darn thing when it gets more worn out. Aw heck, That would be too spendy, I will just buy a couch cover and call it good. IRish
I only asked $50 for my couch and probably could have gotten$100 or a little more. I needed it gone so I could get my grey one. The couple who bought it knew my neighborhood as her sister lives not too far away. I just said no kids, no pets, no smoking--also no tears or holes. That made her very anxious to see the couch. She was thrilled and this was for her college son and his roommates. She said maybe she'd keep my couch and give hers to her son. I did advertise it on craigs list. I do not garage sale much or buy things very often-wither new or used, so I am not really aware of the "junik" others say is out there.
Does anyone use "Freecycle?" This is in about every city and is online. You might do a google and see where yours is. I have given away lots of good things and a few not so good. I have gotten several nice, hardly used exercise equipment. Everything on there is FREE. Yes, there is lots of crap, I'm sure, but many include pictures of the furniture, or whatever. People give away landscaping materials, you just about name it. You can also ask for what you want. If anyone loves garage sales, Freecycle is for you. No $ can be taken or given because it is a free site. Lucy
Lucy, I have heard about Freecycle and researched it, however, it is not in my area. We live in a smaller ag oriented town with not much for businesses. There just isn't the potential for much in this town. We just got a freeway put in that is easy access and when it is totally finished our town will be too. That is the way life is now.
I read Craigs list but don't buy used stuff that much. I will do a gargage sale on occasion but only buy where I know enough to think I am getting a good deal. I have lived in this town for 50+ years so I know a lot of people and the area. Irish