PM + SP + I x $ = OMG!

Last Saturday was a gorgeous day. It was a little windy but the sun was shining and I did not want to sit in my apartment and stare at four walls, especially since the walls in the living room have no art work on them and the only furniture is a futon, a storage ottoman, a TV stand, a small end table and two floor lamps.

I emailed the Playfriends and asked if they wanted to have a Saturday field trip to LOOK at furniture and help me decide on a sofa and chair for my living room should I ever get the money to buy it. Angel and PC were unavailable, but Smarty Pants and Instigator agreed to join me. We met first for lunch and solved the world's problems over steak and shrimp (well, most of them) and then headed to the furniture store whose website I've been perusing for over six months now. SP and Instigator rode together in SP's car and I drove my car since the two of them had other plans after the look-fest.

I had printed out pictures of some art work I have to go over this future sofa and had also painted part of the piece of paper with my wall color so we'd have a point of reference. The store had three sleeper sofas I was interested in from the standpoint of style and color options. They also had a few chairs I thought might work both with the sofas and fit in the available space. One that I'd really liked on the website, though, had been removed from the site, so I'd tossed the picture of it before I left home.

My living room faces east and only gets morning sun, so I knew I didn't want anything too dark. But it couldn't be too light or it would fade into the wall. So armed with those caveats, Smarty Pants, Instigator and I began looking at the sofas and fabric swatches. After we'd been looking for a bit, my favorite sales associate, Lisa, returned from lunch and joined the party. Lisa helped me buy my table and chairs and my bedroom furniture last fall.

I thought I wanted some sort of dark beige sofa and a chair with some red. Well! By the time everyone had finished mixing and matching swatches, I'd fallen in love with a moss green sofa in a fabric that's rather like a wide-wale corduroy. It looks like this (only it won't have the psychedelic cushions because with this particular sofa I can get the cushions in any fabric I want).



I'm still not sure how I made the leap from beige to moss green, but I love it! And won't these pictures look great over it (they'll be side by side instead of one atop the other).



Now remember that this was just a window shopping trip. I don't have money allocated for furniture yet, but I wanted to be prepared for when that money comes in. And four heads are better than one when deciding on furniture and fabrics, especially when one of those heads is mine.

So imagine my surprise when Smarty Pants spots the recliner I'd admired on the website months before.

"It's been discontinued and I only have that one floor model left," Lisa said.

"And it's 25% off!" Smarty Pants exclaimed.

So look what's now sitting in my living room waiting to be joined by the sofa. Nice, isn't it? I just love a great bargain.



And the really fun part was getting it home. I asked how much it would cost to have it delivered because that chair ain't gonna fit in the back of a Honda Accord. Lisa asked if I didn't know someone with a truck or SUV and while I was scouring my brain to think of someone, Instigator piped up and said, "Uh, I do, only it's parked back at the restaurant." A few minutes later, they'd retrieved the SUV, had the chair loaded in the back with the help of another sales associate, Cleveland, and we were caravaning to my apartment. By the time I got the door unlocked, my two able assistants had unloaded the chair and were at my front door.

Aren't good friends wonderful?

Have you ever had your plans take a completely different turn?

P.S. Look at how my plants have grown in a week!

Day lilies beside my patio



Mixed color coleus



Sweet basil