Furniture Farewell

Once upon a time, a young married couple bought their first house.  The wife's favorite show was Trading Spaces, and she was determined to dress up their very white house with a very colorful accent wall.  The couple hatched a plan to buy bold red furniture and paint one wall in the living room to match.  The rest of the walls were a goldenrod that perfectly matched the color of the accent pillows.  The room was the first perfectly coordinated room that the wife ever put together, and it was good.  It felt extra cozy on winter nights, especially when accented with Christmas pine and classic white lights.  It was exactly what the couple was hoping for, and it lived a good life for 4-1/2 years until this chapter ended and the next began.

Yes, that story is about us.  I just wanted to set the stage for how it felt when we bought our living room furniture that has survived for over 14 years.  When we moved into our first house, I wanted something fun and different.  I also wanted my red accent wall so badly.  We walked into Value City Furniture and found our set.  It had the color, it was oversized, it was comfortable, and it was versatile.  It had a couch, an armchair, an ottoman, and a chaise extension that would fit on either piece.  And, of course, the price was right.  Ahhh, those early days in our first house.  Pardon the quality of these pictures--they were from a very early digital camera--but this was how they looked originally.

We started with the chaise on the couch at the far end.  I can't get over how puffy the pillows look.  They don't look like that now.

I think that was the ottoman upside down waiting for its feet.  Note that we had the pattern side of the chair cushion facing out.  It matched the pillows, but it did not last long that way.  We went all red soon after.

This was a more finished version--complete with the ugliest lamp ever that came with the house.  But oh, how I loved that room.  Later we had red chenille curtains that matched the furniture and striped sheer curtains for the center window that matched the accent pillows really well.  When the sunlight rotted the sheers, I found blinds that matched the walls perfectly.

Furniture shouldn't be such an emotional attachment, but when it represents your first well-decorated room in your first house, it holds a special place.  That attachment intensified when it became the furniture that welcomed home our first little baby.  I used to put the Boppy on the chaise extension and nap on the couch next to this little guy.  And yes, I know that sounds like a bad idea, but it didn't last long--only until he rolled over, and my arm was always draped on him, and I was a light sleeper.

I mean...c'mon. 💓

 The chair got a lot of love, too.  I remember a lot of nursing sessions there, as well as this mini photo shoot when Craig wanted a pic of me for a birthday greeting on the scoreboard at the Red Wings game.

There were also a lot of naps there...uncomfortable though they may look.

I also discovered it was good for propping up a baby.

As Jacob grew, the furniture started to get a workout as he crawled and pulled up and climbed.

Carter did his fair share later on, too!

I'm pretty sure the room never looked prettier than at Christmas, our last one there specifically, when the house was mostly clean for showings.

I know this pic doesn't even show the furniture, but I think it captures the time of year I loved this room the most.  I still miss it.

But 10 years ago last week, I realized that if we were going to have another baby (with our originally desired three-year age difference--ha!) and get a bigger house, we needed to start looking ASAP.  I found one I liked online and took a newly-walking Jacob to an open house.  I fell in love with the house immediately and we started the process to get ours on the market.  Unfortunately, that house got another offer in the midst of it all, but the process was already started on our house, so we had to press on and find another.  It took an extra couple months, but we finally found our new home.  Three months later, we moved in.

We first had the chaise on the chair and the ottoman acting like a chaise on the couch.

Even without the accent wall, the furniture looked right at home.  It also matched the adjacent dining room, which was almost an identical color to the old red.

Awww, look at toddler Jacob modeling in front of the chair...always with a stick in hand.

After Jacob had an unfortunate incident falling into the coffee table and picking up a scary bump/bruise on his ear, the coffee table shifted and the ottoman (whose cushion had begun to cave in anyway) became the coffee table with a board on top.  At least the corners were softer than the table.

As time went on, the chair moved to a new spot, and here it was featured in one of only a couple pictures in existence of Jacob holding Carter.

The couch was my home for my entire maternity leave with Carter.  I spent hours there every day, nursing and snuggling (and blogging).

Later it was a favorite snuggle spot for evening TV viewing...

The chair also became the spot for Carter's monthly photos...from the first...

...to the last.

The furniture has been the backdrop for our entire existence in our own home--both of them.  Opening Christmas and birthday presents...

...and pretty much everything else.  It took a beating over the years, from spills and puke to crumbs and jumping kids.  The back cushions are matted and misshapen, the fabric worn.  The pillows are flat beyond fluffing, and there are many mystery spots of stuck-on something.  The foam in the ottoman collapsed years ago, which is why it ended up as our coffee table with a board on top.  While the furniture has always been comfortable, I think over the years it got a little too comfortable.  The couch is lacking support, to the point that the last time my dad tried to lay on it, he almost threw out his back.  It was at that point he offered us "assistance" to buy new furniture ASAP.  It took one heck of a search, but it finally had an ending with the exact set I wanted--which was much harder to find than expected.  We thought we might want a couch with recliners, but I hate the style of pretty much every recliner couch.  The back cushions are weirdly puffy and the armrests look weird.  They just strike me as very 80s or something.  We also didn't want leather.  So, I went on the hunt for any sort of modern, attractive recliner couch in existence, and I really only found two--one of which was uncomfortable.  So, we settled on the other, but it did not come cheap, as it came from La-Z-Boy.  It should hold up beautifully, mind you, but thank goodness my dad offered assistance or we'd have never been able to get what we really wanted.  Especially because the matching chair and a half cost nearly as much as the couch!  I debated getting a regular recliner to match, but in the end decided that if we were going to do it, we should do it right and I'd probably long regret not getting the prettier chair.  That order was placed about a month ago.

And today, that well-worn, well-loved red furniture was moved out to the curb.  Well, the curb and the garage.  Our trash disposal company is a bit picky about that stuff, so we're sending it out in waves.  Anyway, a new era has dawned and we now have grown-up furniture.  Very grown-up furniture.  To the point the kids are forbidden from eating or drinking on it.  After seeing (yet again) the mess I had to vacuum out last night from under the cushions and in the crevices (and the remnants that still fell out during the removal process), we really have no choice.  The bottom cushions don't even come off this couch, so getting things stuck down there is a bad idea.  And I don't care what kind of fabric protection we have--I just don't want to worry about what could get spilled or stuck there.  So, kids, eat on the recliner.  I will too.

It took a gargantuan effort to move everything out and in.  We had a windstorm overnight (on the heels of the rainiest Halloween ever--more on that soon), and I had an allergy shot at 8am.  The boys were off school so Craig was home.  I was hoping they'd come closer to the middle of the 8-11am delivery window, but we were second on their list and they arrived right around 8:25, right as I was leaving the allergist.  I came home to all of the furniture off the porch, the old chair in the garage, the foyer light disassembled, and the old couch halfway to the door.  They couldn't get it out.  I have no idea how we got it in there when we moved, but the feet in particular were making things difficult.  They tried unscrewing them, but that didn't seem to work, so they just hammered them off until they could get it out the door and down to the curb.  The new one took a little angling, along with completely moving everything else out of the foyer (the bench and shoe rack), but it came in a bit easier...and its legs appear to be much easier on and off!  I offered the guys some leftover Halloween candy, and that was that.  We put things mostly back together before I finally headed off to work. 

For reference, here's the before...

And now, here's the after...

I'm not quite sure what to think of it yet.  I mean, I love it, and it's still so much more attractive than the alternative.  But I still feel like it looks weird in the room.  I can't decide if it's because the shape and scale are totally different, or if the color combos (walls, end tables) seem weird, or if we're just so darn used to what we had that it's going to take time to see it without the subconscious mental comparison to what was there.  Jacob pretty much hates everything about it and has complained about it all day.  However, he's still really stuck on the LED-lit leather couch (!) he saw while we were shopping, and honestly, it's all he's ever known and change is hard.  I know I had a very hard time when we got new furniture when I was 13.  Our love seat ended up in the basement but I remember being sad when the couch went elsewhere.  Of course I liked the new furniture once I got used to it, but it was still different!  I hope Jacob will come around, too.  For what we paid, he better!

Still, I do feel a bit of a loss, a mourning if you will, at seeing that furniture go away.  Anything that makes home feel a bit less like home--even temporarily--is hard.  We had so many memories and so many hours spent on that furniture.  It was the beginning of a big dream of having our own house with our own touches, and it's been a constant ever since.  It's a piece of family history and it feels a little wrong to just send it out to the curb.  It's a good thing I've had some recent practice with the baby stuff, but still, it's hard.  Hearing Jacob complain about it is harder.  On the bright side, I am sitting in the chair right now and it's perfect.  I guess at this point all we can do is make the best of it now that it's here.  It's a great next step for us, and I hope it becomes the next centerpiece for the heart of our home.