grown-up furniture

Over the last couple of weeks, it has seemed that "new" furniture has fallen into our lap. For 2 years we have been searching for the perfect dining room table and some new couches to fit our ever-growing family, especially now that child #4 is due to arrive soon. We really, REALLY didn't want to go with brand new, but unfortunately for 2 years we have come up empty-handed with the used-furniture-shopping. We had even considered opening up a line of credit and going all out on something BIG and FANCY and yes, brand new. But then just as quickly decided that would not be a wise financial decision.

Backstory:

You see, we bought our old dining room table 4 years ago for $5 at a garage sale. It worked great for us back then. But over time, we accumulated another child, and the children we already had were growing bigger and bigger, and the table got more and more wobbly, and started to show that it was really worth exactly what we paid for it. So we took it to my father, a woodworker, and he would reinforce it for us. But that didn't last long (there's only so much a guy can do with plastic and particle board), so the big guy would periodically have to flip the table over, drive some more screws into it and do some more gluing.

It finally got to the point where we trained our children to not lean on the table. Ever. For the last year, that table had been treated like GOLD . But not because it was gold, oh no, it was simply so it would not collapse while we were eating supper.

Now, onto the couch. It had been in my family ever since I can remember. So that makes it at least 30-40-something years old. The cushions were so old that the zippers holding the covers on were rusted through and broken... being held shut with safety pins. Whenever someone would sit on it using all of their weight, it would make loud cracking sounds. Once it even collapsed. So there, again, it got sent to my dad the woodworker for reinforcement. That lasted a good 2 years. But recently the cracking noises had started again. And we trained the children, again, to sit down gingerly on the couch, and once they were sitting, not to move. AT ALL. And there, again, that couch got treated like friggen GOLD.

And of course, as previously mentioned, we had accumulated child #3. And whenever we would all try to sit and watch a movie as a family, 1 or 2 of them would end up having to sit on the floor (not a big deal, but when you have hardwood floors, the floor isn't all that cozy). The big guy would get the recliner, and the rest of us would sit on the couch or floor. It would cause arguments between our sweet children, because they could never agree what was worse - sitting on the couch and not moving a muscle, or sitting on the floor and having bruises on their butts by the time the movie was finished.

Present time:

My folks are downsizing. And there had been some mention of "I don't know what we're going to do with that big sectional - we're going to have to get rid of it...." And every time I heard that, my ears would perk up...

And finally, after hearing that sentence for the 3rd time, I spoke up and said "We would love to buy it from you..." while silently hoping and praying that they would take me up on my offer. And when they agreed that it sounded fine, my heart leapt with joy.

And the deal was done.

And then, the other day, the big guy was shooting the breeze with one of our neighbors, who casually mentioned having a garage sale and that they had a beautiful dining room table that they were hoping to sell. THANK GOD he was actually paying attention and he said, "Did you say TABLE?" He literally came running home and grabbed me and said, "I think I found us a table!!!" I went and took a look, and it is gorgeous, flawless, sturdy, and HUGE. With all of the leaves in, it will seat 10. Did you see that? 10! We could have 4 more children! Or just entertain more often.

So, without dragging this on any longer, here is our "new" grownup furniture!