A Pretty Good Time: One Down, Two to Go

... Months in my no-clothes-shopping pledge, that is. I can't believe I made it an entire month! There were some close calls, I'll admit, but it's a good feeling to have gotten through January. Just two months to go ...

Not that I haven't bought anything at all. I love Craigslist -- in fact, I may never buy furniture new again! (Well, except for upholstered items. Those I'll still buy new. More on that in a sec.) Why buy new when CL has so many cool pieces for so much less? My latest finds? A Crate & Barrel desk & chair for Lulu ($100 for both) and a pair of super-chic Design Within Reach acrylic side tables ($100 each). Since I sold a rug and a chair (on CL, natch) this month, I'm only out $60.

Lulu's desk

I also decided to splurge on a new sofa with a portion of my upcoming tax refund. I have two couches now -- one is an Ikea sleeper sofa of exH's that I inherited when he moved into a furnished sublet, the other is a small leather couch that he and I bought along with two matching chairs about seven years ago. Both are serviceable and decent-looking, but neither is all that comfortable and both are too small for two people to lay on together.

With depth, comfort, and color (gray is a must) as my criteria, I first settled on the Lounge sofa from C&B. It had everything I was looking for and the price was reasonable. Perfect, right? But something kept bothering me about it. It just wasn't ME. I've always liked furniture with a slight edge to it, something you notice when you walk into a room. ExH's tastes were a little more, um, boring, so we compromised with more basic styles. (Note that I am gradually selling all that stuff and rebuilding!)

But I had no idea what sort of sofa would be ME. So P and I set off for the mall to sit on as many sofas as we could find. And in the second store we hit, there it was. Big, sprawling, yet somehow also classic and chic. A bit pricier than I had planned, but wait ... on sale! And it came in the exact color and fabric I wanted (a pewter microfiber/faux velvet -- easy to clean! soft! gray!). P sat on it. I lay on it. I took pictures of it and jotted down all the key info. Then, following my wait-a-day plan, I went home and slept on it. It will take 3 months to produce (in the USA no less, I feel so patriotic), enough time for me to sort out what to do with the existing sofas (hopefully exH takes one or both and whatever's left gets sold) and collect my tax refund and bonus.

Are you ready to see my new baby? Here she is! (Now imagine her in gray velvety fabric, sans animal prints.)