Yes, we're finally not entirely embarassed to have visitors! The reason? We finally bit the bullet and got new couches! Just in time for Easter visitors! :)
I'd mentioned in the past, the steady decline of our living room's soft seating. They were the first set I had ever owned, purchased when I moved out for the first time and served their purpose for the last 8-9 years. Unfortunately, their biggest fault was that they were cream.... or at least they once were. I will save you the disgusting photo of their last days in our house and instead share the one from a month after we moved into our current home:
(wow, things have really changed since 2009)
But having lived with 3 pets (2 of whom actually used the pieces as scrathing posts when they were kitttens) and a big, messy boy, things had gotten dirty. I did try to clean them more than once, but of course, that made things worse since apparently using a household carpet cleaner on light upholstery often results in water spots. Plus, if we're being honest here, I had really given up on them a long time ago, with hopes of them getting bad enough I'd have to get new ones.
Then, in the fall of last year, one of the springs went in mine. But we weren't financially ready to shell out for new ones with Cory heading back to school with no income, so we made do. Things eventually got so bad, that we had to shove a pillow into the gap that the broken spring had created so that we wouldn't fall in any longer and of course, to assist with the chronic back pain that I was having as a result of laying lopsided.
Of course, I had sneakily been looking for replacements for quite some time. But I just couldn't find anything that met all my criteria.
My wish list was short:
1. Grey in color. This was actually harder than I thought since I wanted a specific looking grey. A lot of the fabric samples we took home read as either too brown or purple in our space. The photo below doesn't read well, but the actual color is the absolute perfect dark grey. I really wanted grey because I love it, plus after living with light, I really wanted something dark for this one.
2. Relatively inexpensive. Cory being in school in November/December without an income, really set us back financially and we were just getting back on track, so we wanted to ensure that we kept it on the lower end of our budget. Despite our best intentions, we have financed this set and while we were approved for a shocking (to both of us) amount, we probably purchased the cheapest set in the store - on sale I might add!
3. Comfortable. While I would really like to have more of a "show" space for our upstairs living room. until we ever develop our basement and create a family room space, this room is our comfy tv watching space. This was also Cory's one big request and I know it's a reality so I am fine with it.
Eventually, the day just came when I couldn't take it anymore and asked Cory if he would join me the next night "just looking"....
When we spotted this set at Ashley I was immediately sold. It hit all the nails on the head. Plus, we ended up getting it one sale - CHEAPER than the sign on the table even!!
I actually now think that my biggest draw to the set may have been the GORGEOUS armchair in the set. I was IN LOVE!!!!! ( I apparently accidently deleted the photo of it, but you can see it above )
I love me a statement chair, fin paisley and of course, the colors were 100% ME!! I was HEAD OVER HEELS for it but unfortunately we actually don't even have room for a chair in our teensy tiny space we so made the decision to forgo it for the time being (even though I had reasoned it could live in our master bedroom until we had a bigger space for it). But, lately I have been regretting that decision and dreaming about the chair quite a bit, so I will most likely be returning for it. :)
The biggest change for us was definitely the sleeker profile. Our old one had HUGE rolled arms and I hadn't ever been able to use the end table with them. I'm not sure, but i am thinking the profile really calls out for some nailhead detailing.... I'm gonna live with it for a while as-is before I take the plunge though!
While we really would have liked to get 2 sofas, the one wall just wasn't long enough, even if we removed the cabinet we use for our media equipment, so sofa & loveseat it was. We were a little worried about the loveseat being super small when we first saw it, but after measuring, found out it was the same size as the old one. Weird how the profile of a piece skews your perception of it.
Anyhow, we've been living with the new set for about a month now and are super happy with it. It took a little getting used to, having a dark set and we definitely need to make some changes to lighten things up, but we're super happy with it.
Also, if we're being honest, 99% of the time, they look like this:
Yup, we keep blankets across the seats to preserve their new-ness.
I really want to add some nailhead somewhere on these..maybe the bottom part?
Thank goodness I had been pre-planning my grey sofa purchase for the last year plus... my accessories were sure to work! :)
And just because, here's a gratuitous puppy shot to round out the evening!
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