Yesterday I woke up to a husband cleaning the bathrooms.
Today I am playing on the computer while he produces yummy Mexican smells in the kitchen.
Ammon is napping. Logan is reading. And Madison and Grant are playing together.
Life is good.
And after 10 years of being married I think I am actually going to buy some living room furniture.
You see, before we got married our Chinese teacher gave us this old worn out sleeper-sofa. It was a great blessing and served us very well for many years. Every time we move we've promised ourselves that we were NOT going to take that heavy thing with us. And every time we moved we decided that we were not in a good position to buy something different. Our careful frugality is what has allowed us to survive over the past few years, and that dear sleeper sofa moved with us to Provo, Ohio, and Garland, Texas. Ironically, on our shortest move ever--a mere 30 miles away--we called a friend over and took that sleeper sofa over to the tree-lawn and said goodbye.
I don't know why I decided that it was time to move on. . .while financially we are certainly doing better than we were a year ago, I know it will be some time before I feel like we are in the safe zone. But I just decided to be spontaneous and risk-taking and splurge and buy some furniture. Not exactly splurge. . . I am waiting on two expected checks to use for my budget, but it's still uncharacteristic of me to not use that money for something more responsible.
You may wonder why I am telling you all of this. It is two-fold.
First, sometimes I think about the things we have gone without--let me make it clear that we have never NEEDED anything. We have always been blessed to have what we need and much, much more. Through school and out, Joe and I have been able to provide what we needed to take care of our family. But we have a small grocery budget, I buy all of our clothes on clearance, we have a 13-inch tv (that was given to us), we do not pay for any tv services, and much of what we have is second hand (thanks Craigslist!). But we have four beautiful children, and we have decided that it is much more important to have a family and for me to be at home with them than for me to be out making money, or spending our money on fancy things like living room furniture. I am grateful for our family and wouldn't trade them for all the fancy furniture in the world. And over the years we have learned how to be frugal and responsible with our money, which I believe has been and will continue to be a great blessing to our family. But I am excited for a living room set.*
And second, I think we are going to go with leather furniture. I do not really love leather, and I never thought I would own leather. Upholstered furniture looks more inviting and comfy and I like it better. But. . . because we have four kids, I also know to expect throw-up and urine and food and all kinds of lovely stuff to get on that furniture. Not to mention jumping. Lots of jumping. (See? Even you are now thinking that the McGregors definitely need to get leather if you are ever going to go to their house.) Leather just seems like the most practical thing to do. So I've narrowed the choices down to two. . . they are both nice and fine, but I can't decide which one to do. If you have an opinion about leather furniture, and which one you like better, please share!
*Now before I go offending people, I'm not saying that everyone should make the same decisions we have, only that it was the right thing for us. And to those of you with nice furniture--I've been trying to not be envious! ;o)
12 comments:
Number One Rule: Only buy a couch where all the cushions are attached! If they can be removed, you can guarantee that when your children are awake, they will never be on the actual couch, but strewn about your living room....like mine right now. Lesson learned the hard way.
Is there any way you can try sitting on both sets?? I think that will help you decide more than anything else. Both sets look wonderful!
You are very blessed to have 4 adorable children.
Miss you!
i am excited for you. We are a lot like you guys with furniture. i so want something nice. a dining room table, nice couches, a headboard for our bed...something. AND we always say "we need to get new couches" and we told ourselves we were going to throw our couches out before we came to japan. nope. we said the same thing before we left cleveland. haha! they came. WE got both couches for 130 bucks...garage sale items. Maybe in a couple years we will get some that don't look so old with nasty dirty stain marks all over them. :) and our dining room table...sheesh...that's a different story. let's just say, i tried to paint it to make it look MORE like something i want. i ruined it. its a long story. so now we have a dining room table that looks worse than before! hahaha! It's great to be frugal with money! good for you guys! it always pays off! :)
i definitely prefer the first set, based solely on appearance. you'll love leather. we have a leather couch and i've loved it-it looks brand new and is now six years old! and it's ikea, so if not-so-high-quality leather is this great i can only imagine what better leather would be like. we don't have very much furniture (or anything else for that matter), so i know the boat you are in. it's nice to not have debt just to pay for "stuff," but at the same time sometimes i just want to be irresponsible and blow some cash on SOMETHING! everytime people come to my house they ask if we just moved in or if we have stuff in storage. HA. nope, we just don't have anything. BUT we don't have debt, either! (other than student loans, of course. law school wasn't free ;)
might i add that we have one small dresser in our house of four people! i have used a rubbermaid three-drawer thing for six years now. shoot me. i am so over it. a dresser will definitely be the first thing i run to buy when i have money burning a hole in my pocket.
I'm so excited for you! I love our leather couches, they have survived our 4 kids with all they're jumping and fluids:) I agree that attached cushions would be a very wise choice. Not only for the removal factor, but for all the junk that falls down in them. I prefer the second picture based on looks, but your the one who will be living with them so get what you like best. Good luck, I miis you like crazy!
Go with the comfort. Whichever you could see yourself taking a nap on!
If you are dead set on Leather we have a microfiber couch that we got right after we got married. We love it! After 6 years it still looks great and its really easy to clean, just wipe with a wet rag. Its held up through 2 kids and 3 moves. We love it and its a little less then leather.As for the two leather options I like #2 better. I think it just looks nicer? Good luck!
*aren't*
The second because i suspect those button wrinkles will trap ickys and be hard to clean and that will drive the clean jen I know crazy... I can see you now with a pencil wrapped in a clorox cloth trying to get the grit out of those cracks...
we have one very, very similar to the 2nd picture and I have not regretted buying the set once! it is sturdy, and durable for all the reasons you mentioned plus some! you are a very wise woman, I wish (as I do everytime I read your blog) that I lived closer to you and your love, patience and wisdom could hopefully rub off on me! good luck on your decision
The first one looks more comfy, but the second one looks fantastic as well. We are like you, the only furniture in our home that we purchased is our living room couch and tables. Everything else was picked up off the street or given to us. We feel very blessed.
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