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08 March 2011

elegantly classic dreams

soon (and very soon) tyler and i will be moving out of our itsy, bitsy, teeny weeny one bedroom apartment.  we will all of a sudden have a 3-bedroom house to furnish. 

minor side note: the nice part (i guess) about living on base (as opposed to finding our own house/apartment to rent/buy) is that we already know where we're going to live!  sure, we don't have an address (and won't...for a while) but we have pictures of a potential house!  so...if you're interested in what our new house could look like, go ahead and check it out! We will be living in a development called "Wind Creek Village", and what really makes me want to cry catches my eyes is the miles of counter space in the kitchen:)

after a lot of shopping when i first moved here, and now a lot of online browsing, the moral of the story is that furniture, no matter what kind/category, is. not. cheap.  in fact, it's expensive. 
my mental list of the furniture that will have to be purchased is getting quite long.  one minor 'problem' is that while there is a great selection of both new furniture stores and clearance centers/craigslist choices here in houston, we do not want to move/store huge stuff like that (especially because now we have no place to put anything else)...and i've been coming up on the less-than awesome side for selection in our new 'small' town.  (wichita falls has around 100,00 people in it...a minor down-sizing than houston)  for example: the 100+ listings for a refrigerator in the few days here in houston is comparable to the 4 in the past month up in wichita falls.  just so you know what we're up against.

so far...i've got: (just on my list, mind you) our bedroom set, guest bedroom set (preferably queen), office furniture (desk, chair, bookshelves, etc), living room furniture (uh...everything...), bookshelves (i'd love to have 12 of these...give or take), a dining room table and of course...any wonderful decorating thing i can sweet-talk my hubby into...

a few weeks ago we were trying to decide what to do with a particularly sunny saturday.  furniture shopping in the 'ritzy' part of midtown seemed like the best option and in an effort to tempt my budget-savvy husband in the way of not only nice-looking but quality furniture, i suggested we start our search at pottery barn.  (sneaky, huh?) 

another side note:  since we will be moving alot in the next 20 years, there are two ways we could swing our furniture selection:  it is very probably that whatever furniture we own will get slightly banged up through the many moves and new homes.  so the options are to 1. not spend a lot of money get "less than great" quality furniture...that will likely have to be replaced 1/2 way through ty's career.  OR.  2.  buy nice, quality (ahem...expensive) furniture now and have it last us all 20 years until we're ready to settle down for good (and then we'll get new, non-banged stuff)


where was i?  oh yes.  pottery barn.  sigh.  we started here and i dare say we ended here as well.  we couldn't help ourselves.  from the moment we stepped in the store, we were taken into another world (think alice in wonderland...or stepping into a book and falling in).  the catalog (that i have been getting for years) had come to life.  we quickly walked through their bedroom section (and fell in love with a great storage bed) (shown here)...

we were able to stay mildly disinterested in the rest (but could have easily gotten carried away, of course) (okay...except for this awesome floor mirror that i can't seem to live without... (the adorable cabinet is not included) 

back to being disinterested. 

right.  and then. 

the quest for the perfect couch came to a screeching halt.  by the time we slumped into this couch's loving cushions, we were merely looking for an outlet to take a quick break.... to gather our dreamy, whimsical thoughts and try to reintroduce ourselves to each other, the poor couple about to move.  i'll show you the picture from the website, but you won't be convinced.  on the outside, it's a normal, drab tan-colored couch.  but on the inside, so much more.  not only would we be able to pick a pattern/color/style for this slip covered/upholstered selection, for a fraction of the cost, we would be able to purchase a new fabric (in say, five-ten years when we start acquiring new family members) to replace the couch that will still be great foundational shape.  it's a win-win.  here ya go.
we can pick not only the color of the fabric, but also the "grade", from twill to brushed canvas to suede. 

here comes the devastating part.  clearly, the price tag.  there was no way we could afford such a couch, no matter how long our list of "pros" got.  we walked out of the store reeling from our many thoughts and emotions, ranging anywhere from "oh well..." to "let's buy it now!" and finally, "we can find something else just like, only waaay cheaper"

sadly, i'm sure you know how this story ends.  so far.  we not owners of any new furniture, pottery barn or craigslist.  after leaving the store that day (trying to maneuver our dirty car through the lot filled with shiny bmw's, mercedes, volvos, porsches, cadillacs.....you get the picture), we vowed to forget our dream couch.  unfortunately, the sturdy, classic quality we saw in every piece from pottery barn was apparently unique to that store.  and unfortunately, as you know, pottery barn furniture is simply too expensive. 

we ventured through two more stores that day (one being ethan allen) and really...we were dumbstruck by the weird styles, cheap hardware and gaudy designs (see left).  anything "simple" was also disgusting stiff.  our 'wish list' for our couch is not complicated: comfy-enough for an afternoon nap, yet not so slouchy that would take a crane just to get off the couch.  the back of the couch must go to at least the middle of a person's back.  (nothing low--modernish for us).  also, we'd prefer not to have pillows as the back rest. (see right) too much to ask?  i guess so.  :) 

so our search continues.  currently we're trying to find a way to afford our pottery barn couch, without having to sell our car and other possessions...fortunately, we have a couple of months to really figure it out. :) 

thanks for stopping by for my extended version of our furniture saga.  if you have any tips on how to save money while buying quality furniture, please let me know!  and now i leave you with a few more dream selections from my BFF...



okay.  i'll stop.  while i realize this sounds like a huge commercial for pottery barn, please realize that no one has paid me to say these great things about this company.  :)  it is just so easy to recognize the quality and beauty in these handmade, american products.  please visit the website to see for yourself!  potterybarn.com 

okay.  and here is my vow to not stay away for so long next time.  :)  i also vow to finally do something that's worth blogging about.  perhaps this friday night's youth group lock-in will warrant a quality submission.  i'm putting my money on tyler falling asleep sometime around 2am.  ;) 

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