As I have related here, I have designated our Florida home our “forever home.” Of course, at our age, that’s a bit premature but for the foreseeable future, which I hope is many years, Stoneybrook is it. Occasionally, we look at other homes closer to the beach or downtown Venice, but we always come home and say, “we love it here.”
In April, I began the redo. First, the grandkids room, then the guest room, then the office and now the “great” room….the living, dining, kitchen “open concept” at its finest, opening to the pool and the woods. The view of our little tropical paradise.
Got rid of the counter top dining set and replaced it with a white round table coastal style with six seagrass woven chairs. Check. Now to attack the living room. The white sofa had to go.
The great sofa hunt began on a Sunday afternoon. BH mentioned that Baer’s was having a big sale. That’s all I had to hear. I had my heart set on a leather power reclining sofa. Why? Because his daughter added a movie room in her basement and we had just been there and I fell in love with those movie chairs.
When we were on vacation in South Carolina, the local cinema had re-outfitted its theaters with those marvelous reclining chairs. We loved them so much, we went to see movies we had absolutely no intention of seeing just so we could recline in comfort.
I had visions of installing that kind of luxury in my own living space. A furniture store can be a bit overwhelming to me, but, at least, I had a germ of an idea. For about two hours, we amused ourselves with those recliner buttons seeking the one that was ‘it.’ And find it, we did. But, naturally, it is not in BH’s DNA to buy it. We needed to look around and see if we could find a better bargain online.
Back to Costco online. And, there it was. A savings of $400. BH wanted to pull the trigger. I agreed. Delivery was scheduled for the next week. I am over the moon! So excited! However, there was a catch. The sofa was boxed and weighed 340 pounds and they would only deliver it to the threshold of the front door.
Even BH was worried about the 340 pounds. How to get the box all the way into the living room, then assemble it. Hmmm….reading and following directions are not my strong suits, but he is much better than me. A neighbor was enlisted ….also in our senior category. But, we prevailed. An hour later, we had a power sofa.
I pushed the buttons on the left side. Nothing. I pushed the buttons on the right side. Nothing. The damn thing didn’t work. Not only that, it was the most uncomfortable sofa I had ever sat on. It was as comfortable as a stone bench.
BH called Costco and told them we didn’t want it. “You need to rebox it,” was the reply. The manufacturer would call in a few days to set up a pick up date. Sometimes, you just have to laugh. REBOX THIS THING? Ironically, we were thrilled the sofa had been delivered on recycling day so that box was long gone. He even called UPS who could send us a box but it wouldn’t be there for a week or more. Put a hold on that.
The manufacturer called a couple of days later, arranged a pick up day with a 12 hour window (8 am to 8 pm) and we were clear with them that it wasn’t boxed. “Just take apart the sofa and push it back to the front door.” Of course, we were a bit nervous that we’d push that monstrosity back to the front door and they wouldn’t take it because it wasn’t boxed.
Back to the drawing board. We needed a sofa. By this time, it was Labor Day weekend…furniture sales galore. It was a long day, strolling through furniture store after furniture store looking for a new power reclining sofa, taking pictures of our favorites. The last store we visited was Baer’s. And, there it was. The one I loved from the beginning. BH agreed. The best part of this deal is they moved it all the way into the house and would set it up. These are the little details I neglected to think about originally.
Meanwhile, we still had that monster in our house that we had to get rid of. However, they were true to their word. The pick up guys came, got that thing loaded up and out of our house in three minutes. And, now, our happy sofa has moved in and will be appreciated forever.
Why, I ever agreed to getting that sofa online I will never understand. Who buys a sofa without sitting on it?! One of my dumber moves. But, quite the saga.
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