We've been hoping to replace "Big Brown," our aging sectional, for a while now. The photo below shows it in its better days, but believe me: IT NEEDED TO GO.
The pillows were all destroyed, and the arms were black with grime. Now that I think about it, that picture might be like six years old, because that was two ottomans ago. And we knew where all of our Wii remotes were. AND were charging them. #goodolddays
Anyway, a few months ago I started seriously shopping for a new couch and ottoman. One Saturday, Amelia and I took off for parts unknown (we literally went out of town) and shopped for seven hours. HAVE MERCY.
I knew I wanted a couch with pillows that stayed put (attached back). At our first stop, TD's Fine Furniture in Jasper, Ala., the sales woman was great, but none of their attached-back couches were available as custom-order pieces -- which meant that I could only get them in the colors they were shown in on the showroom floor. Read: brown or red.
I wanted grey, and I was firm on that point. I've had enough brown to last me a lifetime, I think. And the only custom-order couch I liked didn't have attached-back cushions. She tried to convince me that my kids wouldn't take these cushions off and strew them all over my house, but YOU'RE SMOKING CRACK, LADY.
For the record, if I HAD gone with that couch -- the one with the "molded cushions that they won't throw on the floor" -- I would have gone with these fabrics for the couch (solid) and ottoman (print):
From TD's, we went on to a smaller store up the road, but they didn't even have anything worth photographing. Then we came back down to Hoover (my hometown!) and hit several stores on Highway 150.
I found several potential options at Bassett, all of which -- again -- you have to picture in kind of a charcoal or slate grey in your mind. Also, no chaise.
The one above? That grey one? That was actually my top choice, but with the rear cushions shown below, more of the traditional shape instead of the square edges. They're the same couch at Bassett, just one is a sectional and one isn't. They can make them with either pillow shape, as it turns out.
Amelia's and my last stop that day was LaZboy, where this was the main contender in their store. You REALLY have to use your imagination on this one. It was really, really comfortable, and the LaZboy recliner that our wedding party gave us as a wedding gift is still in great shape 19 years later, so we felt good about their quality and durability. But I stood there in the store thinking, "WHY THE COLOR OF BABY POOP?" It was literally like tweed baby poop.
Now I don't have vision when it comes to most things, but I've kind of developed a small sense of design over the last several years. My own style has really evolved, I know what I like and don't like, I'm aware of trends and classic looks, and I don't feel like I need to consult a designer to get it right anymore. I'm not going into BUSINESS or anything, but I'm just saying I can buy a couch on my own.
A couple of weeks later, I got Grayson to come out with me to sit on the final five options at Bassett and LaZboy. (He got to help make the final decision once I'd narrowed it down. I CAN BE A BENEVOLENT RULER WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT, INTERNET.)
He ended up choosing the baby puke couch at LaZboy, so I got to work looking at fabrics as quickly as possible to get That Color out of my head. I also walked around the store to see if I could find another ottoman option ... that big cube wasn't doing it for me.
I found an ottoman I liked better, I chose fabrics for the couch, ottoman and accent pillows, and we ordered it all that night. They delivered it a couple of weeks ago, and we're really happy with it so far!
Now obviously if you've been reading for a long time, you know that I've made a lot of other changes in this room over the past few years, so it's not like the COUCH made all of the difference. But it makes a big difference to our butts. And it's just more in line with my aesthetic.
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