Yay, Furniture!

I have already shared the adventure that led me to my wonderful china hutch. Not only do I love my hutch, so does Sophia. That shelf is hers, and anything that I've attempted to put there has been unceremoniously removed.

Well, that hutch was the start of it all. I managed for quite a while without real furniture, but once I had that hutch, I got itchy. Suddenly I cared about things I didn't have. I've been rather haphazardly meandering through furniture stores for a couple of years now. The things I found that I liked the best were in Nashville. *sigh* That figures, doesn't it?

Then I went home for Thanksgiving. A store was going under that I used to spend a fair bit of time in - they started as a quilting store and then branched into interior design. I quilt, and I have gotten quite a bit of fabric there over the years. I happen to have a backlog of quilting to do and I'm in need of fabric. At the time, all fabric was being advertised as being 40% off so I went in to root around. I walked into the store and, just like with the hutch, a light shone down and a choir sang and I've mentioned my imagination before, right? Anywho, there was a really cool dresser sitting right inside the door. I did not need a dresser. I need a couch, a chair, something to sit on for crying out loud.

So, I called my mom and told her that I needed her to come talk me out of this dresser. A few minutes later, she comes in, sees the dresser and starts 'oohing' and 'aahing' over it. Ma, talk me out of it remember? The salesman oozed over and said that no reasonable offer was being refused. Mom, in the meantime, noticed the mirror attached to it, and started cooing over it. (My mirror is different that the one in the picture. Mine's prettier.) The salesman went on and on about how it was a Vaughan-Bassett and solid wood and heirloom quality and so on and so forth. So my mother, the strong one, the one here to convince me that I do not need a dresser, looks over at the salesman and says, "She'll give you $900 for the mirror and the dresser." Um. Wait a minute. The long and the short of it is that my mother ended up talking me into a dresser/mirror. It's beautiful, but it's going into my craft room to hold art supplies. Right now, it's living in a storage unit in Ohio.

While I was in line to buy my dresser, I overheard someone saying that there would be a final auction to dispose of all inventory on December 29. Coolness! I was planning on being home for Christmas all that week!

First thing that morning (okay, well, not first thing - I had a dentist's appointment first), I arrived at the store. It was a grey, cold, misty day but I still had to make my own parking across the street from the store. There was a food vendor set up out front (with very yummy fries, I might add) and the whole atmosphere was like a party. I had mixed feelings - I like the lady who ran the store, so I felt bad for her, but I was excited over the idea of furniture. So I wandered around and got an idea of what they had. I even made a list of what I wanted and how high I was willing to go. Then, of course, I caught auction fever and all that went out the window - but I should get credit for trying, right?

Oh goodness, it was a very good day. I had so much fun. And by the time I was done (stayed 'till the bitter end, too), I had quite a haul. Now, all I need for my apartment is... a couch and a chair. *sigh* But, here's a list of my new furniture:

• 4 drawer locking file cabinet (for Dad, for his manuals and such that live in the garage)
• Cherry end table (okay, technically it's a bedside table)
• Cherry coffee table (huge, but really pretty)
• Console/hallway table with matching mirror
• Sweater Chest (matches both the previously mentioned dresser and the dining table - which works 'cause it's going in the dining area to supplement my palty kitchen storage)
• Dining room table with 4 chairs
• Red oak mission entertainment center (The kind meant, I think, for a bedroom 'cause there's room for the TV in the top and bins underneath, but my VHS collection will fit quite well.)
• Blonde oak dining room dresser thing with wine rack (which will look wonderful in my brother's kitchen)
• Pale maple butcher-block table with leaf that is perfect for my sewing machine
• Cute little table with a lamp built in
• Two rugs - a smaller cream floral rug and a huge area rug with nifty birds around the edges
• Two pictures - the one I wanted, which was a pretty daisy and this other hideous picture with a ballerina frog holding a teddy bear. (The frog went with my brother to a friend of his with a thing for frogs.)
• A shelf of glassware including 2 pretty glasses, a wine bottle (o-O), and the really nifty large glass ginger jar thing that was what I wanted
• Four boxes of really ugly Christmas ornaments
• Seems like I'm forgetting something, but can't think of anything else

The really ugly Christmas ornaments were the first, auction fever-crazed thing I won. After that, I simmered down and mostly kept to the list. Most of this is currently living in the storage unit with the dresser. Not bad for around $2200 total, IMHO.

Then, Ikea had a sale and I picked up 6 bookcases. As far as my craft room, a friend gave me a dresser, which is now loaded with office and art supplies. I also won an auction at work and have a four drawer metal filing cabinet for my important papers, and a four drawer lateral filing cabinet that is perfect for all my needlework charts and patterns.

Right now, my apartment is in total chaos while I go through boxes, organize everything, and find places for things to live. But I'm getting there. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I still need to get a lot of stuff, but for the most part, I know what I want and where to get it.

Still to get:

• Couch (okay, no real clue here, but I'm looking)
• Chair (the one I want is expensive so this may have to wait)
• Baker's Rack (I have a plan...)
• Leaning bookcase
• 3 corner bookcases
• Some sort of cabinet for my plant stuff
• Corner display unit (or cat tree, haven't decided)
• Davenport (desk, not sofa)
• Lowboy
• Plant stand (I don't think I can buy the one I want anymore, so I may have to build it.)
• Possibly a couple more bookcases

All things considered, it's not that much. Really. I know exactly where everything is going to go, it's just a matter of getting there.

My first step had to be bookcases, 'cause I had a HUGE honkin' pile of boxes of books taking up a significant portion of my floor. I have gone through all those boxes and sorted the books into groups. I have two bookcases put together. Now I need to move the one bookcase into position and anchor it to the wall. Once I get it filled, I'll have enough room to assemble another bookcase. Then I really need at least one corner unit. This should keep me out of mischief for a while. I can't wait for it to be done! It'll look like someone lives there for a change.