Assembly Required

So, we finally took the plunge and bought a new couch! Our old couch came from the Rooms to Go Outlet and was very poorly made. We bought it less than five years ago and already it was broken. The beam in the middle was split and so the center of the couch caved in. It was not comfortable.

Plus, several rounds of moving had been hard on it. Do you notice the wood in the bottom left corner? Yea. Not cool.

So, we have had our eye on a new sectional from IKEA for some time but were being responsible adults and waiting until we could save up for it. And, finally, the day arrived!

We took a trip to the store sure that it would fit in our car ... that was a stupid assumption. As we went down to get the boxes, it became evident that there were too many to fit. Facing a challenging situation, we decided to load up as much as possible, which Landon would take home  and unload while I waited on the curb with the remainder of the boxes.

Thankfully, it was a beautiful evening and only about 75 degrees. Plus, because it took about 30 minutes for Landon to make it back, I had a good amount of time to call my parents!

After we finally got everything home, it was time to put the couch together. I think I may have underestimated how long this would take. Have you ever put together a couch? Me, either. 

Here's the before.

And after a lot of this.

And two hours, we finally ended up with this.

So far, we love it! It's very comfortable. And, Landon and I can each spread out no problem. Plus, five days later, we learned how great it is to be able to take off the cushions for cleaning, since Bug decided to throw up on it. Yep. But, our amazing dry cleaner was able to get the stain out with no problem (which is good since Bug did it again a few days later ... not sure what is going on with him or why he can't just throw up on the floor. Ugh.).

While I'm sure some of you are thinking, "A couch you put together yourself can't be any more well made than your last couch," well,  the great thing about this couch is it actually has a 10-year warranty. I'll keep you up to date on how it holds up.

One Small Step

I was privileged to have a long, three-day weekend, and I stayed busy the entire time. One of the many things I did was take the time to get a small step closer to having a finished dining room table.

Thanks to my friend and co-worker, Susan, I was able to sand the table down with her borrowed electric sander, which is officially my new favorite tool. It made this job so much better.

The table had quite a few scratches and dents, so it took some work, but after a about an hour and a lot of sawdust, I finally have a sanded table that's ready to be painted! 

Bedroom Switcheroo

I decided to change up my bedroom this weekend. When I originally told Landon this, he gave me one of those looks. You know the kind ...

See, when we first looked at our house, the previous owners had their bed up against the window. When we officially gained the keys and began moving things in, I was pretty set on not having it that way. I wanted something different, but because of the shape of the room and the various doors, there was only one other option. So this is what we settled on.

This is taken from the doorway. The door in the back is my side of the Jack-and-Jill bathroom.

This angle is taken standing in front of Landon's side of the bathroom.

Well, we lived with this configuration for five months before I decided maybe the bed in front of the window was the way to go! When I told Landon this, he asked how I thought I was going to move our big, heavy furniture. After reading a couple of other blogs, I realized the furniture sliders were the way to go.

I had my doubts. Matter of fact, after we put sliders under all four posts of the bed, I looked at Landon and said, "Do you think this is going to be as easy as they say it is?" His reply? "No." I felt the same, but to my surprise, that bed slid right across the floor with ease. I'm officially sold on sliders! 

Here is what the room looks like now:

The pictures just don't do it justice (still need to work on my photography skills with all my free time ... ha!). It actually really opens up the room. Plus, I now have a great empty wall to hang up my pictures and perhaps some new art.

Best Purchase of the Weekend

I must show off the best purchase I made this weekend ...

That's right - furniture sliders. These aren't the exact ones I bought. I found some at Wal-mart that work great.

The reason I made this purchase was because I decided to change up the dynamics of one of my rooms. These sliders were lifesavers! I couldn't believe how great they worked. I'll have a post tomorrow about the my newly reconfigured room, but in the meantime, if you are looking to move around your furniture, be sure to get some of these. They will be your new best friends!

Yard Sale Project

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I had such a busy weekend and the week started off with a bang, too. 

Per my post last week, you are probably wondering if I got around to painting anything this past weekend (and if you aren't wondering, well, I'm still going to tell you!) ...

I did spend much of Saturday tackling a small project. You know that I bought a table on Craig's List and am planning on completely redoing it. It's an ambitious goal, but one I'm very excited about. Still, I made that goal having really never painted or refinished any wooden furniture. So, I thought Saturday was a good time to test my skills on a smaller piece of furniture.

Back before Christmas, I had a Saturday early morning choir practice. I promised Landon I'd pick up lunch on my way home, but little did he know I would bring home a little more. Right next to the Jimmy John's restaurant, there just happened to be a yard sale. So, I walked over intending to look at a leather footstool, which ended up not being in the best shape. But, then I happened upon a little table that I thought would be just perfect for my guest room night stand. 

 

It's simple but with a little paint, I thought it could look great. Being at the end of the yard sale, the women were pretty ready to get rid of things. I offered $5, but after realizing I only had $2 and some change in cash, they were gracious enough to take just that! I figure for $2 something, it was a really good deal.

Currently, I'm using a dresser beside the bed, which you can see in this post, but it's doesn't work as a bedside table because it's too tall. This table should be perfect.

So, I did paint it this weekend, but unfortunately, I didn't get to finish the process, so I don't yet have a pic! But, that will be the first thing I do Saturday morning (or one night if I can get home from work before dark) so I'll have a post all about the process with pics soon!

The good news is, the process wasn't difficult, so it gave me hope that I can indeed tackle the dining room table soon!

Have you ever painted a piece of furniture? Any good tips?