A Tale of Two Settees

Before.... (photo taken at our yard sale, where it didn't sell)

We bought our first sofa as newlyweds in Maryland. After sitting on boxes for a few weeks we happened upon a sofa in the clearance section at Hechts (now Macy's) at Prince Georges Ghetto Plaza.  I wanted the $500 fancy sofa, but settled for the Bauhaus special - $199 minus a 10% discount. Seemed like a lot of money then, but now I know it was a steal. Eight years, two kids, plenty of spit up, marker, milk and more later, it wasn't looking so hot. Not terrible, actually, but the edges were worn out and the cushions were saggy.

So we started shopping. Remember this post? I guess we shopped over a year, but most actively this summer. We shopped low (Family Discount Furniture and Unclaimed Freight), and high (Crate & Barrel, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams). And in between (had to go back to Bob's for the free ice cream & cookies). It was hard to find what I liked, especially since I didn't know all the lingo exactly. Jerry was hoping for brown leather, but while I think that look is classic, its a little blah. Luckily we could usually agree on shapes of sofas, and the need for something comfortable and durable, most of all. I cringed at the lack of quality (and taste) at the low end shops, and at the price tag at the high end shops. But I'd rather not buy a new sofa in two years, so we were leaning towards a high end sofa.
Along comes Craigslist. (It was always there, actually).  I started searching for a second hand Crate & Barrell "Axis" sofa we fell in love with at the store. There was one in Connecticut. There was a loveseat version. I watched  and searched for a few weeks. Then one day, I broadened my search to another Craigslist (there are MANY around NYC), and saw a post for a FREE Crate & Barrell sofa. ha ha ha.  I blinked.  I clicked. I read. It really said that. "One year old... non-smoking home...donate to charity or someone in need".   Must be a scam.  But I've handled my share of CL scammers (virtually), so I went ahead and responded. It wasn't the same model sofa we wanted, but it was, as I said, FREE.  Within 10 minutes I got a call from the owner. Within a few hours I called to hire movers, but the price was not right.  Not when Jerry could do it himself, anyhow.  We were van-sitting, so my man had a van and called a benevolent buddy to help lift the 230 lb. sleeper sofa.  It was a 3 hour round-trip, but there was no scam about it. He came home with a beautiful new-to-us Crate & Barrel "Cameron" sleeper sofa.  Sigh. I love him. And our new sofa is great too!
Lest you believe that some guys have all the luck, I must profess that I have a good explanation for our $2000 blessing. As my African friends say, God is good!  We've opened our home to a young woman needing a place to stay for 8 weeks this summer and, I feel like this is our payment. I love how karma goes.

After!