Cabin Fever

OK, so we were itching to keep our home improvements going... What better way to treat a bout of cabin fever than to go look at furniture! Except...

Come summertime, we planned on updating our living room furniture -- especially the sectional sofa. Everything is in decent shape, but the cotton twill slipcovers always look rumpled no matter how carefully you smooth them and they collect pet hair like crazy! I mean, we know that a dog and two cats shed hair. Everywhere. But, must it be so hard to clean up?! We think not!

Anyways, we figured we'd cure our mid-winter restlessness by starting the search for our new living room set. Little did we know that we'd find wonderful stuff at our first stop and it would be on sale! We were doomed...

So, enjoy the photos! We LOVE our new living room! ESPECIALLY the microfiber sofas -- of course they'll end up with pet hair on them, but it comes right off! The dense weave of the fibers doesn't let the hair get caught, it just sits on top waiting for a lint brush or light vacuum to come along. Worth every penny!

The delivery guys from Raymour & Flanigan were awesome -- so cheerful even though it's cold and raining buckets out today. And, the company has a 4- or 5-year protection plan (can't remember which), so that if it get stained or rips you just call them and they'll come fix it or replace it! Rock on!

[Just an aside... Since baseball was on hiatus all winter, Cath and I were essentially hooked on DIY and HGTV. There's this one show called "Find Your Style" in which the designer helps challenged folks determine their style and then decorate a problem room with it. The very first time we saw this show, we were relieved, because we don't have this problem at all! We know our style -- it's "Coastal Modern," wouldn't you agree?!]

In case you're wondering what we did with our old furniture, Cath called around to a few charities and one called us back right away -- Albany Community Action Partnership (http://www.acoi.com). They help people with immediate need -- fire loss, escaping domestic violence, etc. Their client left Florida with just a suitcase. The only way the judge would let her get her daughters out of foster care? Get a furnished apartment.

When Cath got home from work, about 5 hours or so after they called, they were at our house ready to pick up the furniture. Here's one of the countless reasons why I love my girl... She gave them the sectional, both end tables, the coffee table, an accent table, the media cabinet, two bookshelves, a TV, a complete set of dishes (the ones that matched our old kitchen), linens, towels ... anything she could think of!

What a beautiful woman!

P.S. The ottomans/coffee table come next week!