Have You Hugged Your Sofa Today?

Thanks to the generosity of both my mother and my mother-in-law, I was recently able to purchase an entirely new livingroom set - and apparently I learned something from reading all of those designer magazines. My livingroom now has more furniture in it than it has ever had - and yet, finally feels wide open and beautiful. I admit it . . . I've been hugging my sofa every morning (but LOOK at those pillows! They're awful huggable!).



Of course, the delivery boy from American Furniture scared me half to death. He walked into my house, looked around my miniscule livingroom (my whole house is only 996 square feet), and said, "Now, you realize this is a BIG couch."

We measured. I knew we measured. But still, the butterflies began breeding in my stomach.

I watched as they brought the first piece in. They had to rip off all the plastic, remove the pillows and the cushions, and then take it half-way up my staircase and perform the advanced "hold the couch over your head and rotate it forward over a guardrail while praying that a) you don't drop the couch, b) you don't hit the stair guardrail, and c) you don't drop the couch on the guardrail, entertainment center, and other mover" maneuver. Once the couch was safely in the livingroom, it slid in beautifully against my back wall - a perfect fit!

"We're bringing in the second piece," the delivery boy said. Having learned their lesson, they stripped the plastic and pillows off before bringing the next piece in, but it wasn't until they completed the heinous task of getting it over my stair guardrail that I realized there was a problem.

"That looks awful big . . ." I thought, followed by, "It has two arms. Is a chaise lounge supposed to have two arms?" Then, "I think that's a couch. Another couch."

"Umm," I cleared my throat. "Is that a chaise lounge? I ordered a sectional, so it should be the couch and then a chaise lounge. I think they may have given you two couches."

I was suddenly the center of attention. Have you ever had the feeling that everyone is staring at you?

The main delivery boy found my invoice and carefully unfolded it. "Ah," he said. "We, umm . . . should have caught that."

No wonder he thought I was nuts! There was no way TWO eight-foot couches were going to fit in my livingroom!

Luckily we live fairly close to the warehouse, so they were able to run the second sofa back and bring me the proper piece of furniture - which, I might add, slipped into my bay window nook perfectly - making it a usable bay window. The cats have immediately adopted this platform as "theirs" - though I think they'll share it with me when I have a sewing project if I ask nicely.

HOORAY FOR NEW FURNITURE!