The most exciting (and stressful) part of her visit was picking out new living room furniture. The stuff I had was in pretty good shape but more suited for apartment living, and the size of the house dwarfed the furniture. Also, it was the first stuff I bought after college so it wasn't the nicest set...mostly just whatever I could find at Wal-Mart and carry home. :)
We spent the first three or four days checking out every furniture store in the area and trying to find a common ground between the styles each of us like (since they'll be spending a lot of time here, too). I had a green sectional (see pics below) and wanted to stick with a sectional, but mom wanted a couch and loveseat because that would "give me more options" to change up the living room if I wanted.
Comfort was a big deal since my butt and the couch go hand-in-hand at night, but for every piece I found comfortable, my mom's feet couldn't touch the ground (she's short enough in some states, I believe, to qualify for a free helper monkey). This may seem like a problem, but seeing her sit on all these couches and kick her feet in the air like a little kid was one of the highlights of my shopping experience. :)
Also there was the leather vs. microfiber debate. Mom wanted leather but it's twice as much, and it seemed that, in order for the couch to be comfortable, it had to be huge and bulky if it was leather. I dunno ... anyway, you can see that making us both happy was going to be a challenge.
Soooooo between us, we had gone to five different furniture stores by Wednesday and we were both frustrated. Although we'd found a lot of cute sets, nothing really jumped out at us.
On Wednesday we were both ready to scream when we walked into a furniture store with - no lie - 3-story-high pink and blue neon palm trees in the window. We found a set we both really liked right inside the door and were geeked until we learned it was fake leather. While my mom was talking to the sales guy I found a cute kitchen table and chairs. We weren't really looking for dining room stuff at this point but I called mom over to look at it in an attempt to get her away from the sales guy.
She actually loved it even though it's kind of funky and she's more of a traditional furniture person, so we set it aside. The store was only open for another 15 minutes but both loved the next couch/loveseat we looked at. It was leather, very comfortable (I can sit and not hurt, mom's feet touch the ground...well, sort of), and it was a good deal, so that went in the cart as well. We got a coffee table, two end tables and a sofa table to match, and called it a day.
Because we're smart (or crazy, depending on how you look at it), we went back at 6 a.m. on Black Friday to buy the stuff. Although 6 a.m. is way too early to be awake for any reason unless you're on your way to bed, we saved about $800 and also were able to get a mattress and box spring for the third bedroom and two lamps to boot.
Alright, I've rambled on long enough, here are the before/after pics. I didn't think my old stuff looked all that bad until the new things arrived! Why didn't y'all tell me? Yeesh.
No stuff
Old stuff
New stuff
Old stuff
New stuff
Here's a few other pictures from different angles, including Hova, who was pretty sketch about the whole leather couch idea at first but obviously warmed up to it pretty quickly. ;)
The chair in the corner, obviously, has to go. Just didn't have time to move it out before the delivery guys showed up with the furniture. :)
Oooh, I think she likes it. :)
In addition to all the new furniture, the guest bathroom got decorated and mom was able to get the beginning of her and dad's bedroom decorated to suit her fancy, so here are before and after pics of that stuff. :) There's still a million things to be done and the walls badly need stuff on them, but we've come a long way in two months!
The paint job in the second bedroom was a little less than desirable when we got the keys...ummm...dark green? Really?
Things were a lot better once the walls were painted.
Finally, a few decorations made things seem less empty.
Guest bathroom, after the creepy wallpaper got torn off (top), and then painted but empty (above).
Furnished! Or whatever it is you call it when you put colors and towels and stuff in a bathroom...
And finally, y'all HAVE to remember the kitchen pre-rip-the-jungle-paper-off (if not, below are a few ugly reminders...finally, a few decorations in there as well.
Holy hideous wallpaper, Batman!
I DID get to play on a ladder though, so that was fun. :)
Soooo that's all the updates I can handle for now. At this point, all of the common areas are the house are pretty well taken care of (besides the wall art) as well as the guest rooms, and now it's time to work on my wing of the house since, ya know, I'm the only one who actually lives here.
All the painting's done over there and my bedroom furniture is good to go, but the bathroom is giant and I'm having some difficulties figuring out how to decorate it. I've got some stuff to hang so we'll get that up and go from there.
Also, since I've decided not to have a roommate after all, I gave Mary Kay the third bedroom (where the twin bed is). Because we were going to set her up in the office before, the office is now free to be, well, an office. This is great because it gives me a place to put my old couch/kitchen table (I'm turning it into a desk). Also, because we painted that room green, it's also going to be my Michigan State room. :) I've got a few cool State posters to hang, along with two very important Tigers paintings, and am happy to have a place to hang them where people can actually see them! (they've been collecting dust in the garage).
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