Friday night I'd gotten the addresses, phone numbers, and store hours for a handful of furniture stores. Half were in Williamsburg, the other half in Newport News. Almost all of them opened between 9 and 10 in the morning, and closed at 6 in the evening. None of them were open on Sunday.
So Saturday morning, Matt and I drove to the closest one, the Heilig Meyers just down the street from us. We were the only ones in the store apart from three or four salesladies, who spent most of the time sitting in a little group near the front of the store gossiping. We actually preferred this, because the alternative was for "our" saleslady to swoop down on us just as we were discussing the relative merits of any particular item.
"Well, it's comfortable enough, but I don't think-"
swoop "So, how do you like it?"
Repeat about ten times. She insisted after I told her I didn't like leather furniture that I at least sit on the leather sofa. As expected the leather felt clammy against my skin. "Oh, but it'll warm up in seconds!" she chirped. Matt, thank heavens, remembered that we had a cat, thereby putting leather furniture out of the question.
She insisted that we try out a sofa that had reclining seats on the ends. Now, I love to have my feet up, and this couch was made to fit against a wall - the reclining seats slid forward instead of back. But they'd already told us that as far as fabric went, what we saw was what we got. And I didn't care much for the fabric on this couch.
They did have a hutch/china cabinet that Matt and I both really liked - it had an attractive but simple shape, a light finish on the wood will fit (if not exactly match) our dining room set, and the top showcase section had glass doors, a mirror back, and a light built in for extra bragging. And best of all, it was on sale for less than half what I thought I was going to have to pay for something similar. We'll probably go back this week and get it. The only question is how much they'll charge to deliver it. (Though Matt and I both agreed that if it was too much, we'd just get my dad to help us.)
The second store was almost all the way up at the other end of town, near where Matt works. We'd been mocking the name of the place - Brand Name Sofa Outlet. No, I'm not substituting "Brand Name" for an actual company name. That was the name of the store. We were supposed to be meeting Braz and Kris for lunch, so we didn't have a lot of time to look around, but we liked what we saw: When we went in, a woman looked up from her work, smiled, and asked if we'd been in there before. "Well," she told us when we admitted we hadn't, "all the pieces in here can be covered with any of these fabrics." (the walls of the place were hung with hundreds and hundreds of fabric swatches) "That takes six or seven weeks. Delivery is free."
We looked around a bit. The prices on the couches and chairs were a little pricier than the ones at Heilig Meyers, but not astonishingly so. And we wouldn't have to settle for something we didn't absolutely love. We are definitely going back to look more carefully. Probably next weekend.
Then we met Braz and Kris at their house for a lunch of sandwiches, and drove down to Newport News to see Space Cowboys. I enjoyed it. Matt and Braz were a little irritated that the "bad guys" didn't really get their comeuppances, but for me, that wasn't the focus of the movie. As far as I was concerned, the movie could have ended when the shuttle lifted off and the "cowboys" finally got to go into space. It was predictable in places, but I thought it was a fun summer movie.
After the movie, Braz and Kris went home while Matt and I tackled the furniture stores in Newport News. One of them sold only unfinished wooden furniture. They didn't have any hutches we liked better than the one at Heilig Meyers, and of course, they didn't have any sofas. The second place was this hole-in-the-wall discount store that had less flexibility and selection than we'd seen yet.
I thought the last place, Grand Furniture, had promise. It had a huge showroom, lots of options, and all the couches had little rings of fabric swatches to choose from. But...
The couch we liked best came in a floral design that would've been very attractive on throw pillows, but which was too busy for a whole couch. The chair that matched it was dark blue with gold stripes, and was actually very pretty. We asked a saleslady if it would be possible to have the whole set done in the fabric from the chair. Her answer was a flat "No."
As we were leaving, she asked another salesman to confirm it. He hedged and hemmed and hawed and told us it was the fault of the manufacturer.
We didn't care whose fault it was; we weren't going to buy the sofa with that ugly floral on it. An older saleman, or possibly the manager, came up at that point and with a piercing glare at the salesman, said they would call the company and check on it, and call us back today. I don't have a lot of hope.
Even if they are willing to do it, I think we'll just be going back to the Brand Name Sofa Outlet anyway. As Matt said to me later, "You're a furniture store! There's one of you every three blocks! Bend over a little!"
Saturday night I wrapped up my game. I've got more planned, but I'm not sure we'll ever go back to it. The players are alternating between acting bored and mocking my plot as a spin-off on Lord of the Rings (which is rich, given that the entire world of AD&D is a spin-off on Lord of the Rings) and I'm just not sure how much more any of us really want. The hysterical thing is, they'll guess what my "surprise" twists are, but completely miss what I thought were obvious clues. Maybe I'm just not cut out to GM.
Which is fine. Once we're done with K.T.'s current Heroes plot, Matt will be running 7th Sea, and I'm really looking forward to that.
Sunday was a little slower. Matt and I did the laundry and puttered around the house. We met Braz and Kris for ice cream in the afternoon - Kris and I start our diets today, so we'd wanted a "last fling," as it were. Kris and I had dinner together and watched a video at our house while Matt and Braz went to play Ultimate Frisbee with some friends from work. It was a fun evening, but not exciting enough to write about.
(Yeah, I know. Like shopping for furniture is exciting enough to write about.)
So. One of the things I did at work Friday was to put together a script for polls. The results display isn't fancy at the moment, but I'd appreciate it if you'd vote on this one...
Word of the Day: lotusland - a place inducing contentment especially by offering an idyllic living situation; a state or an ideal marking contentment often achieved through self-indulgence
Matt likes to tease me about the furniture hunt. He seems to feel that if I can get a hutch and a new living room set, I'll be living in my own personal lotusland. I can't figure out if he really doesn't understand the appeal of nice furniture, or if he's teasing me just to tease.
In most cases, it wouldn't bother me. He teases me about my Bath & Body Works addiction, and I smile and go right on buying scented lotion and soap. But I really want him to understand this. I want to feel not only comfortable with our house and furniture, but proud of it. I'm just not sure how to communicate that to him without sounding like a complete dork.
- River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Current Projects:
- nothing much
Diet Progress: 0 lbs lost (day 1)
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