Saturday, July 14, 2012

Furniture Reconnaissance

My next big project will be renovation of my kitchen. In conjunction with this will be redecoration of my dining room and living room, as all the rooms are connected. I want a slightly different color scheme and some very different furniture.  These pieces need to go:
cheap table and chairs - great for crafts but not very stylish
sofa is boring and too big
bat stays :) -- chair goes

I don't really like the sofa or the chair. My living room furniture shopping experience was a reminder that every time I do something because it's what I'm "supposed" to do, I regret it. I bought a sofa and a chair because that's what a living room is supposed to have. And I bought them new from a "big box" chain store, like everyone does.

begin rant
The Denver area boasts two enormous furniture chains - Furniture Row and American Furniture Warehouse. They have thousands of square feet and hundreds of options. You're guaranteed to find what you're looking for... as long as you're looking for an overstuffed sofa in a color named after a food or beverage - truffle, chocolate, fudge, wheat, oyster, caramel, espresso, cocoa, mocha, malt. :P
I know it's smart to choose a neutral color sofa, but does EVERYTHING have to be brown or beige? How about black, the most basic color there is? How can it be that neither store offers a single black fabric sofa?
end rant

Shopping options have improved a bit. AFW seem to have added a few grey sofas, and Denver's IKEA is now open (the closest one had been Salt Lake City, 500+ miles away). Better yet, I've lived here long enough to search out the used furniture stores.

Today I drove to Wheat Ridge, a Denver suburb which has several antiques/used furniture stores along a three-mile stretch of road.

View used furniture stores in a larger map

Definitely worth the trip. I saw several promising pieces, such as a pair of Victorian style chairs similar to this
source

And a loveseat similar to this but somewhat larger ;)
source

Alas, the sun was blazing and the temperature was 95 degrees, and I was wilted and irritable by the third store. I will make another trip when the weather is more tolerable. Of course, I'll have to figure out a way to get the furniture home...

25 comments:

  1. My brother's house is all beige. It makes me uncomfortable.

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    1. Indeed. An all-beige room is too much like a sensory deprivation chamber.

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  2. Ah, good descision! I'm sure you will find something comfortable and fitting.

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    1. Thanks. It may take some time to find the right pieces, but it will be fun to look around for a while. Getting them home will be the challenge!

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  3. I know the feeling about finding a couch etc. It took me months to find a sofa that was black and that I liked.
    Love the bat pillow on your chair - did you make it yourself?

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    1. I bought the bat pillow at Target last Halloween season.

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  4. Like the bat in the couch.. :) Love it.

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  5. Awww bat pillow!!! So cute ^-^ I love antique furniture but I'm always weary about purchasing a piece. I find it's usually because they're uncomfortable, they smell, or they have bed bugs X( The last piece I did buy was an antique dresser and no amount of anything could get the smell of musty attic out of it :( I look forward to seeing you new pieces!

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    1. I don't worry about wood furniture because I can scrub and paint it. But I am wary of used upholstered pieces. Any sofa I buy would probably need to be reupholstered, so all the potentially bug-containing fabric and stuffing would be replaced.

      When I lived in hot, humid Georgia, I would never consider buying a used sofa. But here in Colorado, it's very dry and the winters are freezing, so mold and bugs don't seem to be much of an issue.

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  6. Finding old, vintage or antique furniture is so much better than new stuff most of the time. Remember that you can re-cover stuff too, if it's not in a color/fabric you like. There's even fabric spray paint out there that's easier to do, but looks really good.

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    1. Yes, I definitely prefer secondhand furniture most of the time. It's less expensive but also more interesting. I will probably end up reupholstering whatever I buy; whether I do it myself or have it done professionally will depend on the complexity. :)

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  7. Love the batty, target has such great finds around Halloween time. Good luck on your search for furniture, cost plus-world market has some awesome couches right now including a grey velvet one that I recently fell in love with!

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    1. Thanks! Target is great for Halloween, though their themes vary from year to year. I wasn't super excited about last year's themes, mostly monsters and skulls. With the popularity of owls lately, I'm hoping they'll incorporate an owl theme this year. And bats are always good for me. :)

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  8. How exciting! I hope you find something perfect. I love your analogy for the couches at the big box stores. Booorrr-ing. I'm sure you'll find something. Can't wait to see pics.

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    1. When it comes to couches at big box stores, the amount of sameness is staggering. :P

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  9. The Autumn issue of Vintage Style magazine shows an old chair, similar to the one you're thinking of, that was painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint and then stenciled. It looks really good, although I'm not quite sure what painted upholstery would feel like to sit on! ;o)

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    1. Yeah, I came across a picture of a similar chair that had been stenciled. No doubt it would be a fabulous "conversation piece" chair, but I'm too practical to have a chair that can't be used as a chair. ;) Fabric paint might be the solution?

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  10. My home is just the same as TanteFledermaus describes hers; all beige and drearily bland... the only thing setting my home aside is the amount of mounted weaponry on the wall... but you know, that only goes so far.

    On the one hand, we did recently move in; so life may yet gothify for me in this home!

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    1. There is one advantage to a beige house - it's like a blank slate. Happy gothifying! :)

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  11. Lol! Such an entertaining rant, and SO TRUE. Mr. Kitty bought a black leather overstuffed couch shortly after we started dating, to my great horror. Sure, it was black, but... It didn't last long after we got our house. My rule is, "If it isn't antique, it had better LOOK antique!"

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    1. Men tend to have different couch criteria, that's for sure. My then-boyfriend went around the furniture stores plopping down on the couches, making sure they were long enough to lie down and take a nap on. He might as well have tested their buoyancy... I nap on my couch as often as I use it as a flotation device. :P

      The modern overstuffed style is just too casual for my taste. I want something a bit dressier; more parlor, less den.

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  12. I have a futon couch with a reversible cushion - black on one side and red on the other. With five cats of various colors, and a WHITE DOG, keeping either red or black clean is an all-day-every-day losing battle. But the dog doesn't care - he likes the futon...

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    1. Dogs can always be counted on to find the most comfortable seat and/or the seat that shows hair the most. Part of me wants a really nice (maybe velvet) couch, which the dog would not be allowed on; the other part wants a couch where I could cuddle with the dog. The latter will probably win.

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  13. The latter two sofas/ chairs are beautiful, just the kind of thing I have always wanted. At the moment i have a second hand leather sofa that is aesthetically pleasing but gives me back- ache. When I have money, I will get a new one that doesn't hurt!

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