Home Reserve (Part 1)

We have a slightly smallish living room, and up to this point we'd furnished it with a long green couch and a short brown loveseat with a rocker off to the side, plus a self-crafted ottoman that will never win any prizes for beauty. We would switch up the layout here and there but something is always a little off.

We had shopped for couches and sectionals at furniture stores in the area, but the stuff that was available made us cringe. The quality in our price range was pretty bad, the comfort level was bad, and the look? EW. I have a thing against microfiber. Even if we went up a couple notches in the "how much money to pay for a couch without cringing" scale, it wasn't much better. We just wanted a sleek, shortish, non-overstuffed and easy-clean couch in a neutral color. And we didn't want to have to save for 35 years to get it.

"Craigslist!" is what you are all shouting, right? Well, let me tell you about Craigslist around here. Selling, we have great success. Buying, not so much. People want hundreds of dollars for a "Real Nice Couch" which turns out to be an orange and olive floral beauty with "pet stains". Thrift stores are not much better for furniture around here. I'm not sure where all the good used furniture goes.

So awhile back, I asked if any of you had any experience with Home Reserve and no one really had. So Michael and I were still doing the routine of adding a bunch of pieces to our shopping cart, agonizing over the whole thing, and canceling out of the shopping page. We're indecisive like that.

Then we put our big couch on Craigslist, deciding that if it sold, we'd put that money toward the purchase of some pieces from Home Reserve. Guess what? It sold, immediately. So after much speculation, Michael came up with the great plan to purchase a left arm sectional piece, a right arm sectional piece and an ottoman. That way we'd have a loveseat and ottoman now, and if we liked it, we could fill in the middle sections (a corner and two armless chairs) to make a sectional later. Michael is brilliant, I tell you.

And I have already written too long. More later!