One more week - and one more pound. I weighed in at 136 this morning, for a total weight loss of 58 lbs. That mini-goal of 134 by Saturday, February 20 is just 2 lbs. away now. Can I do it? I'm certainly going to try!
This has been a lovely winter. My parents have been in town since late November and don't plan to head home to New England until early April --- which has been fantastic (it's such a treat to see them playing with Kitten and Poppet!), but it also makes my social calendar more full than it was during my first year of The Great Housekeeping Experiment. And when my social calendar is full, I feel like I'm always one step behind in my housework. I'm looking forward to making one of my vintage dinners for them one of these nights, though, and showing off some of my new cooking skills. Boy, won't they be surprised! I guess I ought to give some thought to the menu. Maybe I can plan a Washington's Birthday celebration or something...
One of the many things on my to-do list while my parents - and their truck! - are in town is to make my major furniture purchases for my nest: a sofa and a new mattress set. We're headed out this morning to do a little "market research." I haven't been furniture shopping in years, so it'll be good to see what's out there and get a feel for the prices. (It may take me a few trips like this just to get comfortable with the money I'm going to have to fork over. When you haven't spent a lot of money on any one thing in years, the idea can take some getting used to!)
Henry Humphrey's Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) offers some interesting advice on sofas:
To follow a good general rule, be sure that there are as many upholstered pieces as there are members of your family. Add to these a couch or sofa and there will be a comfortable seating arrangement for both family and guests. For large gatherings, provision will have to be made for extra chairs, probably taken from other parts of the house, so consider the upholstered pieces from the standpoint of comfort for your immediate family and the average number of people you entertain.
If there is no other accommodation for an overnight guest, the living room may occasionally have to substitute as a bedroom. For this purpose, a studio couch, or some type of couch which can be made into a bed, is a sensible investment.
If the guest bedroom problem does not concern you, the living room's upholstered furniture may be of any kind or type you like. There are all sizes and shapes of sofas; there are loveseats, couches, studio couches and chairs. Quality is important when buying. Flashy exteriors never make up for solid construction.
Okay, so if there's only one member in my family, then I only need one upholstered piece in my living room + a couch or sofa. Sweet! I'm halfway there. I already own an oversized club chair and ottoman covered in a burgundy velvet. I don't have any accommodations for overnight guests, but I rarely have overnight guests --- and now that my parents have a place out here which is going to be vacant half the year, you might say I have a guest room just across town. (Just kidding!) I would like to upgrade to a larger apartment at some point - one with a second bedroom for Kitten or Poppet to sleep in when they stay over at Auntie's - so while a sleep sofa might come in handy once in a great while, I probably wouldn't need it in my next place. I suspect sleep sofas are much more expensive than traditional sofas, but that's something I need to look into while I'm out shopping today. It's still on the table.
What do you suppose a "studio couch" is? As near as I can figure from the instructions in this book on slipcovering a studio couch, it's a flat piece you'd leave bolsters on during the day for seating and remove them at night to convert it into a bed of sorts. My great-aunt, who built and furnished a home in the 1940s with her husband, had two of these pieces on the sleeping porch. When my sisters and I were visiting, we'd take the bolsters off at night, pile them on the floor, then spread our sleeping bags on top. There were three of us and only two of the couches, so one unfortunate sister always ended up sleeping on the window seat. Luckily it was padded!
The living room in my apartment is not large, so size is key. I'm aiming at something about the size of a loveseat. And if I need a larger sofa in my next place one day, I'll still be able to get some use out of the smaller sofa in another room or as a second piece. I'm planning on something with a fairly neutral upholstery - maybe a medium tan or straw color - but who knows what'll strike my fancy. It probably won't be any of bright jewel tones popular in '40s upholstered furniture. Check out the blues and greens and violets in these vintage slipcover advertisements! You never know, though.
Here are the background colors I have to work around. My living room has wall-to-wall carpeting in a dingy apartment blue (think slate blue). The walls and woodwork are painted apartment beige. The window blinds I have to leave in place per my lease are apartment beige as well. My one upholstered chair is a deep burgundy.
I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks as always for making this blog a place where I can focus my thoughts and refine my plans. Y'all are the best!!!
9 comments:
Congratulations! You are an inspiration!
I'm going to go ahead and ask--will you be putting up "before" and "after" pics?
We haven't heard about "Curly" lately. Is he out of the picture?
How's that for getting personal??
Cool pictures. Sure brings back memories.
Gosh, I slept on a studio couch for years. Mine even had a trundle, so I could have an overnight guest. (The guest would get the good mattress, tho. lol)
Good luck. No, sleeper sofas aren't really more expensive than a regular sofa, especially if you go with something like a Lazy Boy brand.
Being my bossy self again - You are probably gone, but be sure to take an arm cover or something from your chair with you. Too, if possible, always look at the colors outside in real light. Furniture stores usually have tinted windows, so that will really change the colors. Do look for good, durable, easy to clean coverings. (Personally, I am not a fan of leather or some microfibers.) Again, good luck.
PS - Congrats on your weight loss!
A studio couch sounds like a day bed.
Roxanne, actually I get asked about pictures at least once a week and always answer in the comments. Maybe I should devote a post to this! I don't plan on posting any pictures unless I do so with black bars over my face like those Glamour Don't shots. My privacy is too important to me and I wouldn't be able to write as frankly about myself in this blog if I felt like there was a chance in heck anybody would connect my real life me with my blog me.
Curly isn't out of the picture, but he isn't in. We're becoming better friends at work, but I'm not sure that's going anywhere. Sometimes I feel like it's inevitably going in a romantic direction (which makes me insanely happy) and sometimes I don't. The back-and-forth keeps me from wanting to write about it.
Packrat, thank you for the tips on furniture shopping. I ended up buying a new mattress set, which I'll post about later this morning, but I was thinking yesterday that I should also bring a little piece of yarn from the carpet, too, to make sure whatever I pick for a loveseat coordinates with that. Maybe I can cut a sliver of a swatch from underneath my chair.
Mama Kitty, it does at that. And a good substitute for a sleeper sofa if you need your living room to occasionally fill in as a guest room.
Hi Jitterbug!
You are making such amazing progress in so many areas...it's an inspiration to read your blog!
I don't know if sleeper sofas are more expensive, but they are very heavy. That's something to think about if you are in a second floor apartment or if you think you might be moving.
We bought the Corona sofa from Macy's about a year ago and are very happy with it. The smaller scale fits our smaller house (and it's available in two sizes), and the seat cushions are removable which is handy for cleaning and rotating. It comes in a number of colors and is kind of retro. Plus, Macy's has sales all the time. We ended up getting it for under $600 for the larger size with all the sale stackups plus a discount from opening a new Macy's account. Just a recommendation in case you have a Macy's nearby. ;)
No pics.
The bars would be a little frigtening. How about a big sun hat that covers all but the tip of your chin? Then you could dress in an appropriate sun dress or summery outfit and stand like a model. The before pic could have the black bars!
I don't always read the comments, so I'm sorry I didn't realize I was in good company about asking for pics LOL!
Thanks for the Curly update. I knew it was a personal question, but I had hoped for good news.
(LOL! Guess what my word verification was? Blunt.
humblelabor, that is one handsome looking couch! Thank you so much for the tip --- love the upholstery colors that are available, too.
Roxanne, the sun hat does sound a little more feminine than the black bars. :) I'm not entirely shutting down the idea - I may do it at some point - but I guess I'll just depend on words for now to tell my story.
Don't apologize for asking about that or about Curly. I'm just not sure most of the time what to say about him. He makes me smile and blush and giggle like a 12 year old. He's a dear, sweet person who I'm enjoying getting to know better. Who knows what else might happen? I promise I'll let y'all know if anything ever materializes!
Well, I hope you get this post. I really miss hearing from you and your encouraging blog. I do wish you would retun as you have not posted for some time. Perhaps you will consider posting monthly if it has been too much for you? I do hope you are well and something awful has not happened to stop you from posting.
thanks, Jeanne in Pa.
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