So-FA!

Dutifully blowing our rebate check like the patriots we are
We looked at some more sofas today, and I think this may be the one: a brown velour sofa with contrasting funky pillows. Mostly safely bourgeois, a tiny smidge bohemian.

One wants to be settled and have attractive things that are a good long-term investment, but one doesn't want to be boring. I mean, I was a ghetto-dwelling grad student for a long time. I had some clothes stolen from one apartment laundromat when thieves absconded with the washing machine they were sitting in, fer cryin out loud. I don't want to forget my roots. I don't want to be too gentrified. But I like pretty things. So. Brown velour + funky pillows.

The colors below aren't quite right (The photo of the pillow swatch came out oddly African, but it's actually kind of piquantly 1960s-ish), but you get the idea--the sofa's nice and rectangular. We like a rectangular sofa.

Very rough mock-up of possible new sofa. Shape is right; color is not completely wrong

It'll have a queen-sized sleeper, too, so we can have multiple guests at once or snuggle up for late-night movie watching. And it's good and firm and has a clean sort of an outline. The velour feels just a little decadent, too, which is fun. Our sofa says, "yeah, baby" and waggles its eyebrow rakishly.

Closeup of pillow fabric. In real life, it has more colors in it. Zesty and lubricious!

We're waiting on some swatches from the manufacturers before we make up our minds for sure, but I think this one is going to be it. And it's going to be 25% off! If we order when the sale is on, we'll be celebrating the arrival of the new sofa and the departure of the old by the end of September. Rest in peace, 33-year-old hideous yellow-and-orange-and-brown weave. You've served my family long and honorably.

R.I.P.

New upstairs vanity
In other acquisitions, last weekend Lowes put a vanity I've been eyeballing for some time on sale--about 40% off--so I went ahead and nabbed it. Since it's abnormally thin, it's an unusually good fit for our wee snippet of a guest bathroom, which contained no cabinet of any kind. And it's all part of my long-term plans for making everything in the guest room match. Oddly, it will be the only set of rooms in the house that does.

A. New shelf matching new vanity
B. Picture to be replaced by mirror that matches shelf
C. New vanity--now we have a place (other than the floor) to store toilet paper!
D. Fixture, mirror, and towel bar set to ultimately be replaced with shiny new prettiness to match the vanity.

The sink is a separate piece and is held on by gravity--not, in my opinion, a particularly adequate adhesive. So I smeared a big fat bead of liquid nails on the top of the cabinet and set the sink on that. I feel a little anxious about this--was there some reason for the top to be a separate piece? Something to do with--I don't know--expansion and contraction under humid conditions or something? But the deed is done. If the vanity experiences some sort of catastrophic breakdown as a result, I'll be sure to let you know. That's what happens when you don't follow the instruction manual to the letter.

Elsewhere...
No movement on the swing or trellis. It's too damn hot. Anxiously awaiting autumn, the true season of renewal here in Central Texas.