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The Great Loveseat Adventure.
Jul. 14th, 2002 10:51 amI'm not feeling too enthusiastic this morning. I could do laundry or some other mindless yet important chore. I did a little half-hearted (ok, not even that enthusiastic--maybe quarter- or fifth-hearted) cleaning while looking for a doodad that I never did find. My apartment desperately needs cleaning. The den is a wreck ever since the loveseat arrived, partly because we simply don't have room for all the furniture that's in here now.
I don't think I ever mentioned getting the loveseat. Here's the story. Several weeks ago--a couple of weeks after Lut's birthday on April 28th, I believe--I decided to look into a replacement for Lut's hideous and decaying desk chair. It was the last of three ugly beige-fabric and metal-tubing office chairs that he had bought, years ago, from his then-employer Sprint when they were selling off unused furniture. He loved them. I despised them. They were, in my opinion, ugly, space-consuming, and not particularly comfortable. He was down to the last of them, and this one, like its predecessors, had some part or another of it broken, and was no longer comfortable even for him.
I suggested, half-jokingly, that we get a couch or a loveseat to replace it. That way, I could cuddle up to him on it when we rented DVDs to play on his computer. The last time we'd rented a DVD set, we moved his computer and my monitor (it's larger, 19" to his 17") out to the living room to play them, rather a pain to do.
Much to my surprise, Lut thought this would work for him. So we went couch-hunting. We started at department stores. I had the idea that we could replace both his chair and mine with one of those couches with a fold-down center section--so I'd have some place to rest my arm and trackball when I was using my computer. I also was hoping for a reclining couch, or at least one, like the loveseat we currently had, with a fold-out footrest. (The loveseat we had already was useless for cuddling, however--it has a built-in, nonmoveable raised middle section with a combination armrest/compartment, making it more like having two chairs mated together than a proper loveseat.)
We couldn't find anything but standard, boring couches for $800+ at department stores. I gave up on them and we tried a discount place. They had a wider selection of equally standard, boring couches for $200+. This was more like my price range, but I still wanted a couch with, well, various moving parts. Lut checked on the web for a brand-name I'd gotten from the one clerk who knew what I was talking about when I mentioned couches with a fold-down center cushion. That brand existed, but they didn't recline or do any other tricks apart from the cushion. I really felt that a non-reclining couch wasn't going to be comfortable for Lut or I for the long hours of computing we do.
Despairing, I turned to La-Z-Boy's website. Joy! They sold couches and loveseats. We hopped into the car to check out one of their outlets. A helpful sales clerk pointed us to various models that fit my specifications. It turned out they had almost exactly what I'd been looking for--a couch with two separate reclining sections, and a middle section that could be left up to sit in, or folded down to make a kind of TV tray.
But the hard molded top of the "TV tray" had a lip that made it uncomfortable to rest my arm on, and was higher than I'd want. Plus, since the middle section didn't recline, it wasn't any more comfy for cuddling than a standard couch.
However, they also had loveseats with separate reclining sections. These worked well for cuddling, and were roomy enough that Lut and I could sit side-by-side without crowding each other, when we wanted to. They were sale-priced at around $780, if I got them with one of four types of fabric. I wasn't wild about the fabric that the sale price went with, however--either the texture, or the colors. I opted to get a slightly pricier fabric--a nice medium-grey with a softly sueded texture--which additionally cost me some of the sale discount. Then I added a fabric protector on top of that, plus delivery. (No way is a loveseat going to fit in our four-door.) The total damage came to $1100 or so, and left Lut shaking his head at my mindset. The thing is, when something fits exactly what I want, I'm usually willing to pay quite a bit for it. Especially when, having check out all the other options, I know I'm not going to get anything close to what I want cheaply. Lut and I spend virtually all our time in front of our computers. We would literally be using this loveseat more than we use our car, and it'll last longer than any given computer we have. So paying a lot for it didn't bother me much.
Since I'd ordered a special fabric, we had to wait for the couch to arrive. It came in three or so weeks ago. We're very happy with it. I must say that La-Z-Boy is a company which not only has a valuable brand name, but which has treated that brand well. The loveseat is sturdy, and if not beautiful, at least no uglier than your typical comfy couch. Further, it's lightweight, and--one of my favorite parts, and which anyone who has ever move a couch can attest to the value of--the whole back lifts off entirely for transportation. No tools or special assembly required. Made getting it into our apartment (and around a tight corner) a snap. (Not that we had to do it ourselves anyway--the delivery people handled that.) The back nestles into the base and secures with velcro, and doesn't have any problem with coming loose during regular use. It's a very cool design.
Anyway, now I have a loveseat, plus the remains of a dying office chair, plus the old Comfort Trap I used to sit in (Really, that was the name of the chair design.) Plus the table I formerly used for my trackball. It's a big room, thankfuly, but the place is still crowded and untidy, and I'm not sure what to do about that yet.
I don't think I ever mentioned getting the loveseat. Here's the story. Several weeks ago--a couple of weeks after Lut's birthday on April 28th, I believe--I decided to look into a replacement for Lut's hideous and decaying desk chair. It was the last of three ugly beige-fabric and metal-tubing office chairs that he had bought, years ago, from his then-employer Sprint when they were selling off unused furniture. He loved them. I despised them. They were, in my opinion, ugly, space-consuming, and not particularly comfortable. He was down to the last of them, and this one, like its predecessors, had some part or another of it broken, and was no longer comfortable even for him.
I suggested, half-jokingly, that we get a couch or a loveseat to replace it. That way, I could cuddle up to him on it when we rented DVDs to play on his computer. The last time we'd rented a DVD set, we moved his computer and my monitor (it's larger, 19" to his 17") out to the living room to play them, rather a pain to do.
Much to my surprise, Lut thought this would work for him. So we went couch-hunting. We started at department stores. I had the idea that we could replace both his chair and mine with one of those couches with a fold-down center section--so I'd have some place to rest my arm and trackball when I was using my computer. I also was hoping for a reclining couch, or at least one, like the loveseat we currently had, with a fold-out footrest. (The loveseat we had already was useless for cuddling, however--it has a built-in, nonmoveable raised middle section with a combination armrest/compartment, making it more like having two chairs mated together than a proper loveseat.)
We couldn't find anything but standard, boring couches for $800+ at department stores. I gave up on them and we tried a discount place. They had a wider selection of equally standard, boring couches for $200+. This was more like my price range, but I still wanted a couch with, well, various moving parts. Lut checked on the web for a brand-name I'd gotten from the one clerk who knew what I was talking about when I mentioned couches with a fold-down center cushion. That brand existed, but they didn't recline or do any other tricks apart from the cushion. I really felt that a non-reclining couch wasn't going to be comfortable for Lut or I for the long hours of computing we do.
Despairing, I turned to La-Z-Boy's website. Joy! They sold couches and loveseats. We hopped into the car to check out one of their outlets. A helpful sales clerk pointed us to various models that fit my specifications. It turned out they had almost exactly what I'd been looking for--a couch with two separate reclining sections, and a middle section that could be left up to sit in, or folded down to make a kind of TV tray.
But the hard molded top of the "TV tray" had a lip that made it uncomfortable to rest my arm on, and was higher than I'd want. Plus, since the middle section didn't recline, it wasn't any more comfy for cuddling than a standard couch.
However, they also had loveseats with separate reclining sections. These worked well for cuddling, and were roomy enough that Lut and I could sit side-by-side without crowding each other, when we wanted to. They were sale-priced at around $780, if I got them with one of four types of fabric. I wasn't wild about the fabric that the sale price went with, however--either the texture, or the colors. I opted to get a slightly pricier fabric--a nice medium-grey with a softly sueded texture--which additionally cost me some of the sale discount. Then I added a fabric protector on top of that, plus delivery. (No way is a loveseat going to fit in our four-door.) The total damage came to $1100 or so, and left Lut shaking his head at my mindset. The thing is, when something fits exactly what I want, I'm usually willing to pay quite a bit for it. Especially when, having check out all the other options, I know I'm not going to get anything close to what I want cheaply. Lut and I spend virtually all our time in front of our computers. We would literally be using this loveseat more than we use our car, and it'll last longer than any given computer we have. So paying a lot for it didn't bother me much.
Since I'd ordered a special fabric, we had to wait for the couch to arrive. It came in three or so weeks ago. We're very happy with it. I must say that La-Z-Boy is a company which not only has a valuable brand name, but which has treated that brand well. The loveseat is sturdy, and if not beautiful, at least no uglier than your typical comfy couch. Further, it's lightweight, and--one of my favorite parts, and which anyone who has ever move a couch can attest to the value of--the whole back lifts off entirely for transportation. No tools or special assembly required. Made getting it into our apartment (and around a tight corner) a snap. (Not that we had to do it ourselves anyway--the delivery people handled that.) The back nestles into the base and secures with velcro, and doesn't have any problem with coming loose during regular use. It's a very cool design.
Anyway, now I have a loveseat, plus the remains of a dying office chair, plus the old Comfort Trap I used to sit in (Really, that was the name of the chair design.) Plus the table I formerly used for my trackball. It's a big room, thankfuly, but the place is still crowded and untidy, and I'm not sure what to do about that yet.
