Before.... (photo taken at our yard sale, where it didn't sell)
So we started shopping. Remember this post? I guess we shopped over a year, but most actively this summer. We shopped low (Family Discount Furniture and Unclaimed Freight), and high (Crate & Barrel, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams). And in between (had to go back to Bob's for the free ice cream & cookies). It was hard to find what I liked, especially since I didn't know all the lingo exactly. Jerry was hoping for brown leather, but while I think that look is classic, its a little blah. Luckily we could usually agree on shapes of sofas, and the need for something comfortable and durable, most of all. I cringed at the lack of quality (and taste) at the low end shops, and at the price tag at the high end shops. But I'd rather not buy a new sofa in two years, so we were leaning towards a high end sofa.
Along comes Craigslist. (It was always there, actually). I started searching for a second hand Crate & Barrell "Axis" sofa we fell in love with at the store. There was one in Connecticut. There was a loveseat version. I watched and searched for a few weeks. Then one day, I broadened my search to another Craigslist (there are MANY around NYC), and saw a post for a FREE Crate & Barrell sofa. ha ha ha. I blinked. I clicked. I read. It really said that. "One year old... non-smoking home...donate to charity or someone in need". Must be a scam. But I've handled my share of CL scammers (virtually), so I went ahead and responded. It wasn't the same model sofa we wanted, but it was, as I said, FREE. Within 10 minutes I got a call from the owner. Within a few hours I called to hire movers, but the price was not right. Not when Jerry could do it himself, anyhow. We were van-sitting, so my man had a van and called a benevolent buddy to help lift the 230 lb. sleeper sofa. It was a 3 hour round-trip, but there was no scam about it. He came home with a beautiful new-to-us Crate & Barrel "Cameron" sleeper sofa. Sigh. I love him. And our new sofa is great too!
Lest you believe that some guys have all the luck, I must profess that I have a good explanation for our $2000 blessing. As my African friends say, God is good! We've opened our home to a young woman needing a place to stay for 8 weeks this summer and, I feel like this is our payment. I love how karma goes.
After!
