Furniture Highs and Woes

Mady is at the point where she is pulling herself up on anything that she can get a grip on and it worries me that I have this rickety IKEA coffee table and she hauls herself up on it and smashes her head every time. You see, she's trying to get to the laptop so she can pick off more of the keys on the keyboard - she already got the CAPS lock key and destroyed it. My particular coffee table is awesome - it opens up and you can store stuff inside it and there's a leaf you can insert to make a rather large surface. However, the top is unstable and easily moved, and I'm worried that Mady will wrench it open and hurt herself. Or open it up and find stuff inside that she will choke on. I would like to put this coffee table in the basement and buy a nice, cushiony ottoman instead. I mean, we can't eat on our coffee table anyway since we have a ravenous beagle, and I always put my feet up on it anyway... So an ottoman is the best option. I also have the "Poang" chairs from IKEA and they are not sturdy for a baby to climb up on. So those have to hit the basement too. There's not really my style now anyway. I think I would like a couple of club chairs, or maybe some wing back chairs. Not sure. I might just want a nice comfy chair to go with my new couch... Oh how I hate my current couch - given to us about 8 years ago from Steve's old roommate who had it in university (too gross to think about) but it's probably okay for the basement, so I think I should get a new couch too. It's time. I mean, if we're getting new chairs and coffee table anyway, might as well get a new couch, right? I would like to chop this couch into firewood and use it to keep my backyard firepit going... but that's another story.

The good news is that Steve finally relented and has agreed that it's time to invest in a new bedroom set! We've been sleeping with our king-size mattress and box-spring on the floor for over a year now. No frame, no headboard. We have hand-me-down dressers from Steve's parents but they are not in the best shape and they are not my style. Steve kept saying that they were "fine for now" but it's gotten to the point where we are embarrassed to have people see our bedroom because it looks like we're just camping out in there. So we found a beautiful bedroom set at Costco, of all places, and Steve ordered it last week and it should be delivered in a month or so. I'm very excited! I hope it's as nice in person as the pictures would have you believe, because I would be so sad to have to return it. I was in love with a bedroom set at St. Jacobs Market, but it was WAY too expensive. We had considered having a bedroom set custom-made by this store in Cambridge called "C&G Pine and Oak" but that was a whole ordeal of planning and deciding and then we moved... This new bedroom set will keep us going for awhile. Then, down the road, when we want another new bedroom set, this set will work well in the guest room. So it's all good! I'm very pleased that we're finally taking some money and spending it on stuff for our home. I don't remember the last time we had a big home purchase... well, other than the home itself... :)