Taking The High Road

A few weeks ago, we reassigned a few rooms in our house. Q's tiny little office was moved to the upstairs loft area that had served as the boys toy room. And the boy's sofa, desk, and TV were moved to the den. Photos of the newly designed rooms are pending. But for now, I don't deem them camera ready. Ironically, the boys' play room is cleaner than the office. (Q, are you listening?)

Shortly after the move, I decided that both rooms needed additional seating. Since I didn't want to spend money on furniture for those spaces, I took the partly torn wicker chairs (thanks, Jango!) from the family room and put one each in the den and the office.

This left the family room with only a couch and ottoman. Two new chairs were definately in order.

I immediately found this chair at Overstock.com. When I showed it to Q, he bristled that the price seemed "a little steep" and asked me to "hold off". Let the pouting begin.

Within days, I received an e-mail ad from Pier 1--because I'm on every retailer's e-mail list in America. The e-mail advertised a sale on some wicker furniture, and I took a liking to this less expensive chair. So I showed my second choice to Quinton. His response? "I like the ones at Overstock better." Sigh. I simply can't win with this guy.

I'm starting to think I've set the furniture bar too low. Much of the stuff we've gotten in the recent past was very inexpensive. The wicker chairs that were in the family room cost me only $30 each. The ottoman in the same room was $13. And let's not forget the goodwill! A fair amount of our furniture came from the goodwill of my mother, my sister, our neighbor, my cousin's ex-wive, and several others.

Don't get me wrong. I love that I have been able to furnish and decorate this house very nicely, and for not much money. In fact, it's a point of pride for me. But I would like to buy some nice, affordable chairs that don't require cleaning or a cosmetic overhaul. Besides, all the consignment stores in the area seem to be charging far too much money for crap.

Anyway, today, I was watching one of those HGTV shows where they redecorate a room only by using found objects and under-utilitized furnishings from other rooms in the house. Suddenly, I had a hankering to rearrange a few things around here. I moved some pictures to different walls. I put the boys' school-made pottery projects on display. Then I was struck with a brainstorm.

Two of our dining room chairs aren't used on a daily basis. I moved them into the family room as a temporary--and I do mean temporary, Q--replacement for the old wicker pair. Here's how they look:

When Q came home from work, it took him little awhile to notice the changes I had made. It took him even longer to notice the dining chairs in the family room. But once he did, I was quick to remind him that I'm saving him us a few hundred dollars.

I'm still in the market for new chairs for this space. But in the meantime, I had taken a route that I don't travel often--the high road. And to Quinton, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth.