Sunday, August 12, 2007

Home Improvements

With the nip in the air that is the first sign of the end of summer approaching fast, Jon and I took a look around and decided that we need to make some major home improvements since we will be spending loads of time indoors soon.

With Department store credit card in hand we went to our local home store to look at several fancy things this weekend.
The short list:
A new couch
A portable dishwasher
A smaller coffee maker

I never realized how hard it is to buy a couch until this weekend! It is easier to buy a car!
We went to the nifty little section of the store that looked like 20 little living rooms all set up in a row. We were immediately approached by a very eager salesperson. There didn't seem to be a whole lot else happening in that particular department at the time because while he was telling us about the super sale they were having and all of the features on this particular model couch, there were 4 other salespeople lurking just behind us. It was the most customer service I've ever seen and a teeny bit unnerving.

We felt fabric swatches, sat on, stretched out on, jumped on... every style couch you can think of. We decided that we need a couch that converts into a bed for when we have visitors.
We have a small apartment that we are pretty fond of, and after much debate on the subject, and looking at a lot of apartments around town, we decided that we want to stay here for at least two more years. After that time we will buy something in an area with a good high school for the kidlette. So we want to make the most of the space that we have and still be able to accomodate cofortably when friends and family visit us.
Buying a couch is serious business. There are so many things to consider! We found one overstuffed lovely that was even on sale that we came *thisclose* to purchasing, but after I did a little Internet sleuthing we decided we will hold off a few more months to make that particular purchase during the after Christmas sales. Turns out they need to sell out as much as possible at the end of the year before taxes, so we could save several hundred dollars.
So after several hours of shopping, and several trips to the store, we have no new couch... yet.

Then we looked at portable dishwashers to replace out current dishwasher (Jon). I fell in love with this little Maytag model that I think would be perfect and it really isn't too expensive for how much joy it would bring into our lives. But because this building is so old, and the water pressure is not as great as it could be, we have to hold off until we have a professional come by and test our pressure to see if it is compatible. I fear that it will not be.

Even the coffee maker was too hard to find! Since I am the only coffee drinker in our apartment, I have been wasting a lot of coffee every day. I make a half pot, pour a cup and end up dumping the rest. I've been dreaming of one of those little two cup coffee makers like they have in hotel rooms. It would take up less counter space as well! Sadly, we could not find one with an auto shutoff, which seems pretty important to me!

So, there was a lot of shopping this weekend, but we didn't buy anything.
Scratch that; I bought an amazing new pair of knee-high boots for fall. I guess that counts for something! I can't wait for it to get cold enough to rock them!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know where you're coming from lady. Shopping for house things always takes way longer and is way more complicated than you could ever imagine it could be.
Hope to try out your new sofa-bed some time. ;-)

I LOVE my dishwasher. Couldn't imagine life without it. I might go and tell it now.

Michelle Auer said...

It is funny because when I started thinking about the fold out couch I had you and Mark in mind! Haha! Yes, we should have one by the end of the year. They have the best deals then anyhow.

Michelle Auer said...

PS- I feel the same way about my "dishwasher" haha

Anonymous said...

Awwww - that's so sweet, thanks.
We'll be back next year - hopefully. Maybe the year after, depending on money - urgh...

We need loads of 'stuff' doing to our house, but we just keep blowing all our cash on studio gizmos.

PPS - Yeah cute, I meant my mechanical one.... heehee. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Couches are the WORST thing to shop for! It took us a long time of searching before we found ours, and we were shopping for TWO.

Deb Hardman said...

Sleeping on a pull out couch isn't usually very comfortable, but your aunt Mel had a futon that was really comfy when made into a bed.

You could put Darian's bottom bunk in the living room for a couch. That would be free & works as a bed too.

Anonymous said...

what is a portable dishwasher? :-\

Michelle Auer said...

This is a portable dishwasher:
http://www.universal-akb.com/majeiicopodi.html

Basically, it is a dishwasher that you don't have to have installed, you just hook it up to your sink. Since we rent an apartment, we can't get things installed.

Anonymous said...

Well, wow.
I still don't get how it can use the water if it's not installed.
Nice idea, anyway.Never seen one of them here.

MaryCooks said...

I'm way late to the comments but you should try a Senseo or other single-cup coffee makers. Even if you have to run it a couple of times it's better than tossing out coffee. :)

 

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