Do you love, love, love it?

I remember when I was younger and would try something on in the dressing room.  (We all know that that can be a very unpleasant experience. There is no torture like swimsuit shopping. Enough said.) ANYWAY, I would ask my mom's opinion on whether we should get something or not and she would reply, "do you love, love, love it?! Then and only then was it deemed worthy to purchase if passed the "love X3" test.

I feel the same way now about my home.  I started a little venture on the side (you know, in my free time after being a full time mom) where I refinish furniture.  Turns out I love it a little too much.  The last piece I did was a buffet. ($20!) The previous owners had ripped the doors off the poor thing.  I fell in like with it and gave it a fun new pop of color.  Then I sanded the crap out of it (because I know things will get beat up anyway and I like the look. I think it adds charm. FYI-I am not into this glaze and stain everything as far as the eye can see look though. Now you know.) So, I got the buffet done and ready to sell.  And then I couldn't.  Because now, you guessed it, I love, love, love it.  So, out went my old computer desk and in came the buffet

. I actually love that it doesn't have doors.  It makes the perfect cubby for books or even baskets.  It passed the 3X love test.

Do you ever have something pictured in your head and just can't find it in the store?  For weeks I've been impatient after all the looking but not finding part of shopping.  We bought some faux leather couches that were pretty, but for many reasons just didn't work for us.  I had the perfect couch in my mind to replace them.  I would pair a linen sofa with a brown leather chair that we already owned and be good to go.  I found the sofa. It was everything I could ever want.  And only, um, $700 over my very modest budget.

I got to the point of tears after an entire day in another town shopping for furniture and finding nothing. Right before leaving to come home I remembered a sectional that was listed on craigslist.  The owner didn't get off work until 10 pm.  It was 8. We had tired and hungry kids with us.  We were already there though, so we waited til 10.  And we were rewarded big time.  The sectional was perfect for our other room, so we could swap out the other furniture to replace the "leather." So, at 11 at night, we found ourselves wrapping couches with tarps and tie downs for our trip home.

While trying to live frugally we seem to always do things the hard way. But we are always blessed with what we need and often, exactly what we want.

My new favorite score

The couches that were in the family room now at home in the living room

Our beautiful new sectional.  SO comfy.