When we moved to our current home in January of 2000, we moved in and within 24 hrs I had to leave on a trip for work.
We unpacked what we could before I left. Rick was working from home that week so I had high hopes that he would get a good deal done. I knew he wouldn't want to do the kitchen but other things he promised he'd try to get done.
I arrived home on a Friday after a long week all over the state of NY to find an L-shaped sofa sitting in my kitchen. That is not where I wanted the sofa, was my first thought. As I put down my suitcase Rick came down stairs and welcomed me home. I knew if I said something too quickly it would appear that I didn't appreciate the fact that the majority of the boxes were not in the kitchen, dining room and great room area on the 1st floor. So he was working hard.
I thanked him for doing so much while I was gone but then I added, " ah, this big ass sofa really doesn't look so great here, why didn't the movers bring this up to the 3rd floor TV room?"
He began the story of how these pieces would not go around the corner of the 2nd floor up to the 3rd floor. They just wouldn't fit. The ceiling around that 2nd-floor turn onto the 3rd-floor corner was too low.
So there sat an enormous sofa in my kitchen for a week.
They tried it all ways, every piece for a very long time I was told.
Our development was under construction at the time and there were plenty of trucks, workers etc going up and down the street all day. One day Rick ran out to a man on a fork lift type truck. He offered him money if he would load this sofa up on his fork lift and put the sofa sections in through our 3rd-floor windows. By George if that didn't work like a charm. It cost us $40 I believe. The man barely spoke English until it came to cash, which we found funny. But since this damn sofa was in our kitchen and we were climbing over it, we didn't care and gave him the $40 to get it the hell out of our kitchen.
He came back with another guy in mere minutes. The 3 of them (Rick too) brought the sofa outside and loaded it on the lifts. In the mean time, Rick ran up to the 3rd floor and removed the window. And since that bedroom had no furniture yet, it was easy to just come in through the window and put down anywhere before moving it to the TV room.
Whew! it worked.
That sofa was in the TV room for a couple of years. Then we went to theater seats. We then separated the sofa and put one each in each bedroom for company to enjoy. Now we want one of the sofas the heck out of the bedroom at the top of the stairs. (keeping the other sofa in the other guest room)
Rick had already put in a new vanity top, sink and fixtures in that jack 'n jill bath and I decided to freshen up the bedroom and turn it back into a real bedroom to be used by company.
This bedroom used to be used as my office when I was in the corporate world. My desk, my large book cases, my sofa etc. But now I need it to be a full blown bedroom for all this company we get. Having 2 extra bedrooms is great but not if one is unusable as a bedroom. That made me get my butt in gear so I began painting it and putting in new bedding etc.
(Now I need to buy another bed - hate that part $)
But the issue was, how do we remove this bed sectional piece from this bedroom?
It doesn't fit around the corner to go down the steps. The development is fully built now and we can't just throw it out the window and pray that it doesn't squish someone walking by.
We talked about what we wanted to do and Rick decided he was going to saw the damn sofa in pieces and bring them down a little at a time. I laughed at first but realized this was really all that could be done. So yesterday we began the process after he got home.
As he took his saw out of its case he said again, "Are you sure you want this done because there is no turning back" Yep - saw away big boy.
We took out the sofa bed part first. I carried down all the cushions, mattress, and the spring thingy down the 3 flights of stairs out to the garage curb for the garbage men.
Rick sawed and I carried pieces down the stairs. God how I wish I lived in a ranch home when I had to carry all this stuff out to the curb! 3 flights of stairs is a bear at times like these.
The room is now void of a big sofa so I can finish the painting in that area this weekend.
It's going to be horrible hot and humid so I'll stay indoors with the A/C and finish this darn room.
This sofa, lest you feel badly that it was cut into pieces, is old. I bought it in 1987. Then when we moved to Seattle the movers damaged it and they paid to have it reupholstered in 1993. So we got many more years from it and it was a very good solid sofa and remarkably still stylish.
But it was time to be buried.
We see this man drive around the development on recycle day and he drives a big ole truck.
He picks up others garbage and who knows what he does with it. I have seen him with some really nice furniture pieces as well as book cases. Some of these simple book cases just need some crown molding around the top and some molding in other areas and they would be a great piece on the cheap. I imagine he does things like that and then sells them. I would if I had the time. I love to repurpose stuff. Anyhoo, we imagined this man seeing this sofa in pieces and crying as he drove by this morning. For some reason that made Rick happy. Sick bastard.
Maybe I should get myself a truck and go around doing what this guy does to get furniture for this empty room. It could save me a ton of money. I think I want this room to be twin beds since the other guest room is a queen. When families are here the kids can use twins if a boy and girl but not a queen if a boy and girl. So I think I'm going that route. Anyone got some twin bed frames you wish to bring me? You;'ll get great exercise going up and down 3 flights of stairs.
7 comments:
lol too funny. My mom had this couch and one time I went over and it was gone. I was like so what did you do with the couch? She said they took it apart, cut it up and put it in the trash! She just saved the foam from the cushions and everything else fit in the can.
In the area my in-laws live in they have a "spring cleaning" time of year where you can put all kind of crap at the curb and the garbage company will come pick it up. It's like picker paradise out there lol. People drive all up and down and go shopping.
Oh Julie I used to hate when Rick took stuff from others garbage pile. I called him Sanford (sanford and son) But then one day our neighbor was throwing out these chairs that I had just seen in my Frontgate catalog. They were $199 per chair!! She had six. They were white. But I took 'em. I spray painted them in fun colors and brought them to our lake house. Everyone would say, "Oh these are so expensive." It cost me $4-5 for a can of spray paint. So I think I spent total $30 for all these new outdoor chairs that were high end. I actually told the neighbor I was taking them. I said, these are so nice why are you throwing them out? She said they are boring and white and I just don't like them anymore! When she saw what I did she about died. She never would have thought to paint them. Seriously lucky I love to do that stuff and she was so dumb and rich. :-)
I didn't have a stair problem but I did want to get rid of an old couch. The thought of cutting it up was just too much to pass up. Except for the cushions it fit into six regular sized trash cans. The spring wire on the inside was too tough to cut with a regular pair of hand cutters. That was my excuse to get bolt cutters.
My son lived in a really old 4 plex that had stairs and then a sharp left. When they were trying to get the sleeper sofa in (heavy, heavy) I convinced them to tip it vertical and they finally made it. Next was a huge dining table and they had to take that sucker apart! Stairs are never easy in my opinion. I have none in my house.
Mike, you made that sound like Rick...another reason to buy tools is always a good day for him.
Cora, I am buying my next home with no stairs. Getting too damn old for this.
must have great kitchen and no stairs.
Well your knees are a lot stronger than mine. I would have only been good for one or two trips. Ha. Cutting a body... I mean couch up to get rid of it is pretty serious, but aside from hiring a fork lift, I think you made the right choice.
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