Sitting Comfortably

In 1972, Bob's parents bought a 3 piece suite, covered in an oatmeal tweed. His Mum subsequently made covers in an attractive Sanderson linen union fabric. In 1987 they bought some Ercol stuff, and gave us their old suite. We bought some removable, washable, fitted Plumbs covers. This suite has been brilliant. For 11 years it has been in the Cornerstones lounge.

But we wanted to get a sofa bed here. The family is growing, and it would make it easier to accommodate more overnight guests. So last year we purchased an IKEA flat pack sofabed and brought the boxes up here to assemble.[A very complicated business] We knew that in the long term we could not keep the suite, although we were still fond of it. 

"Put it on eBay" said Liz - "mid century furniture like that is very popular right now." So I did - and a guy contacted me immediately with questions, won the auction and paid up his £75...then contacted me he couldn't collect it after all. A family member was very sick and he had to go away for at least a month. "I suggest you relist - I will understand if you keep the money as I have messed you about" It seemed morally wrong to keep the cash, so I refunded him and relisted. But this time, no interest at all. I contacted the company in Norwich who refurbish and resell this sort of thing. "Sorry, we aren't buying anything right now"  I put it on the local Gumtree. Nothing. I rang the local charity group who refurbish furniture. Thankyou - but there's no space at the moment to store it. 

I refused to take it to the tip - where I'd have to pay to dispose of it and it would end up in landfill. So in the end, it went back onto Gumtree "Free if you can collect by Monday" [I was expecting we'd both be going back to Dorset on Tuesday] And a lovely young couple came up from Suffolk on Sunday afternoon with their van, and were delighted with it. She's going to replace and re-cover the cushions, and once again children will snuggle up for their bedtime stories on the sofa, and Mum and Dad will relax with a cuppa after work.

Last August we moved the dining table, and temporarily put the new sofabed into that room. But now the lounge looks very different as the sofa is in there, along with the black leather Poang chair which Bob found on Facebook Marketplace. We already have a Poang in Dorset, so in the long term, all will match beautifully.

So the erstwhile Dining Room is now almost empty - apart from a small book case, an easy chair and Rosie's desk. It is currently called "The Classroom". This has been a good decision - when we were studying in the lounge, a little girl was too easily distracted by the idea of watching the TV. "How about I do this worksheet, then we watch some Paw Patrol, Grandma?"

We'll miss that old suite - it's been in the Almond family for almost half a century. But we no longer need it, and I am so glad to pass it on to another family who will enjoy it, hopefully for a good few more years.