New (to us) furniture!

For quite some time we were living with four seats in our family room and five in the living room. We are very fortunate to have found a rental with two living areas. The down side was that they need to be furnished. Yes, I know, “need” has such a subjective definition. 

The fact is, I wanted more seats. The two-seater in the family room could fit three of our skinny little kids, but we quickly ran out. And unless we were sharing the chair seats, not everyone had a seat. And so began the looking on Craigslist. 

I finally found a sofa/chair set that was being sold locally. The price was good and came from a smoke/pet free home. What I did not take into account were the smoke-ridden neighbors. The gal who had these had gotten them from her grandparents. They are in very good shape. Hardly worn at all. Walking into the unit (consisting of four apartments), the smoke was heavy. The neighbors may or may not be dealing. I did not really register the smoke smell in the apartment when looking at the furniture, but when Spencer got them home, boy, howdy! They smelled awful. We left them in the garage for a week and washed the covers that come off. The smell got better every day. 

When we brought them inside, I wondered, for maybe a month straight, if I had made a huge mistake and if we were going to have to try to sell these again. I ended up picking up some odor eating gel beads at Sam's club one day and those sitting underneath the couch in a hole-y tupperware have helped tremendously. The smell is gone! And we are so grateful to have better seating for the whole family. 

Family room. 

Living room.