The Third Couch is the Charm

THE THIRD COUCH IS THE CHARM, RIGHT?

Five weeks ago, I bought my very first house. Since then, I have owned three couches. I am really hoping that the third couch is the charm. 

Now, I’m guessing you want me to pause here for you to congratulate me. Thank you, you really are too kind. But I’ve just mailed my first mortgage payment and dropped a whole paycheck on some furniture, so maybe you could congratulate me in a few weeks when the sticker shock has worn off a little? Because, yikes. 

Anyway, back to my couch saga. It happened like this:

COUCH NUMBER ONE: THE PORCH COUCH

The first couch was offered to me for free, with the understanding that it would require a good cleaning. I’m good at cleaning, so I brought it home. But when I got it to my front yard, I realized that it was way beyond what a good cleaning could do: the couch looked like it had previously belonged to a herd of feral cats. Obviously, I didn’t want that vibe in my new house, so I left the couch on my porch for a while, and then ended up putting it out in the yard with a “free” sign. 

(One of my neighbors took it with glee, which leaves me feeling extreme concern for what the rest of his furniture looks like.)

I was couchless again.

COUCH NUMBER TWO: THE BACK ACHER

The second couch came from a staging sale (people get paid to stage houses, isn’t that amazing?). I loved the color and size of it for my little house, and I really loved the $200 price. But once I’d had it for a few days and tried to read a whole book on it in one sitting (this is a key Sunday activity for me), I just could not get comfortable on it. I sighed a lot of sighs, and then I took the couch to work, reimbursed the $200, and stared, once again, at an empty living room.

COUCH NUMBER THREE: THE GOLDILOCKS COUCH

I finally decided it was time to go to an actual furniture store. I can admit when I’m beaten, okay? I can. 

I went, and I sat on couches, and I talked to the overly enthusiastic salespeople, and I bought a grown-up couch. 

So, couch number three arrived on Tuesday, and so far, I have zero complaints. Which is about 1,257 fewer complaints than I had about the first one, and one fewer complaint than I had about the second one. Surely, the third couch is the charm, right?

COUCHES AND LIFE LESSONS

So now I’m sitting on my brand new couch and wondering: Was this my fault? Did I make mistakes that led to this ridiculous couch saga? 

Maybe. 

Maybe I shouldn’t have thought about price and just gone straight to a furniture store. But if I had done that, I wouldn’t have known what I was really looking for in a couch. (Something with a high back and no fleas, for instance.) In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter how many couches I owned this month. I have one now. 

So next time I have to buy a lamp or something, I’m going to try to remember: it may take some false starts to figure out what I really want and need. But really, isn’t life just a series of trials and errors?

What about you? When was the last time you had to fail to figure out what you needed?