How to pick a couch

When Kent and I got married one of our first big purchases was a new couch.  Before we got our couch we used a futon.  Want to know a secret about futons?  They can be either an uncomfortable couch or an uncomfortable bed!  Pretty cool!  Also they have a tendency to make the room they're in look like a dorm.  So because we were adults (and you can tell that because we filed joint tax returns) we figured we needed to buy a couch and get rid of the futon.  Or, more accurately move it into our guest room in an effort to discourage people for staying with us for more than one night. 

So we went to a local furniture store and started looking around.  We found a couch we liked, along with a coffee table and two end tables.  We arranged for delivery and waited excitedly.  We were going to have real furniture!  We wouldn't have a bed in our living room anymore!  We'd have place to put our beer!  I was at work when it was delivered but Kent was home.  He called after it was dropped off and I was frankly bursting with excited.  "So...how does it look??"

There was a long pause. Long pauses are always harbingers of doom.

"Well...it's a little big."

A little big? I waved good-bye to the vision I had of our living room.

When I got home I exactly what he meant. Instead of having a sofa in our living room, we had a living room around our sofa. As it turns out, we weren't really great at assessing how it would actually fit into the room. No big deal though. It would be fine and someday we'd have a house instead of a condo and it would work much better.

Then we moved, and once again our couch wore the living room. Now, I realize in the grand scheme of problems this doesn't even qualify but it was kind of annoying. We also had a front room now and it was extremely bare. It made sense to move our huge, comfortable couch to the front room and buy something smaller for the living room. I was excited of course. I started looking at Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel to get an idea of how much we could expect to spend. Now, I have to tell you that I have expensive taste but I'm also really cheap. So I'll admire and wish but when it comes time to pull out the Visa I almost always walk away.  Initially most of the couches I looked at were in the $600 - $1000 range.  At first this even seemed reasonable.  I wanted a couch that we could use for years, with classic lines and fabric.  Durable and comfortable. 

Then Kent told me a story about how, when he was 9 or 10 he and his brothers had a babysitter.  In the course of playing he threw up in his family's couch.  I interrupted to ask what the babysitter did.  He gave me a weird look.  Throwing up was not the main part of the story.

"Nothing." 

I pressed on.  "Well what did you do?"  Again, the look. 

"Nothing.  I was only nine." 

"So wait.  You threw up in your couch and just left it?  What did your parents do?" 

A more thoughtful look.  "I'm not sure they knew."

And then the next day we went and bought a couch for $300 with a fully removable, washable cover.  And that's how you pick a couch when you have kids.