Our Free Ikea Couches

Our house is going through a major reno, and the family room/living room/only large space in our house was one of the first places we started.

See, we have a three-bedroom home.  We have 1 (and a half) kids, and a home-based business.  So, we've got a kids' room, an office, and our bedroom.  Translation:  no place for guests.  We actually have guests come pretty often.  My mom watches the Sunbean for me on Wednesday mornings, and so she spends the night on Tuesday nights.  We used to have a twin bed in our office, but I booted it out in favor of more space.

I was making my poor mom sleep on the sofa every time she stayed, and MacGyver and I ended up sleeping on the sofa or floor if we had other guests.  Really not ideal.  We bought a basic sofa bed at Ikea a few months back, and it took us exactly 10 seconds to realize it is N.O.T comfortable.  It looks great in the office, which is a plus, but you couldn't pay me to sleep on it.  Back to square one.

We really needed a decent sofa bed.  By this time, MacGyver was so sick of me lamenting about our need to have space for guests, that he told me I could do anything as long as it didn't cost money.  In the words of Barney Stinson, Challenge Accepted!

Four years ago, we bought some decent microfiber sofas in a neutral color.  They were ultra comfortable, and never stained.  I really loved them, but lately I'd really been wanting white furniture.  With children.  Call me crazy.

I got the crazy idea to list our perfectly-good sofas on Craigslist, just to see what they would go for.  I listed them at $100 less than what we paid 4 years ago.  My jaw dropped to the floor when they were gone 48 hours later.  Seriously?  I'd just sold 4-year-old furniture for just $100 less than what we'd paid.  Hollar.

That left us with one giant room and nowhere to sit.  The Sunbean was seriously excited.

That very afternoon, we loaded up MacGyver's mom's minivan and made a pilgrimage to Ikea.  Our sofa money netted us lunch, dinner, 2 Starbucks trips, gas there and back, new dishes, AND new family room furniture.

We got this fabulous fold-out sofa and a simple parson's chair.  Both have slipcovers that can be removed and washed, so I'm not totally stressed about staining them.  The bed is ultra-cozy (we both like it better than our own mattress) and the sofa is great, too.

We do have limited seating, and we plan to get a few more chairs when we have more money.  You know, when we win the lottery.  Or some unknown rich uncle dies.

I'm LOVING the new look.  The best part?  Totally free.