The quest for a couch

This weekend marked a conclusion to the great sofa search of 2012...I know it sounds dramatic, but it really was quite the ordeal. You would think with at least 10 furniture stores within a 2 KM stretch of road in Mississauga (on Dundas St W, between Tomken and just past Dixie) that we would have more options than we could imagine, but we learned quite the opposite. Most places outside of the big guys (like The Brick, Leon's, Ikea, etc.) use the same manufacturer's and therefore, when you go into the stores, you often see the exact same cheap furniture, from the exact same catalogue.

Before I tell you about our experience, I'll explain what we were hoping for going into this....

Our wish list:

• A sectional sofa with one side longer than the other - thanks to our chalking out of the condo, we knew that in the long run we wanted something that was about 9' by 7' on their respective sides
• Arms on both sides - not the ones with a chaise lounge
• Grey or grey-ish, depending on what we could find - so that cat hair, and dirt wouldn't show up
• Cushions that could come off so that we could wash the covers, again for the reasons above
• and the most important point - we wanted to spend no more than $1000.00 taxes in

In case you didn't get that - here's my visual...

What our ideal couch was hopefully
going to look like.

So...we embarked back in April to start at least THINKING about what we'd get for the condo - this was before we had even decided to move out prior to it being built - oh how things change so quickly. We hit up all the usuals - The Brick was far too expensive (proven by my friend Leo shopping there since he only buys expensive things), Leon's had some options, but like most big box stores didn't offer enough options in terms of colours and sizes. Ikea had some promising options too...

Ikea's options for sectionals

..but most of them were sectionals with chaise lounges on the ends, and just weren't what we were looking for. When we started to get desperate in the end, we did consider it, but after looking at the measurements, they're all pretty tiny for what you're paying. Plus - we'd have a sofa that everyone has...

So that was then - we ended up getting prices, and walking away - knowing that we'd PROBABLY be able to get something close to what we wanted for the price we wanted to pay.

Now we're here - moving out this coming week, and neither of us wanting to keep our current couches, so we've sped things along a bit. We knew where to go, we just didn't know if they'd have what we wanted. Yesterday after a long, hot day in High Park for a BBQ, we hit probably 5 different stores (one of them twice) in the quest to find our couch out there....but with no luck. By the end of the day, Michelle and I had talked ourselves into taking something that was still pretty nice, but not exactly what we wanted.

We were at 'Stylo Furniture' - a store just East of Dixie on Dundas in Mississauga, and alhough we were about to leave once again (it was our second time in, to look at a floor model that just wasnt the right colour), the guy showed us another option that we could choose the colour of. It had a chaise on the end, but at this point, we were hot, frustrated...and wanted a couch!

So here's pretty much the couch he offered us...

Picture this sofa, but in ALL fabric (no leather) and all in a
grey colour. 

He offered us this for $1000.00 taxes in if we paid in cash (it was listed at $1200.00), and it would be made to order. Michelle and I liked it, however, we wanted to sleep on it. 

We went home, and although we went to bed still sort of convinced, there was another store that kept popping up in searches - one that we wanted to hit. It's called "Arv's Furniture" and all the prices seemed right (to be negotiated into our price range). So we woke up this morning, and left (with my sister in tow) for Arv's. We got there, and although I thought it would be a disappointment, Michelle spotted a sectional...

Like love at first sight...

It was beautiful - exactly the style we wanted, and although the colour wasn't exactly what we were thinking (although it's up for debate between Michelle and I) it was nice. The bubble burst though, the man (who I'll assume  was Arv) let us know that it was $1099.00 plus tax and he couldn't come down on it. He took us throughout the store, and showed us some other options (including a floor model of the same couch in a butt ugly flower print....) but nothing worked. So, we had decided to go back and get the one from Stylo. I let 'Arv' know that we found another that we liked, that fit within our budget, and that we'd go back and get, and thanked him for his time....but...well...Arv wasn't havin' it. As soon as the words left my mouth, he came back with a "I can give it to you for $1000.00 taxes in". We were ecstatic! Once those words came, we sat around choosing a fabric from the hundreds of options, and told him which side the long side should be on (we chose a lighter grey, and wanted the long side on the left - opposite of the picture). 

...and that was that! I'll be going back to pay Arv, and finalize everything, and Michelle and I will have what we assume will be our couch for the next 5-10 years. Exciting stuff. The specs of the couch are exactly what we wanted btw - 9' x 7', arms on both sides, removable cushions...it's like it was fate....

The moral of all of this is two-fold - small, independant furniture stores will always find something within your price range to sell you, and to never back down from what you want.

Wish us luck!

Cheers