Terry
and I don’t have a couch.
Probably
a strange way of starting this essay off, but my fingers took
off in the interest of full disclosure before I really had much
of a chance to consider where they might be headed. Still… the
statement is true… no couch.
Actually
took a few years to reach that point. We had a couch. In fact,
couches. Kids moved. Friends interested in one piece that had
the pull-out feature. We moved. Long stories. Great memories.
Today, no couch.
We
do have a pair of sitting rooms set up. Recliners for those. Couple
of end tables. It’s nice. No couch.
What
we need though is a mattress. The set in our bedroom now has been
in three homes as a part of our lives for roughly two decades.
It’s time for a new mattress. Which ultimately brings us to today,
and the internet, and a sponsored content please-click-on-me link
asking if I wanted to take a quiz that would determine if it’s
time for us to get a new couch.
Well,
no, I don’t want to take that quiz. As we’ve discussed, I don’t
have an old couch. So, (1) no quiz is going to be able determine
if it’s time for a replacement for something we don’t have, plus,
(2) we kind of like the house set up the way it is and I doubt
if any part of the quiz will have us debating our design choices.
Remember
the new mattress idea? That would be a different story. There
are things we are considering replacing. A mattress… stove… fridge…
even a car. And it got me wondering about when it’s time to replace
things.
Last
year I bought a new lawn mower. This was a massive decision for
me to make, and I actually put it off for a couple of seasons.
Most
of our yard I handle with a ride on mower these days. About the
only concerns I have there are when the ground gets really soggy,
and I need to change my plans so that I don’t get stuck in the
mud while tearing up portions of the lawn. But there is a spot…
Drainage
ditch along the front. Can’t get into it with the ride on mower.
It’s also not exactly smooth and easy and level and such. In short,
the type of place where any work needs basically involve immediately
grabbing equipment that you don’t mind beating up or getting dirty.
Why buy a new mower to torture in the drainage ditch when the
old one still starts?
You
know that couch quiz? Apply it to a lawn mower. The pull cord
starter rope thingy sticks? Cracked handlebar held in place with
duct tape? Bent blade with more than a few dings on it? Check.
Check. Check. And, if you go on, check check check. Any lawn mower
quiz applied to what I had been using would confirm it was time
for a replacement.
Refrigerators.
Stoves. Cars. Lawn mowers and mattresses and couches. These and
other things that we have and use and often keep around for just
a bit longer than might be practical. We all know the reasons
why we hold on to them… money and time and perhaps they just still
accomplish whatever we need them to do.
A
friend of mine used to laugh about his mother. His father was
a handyman and tinkerer and household repair specialist of the
first degree that would fix anything and everything rather than
buying a replacement. The joke was built on her buying her first
toaster in the 1950s, and never purchasing another.
Of
course, we could zoom off onto a terrific tangent from here. Putter
around the house and restore all sorts of gadgets and gizmos.
Extending the life of our possessions… or perhaps even better
described, our tools and appliances… makes sense. But there’s
a funny thing about those tangents… they almost all involve care
and maintenance.
So,
instead let’s fall for the quiz and see what it has to offer.
Let’s pull up a search engine. Let’s dive down the rabbit hole.
Let’s look for some surprises. Let’s learn something.
At
least half of the ideas you will find by asking Google when it’s
time to replace your sofa involve design issues.
Not
kidding.
Basic
designs issues.
Clean
fabric. (Or more precisely, now dirty fabric.) Decorating tastes
change. I found one source that rambled on about how the sofa
you purchased for your first apartment likely didn’t match the
needs of your family now in a spacious home.
Hardly
stunning details, if we’re being honest. I should change the couch
because I’m looking at a new paint or curtains? I should look
at a new couch because there are more people living in the house?
Whether or not these are even worth considering, the ultimate
resolution for me has always come down to one factor.
Terry
and I went out to buy some furniture many years ago, and I looked
at her before we even left the house. I told her I’d like her
to remember one thing and one thing only, which was that we were
dog people.
The
idea was simple enough. I wasn’t interested in supposed quality
or cost or colors or accessories. Instead, I was looking for comfort.
And, the dog comment, I wanted to be realistic about our uses
of it. For me, our comfort and acknowledging the dogs would be
allowed on the sofa mattered much more than whether or not the
colors match any current design plans for the room.
The
quiz implied information about my couch that I wouldn’t know otherwise…
such is the cheese that you’ve placed to tempt me to click on
the link… and the best you have to offer is that the pillows no
longer match the drapes? Sorry. Not even close to what I would
have expected.
About
a year ago, someone went to move our dining room table and… short
story, without assigning any blame… crack. A piece of wood, some
glue, a few screws, and everything is fine. Flip the table over
and look at it, you’ll see the repairs. Otherwise, it looks great
and works exactly as it should (even when adding in the extension
piece).
Is
it time for a new couch? The answer is probably simpler than you’d
ever believe. It’s whenever you want one and can afford to do
it. (Now go fix the sink.)