I only got a new dining room table because it was free. (Well, $80 for the van rental but other than that). I'd wanted a new one but wasn't able to justify it when I had a perfectly cromulent table already.

Aside from a small table and a couple storage ottomans, the only furniture I've ever bought new was my couch/chair/footstool, on discount because it was a display set, way back in 2000. Everything else is thrift store finds and inheritances from my mom/grandparents.

I tried to go buy a new living room set a few months ago, and the prices and quality made me so mad, I decided to keep what I have until the cats rip all the upholstery off, at which point I guess I'll figure out how to reupholster it myself. Or I'll buy more secondhand stuff. My sister bought two gorgeous comfy chairs for her den at a consignment store for $90 that look like they've never been used. Paying full retail price, I can't do it.

I bought a bright red stool for $30 at Tuesday Morning that retails for $70. I kept staring at it and going "$70? Why? I'm only paying $30 because I love the color and want something that height to sit on."

edit: the cat sleeps on it and has since barfed on it. If retail prices included a cat barf shield, it might be worth it.

ION, I was reading a forum on Ravelry about behavior issues with 7 year olds, and a celestial chorus kept singing in the back of head, "Thank God I never had any!" Standard childhood developmental behavior makes me shriek. Thank heaven I knew that about myself before it was too late.

Dish suggestions for shrift (who did not ask for them, but I'm bored):

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Most of my furniture was actually bought new. The loveseat/couch/ottoman were a display set. The bedroom set was out of the sale section of Scandinavia (it's the name of the store, I didn't find the sale section of, like, Norway). An extra dresser came from Ikea. Some cheap painted particle board pieces came from Kmart. Several things from Target. Bookshelves, some we bought unfinished and stained (also a cedar chest), one maybe bought new and finished, one came from my dad. Desks bought new, I forget from where. Probably one from Ikea, the other I don't remember but it was pretty cheap. Hutch bought from a furniture store on Magazine, I think new. Coffee table and a couple of things to hold dishes antique (or "antique" more likely). Vanity from my grandmother, kitchen table the one my dad refinished and gave my mother for their first anniversary. Outdoor furniture all bought new.

How strange that I can rattle that all off without hardly thinking about it. What a weird thing to clutter up my brain.

Nothing is killing my feeling of employee engagement more than the employee engagement meetings.

If retail prices included a cat barf shield, it might be worth it.

I wonder if Scotchguard would work? Seriously. Maybe not hard surfaces. But it guards against liquid, right?

I am so freaking tired right now.

Oh, the big cat tree was bought new. But it was worth it. It weighs 80 pounds. They can't knock that sucker over.

Ooh, I could actually get new dishes! That's a fun thought. I'm pretty sure my current set came from msbelle approx. 100 years ago.

Oh, yeah, cat tree was bought new. And lives outside. So part of the outdoor furniture, I suppose.

Sewing table, where did I get my sewing table? Don't remember that one.

I do keep furniture for forever once I have them. The Kmart furniture is seventeen years old.

Dishes! Pretty.

Oh, right, what I was coming in here to say was that I have (with the help of my next-cube neighbor) cobbled together a stand for my monitor and actually attempted to work standing up (I already had the keyboard shelf on an adjustable height thing, which gets it down low enough for me when I'm sitting). Not bad! Only did 20 minutes, I figure I should ease into it.

The last time I made a furniture purchase was roughly nine years ago when I moved to Chicago. And I am moving quickly at distance, so it's a little easier to buy new than thrift, especially since I don't own a car or have the ability to carry a couch up three flights of stairs.

Dish suggestions for shrift (who did not ask for them, but I'm bored):

I really like the Pfaltzgraff Studio Aster and the American Atelier Jasmine Blue!

Now I'm torn, because I was planning to order these (they're Rachael Ray, but whatever, they're cute): [link]