Thanks to Heather, I have red leather

We just recently moved for the second time in six months.  I have a friend who has moved about six times in eight years (or something like that).  Moving twice just about did me in, so I can't even imagine how she has coped with a the chaos that is involved in moving a lifetime of possessions for yourself and six others.  It sure does make you think about the fact that we Americans sure do carry around a lot of stuff.  Of course, that's another blog entry for another time.
 
Anyway, the past fourteen years have involved birthing and raising four boys and one girl.  For many, many years we were right in the middle of the busy toddler years.  Then we moved into the rough and tumble years of rough housing, running and tumbling through the house.  You know, those ball launching, lamp breaking, couch jumping years.  Couple that with homeschooling my hoodlum, and you've got yourself years of decorator neglect.  Yep.  Complete and utter neglect of the interior decor.  Number one, there was no time to care; number two, the wear and tear by the mayhem made it impossible to care.
 
When we bought this house, finally at a place to settle ourselves down for awhile, we realized that the last time we had bought a couch was in 1998.  Yikes.  Our current couches were rag-tag hand-me-down's. 
 
Thus, we decided it was finally time.
 
It was time to buy.
 
Not one, mind you, but two.  And one of those purchases was gonna be--brace yourself--a SECTIONAL.
 
Oh my.  My brain could barely wrap itself around such a concept.
 
I tried not to feel guilty.  Buying one couch--let alone two--well, it's such a rich person's problem (a new term we've coined in our home lately...whenever one of us complains about something petty, like not liking what's for dinner, we quickly remind the complainer that many are going to bed hungry and we are so rich to have a variety of food choices at our fingertips.  Then we end it with, 'That's not a real problem.  That's a rich person problem.') 
 
Yeah, I never really shook the guilt, but nevertheless, I gathered up my closest comrades that share similar taste and we went shopping.
 
I strongly considered this:
 But I decided that the rest of my decor might get lost in it (yes, that pun was intended). 

All joking aside, When I began shopping I really thought I wanted a dark gray sectional or some other kind of neutral and I was CONVINCED I did NOT want leather.  Nope.  No way.

Be careful about prematurely drawing lines in the sand.  Cause far too often, you'll be eating that sand.

My sister-in-law (one of those comrades I was talking about, whose hip-factor rates way higher than mine) threw some of that sand in my face when she pointed out a sectional she thought I should consider.  One that had been off my radar.  WAY off. 

Cause it was leather.  And it was RED.

RED LEATHER?  Only motorcycle riders with names like Pinky Tuscadero consider such things, right? 

I went home and slept on it (the idea, not the couch).  And the more I thought, the more I liked.  Not to mention, it was marked down to almost half it's original price.  The next day, I went back to the store to do one more 'once over'.  When the salesman told me the name of the couch was 'CARDINAL SECTIONAL', it was like the heavens had rolled back and sung the hallelujah chorus.

I took it as a sign.

And before the rooster crowed...

Thanks to Heather, we now have red leather.