“It is sad when your children have better furniture then you do.” This was my response to the salesmen at Raymour and Flanigan’s, while we were looking at new bedroom furniture in their store.
For those who know us, Kevin and I will be married in the upcoming year for seven years We have in that time bought living room furniture, TVs, desks, kitchen furniture and then of course we needed furniture for our baby, when I first got pregnant. But, the one thing we have not purchased new for ourselves was bedroom furniture. Yes, we did get a queen size mattress and box spring, but never even had a headboard.
When we first got married, my neighbors across the street were kind enough to give us their older bedroom furniture for free, because they bought a new set. Free was for us! But while free was a great price, the actual furniture was so very not, because it wasn’t really our taste. It was white lacquer and even had track lighting on the headboard (thus the reason we opted to go without the headboard).
That furniture lasted us for the first two years and slowly started to fall apart from age and from poor craftsmen’s ship I suppose. So, we decided to look at some bedroom sets. I remember walking into an upscale furniture store and having a salesman walk us through the pricing for the furniture on the showroom floor. Our ears were bleeding from the prices. We even went to Bob’s Furniture, but weren’t in love with the furniture quality and still the prices weren’t that great for said quality or lack there of.
So back to the drawing board. My grandmother was still alive at the time and we were paying through the nose for our one bedroom apartment. She unfortunately was needing more and more help. My mom was actually sleeping downstairs (they shared a mother-daughter house, with my parents and us kids in our youth having lived upstairs and my grandparents having had the whole first floor to themselves.)
A little background here to explain. My grandfather had been gone for a few years by this point. My grandmother had fallen and broken her hip. So, even after she came home from surgery and rehab to repair her hip, she just wasn’t as mobile or limber as she once was. Add to the fact that she had macular degeneration and only had her peripheral vision, she truly couldn’t do nearly enough for herself or for all the space she had been living it. Thus the reason for my mother practically living downstairs.
After talking it over, my parents had felt it was best if Kevin and I took the downstairs floor apartment and my grandmother would move upstairs. This was two-fold decision. The first reason was the obvious that we could have a larger space and save money for our house in the future, while being able to start a family sooner rather than later. The second reason was that my grandmother truly didn’t need to have all that space now that she couldn’t take care of anymore, because my mom was cleaning two floors now and that was too much for her at this point, too.
Well, the point to this was she didn’t need all her bedroom furniture, because my mom already had bedroom furniture set up in the room she would be living in upstairs. So, we could have her bedroom furniture if we wanted it. At least it was solid wood, but still not completely our style, but again free so you get the picture. Free again worked for us. However, her furniture was already showing some signs of wear, but we figured it would work for the time being.
Then, shortly after I got pregnant with Emma. Well, a baby needs furniture. For those who decorated a nursery, you an relate and hopefully know what I mean. So, we started to look at the furniture for our baby, when I was about 5 months pregnant. Everywhere you went the prices were ridiculous for something a small baby would be using. But in the end, we bought her a beautiful cherrywood 4-in-1 convertible crib and matching dresser and cabinet, too. This furniture cost almost $2000 when all was said and done, but it was for our child and we shelled the money out no questions asked.
But then I got pregnant again with Lily and she would need a crib, too. We decided to keep Emma’s crib in tact and just buy another 4-in-1 convertible crib, but set that up as a toddler bed for Emma, because she was heading to 18 months by the time Lily was to arrive. By the way, the two kids would be sharing a room, so thankfully they could share the other furniture, too. But mind you more money was still spent on kid’s furniture.
Somewhere around this time, we looked at bedroom furniture again thinking we could use our tax return on it, but felt guilty spending that much money and once again aborted the mission.
Now flash forward to present time, our bedroom furniture was truly showing its age and the tops of the furniture were now all scuffed and worn. The drawers kept coming off the tracks and we still had no headboard. As much as I tried to take care of it, it was beginning to be a lost cause. It truly has become the room, I want to close the door on when family and friends come over, because it is an eyesore (thus the reason for no pictures to be seen here.)
So this weekend, Kevin had off a long weekend with Monday having been Veteran’s Day. We decided to go look at bedroom furniture again. Kevin told me to pick out something nice, because this would be our joint Christmas gift this year. I still of course felt a bit guilty about the price, but we do have the money in savings for our future home and we will need a nice bedroom set, right? Plus, this furniture will probably be our bedroom set for at least the next seven years, if not for the rest of our days!! So, we were intent on buying quality for that reason.
But still we went to Bob’s Furniture and of course quality was not to be found there. I mean we should have known this from our previous visits, but still think we somewhat hoped that we would find it, because again we are not one to spend that much in one place for ourselves and once you added in delivery and taxes the price of anything halfway descent was still well over $2000.
So, we left there and decided to go to Raymour and Flanigan’s. We found a set that fit what we were looking for, which was Modern, but still had character. The price tag really wasn’t that bad and they even added in another night table and chest of drawers. As well as, extended us the expired Friends and Family sale from Hurricane Sandy that they had been running in our local area, too. In the end, the price tag of real hardwood bedroom furniture wasn’t that much more with delivery and taxes included, as what we would have paid at Bob’s Furniture and we got quality furniture too for this price.
So welcome to the future. We will have our new bedroom set delivered today and cannot wait now. Getting very excited to actually love bedroom fr a change and not be embarrassed by it anymore. Might sound silly, but just a fact.
Here is a picture of our new furniture set from Raymour and Flanigan’s Website. Let me know what you think. Sorry for the quality of the picture, but this is all I could find online, right now.
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JanineHuldie says
Thanks Amy and must tell you it is the same here with clothes, too. My girls have the wardrobes of princesses, while I am wearing the same clothes over and over. Just true that we always give to our kids and think of ourselves secondary I suppose!
Bill says
Beautiful furniture Janine! I'm happy for you! I won't even tell you what we sleep on; just about what you would expect from two frugal people. LOL
JanineHuldie says
Thanks so much Bill and will tell you I still feel a bit guilty, because I haven't spent this much in one place in as long as I can remember!!
Melanie Chisnall says
Janine, that set is beautiful!! Wow, it literally took my breath away. That's exactly the type of set I would have chosen. I love dark wood, and a design that is mostly modern but has a little edge to it too. I'm sure you're going to love it. I'd be just as excited….enjoy it! 🙂
JanineHuldie says
Thank you so much Melanie and right now I am living with all my old furniture all over the place and Kevin dismantles it this morning before the furniture gets delivered and can tell you I can't wait not only to have the new furniture, but to have everything cleaned up now, lol!!
Emily says
Beautiful set Janine! And if it makes you feel any better, we have been married for 18 years, living in our house for 10 and we are JUST now decorating our dining room…the curtains are being installed today. We still need to buy actual dining room furniture (the set we have now is old, not our style and looking pretty beat up) but we will now have a new rug (purchased last summer, wallpaper (put up this past summer) and now the curtains. Furniture and new light fixture will have to wait until next year I suppose…I figure by the time we have our house fully decorated, the kids will be in college and we'll be ready to move!
JanineHuldie says
Thank you Emily for making me feel better and that you, too can relate. Sounds like we both have a day of waiting for furniture and stuff on our hands. I also have Emma's parent-teacher conference, which got re-scheduled from the hurricane today. And need to run some errands, too. What was I thinking doing all this in one day!!
Stacy Harris says
I remember when my husband and I purchased our first bedroom furniture shortly after we got married… odd because it was at Raymor and Flannigan's as well. It lasted us 10 years and then we sold it for 200 bucks. We wouldn't have gotten rid of it but we were moving across country and didn't have the room for it on the truck. And truthfully, it was outdated and I wanted something new anyway. Well, last year we bought bedroom furniture again our tax return. I absolutlely love it! But like anything else, I am sure in about 10 years give or take, I will want new furniture. And I love your new set… It looks very nice!
JanineHuldie says
Thanks Stacy and it would appear Raymor and Flannigan's is a wonderful option for furniture. Wish I could say I will be buying bedroom furniture every 10 years, but realistically this will probably be it for a very long time, so thankfully I like very much 🙂 🙂
Christy B says
You deserve nice furniture too! Glad you and hubby are treating yourself to a nice set 🙂
JanineHuldie says
Thanks Christy and it was kind of past due, but so looking forward to sleeping my bedroom tonight. Thank you also for tweeting this post 🙂 🙂
JanineHuldie says
Thanks so much Vikki and we went almost 7 years, so I think we can shake hands with me having only the extra five years on us, lol 🙂
Cari Lorine says
I really like it, Janine! Congratulations on your new bedroom set! I love styles with dark wood and silver accents. You're right; it's modern, but still has character. Great post!
JanineHuldie says
Oh thank you so very much Cari. We got it delivered, but had to move stuff out of the room and then back in once the furniture was in there. It was a nightmare in that essence and am finally sitting down for the first time all day. But can't wait to sleep in my new bed tonight after all of that 🙂 🙂
Cyndi says
The furniture is awesome. I have to say, though, you've got me thinking that maybe we should move in with the in-laws. We could save a BOATLOAD of money AND we've held off starting a family for so long because we've always felt like it would be beyond our meager salaries. Ideas…ideas…lol
JanineHuldie says
Thanks Cyndi and I would say if your in-laws are willing to have you and you can save money for the future then go for it. We are so very lucky and have truly saved a ton. We have almost enough for a descent down payment, but it is the monthly payments that still are holding us back, because seriously 2,000 plus for just a mortgage is just insane, but got to love living in NY!!!
JanineHuldie says
Thanks Kelly and you just described what we are going through now with Emma at 3 years old. She just informed us today that she wants to paint her walls pin and get white furniture instead of cherry wood. I kid you not, she is three years old, lol!!
JanineHuldie says
Thanks so much Julie and still can't believe we finally have a bedroom set now, but definitely after the busy day we had I am totally looking forward to sleeping their tonight 🙂 🙂
JanineHuldie says
Thanks so much Dianna and happy to know it wasn't just us who took out time to get bedroom furniture.
Meredith says
I love it Janine! Isn't it cool how few furniture can make you feel so great?! Hope you enjoy it SO much and hey, awesome you are cohosting the #MTMmixer this week–yay!
JanineHuldie says
Thank you so very much Meredith and seriously appreciate you always being so kind and supportive of me. It is because of you that I get to cohost and am truly just so happy to consider you a friend 🙂 🙂
gigigirl says
Love the new set and can't wait to see it! And thanks for that trip down memory lane!
JanineHuldie says
Thanks so much Aunt Gloria and can't wait to show, hopefully before you leave for Florida!!!
gigigirl says
It looks beautiful! Was good to see you all. Love ya…..
JanineHuldie says
Thanks and great to see you too. Safe trip to Florida. Love you will miss you!!