Furniture, Part II

Several weekends ago, I was perusing the free page on Craigslist, and came across a large cat tower that was up for grabs just 2-3 blocks up from my place. I went over there, and sure enough it had not yet been taken.

The thing was much larger and heavier than I had imagined, and I hadn't brought my furniture dolly. I started to carry it back myself, and the first block and a half was okay, but then I got super tired. I didn't want to put it down and risk someone else coming along and snatching it, so I continued to inch further home. Finally, about half a block from home, I gave in and went for the dolly. And that last portion was like pushing a stroller.

Again, great choices.

But, after a tiresome ordeal, I brought home Chester's new playscape and am happy to say he loves it!

He joyfully utilizes all of its surfaces, including the scratching post areas, which seem to have finally replaced my mattress as his preferred scratching surface. He also likes and uses this a hell of a lot more than the $20 cat hideaway/scratching post that I bought him earlier in the summer.

According to the ad, this was $300 new - and it's in great condition. He doesn't even notice (or at least he isn't bothered by) previous cat smells either.Win!

Furniture, Part I

I get the majority of my wardrobe from Goodwill, but my thrifting doesn't just apply to clothing and shoes. I'm pretty sure all of my apartment furnishings are also secondhand; hand me downs from family and friends, and a lot of pieces from Craigslist and free piles.

When I moved into this apartment at the beginning of the summer, I spent one of the craziest Saturdays furnishing the place.

First, I drove a few miles up the road to purchase a table set; a beautiful bar-height dark wood with leather covered chairs. It had sadly suffered some damage from cat scratches, thus the low $50 price. Having my own destructive cat, I knew anything I brought in would get clawed anyway, so this was a good fit. The seller and I spent a little while unscrewing all of the pieces (there were like 8-10 screws on each chair) and then I attempted to fit the entire load in my tiny Smart car. The table surface itself barely fit, but I ultimately was able to get the entire load in there - which included not 4 but 6 chairs!

Then came the second crazy furniture endeavor, back to back.

I wanted a couch, but obviously don't have a vehicle large enough to transport one, and was avoiding a second UHaul rental. So I figured I could find a couch for sale/free close enough nearby in my neighborhood, and move it over on a furniture dolly (a $20 investment at Home Depot). I found a couch I liked that was about 10 blocks down the road, and went over with my dolly.

Of course this weekend happened to be one where my boyfriend was busy and my closest friend was out of town, so there I was, maneuvering the thing down the middle of the street on my own. Luckily two kind samaritans offered to help, and thank goodness they did, or else I never would have been able to finish the journey, or get the thing inside my door.

Moral of the story: get a damn u-haul.

The end result: