Hand Me Downs!

Raise your hand if you love hand me downs! Count me in. I love hand-me-downs: clothes, cars, toys, you name it! Today, as I putter around the house, I am currently enjoying looking at the new-to-me couch that Lani gifted to our family this weekend. It's brown, leather, nicely worn in and comfortable, and SOOOOO much better than the couch it replaced! (Which by the way, that couch being replaced was a very appreciated hand me down from my Grandma that served us very well for 15 years.....) The old couch had a few broken springs and a denim slip cover on it that I made 10 years ago. (1o years?? Where does the time go?) Over the years that slip cover has become ripped, faded, and completely worn out. I've always tried to keep it covered up with throws and pillows to hide its worst spots, but it was getting to be ridiculous. And to be honest, I just didn't have it in me to sew a new slip cover right now!! Those things take me about a week. And that means a week of being home all day sewing, measuring, thinking, pinning, sewing some more, etc. And it usually means not much in the way of dinners being cooked, laundry done, and certainly no school. And with a new baby? No way. So my other option in the situation would be to buy a new couch. But anyone who knows my household knows we don't buy new furniture. (Monetarily it never seems justified- wouldn't want to use a credit card, nor dip into emergency savings for something as unimportant as a new couch. Though sometimes I wish new furniture could qualify as an emergency....!)That means the options always come down to making over something found at D.I. or some thrift store, a garage sale, or once in a very great while- stumbling across a usable dumpster discovery. (Yes, my mountain bike and Hailey and Heidi's dresser were both dumpster finds! Some day I should share the funny story of the bike found by our apartment's dumpster in Hailey) But those kinds of purchases, though very affordable, also require work. Lots of work. Paint, sanding, new knobs, sewing slipcovers, etc. So Lani, Thank You for giving us an awesome hand me down couch that was much needed and didn't require any work to make it look decent! We all love it, and I especially love knowing that it came from a sweet, dear friend.

Factual statistics of the Pearson household's Shabby Chic look:
(sometimes a little more shabby than chic...)

All beds frames in this house have been either given to us or traded for. (We trade for many, many things- including dental work and piano lessons.) The girls bunk bed was a gift from my father to my mother before they were even married. Funny gift you say? You have to know my dad.
All the dressers in this house have had previous owners. Some dressers are on their 3rd coat of paint.
Barstools and kitchen table were trade items.
Grandma C. gave us the piano.
Game cabinet, sewing table, and girls nightstand were antique fair finds. Antique fairs are still cheaper than new if you look for the deals!
Grandpa Pearson made the great benches for our kitchen table out of a neighbors torn down wooden fence. (I was helping him until I almost cut my arm off with the table saw! He decided to finish the rest with out help from me.)
And the list goes on and on.

So a big thank you to our kind community of friends and relatives, because sometimes it takes a village to furnish a house!