Grown-up status: achieved.

I hadn't realized it before, but even at 31 years old, I wasn't yet a grown-up. Why?

Because I'd never bought a piece of new furniture. Obviously.

Yeah, I'm married and have a kid on the way, but you can do that when you're, like, 16, right? Buying furniture from a not-second-hand furniture store? Oh, you have to be super grown-up to do that.

So, here's my thing: I'm financially bipolar. I love, love, LOVE saving money. I also really like spending it, too. Thankfully, I'm slightly more on the savings side of the bell-curve.

Do me a favor and don't look up what a bell curve chart SHOULD look like. 'Cause it ain't this.

While I like spending money on things that really matter, like face creams and chocolate and secret snacks that Patrick never needs to know about, I don't like spending large chunks of money on things that don't really matter, like insurance. (Kidding.)

Nevertheless, when we looked at the amount of stuff we already have for baby, and knew we'd need and be getting more, we starting thinking, "Hmm... maybe a large pile on the bed in the guest room isn't the best place to store these things." And we decided to go out and shop for a dresser.

We headed out and checked out a number of second-hand furniture stores. While we saw some things that would work, maybe with a face-lift and some new hardware, nothing really jumped out at us and said, "Hey, I'll be perfect! I'll make you so happy!"

After a few hours, we decided to go check out a retail furniture store to see if they had anything good in their clearance room. Naturally, upon thinking that very thought, a salesperson intercepted our psychic communications and was awaiting us when we walking in the store.

He was slick, but not in a creepy way. Just all, "Hey, my name is Nice Guy and here's my card. You here for something specific or just browsing? Oh, just browsing. Not a problem, I'll leave you to it!" Then he melted away into the ether a faux living room and let us be.

After a bathroom break to check my blood sugar and, well, use the bathroom (you needed that info, right?) we ducked into the clearance room. Did they have good stuff? Yes, they had lots of good stuff! There was lots of nice-looking living room furniture, a few desks and beds, and some other miscellaneous pieces. There was a stone-topped kitchen island that I wanted to make the newest member of the family, but it would have literally taken up our entire kitchen. I stroked it lovingly before moving on. 

But the few dressers they had in there? Nope. Not for us.

We wandered back out to the sales floor and spied a nice collection of bedroom furniture with a pretty, white dresser that thankfully didn't make me feel like I'd suddenly shrunk 2 feet. (Massively over-sized furniture is apparently a pretty hot trend for the bedroom. I don't need a 4 foot tall dresser when I'm barely over 5 feet! I just don't!)

Nice Guy reappeared like a magician "just to let us know" we could get a discount on that particular piece. Then he faded away again more mysteriously than the dark wash on my super cheap skinny jeans.

After studying it and talking about it, we decided a few things:
1) Our intention had been to find something second hand.
2) Second hand stuff nearly always needs a facelift.
3) LOLOLOL at the thought that I'll want to repaint a piece of furniture.
4) Nearly all of our furniture was given to us which means:
     a) we're very lucky, and
     b) not a bit of it goes together.
5) Why don't we just buy a good quality, new piece of furniture rather than buying yet another piece that doesn't quiet go with anything else and we're only purchasing because the price is right and "it'll do for now"?

Obviously, I'm in Gryffindor.

We clicked our heels together three times, saying "There's no place like the show room floor! There's no place like the show room floor! There's no place like the show room floor!" Naturally, this summoned Nice Guy who was of course only too happy to help plug in our information and set up a delivery date. (I think I heard a faint pop! when he appeared. Maybe he disapparated--Harry Potter geek shout-out!)

As soon as we swiped the credit card to pay for the dresser (worry not, we can totally pay it off this month--going into debt ain't for me), I began to see sparkles and stars and sunshine on all the new furniture elsewhere on the floor. A whole new world of possibilities had opened up to me.

We can buy new furniture, if we want. We can buy furniture that we like! We can replace that ugly, stupid, tan, "leather" recliner that is over-stuffed and stupid looking! We can do it all! (Slowly, as we save up for the pieces we want, but still, we can do it!)

Why? BECAUSE WE'RE FREAKIN' ADULTS NOW, Y'ALL!

And that's the story. Buying a dresser made us officially grown-ups. What's next? I don't know. Maybe matching nightstands? Maybe a headboard for our bed (I cannot STAND not having a headboard)? I mean, we're super mature adults now. We can do it all. I'll keep you posted if I buy any other really, really exciting pieces of furniture.

Fancy tables and solid wood construction to you and yours,
xo