box seats

Although it seems quite popular, I have never been to IKEA.  I have browsed their website, but never saw much in the way of style that appealed to me.  Maybe the actual store would be different?  I do have some ready-to-assemble furniture pieces in my home, of the kid's dresser, entertainment center and computer cart variety, but a ready-to-assemble sofa... that doesn't seem like a good idea.  Or, does it?

Our home has a 12' x 16' living room... relatively small by today's housing standards.  I have a family of six... relatively large by today's family standards.  As we finally moved into the front [remodelled] area of the house, Jen and I started to ponder the most efficient way to offer cozy seating in a tight space for a larger family.  The corner sectional sofa seems the most efficient solution.

I assumed that a sectional sofa was just that... many sections of a sofa assembled in a flexible configuration, right?  Wrong... mostly.  We did some furniture browsing and found that several of the furniture store's "sectionals" where little more than a couch and loveseat with the arms lopped off and shoved together.

So, I went online to explore sectionals.  And, that's when I discovered Home Reserve.  Based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they specialize in ready-to-assemble sofas and chairs, build them from American made materials and sell them exclusively online.  I was intrigued by the company and their website and it looked like a good product at a fair price, but I was skeptical... very skeptical.  After all, it takes a little faith to order a seven piece sectional, give them my credit card number, and watch as the UPS man carries my new sofa to the porch in seven relatively small boxes!

So, I did some fairly extensive research on the company.  They are featured by HGTV and Better Homes and Gardens, just to name a few.  They have an excellent rating with the Better Business Bureau, and a vast majority of independent online opinions are favorable.

I convinced Jen that it was a good idea to further explore.  (After taking 7+ years to remodel this portion of the house, convincing Jen that ANY of my ideas are "good" ideas is more difficult than it used to be!).  But, we scanned the many online fabric swatches, and ordered a half-dozen actual swatches at $1 each.  They arrived on schedule, just as the company stated.  I then called customer service with several questions, and my questions were courteously handled.  The company offers customers to tour the factory and watch their sofa being made, but since Fort Wayne is over a four hour drive, I opted not to conduct on-site research.

The company offers a "risk-free trial" in that you can order a single armless unit to assemble and try in your home.  If you like it, order the remainder of the sectional.  If not, box it up and ship it back and the company will fully refund your money, including shipping. 

We decided to try one piece.  We placed the order and, just like the swatches, the single box showed up on our porch perfectly punctual, just as the website shipping information stated.  I assembled it in under an hour, and was impressed with the simplicity of assembly and the clarity of the instructions.  The finished product seemed sturdy, durable and comfortable.  Our only concern was that the seat depth seemed a little shallow, but this was not surprising, according to the many reviews I read.  The shallowness was not bad, and in a smaller room can actually be an advantage, as some overstuffed sectionals would likely swallow up the room.

After sitting on, and looking at, the single piece for a few weeks, we decided to order the remaining six pieces.  Once again, a very smooth experience.

Seven pieces...seven boxes

Each box clearly labelled... one left, four armless, one corner, and one right

Unpacking the box

A bag of fabric and a vacuum packed bag of cushions

Below that, a bag of hardware and the frame parts, manufactured from OSB.

The clearly-numbered frame parts for an armless section

Each boxed section comes complete with a pair of lightweight gloves to protect the assembler from any possible splinters (splinters were not a problem), and a sanding block, if needed (I only used a sanding block briefly on one piece).

The assembled frame.  Notice the seat bottom has a handle-hole cut into it... each section base doubles as a storage box!

The armless unit with the back and front panel fabric installed... complete, minus the seat and back cushions.  One huge selling point to this furniture is renewability.  Because all the fabric is self installed (and no staples or other attachments are necessary), the fabric can be replaced relatively inexpensively, rather than putting the whole sofa on the curb and starting over.  Also, fabric comes in machine washable options... in theory you could remove 100% of of the fabric and throw it in the washing machine.  The fabric we chose is not machine washable, and after installing all of it, I'm not sure how often I'd care to pull it off and launder it, but, in theory, you could machine wash your sofa... pretty cool.

Seven pieces assembled and ready to use!

It took just over eight hours total assembly time, which, if you've ever assembled any ready-to-assemble furniture, does not seem bad for a seven piece sectional sofa.  It is comfortable and roomy for a larger family, although I think we've already established that the corner is the seat of choice!  The true test of a product is time, but initially, I like this product.  Next, we need to add either a coffee table or some matching ottomans, for kicking back and stretching out, and a corner entertainment center.  The carpet is ordered and I'm wrapping up the trim.  Jen is shopping for accent pillows and window treatments.  I'm looking forward to getting this room wrapped up and ready to kick back and enjoy some good family time.  This sectional gets us well on the way to that goal!

A good day

Our local Kiwanis Club sponsors an annual Junior Olympics for grades K-6.  It is held each year in May at our high school track, and some members of the high school track team are always there to assist with the events.  I really appreciate the Kiwanis Club for making this investment in our kids, but I also give props to the high school track team members who participate.  The students who are there each year enthusiastically volunteer their Saturday morning, and they seem to really enjoy working with the possible future members of the track team to follow in their shoes.  They are always very encouraging of all the kids, no matter their abilities.

The event was this Saturday, and the weather was perfect.  Dylan, Zachary and Lily participated this year, and both my parents and Jen's parents came to cheer on their Grandkids.  I was never an athlete in school, but I considered joining the track team, and I think I would have enjoyed it.  Jen was taking pictures, and I was supposed to be watching Ben.  At one point in the first competition (Zachary's long jump) I got so involved in cheering for Zachary and Blake (our Pastor's son), that I lost Benny.  There was a moment of panic until we spotted him climbing to the top of the bleachers.  Actually, Zachary spotted him and was yelling and pointing from the field, while waiting for his turn to jump.  Fortunately, the bleachers were enclosed by fencing, but there was still plenty of opportunity for a kid like Benny to get hurt.  That was my "wake up call"... I didn't lose Benny any more, when he was in my charge!

Zachary measured 9'-5" in the long jump, earning him the silver medal, just 3" short of gold.

Lily took the bronze medal in the standing jump.

This was Lily's first year to participate.

Zachary won the gold medal in the obstacle course.

Lily ran the 50M for a silver medal.

This was Dylan's last year to participate and he had a rough and disappointing day.  He signed up to run the 50M, the 100M and the 200M.  He ran the 50M first and pulled a muscle in his upper thigh just short of the finish line.  He was solidly in 2nd place when he pulled the muscle, but limped across the finish line in last place (4th), just seconds away from 3rd.  He limped off the track with a few tears in his eyes, in quite a bit of pain and disappointment, knowing he was out of the competition for the day.  He sat in the stands and watched as the other boys ran the 100M and 200M.

Zachary's third event was the 100M, earning him another silver medal.

 

If you look in the background of this photo, you'll see that Benny was not going to miss out on the running action.  He was getting restless, so Jen's Dad took him out to play on the other side of the field, during the last of the awards ceremony.  At this point, he got away, and ran for freedom across the field.  Here you see him ahead of my Father-In-Law, and about to be cut off by Zachary.

Jen's parent's treated us to lunch at Arby's afterwards and I came home and spent the afternoon working on the final trim needed for the living room to be ready for the soon-to-be-installed carpet.  I knocked off at dinner time.  After dinner, Benny and I took a nice walk to a local park to play and to scout a possible geocache hiding spot.

Early that evening, I casually mentioned that it looked like a good night for sleeping in the tent. I wasn't really serious about doing it, but Zachary latched onto that and really wanted to. Jen wisely reminded me that I shouldn't "put it out there" if I wasn't serious. She was right, so I grabbed the 8 x10 (we own four different tents of various sizes), which goes up quickly. We popped it up in the backyard, grabbed some sleeping pads and bags, and built a backyard fire. After all this, I checked the forecast... mid 40's for the low. Chilly, but the mummy bags can handle that. The last time we tried to camp with Benny, he didn't do so well with sleeping in the tent. Jen suggested that I include him in our "guys night" to see how he would do. I didn't think he'd like a mummy bag, so I put him in a kid-sized rectangular, in his footed fleece sleeper and a fleece hat, with an extra blanket over him. He slept solidly until about 5 AM, when he woke up toasty warm, but wanting Mama. I could have probably got him back to sleep, but he was making a rucus and I didn't want to wake the neighbors, so we all four just grabbed our pillows and went to the house for the last few hours of the morning.

It was one of those Saturdays when it was a good day to be a Dad!