Updates!

First of all, sorry I've been slacking lately!  There hasn't been much to talk about and I've been a little busy.  Anyway, I've posted a bunch of things and didn't always follow up on them, so it's about high time I do so!

Furniture

We shopped around a bunch and I shared what I deemed the winners from Sofa Selections and even showed the Room Planner for that selection.  Aaron and I picked out the sofa and pillow fabrics as well.  Well, I mentioned that we then went to Just Cabinets and that threw a curveball in our plans!  We found another sectional there, also by Klaussner, that was much cheaper; we checked and it was available in the sofa fabric we selected.  I believe that's where I left you!

What's up now?  Well, last Thursday, I emailed a bunch of furniture stores in the area to get a price for accent chairs.  I picked the two Klaussner accent chairs that we liked and asked for a price quote for each in the bird fabric and also asked for a price quote for two pillows.  Some places got back to me quickly and other took a bit more time.  Aaron then decided to call the places that hadn't gotten back to us.  Well, let me just say - I've heard that men get better prices than women because the market believes women will pay more...  So, with that in mind, I had gotten several price quotes -the cheapest were around $499 for the Tanner chair and $569 for the Henry Occasional chair.  One quote I got was from Wolf Furniture on the Carlisle Pike; the email from their sales associate stated:

"Hi Nicole,
I like your fabric choice: Twitter Calypso.
Tanner chair K390MC is normally $774 but if you can do it by Sun 9-30 it is $658.
Henrey occ chair K1500MOC is normally $826, but if you can do it by Sun 9-30 it is $702
Pair of pillow 21AP 19 x 19 is normally $154, by Sun $130.
Delivery and set up for 2 or more pieces is $99.95. Or you can pick up yourself here is Mechanicsburg store- the fee is $25...."

So she quoted me $159 more than the best offer for the Tanner chair and $133 more than the best offer for the Henry Occasional Chair.  So guess where I wasn't going to be shopping?

Now Aaron gets his phone calls with price quotes...  I was next to him when he received the phone call and saw him write down the prices.  I forget the price for the Henry Occasional chair, but it was about $60 more than the Tanner chair price; the Tanner chair was quoted at $428.  I was quite excited as that was $70 less than any other quote!  So I asked, "Who was that?"  Aaron said, "Wolf Furniture."  "Which one?" I asked.  "The one on the Pike," he replied.  How interesting! He was quoted at $230 less than I was BY THE SAME STORE!

Well, we hopped in the car and met up with the sales associate he spoke to and ordered our chair!  So we will be getting the Tanner chair in the Twitter Calypso (bird) fabric!

On our way home, I wanted to stop at Ollie's to check out area rugs.  Ollie's happens to be right next to Just Cabinets, so Aaron wanted to stop in and ask when the custom fabric sale starts.  The same guy was there (I believe he's a manager of some sort) and he remembered us (bonus points for him!).  Aaron asked about the sale and he told us that it starts Wednesday (as in two days ago) but he would just take the order then and give us the sale!  So we ordered the sectional too!  We decided to get the ottoman too - Aaron wasn't sure and maybe still isn't, but if we ordered it later, it might not match right; I like the ottoman because it's quite large and can be additional seating if needed or can serve as a coffee table with the addition of a ottoman tray.  (Speaking of which, I need to look for an ottoman tray...)

So, all the living room furniture is ordered, though we are still looking at console tables!  We found some that could possibily be built by my brother and some to order but we haven't settled on anything yet.  We did just find one at Christmas Tree Shops for $169 that is pretty awesome looking (sorry, no pic though!) and has a matching end table for $149.  I'm not sure we need the end table but I like the option of having one.  However, the downside to Christmas Tree Shops is that they get stuff in and sell it until it's gone so we have to decide soon or it'll be gone and we'll start from scratch again...

Craigslist

When I mentioned Craigslist previously, I said that we posted six items (TV, DVD/VHS player, coffee table, treadmill, weight bench/bar/weights, and a ping-pong table).  By the time of my post, we had people set to buy the TV, coffee table, treadmill, the weights/bar (but not the bench), and ping-pong table.  We got the full asking price for all of that (including the full price we asked for all the weight bench and accessories, even though he didn't want the bench) and even got an extra $5 for the coffee table because the guy didn't want change! 

At that point, we just had the DVD/VHS player and the weight bench left.  However, we also put up a Chicco Cortina Stroller for $65, 17" flat-screen computer monitor for $25, and a large corner desk for $80.  We sold the stroller and computer monitor, but only got $40 for the stroller.  We had someone interested in the DVD/VHS player. However, when he first tried to come pick it up, he didn't give me a time and we weren't home; he wanted to come the next day but we weren't available.  I'm not sure if he'll try again, but I re-posted it on Craigslist.  I have also lower the price of the desk to $70 but have not had any interest, so it might be time to drop the price again!  Finally, we still have the weight bench even though several people have expressed interest (they just don't follow through); I just got a new email this morning, so we'll see!

House Stuff

I mentioned the inspection, estimates for repairs, and discussions with the sellers.  As I said, the sellers agreed to fix everything but the balcony originally; the balcony was a fun back-and-forth but in the end, we got it taken care of!  The sellers have also offered to remove the shingled roof over the addition in the back (above the bathroom and storage area) and replace it with a metal roof during the roof replacement.  Because metal roofs last darn near forever, this is a welcome improvement and should also improve the home value. 

We are still waiting on the appraisal.  Last I knew, the mortgage lady had to get it arranged with the sellers' agent.  We haven't heard a date it is scheduled for yet and I'm starting to get nervous.  I want the appraisal done so if it doesn't appraise high enough, we have time to get things worked out with the sellers.  Also, the balcony work can't get started until after the appraisal is complete.  Speaking of which, we also need the appraiser to not notice the balcony issue or he will have to call out a structural engineer which will just cost us more money to tell us what we already know - the balcony needs replaced!

Anyway, we need the appraisal done so we can finalize everything there and get the balcony done.  We need them to get the roof finished and the balcony done so the inspector can get out there and review everything.  And we need all that done before closing on Oct. 22nd which is only 17 days away!

Re-finishing Furniture and Drawer Pulls

Last post, I mentioned that we had finished sanding one nightstand and Aaron had almost finished the other nightstand before he got rained out.  We went over to my parents on Wednesday to do some more work.  Aaron finished that nightstand and I worked on some drawers of the chest of drawers.  We plan to go tomorrow morning to work on the furniture before the rest of the family comes over for dinner and my dad's birthday celebration. 

As I also mentioned, we are going to try to fix up the current hardware so the entire post about drawer pulls is now pretty much moot as well!  Hopefully glass bead blasting will work and we can find a paint for the hardware that will look good.  But, for now, that's the plan!

Mattresses

Last I mentioned, we had gone to Mattress Warehouse and the pushy saleman made me mad, didn't want us to leave, and acted like he was giving us the best deal in the world at $720 for the mattress and boxspring.  We went to Just Cabinets and were impressed with several sets at $699 and the lack of pushy salespeople!  Well, we are now thinking of going elsewhere...

Although buying a mattress without laying on it first makes me nervous, I can't help but love the prices of mattresses online!  We found some at Sam's Club online that we like; we checked in-store but they didn't have any of the ones we liked available to lay on.  Regardless, the winner (at least for now, it hasn't been ordered yet but we aren't showing signs of changing our mind) is the Serta Carswell Plush Eurotop Mattress Set; it's available online at Sam's Club for $499 and shipping is free!  It looks comfy enough!  And I can't beat the price.  I'm just not sure if we want the regular set or the low-profile set; they are the same price but the regular set is 19.5" in combined height and the low-profile set is only 16.25" in combined height. Just something to think about...