our new old couch

So I was recently reminded that I promised to post pictures of my "new" old couch a long time ago, but never did. So here they are!

And here is the fabulous story:

We were in Idaho Falls for Tyler's Grandma's 80th birthday. Idaho Falls has some fabulous thrift stores because it isn't cool to thrift shop there, and people tend to hang on to all their junk. So thrifting is a definite MUST every time we visit. So Tyler, Tiffany, Cortney, and I were making the rounds. Just as we were leaving the Youth Ranch Thrift Store, a big truck with a HUMONGOUS car trailer FULL of stuff was arriving. We were curious so we stopped to look at what they were carrying out of it.

And we just about died.

The lady who was unloading it had just purchased an old house from an estate sale. The old woman who owned it had died and didn't have any relatives who wanted her things, so they were getting rid of it all. Imagine the best vintage stuff collected and stored for 50+ years. Everything coming out of the truck was incredible and she said that we could have whatever we wanted before they gave it away to the store! The lady was SO nice to us and was telling us what was in each box and letting us poke around everything. We got all kinds of stuff including an old camera, a sweet picnic basket with little colorful retro plates and utensils inside, that green ottoman in the photos above, a pretty orange flowered umbrella, an amazing brown leather Samsonite luggage set, and of course that magical houndstooth couch with a hide-a-bed inside. All for free! Tiffany and Cortney got some pretty sweet stuff, too.

What was funny was that the thrift store employees were so grumpy about it. They kept trying to take stuff in as fast as they could before we could look at it, and if it made it into the store, they would try to charge us ridiculous prices for it. They were obviously annoyed that we were "stealing" their merchandise, but the lady said that she is giving the stuff to the thrift store anyway, so she might as well give it to people who are going to love it all! And after all that, she and her husband even drove the couch to grandma's house for us because we didn't have a truck. Wow. So nice!

So that is the fabulous story of our little retro houndstooth couch. We really love it and it instantly added so much style to our little living room. But the hide-a-bed is disgusting. Someday we'll need to replace the grungy, stinky mattress. Beggars can't be choosers, though, right? :) We were just thrilled to have it at all!