Posted 2/7/01 The furniture . . . SUNDAY NIGHT MaryHelen Swanson, editor I hate to burden you fine folks with the continuing saga of my new furniture, but thatís whatís on my mind as the week winds down. We have already made three trips to the store to complete the set of living room furniture. The saga began not at the time of choosing, although I sat on a lot of couches before I made the decision, but when, having purchased the furniture and gone through h--- to get it home, we had to take the door, frame and all, off the house on New Yearís Eve day to get it in. Of course I wanted matching tables, end and coffee, so they were purchased on the second trip, and the third one was to return the end tables for the right ones. They were boxed and disassembled and apparently it was hard for the store employees to know what was inside. But, the deliciously plump furniture, which, as I said, is probably way too big for our living room, is really heaven to sit on. Itís like giant squishy pillows all put together and one really does feel good relaxing in its welcoming seats. In fact, so comfy is the furniture, that four of us, my hubby, daughter, three-year-old grandson and I all fell into a heavenly sleep after Sunday dinner a week ago. In a moment of brief consciousness, I lifted an eyelid to view us all stretched carefree and satisfied in pleasant repose. The joy in that is, in recent months, perhaps as long as a year, not more than one or two people could even sit at one time in the room as the old furniture, sagging and depleted, kept getting banished to the landfill, one piece at a time. So for all of us to be comfortable napping at once on my fine new furniture was a special moment that had to be included in my furniture tale. That moment, was however, rarer than you might think. The tempting softness of those forest green cushions often waits in vain. I have little time to treat myself to a moment of rest. When I do, however, I have personally opted for the love seat as my favorite perch. So the western end of the very lengthy couch got little use until this past weekend. When I sat on it Saturday morning, it felt funny. No, not laughing funny, but strange funny. It sloped to the north. Ok, I got up plumped the cushions and tried again. It sloped to the north. Now, this piece of furniture is a heavy one and lifting it to look underneath was no easy task. I put my back to it and then cautiously slid my hand under the leg. What? It felt like something was amiss. So I called in hubby and after we rearranged the room we tipped the beast over only to discover that the boards on the end were broken. Covered with upholstery, but nontheless broken. How could this happen? We surmised that during shipping it must have been dropped and since the boards were unseen and the couch already was really close to the floor, no one noticed. So now, guess what? We have to get a replacement. Yes, the store has one. All we have to do is bring back the broken couch and pick up the new one. All, I say. You know what that means? We will have to remove the door, frame and all, once again. We will have to have two couches outside at one time during the trade-off, neither of which should be set down in two-foot snow drifts. We will have to do a lot of lifting, from the knees, of course, and now my son-in-law will not be available to help us either. I never knew it was going to be such an issue to get some new furniture. Itís a good thing itís comfortable. ©Post Review