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Something we saved for (new living room furniture!)

leather Ikea Ektorp sofa

When we bought our townhome nine years ago, we used some of our savings to buy some new furniture. We bought a La-Z-Boy couch and recliner, thinking that they’d last for a very, very long time. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

The fabric on our couch pilled very badly, and for the last several years, the fabric on the cushions had been sprouting holes. In addition, I was starting to get annoyed at how difficult it is to keep a fabric couch clean with four kids.

Sometime this last year, my husband and I spied some leather furniture at Ikea which was very reasonably priced. We didn’t technically need new furniture, though, so we decided that we would just try to squirrel away any extra money into a sofa fund.

brown leather Ikea Ektorp sofarI played for a wedding, and we put that money into the fund.

I subbed for the choir’s accompanist, and we put that money into the fund.

We sold used books online and put that money into the fund, even if it was just $0.75.

Finally, at the end of December, we had enough money saved up for the sofa, but not the chair. Boo.

Then January happened to be the month where we got an extra paycheck (my husband gets paid every two weeks, and we budget off of that money. Twice a year, he ends up with three paychecks in a month, and those are extra money to us.)

We decided to use some of that money to finish up our furniture fund, so then we had enough for the sofa, the chair, and a new leather cushion for our other chair.

Woohoo!

And worry not-none of the old stuff hit the landfill. Our sofa and chair were happily taken by our friends, and the old cushion from the Poang chair replaced a more worn cushion on a Poang chair in Zoe’s room. The worn cushion now serves as a calisthenics cushion for me to use (all the downstairs floors are hard surfaces, and are thus not at all suitable for crunches!).

Here’s what our living room looked like with the old furniture:
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And here’s what it looks like now.
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Old chair:
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New chair:
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And just because I love before and afters, here’s what the living room looked like the day we bought the house.
livingroombefore1

This is with the old furniture, but with new windows, curtains, railings, and a much improved foyer (did you notice the ridiculous brick stuff in the first picture??)
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And this is now!
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It was hard to be patient and wait for the furniture, but I think that since we had to save, we appreciate our furniture more. If we had been able to just go out and buy the new furniture, it wouldn’t seem so special to us.

I love the leather so far…I think it looks fabulous, and I love, love, love the fact that it is non absorbent and wipeable.

Update!

We eventually decided to buy another Ektorp leather piece-a loveseat. And we added crown moulding and painted our living room too.

So, now it looks more like this.

And this.

Three years into owning our Ektorp pieces, we’re still really happy with them. The leather has worn way better than our fabric furniture did, and it looks so much more classy.

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Kristin Hurst

Tuesday 30th of August 2016

Hi! We have this same sofa and now we want another one, but can't find one anywhere. Any thoughts on where I can find these pieces?

Ours has held up extremely well!

Thanks!

Kayla

Thursday 2nd of January 2014

Hi Kristen! Is your furniture real leather or bonded leather? We recently bought a bonded leather sectional and ottoman at a local retirement sale for a steal. I have read reports of bonded leather not holding up as well.

Kristen

Friday 3rd of January 2014

Well, I'm assuming they're bonded leather because we didn't pay eleventy billion dollars for them, but I have no complaints about how well they're holding up!

Sara

Tuesday 1st of January 2013

I love the color of your living room! Do you know the name of it? Thanks!

Kristen

Tuesday 1st of January 2013

Yup, the blue-y gray color is Benjamin Moore Fusion. I love it to pieces! It's so peaceful and serene looking.

The Frugal Girl » Just call me The Barterer.

Thursday 12th of March 2009

[...] husband I bought this clock last month(you may have noticed it in the furniture pictures). I’ve been really wanting one to go over my piano for a while, and we found one on a good [...]

Non Consumer Girl

Friday 13th of February 2009

I love what you have done with your lounge room. Lovely sofas, we have had similar chocolate leather sofas and I would never go back to fabric ones with children. Don't change a thing! Rooms can look too cluttered with too many cushions, pictures on the wall etc. It looks just right how it is, clean lines, uncluttered, less is more!

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