It’s just a sofa, so I said
Fall has officially arrived. That means it’s time to stop worrying about all of the projects I wanted to get done around the house this summer and instead spend my time watching hours of college and pro football.
Actually, I can do that guilt-free this autumn because I completed all of the projects on my “to do” list. These mostly consisted of clearing out and reorganizing our garage, storage shed and a huge closet under the stairs.
The first round of purging came in early summer when we dug in, reorganized and got rid of lots of stuff in our storage shed.
The second round of cleaning hit the garage and included lots of purging and several trips to donate items to charities.
The final project was to move some furniture out of my storage unit to replace beautiful but older, well-worn pieces in our house.
The dining room chairs were simple to swap out and a coffee table, end table and a couple of hutches didn’t pose too much difficulty. Then came the sofa.
My “brilliant idea” was to move my sofa out of storage and into the family room, where I could enjoy it while watching hours of college and pro football. It seemed doable. After all, it’s just a sofa.
It matches the other furniture in the room and there was a perfect spot for it along the wall.
I rented a small moving truck on a bright, sunny, dry day and delved into the storage unit with gusto. I moved chairs, boxes and other items out of the way before dragging out the sofa without incident. Onto the truck it went.
The final step involved carrying the sofa through our sunroom and into the family room.
It was going swimmingly until we hit the doorway. While I measured the space where the sofa would sit, I failed to measure the doorway to see if it would fit through it. Sure enough, the doorway was too small.
We tried every possible angle and trick to get that sofa through the door, but it wouldn’t go. We measured the other doorway. Too small. Through the garage and up the stairs? Too small.
The legs of the sofa aren’t removable and I was nearly ready to cry or take a chainsaw to it when we realized the solution: take the door and screen door off the hinges. This required more effort and uttering of expletives than it should have, but it finally worked.
We flipped the sofa upside down, tilted it on an angle and shimmied it through the doorway. I apologized to my family for what an ordeal my “brilliant idea” had become.
The lesson is there’s no such thing as “just a sofa” when it comes to moving furniture.
I’m happy to report the sofa is now in place, looks beautiful and is ready for football season.
Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.