The BetsyG-Spot

If you started reading The BetsyG-Spot this week and were hoping for a post like Monday’s The Truth About Sex. Love, and Marriage today, you may be a little disppointed, although I will share some truisms people sent to me this week at the end of the column. I’m writing about furniture, and that’s not a metaphor for anything, sorry. Anyhow, I think furniture’s pretty hot, don’t you?

In any case, there is a good story in here, so you really do have to read it, I’m afraid.

As you may recall from my Vacation Washout post, I bought some furniture from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams in August. I got the two stock pieces the week after I bought them, but the Jeanie chair-and-a-half was cu$tom ordered, and it finally was ready to be delivered this week.

Before I could take delivery of the Jeanie chair, I had to get rid of my couch and loveseat or be crammed until I did. By a stroke of good luck (for me), I finally got a response to my ad late Monday afternoon; delivery was scheduled for Tuesday a.m.

A couple came out to the house; they were furnishing the guy’s apartment and he quickly decided to take the two pieces. He tried to talk me down, but I didn’t see the point in that because I could have donated them and the tax break would have been worth at least as much as I was asking. He was getting two 19-year-old pieces of Drexel-Heritage furniture in excellent condition, and I felt it was a fair price. Still, I showed him the stuff in my basement that I have been meaning to donate and offered to give him anything he wanted, and he took a framed poster he seemed quite pleased with.

I was glad to get rid of the pieces that night, and thought the guy would enjoy them, as they are very comfy. I was feeling very good about the transaction and happy about the $150 in my pocket that would take a mouse-sized bite out of the giant slab of cheese that’s on my credit card. (That one is a metaphor, and a poor one, yes. Correct.)

I got this e-mail from the woman the following morning:

Thank you for your kindness. The bad news is that the seat cushions flew out of the truck on the highway and were destroyed. What a shame, huh.
Take care,
Debbie

Heartbreaking. But what could I do?

So don’t I sound like a real rich bitch now as I show you my new furniture. And I figured out, once the couch was gone and the Jeannie was here, I didn’t have enough furniture for the room, so now I need to buy an armchair. Also, my tables—nice as they are—do not go with the decor. I was thinking I would just wait and fill out the rest of the room a little at a time, but then I decided to bite the bullet and finish it. I furnish a living room, what…every 20 years? If I’m going to do it, I should do it.

So I’m about to order an armchair, a side table, and a coffee table. Still have a quandary about my window treatments which go with three out of the four pieces, but clash horribly with the Jeannie.

Anyhow, here’s what I have so far.

My Rennie sofa (I got the floor model:

Here’s the Tad chair (with the stock fabric):

And here is the Jeannie (with a 10-year-old on it to give you a sense of scale):

My boys liked the chair, but they were disappointed the Jeannie wasn’t pink as it was in the picture. So when I said the room needed an armchair, they advised me to get something either pink or purple! How odd. My boys do like musicals (they were conditioned to do so since birth) but otherwise they are pretty macho. (Side story: When I took them to Las Vegas a few years ago, I got tickets for us to see Debbie Reynolds, who they knew from Singin’ in the Rain. When I told them who I got tickets to see, they were shrieking with excitement: “You mean we’re going to see Cathy Seldon [the character name in the movie]…in person??”)

As you can see, pink really would not work with the other pieces. But I was intrigued with the idea of a purple armchair. So I spent some time with the manager at MG+BW, and she sent me home with a swatch, and then I decided the whole thing would be pulled together by making a pillow using the same fabric that’s on the Tad chair. So I’m using this purple and ordering a throw pillow in the fabric shown on the small swatch: 

 On this chair, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams’s Ellis chair:

These are the tables I am going to get—from the Logan family. With so much going on in the room, I had to tone down the accessories, though I am hunting for a funky lamp. I’ll shoot a video when the whole room is done.

And that’s enough on that.

More truisms

One of the funny things about people my age is they do not generally a) read blogs, b) post to blogs, or c) comment on blogs. So when my friends have something to say about one of my posts, they send me e-mails, and then I have to beg them to comment on the site.

Today I have a few that came in from various parties. Here’s one:

• A woman has sex to get love; A man gives love to have sex.

I’m not 100% convinced on that one, but I will agree that we are all pretty fucked up when it comes to sex and love.

The rest came from friends of a friend. This one’s just a general relationship one:

• Why do men always have skids in their underwear? They can take a sharp razor to their face on a daily basis or fix a car, but they don’t know how to wipe their butts.

On Valentine’s Day and gifts:

• If she says all she wants for Valentine’s Day is a card, she’s obviously got herself another Valentine who gives her nice gifts.
• If she says all I want for Christmas is for you and the kids to be happy, she’s given up on a life of her own and could use some mommy’s little helpers (the blue ones).

Please send more! C’mon. Give the Comments feature a try. No one will know it’s you (except maybe me).

As always, thanks for reading,