Mr. Banality and I have been discussing our living area and how it's not great for entertaining because it's somewhat uncomfortable. We'd like to have a living room that makes people want to hang out for hours rather than a living room that makes people keenly aware that their backs hurt and that they shouldn't have taken so much eggplant tapinade because, frankly, it doesn't taste that great.
We had multiple discussions about this. The result of the first discussion was that we had our 120-year-old couch reupholstered. I'm not exaggerating. It's an old couch. We had it recovered in a dark brown hemp fabric, with enough left over for Mr. Banality to make several purses, bags, and a skirt, which I happen to be wearing now. When I sit on the couch, it looks like my thighs are missing. No wise cracks about that, please.
Next, we looked for additional seating. Should we get a couple of nice chairs? With ottomans? Should we get a loveseat? Some sectional pieces? Unfortunately, we have what is considered odd taste here in the heartland. We aren't that excited about ultra poofy recliners that look like shar-peis and have built-in cupholders. Not trying to be elitist--we just don't like the way they look. We looked for things locally, but our local furniture store has to make a living, you know? They can't stock furniture for weirdos like us. We then took a day trip to the nearest funky university town and found only really expensive things that weren't quite right anyway.
We looked online, and that's when we found the Viva:
It's a sectional by designer Todd Oldham for La-Z-Boy. Oh, that Todd Oldham. He's so quirky and fun, and now he's creating designs that normal people like us can afford! This might work. We considered getting a corner section and an armless chair, which we could put together as sort of a chaise longue for reading and then separate for entertaining.
We went back to our local furniture store last Saturday. They carry La-Z-Boy merchandise, but mostly of the shar-pei variety. They directed us to a store that we hadn't visited the last time were were in the funky university town. Why did we miss it the first time around? It's in a pole barn. And the ugly pieces were showing in the front windows. And they had "fall harvest sale" posters. And it's called Town and Country Furniture. So, come on. You can't blame us, really.
Our local furniture fella called them last Saturday, just to make sure that they did carry the line (he is really a decent joe, that local furniture guy), and then Mr. Banality also called last Monday to double-check. We traveled there this past weekend, thrilled with the prospect of finding some decent seating. Mr. Banality crammed a piece of flooring and some cloth that matches our walls into one of his couch-fabric bags so that we could choose fabric for the Viva, if we decided that we wanted to get it. We began to vividly imagine ourselves reading on the corner section + armless section, all huddled under a throw. We could clearly see our friends having humorous and relaxed conversation while seated oh-so-comfortably on the individual pieces that we would spread out during one of our fabulous get-togethers. Yes, the Viva would do quite nicely. Maybe not the perfect solution, but a good solution for now.
We arrived at Town and Country Furniture and sat for quite a while on another Todd Oldham piece (they did not have the Viva in stock) while poring over the fabric samples. Was apricot too risky? Oatmeal too light? Garnet too close to the color of our walls? We finally made our decision: herb.
Are you really still reading this? Wow. Anyway, we approached the counter, and the salesperson who had helped us (and who also happened to talk with Mr. Banality on the phone earlier that same week) informed us that La-Z-Boy was discontinuing "some" of the Todd Oldham designs. The boss had crossed out the models that had been discontinued. Apparently, La-Z-Boy was in the process of "phasing them out." The boss had made this revision on Monday. Which was the day Mr. Banality had called to inquire about the Viva.
They were all crossed out. Every single one of them. We were disappointed. We looked at the regular La-Z-Boy catalog and the Lane catalog and looked at some of the things they had in stock. We were disgusted by the offerings. WE WANTED THE VIVA. Suddenly, the Viva was clearly the most perfect form of seating ever invented, and we had to have it. The salesperson said that she would call on Monday to find out if it would be at all possible for us to order the Viva, even though it was being "phased out."
We were not optimistic, but we agreed that we would jump on the chance to get the Viva if we could. Scarcity and all, you know. We were flooded by the regret-inducing counterfactuals. If only we had come by the first time we were in the funky university town! Reactance also was strong: how dare La-Z-Boy deny us the opportunity to have furniture that could improve our social lives! How unfair! They can't even spell "lazy" correctly! We now wanted the Viva more than ever.
We drowned our sorrows in a lunch of tempeh and veggie burgers and barley (we were in the funky university town, after all) and then headed home. We tried to make other furniture plans; we tried to look for other options, but they just weren't the Viva. The Viva had been our last hope.
The woman from Town and Country Furniture called today. We could order the Viva. We did--the corner section and the armless chair (oh, and the ottoman, too).
We'll have you over when it arrives. We hope you'll like it. We know we will.
1 comment:
Hooray! Viva La Viva indeed!
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