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For years we were happy with our kitchen table, which I'd bought for $20 at a yard sale. It was cute and I really liked it. Best of all, it had a gouge out of the top when I bought it, which I kinda liked because then I didn't have to worry about my kids ruining it KWIM? It already had the gouge, so I figured we could just use the table worry free. If they scratched it, dinged it, wrote with black marker on it... oh well, it cost 20 bucks! Same with the dining table... it was from a yard sale and we used it without worrying.
WELL, this past summer we splurged on a new kitchen table AND a new dining table, along with a bunch of other new furniture (entertainment center, big flat-screen tv, hutch, sofa table etc...). We had a yard sale and sold the old kitchen table and the old dining room table. Since then, I have discovered how much I miss the old "worry free" furniture!!!!!! My kids have left juice cups etc... on the new kitchen table and it already has circular watermarks where the finish has been eaten away!!!! ARGHHH! Then, the other day, I noticed a bunch of scratches all over the dining room table ARGGHHHH! But nothing compared to the enormous (4 inch long, 1/2 inch wide) spot on the dining table where someone spilled something. Whatever the substance was, it ATE through several layers of 'finish' and left a huge gouge!!!! Double ARGHHHH!!!! Besides that, the new furniture has more angular legs, which we keep banging our legs and toes on OUCH... and the chair backs are too high to "hang" an arm over as my dh used to do.
We have learned an expensive (several thousands of dollars) lesson the hard way. Please keep this in mind and make sure you aren't lured by something's apparent "beauty" in the store. Try out the furniture and make sure it's comfortable, practical, user-friendly... not just beautiful. We are really kicking ourselves and are having real buyers remorse.
Sorry this is so long!!!! Just had to send this message...
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OMG, we have the same thing! I went last month and ordered a new dining table, but cancelled the order before delivery. We bought the sofa set about 1 yr ago and then had ds! so the wood was all chipped and they jump all over it! thank god I bought it in a dark color, but it is nearly ruined!
I did get the wood clor markers from linen and things to go over the wood sinish with the markers to cover any chips, that helped a little bit, but we will not be buying any new furniture till the kids will be over 6!
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With the exception of our entertainment center and a nice bookshelf, the majority of the furniture in our house is old, cheap crap. My sofa and recliner don't really match and I wouldn't mind having a matched set, but I certainly won't be spending any money on nice furniture as long as dd is still around messing up all of our stuff.
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When my oldest was 6 we got matching couch, loveseat and a nice coffee table with a drawer- Fast forward 4 years and 1 more child the coffee table now has no drawer (the drawer front is now gorilla glued on), the couches are still in decent shape to look at from a far, but you sink in once you sit on them- so much for buying good pieces of furniture with growing children.
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our furniture is hand me down and it has worked out well we have 2 rambucious(sp) boys and i'm getting another handme down sofa in january from someone who just wants a new one. so this works out if they get trashed i'm not out anything i just keep my walls and carpet neurtral so when i get offered something better than i have i can move it in without and alterations to the living space.
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Make sure to shop around, too. Sometimes what sells for $1000 in one store will sell for $300 in another! I know...my dining room table is one of those things! I wanted and I wanted and I wanted...and thank goodness I kept putting it off. I literally got the table for $700 cheaper by going to all the different stores...and found it at a warehouse type furniture store!! Now, I don't feel so bad when circle marks appear, etc. I know that I can re-varnish it no problem..and I have definitely gotten my money out of it!!! (Also, this is the table that I recently found a 7th chair at Goodwill for $12 that matches exactly!!! I was SO excited, as we have eight in our family. That leaves me one to go!!)
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Before kids we got a dinning set that was almost 8,000 dollars!Yicks... But it will last for generations. When the kids came I started fussing over it and I dont want dd to sit in the chairs so I put a towl on it. It's hard oak so I doesnt scratch easy but I am noticing some wear. It can be refinished but I dont want to hassel. I wish we had a used table! We dont have an eatin kitchen so it the only table we have. So i guess you could say lesson learned. Now I buy used or really cheap.
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We almost bought a leather sofa this year. I've wanted one for over 10 years. I'm so glad we didn't. I would have been stressing over spills and scratches! Better to wait until the kids are older.
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We had full intentions of selling our home this fall and moving into a bigger home so when one of the flooring stores had a wood laminate on sale for $1 a foot I bought enough I thought to redo the kitchen, entryway, and hallway upstairs and the family room and hallway downstairs. Well I didn't do my research enough to know what percentage to count for waste. I now don't have enough for the basement when it gets finished. Also I have 4 DDs who leave water spills on the floor and I'm now finding small spots where the floor is warping because water was left to long. On top of that becasue our financial situation has took a maajor hit the last few months we will no longer be selling our home. I now wish we would have put duraceramic down like I originally wanted. Live and learn.
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*sigh* there goes my dream of getting a new sofa anytime soon! I think we'll go for some coordinating slipcovers instead.. my MIL just bought us a $300 rug from Lowe's that's GORGEOUS! Well, I had just finished telling DH about it and he flips his pizza over on our tan carpet.. I was like fuming.. I went into this huge "from now on we're eating in the KITCHEN like CIVIL and NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS!" tirade.. of course, we've eaten in the living room since then.. lol But we are going to keep DS in the kitchen when he's eating or drinking anything other than water. I'm freaked out that this $300 rug will go to pot within a week with the destructive habits of my 2 yo!