How I Got A $6,400 Mid-Century Sofa For Less Than $500

We're nearing the one year mark on owning our home which means for almost a year now, our front living room has been empty (see progress pictures here). We've had other projects we wanted to work on and, honestly, I couldn't find what I wanted. Where we live, it's hard to find mid-century modern furniture without paying a royal fortune (and that's when you can find it).

Step forward to last week. I went into one of the home decor consignment stores I visit from time to time and lamented to the ladies in the store that I still couldn't find a good sofa. One of them told me they'd seen one recently posted by another store, but it had been a few weeks and, oh, it was orange. "BUT THAT'S WHAT I WANT," I said and furiously looked it up on my phone. 

And I died a little bit on the inside because this was the photo posted:

Let me tell you, your mind will do irrational things when you want something. I was on a mission. I envisioned someone swooping in right before I could get there. I went out to my car and gave them a call. The sofa was STILL THERE and currently going for $560. That night, I showed Paul the photos and he liked it. I went the next day to look at it, haggled with them and bought the sofa for $485. I was pretty happy with myself.

I started searching online because I knew this was an incredible piece. This is what I found:

Oh, you know, a refurbished and reupholstered version for $6,400 online. Ours, to our knowledge, has the original fabric.

Here was another similar model we found:

I couldn't have been more proud of this purchase.

And the cat approves.

Can't wait to show you how the front room is finally shaping up!

Lousiana Girl Trip

How time flies! I can't believe it's already been a week since this trip ended. Every spring my mom, sister, aunt, cousin and I go on a trip on some sort. It started as our spring break trips when we were in school and we've gone everywhere - from the mountains of North Carolina to Disney in Orlando. For about ten to fifteen of those years, my mom has been saying she wanted to tour the Tabasco factory in South Lousiana. This year, that came true.

In true McNeil fashion, the early morning start began with Bloody Mary's. We got a kick out of mom trying to mix them on a bumpy interstate.

After lunch in Ponchatoula, we made our way to Carville, home of the country's former leprosarium. If you've ever read the book In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, you'll know what we're talking about. This place was very interesting.

There was even a room where you could pull "files" on patients and learn about how the disease had affected them.

But, the main portion of our trip was spent in New Iberia. This is one of the places you could stay on the property where we stayed.

This was actually where we stayed. We were skeptical when we pulled in, but it ended up being great. It was right on Bayou Teche!

New Iberia has some gorgeous homes downtown.

Ah, Tabasco land. Mom was really excited. To be honest, there wasn't much to photograph of the actual factory, but the grounds were very pretty. (Mom has some great info on her blog about the trip!)

Also on Avery Island was Jungle Gardens, land conserved by the family, which included all kinds of themed areas. This house held a Buddah from 1100 AD.

After that, we all needed a sandwich... fast. We were all getting hangry and turned into a diner with a packed parking lot (usually a good sign). They had good poboys that you could get a half of, but double the meat. Here's mom's overstuffed oyster poboy.

We also toured a rice mill in town and the start of the show had to be the factory cat. She knew how to get what she wanted.

While a the rice mill, the tour guide told us about crawfish fields and what to look for. On the way back home, we stopped to see what they were all about. 

And no trip through Baton Rouge is complete without a trip to Trader Joe's. My pantry was very happy.