Furniture, or "Where Am I?"

I'm in the chair by the window, it's a 50's-style square-shaped club chair with an ottoman, the colors of the two pieces don't match because the ottoman was sold out in the same shade and since they were both supremely on sale I told myself non-matching but complimentary colors would work just fine. The chair is a light gray-blue, it came from a Crate and Barrel set with the sofa. The ottoman is charcoal gray and that they're not the same color is very flattering, actually. A good choice on my part. I got all these pieces last summer, the first "real" pieces of large furniture I've ever bought. I had an old sleeper sofa and love seat that were handed down from friends of my parents when i moved into this apartment, i kept them covered with chenille throws to hide where the off-white fabric became grubby but when the sofa started springing holes it was time for an upgrade. 

Despite the fact that i had overnight guests once a year at most, i liked having that pullout option so i looked online for sleeper couches like the one i had. They were all boring or too expensive but i didn't imagine myself as someone who had more unique furniture, I live in a small space and wanted something that blended in, not something i had to redesign around. I'm not creative like that. But during a visit to Chicago, I asked my friend Jennifer if we could look in the Crate and Barrel we were passing on Michigan Avenue, I saw my swingy new pieces there live for the first time. Not a sleeper! Modern cut! And light blue!!! Could I go there? Could I be that person? We looked at some of the dowdy alternatives i'd checked out on their website but we were pulled back to club land. So much more fun! My friend had couch envy, even! And that was that, I came home and ordered them up, made my non-matching decision and then my new furniture, my new chapter, was on their way. 

But what to do with the old pieces? I don't live in the suburbs, where my husband would drag the items to the curb for a friendly garbage man to tote away. If I could even get my super to help me drag the sleeper and the love seat downstairs, there's no guarantee they'd get picked up: they could become a rotting eyesore on the sidewalk and my super could get fined. The Salvation Army pickup truck had a too-long wait list and wouldn't take the sleeper for fear of potential bedbug threat [I wonder if this happens in the suburbs]. After calling and being rejected by several other charitable organizations—which infuriated me, I'm trying to help here!—I finally paid some guy named José $200 cash to just get that shit out of my apartment. He was just leaving when the elves from Crate and Barrel flew in, did they bit of assembly, and ta dah! New furniture! New life! 

I could see immediately I would need a new coffee table. That came the following week, also from Crate and Barrel. Dark wood with curved legs and a shelf underneath, very sturdy, very adult. I managed to drag my old shite Ikea one to the curb where, according to my doorman, it was hauled away by some guy in less than 10 minutes.