Furniture? Yes, please!

On Wednesday, Graham and I decided that we needed some furniture for the living room (we only had the couch and tv), and we desperately needed lamps, as there is minimal lighting provided in the apartment. We went to a furniture store in Bellevue that I had read about online-it got rave reviews for quality furniture at discount prices. When we walked into the store, the first thing we saw was an end table for $499. We quickly assessed that we weren't in the right place! After a brief stop at a HUGE Crate and Barrel, we headed here:

This place was ginormous. The size of a city block and it was ALL painted that bright blue color. Only this one was like a warehouse with no windows...very strange. We entered the building and proceeded through the human mouse maze checking out furniture. We were able to find some good deals-we got 2 end tables, a coffee table, an entertainment center, and 3 lamps-all for $200! It is a dark wood (called black-brown) and not the greatest quality, but it will definitely get the trick done for the next year or two or three.

We had an issue getting all of the furniture in the rental car and ended up taking one of the pieces completely out of the box in order for it to all fit. All of the pieces come in ready-to-assemble pieces with instructions...but not written instructions, just pictures! I was able to quickly put together the end tables and 3 lamps while Graham put together the coffee table. Those were all simple enough-and then we opened the entertainment center. This is a very simple piece (pictures coming later) but it had approximately one million pieces/parts/nails/screws/knobs. It took Graham 4 hours!! to put together. See, I have proof:

My hard working man! Finally, we had it all finished and our home was coming together! Stay tuned next week for a full photo tour of the apartment.