Our last couch lived a pretty good life before our kids came along. Brandon and I bought it at a store during one of their warehouse clearance sales right before we were married. We both traveled so much for our jobs, our couch barely had visitors.

It was a practical khaki twill and faded a bit over the years, but it was in great shape. Until we had children.

Our couch was subjected to daily flopping, smuggled apple juice spills, and the errant marker. Not to mention the fact that our dog has been known to use the base of the couch as a napkin after getting a drink. You don’t have to tell me how gross that is.

Recently, the edges of the cushions began to fray and that fueled my replacement fire. We’ve spent the first nine years of our marriage furnishing our house, and just when we think we’re finished, it all needs to be replaced. Brandon is completely dumbfounded.

I mentioned previously that I was having a hard time finding what I want. After 211 trips to the furniture clearance center; I found my dream leather sectional…in the color I wanted…within my budget. Well, not really. My approved budget was $0, but I had a more realistic figure in mind. The only caveat…it had cupholders. You read that correctly.

The more I sat on the couch, and reclined in the couch-- which breaks another of my furniture rules-- I became convinced I might be able to live with it. I called Jill E. and together we rationalized that cupholder-clad furniture is acceptable in a basement or bonus room. After Brandon sat on the couch in the store, he was sold and we brought it home Saturday.

One problem. I’m not good with spatially reasoning. The couch didn’t look quite so large in it’s giant warehouse home. We didn’t measure until we got the couch home. We have a door upstairs to separate the children’s area from the rest of the house. The door seemed like a great idea when we built, in fact I asked if it could have three locks. It isn’t very handy for moving furniture around. The door is 36 inches wide and the reclining part of the couch is 42. Brandon and I spent an hour inching the couch up the back stairs. Now we have a new couch in our bonus room and a soon to be repainted back stairway.

*Disclaimer: I realize this isn't the most appealing photo ever, but it was neccessary to show the scale of this huge couch that caused me to pull a muscle in a place I didn't know I had one.