Die Qual der Wahl.... (or "How many furnitures are there???!!!")

We have now been in our new flat for two weeks and we still love it. Although it is still as empty as ... well ... as empty as my head trying to think of a metaphor for this. We have been doing some serious schlepping around various furniture stores and the main thing we have learned is - there is WAY too much choice out there.  Seriously. How many different choices of toilet brush do you need?!

I initially thought it would be so exciting to fit out our new flat, but it's actually quite intimidating. Every time we come home there are empty rooms begging for tables and chairs and sofas and cute-stuffs-that-do-nothing-but-look-purrrty - FILL ME, SEYMOUR, FILL ME!  And it's all too much!

We finally managed to find a sofa we liked after about five trips to the shop, putting the assistant through, above and beyond his paces.  We took measuring tapes, got him to move the sofa around (it's a modular thingummy, and you can swap it about all over the place), switch this arm to the right and that chaise to the left and, oh, maybe we could move that chair from over there to over here to see if it works, but no it doesn't, so move it back again, WORK, MONKEY, WORK TO PLEASE US!! SELL US YOUR SOFA!!!  Fortunately the guy was amazing with us (mainly I think cos Jan was shamelessly flirting with him) and seemed completely happy to be rearranging the entire store for us.  And that was just one trip. His poor little heart must have sunk every time we darkened that furniture store door.

The last time we went, we almost had nervous breakdowns and spent about TWO HOURS just trying to decide which colour fabric to have (too dark? too light? too bland?  Will it go with the floors? The walls? The walls are white, dammit!! Aaaaaaggghhh!).  We were showing this guy pictures of our empty house and trying to make him decide for us - please! We can't do this by ourselves, this stuff is for grown-ups!  Let's not even mention trying to decide about the wood for the arms, or the stuffing for the cushions... *shudder*

We left quivering wrecks, having placed our order, holding each other back from running into the store just to look at the Mellifluous Maple (or whatever it was) one last time because - WHAT IF WE HAVE MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAAAAKE, NOOOO!!

In a fit of madness, we then went into another shop to check out a dining table and chairs we had seen and liked.  Whether it was the trauma of the sofa buying or not, we marched in, checked out the goods and just went and ordered straight away.  As we left, I overheard a nearby couple - who were umming and aahing over their purchase - say, "That's how we need to be". Hah!!  If only they knew about our shameful sofa shenanigans...

Anyway, now we have actual furniture on the way (although we won't see the sofa again until March!) so we are feeling less intimidated by the bareness of our rooms.  And besides, we have prioritised and already have the important things...

Come to think of it... do we really need the sofa?!