A tale of two couches

Once upon a time in a place far away known as Pueblo, there lived a couple who were in search of the perfect couch. At first they bought a futon but the wife said, "This one's too hard." They then came upon a large sectional but again the wife said, "This one has too many wooden bars in it and it hurts my butt." So began the journey for their couch...

Some of you may know that Kari and I inherited the indestructible striped couches from your parents and some may not, but this should be entertaining either way. We came about our ownership of the couches by two things: first because we asked, and second because Niagara falls decided to relocate to the Gustavson home.

Well our acquisition of the the couches began simple enough, Linda asked if we wanted the couches, Kari said yes I said, "Lets measure and make sure they can fit in the basement." Well needless to say I didn't measure and before long the previously mentioned disaster took place and brought the couches to us sooner than we planned. John and Linda decided to take a "quick" drive over to bring them to us and John had even called the day before just to make sure that I was aware that these couches were coming and I told him it was no problem, but even with the warning, I still didn't measure.

Well the couches arrived on Saturday and were placed in the garage to allow time to plan and time to visit. After a wonderful 24 hours with the parents and a trip to Castle Rock on Sunday we made our way home and I decided it would be productive to get the couches in and settled. No problem right?

The 6ft couch went in easily. I was able to handle it well enough on my own and get it up the garage steps, through the doorway, down the basement steps, and into the area where it would stay. The 8ft couch was a different story...

The following sequence of pictures should serve as a warning to anyone facing this situation again and to heed the warning given by American Furniture Warehouse of, "I am BIG. Please measure before taking me home."

What would become a battle to the death began rather pleasant considering the wrath it would unleash later. I figured that the best way to get this couch to the basement would be a straight shot through the back door and down the steps, so I measured the distance between the garage door rails and the top of the hand rail. Nope, too narrow. Then I thought we will just have to go through the front door. (This is where I went wrong.)

I thought I was pretty clever by utilizing my car creeper

to move the couch easily to the front porch. I thought myself even more clever that I then stood the couch upright, moved the creeper to the top step and laid the couch down and continued rolling to the front door. I got it in the door and turned towards the hallway.

Move the side table, push the couch so I can aim the new couch at the right angle, and head for the hallway.

Once I got to the hallway I thought I could just stand the couch up, swivel it, and turn into the kitchen.
Wrong.
An 8ft couch cannot be pushed into an upright position in an 8ft ceiling.
Silly me. So after some back and forth pushing and pulling between doorways,



I got the couch into the kitchen,



and pointed towards the hallway at the top of the basement.

"I could have sworn this ceiling was taller."



Well after admitting defeat, (via this route,) I had to pull the couch back through the kitchen,



back through the hallway,



to its temporary resting place; sideways in our living room.


Oh and did I mention that the missionaries came by while it was like this?



Plan B.
I decided to take the first approach but now with some necessary modifications:




After my modification I was now certain that I could get the couch down the stairs, I and trying to be smarter about my approach, I made sure to MEASURE the width of the doorway at the bottom of the stairs to make sure I would not get stuck. As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on..." I forgot how it goes, thanks George.

Well the doorway wasn't wide enough, so after additional slight modifications,



and with the help of my stepfather, we were able to get the couch over the railing, down the stairs, throught the "widened" doorway, and to its final resting place.



and they all lived happily ever after.