Couchy couch couch

The last time we were on site, we did some very rough and ready measurements of the living room to see if the couch that we'd picked out would fit - and woe! - it doesn't look like it will.

The Club Grand, from Bay Leather Republic, met my key priorities of being comfy to sit on, and long enough to lie down on. It met Dana's exacting standards of style and quality, and it wasn't too deep for her munchkin stature. It also gave us enough seating, which I worried about a little for the lounge room. That might sound a little silly - after all, there will be just two of us living there - but we like to entertain a lot, and we really need the extra seating. It also sorted out the worry of matching any other seating in the lounge room with the couch, as there would not really be room for any other seating anyway.

I should also point out that we do already have a few arm chairs, but they really need recovering, and we were going to retire them to the spare room anyway. The spare room was going to be a study/library/reading room. I'm really looking forward to that room.

But I digress. I've been spending some time tonight thinking about alternatives. I've got a couple of thoughts about it at the moment. The first is something that Dana and I both like, but I don't know if it would really work in our living room - a "chesterfield".

I really like these couches, but they really seem like something that should be in a bar instead of in front of a TV in the living room. I'd love to have one of these the study for example. However, it may encourage me to drink scotch on it, which I probably don't need.

The next option is something a little more modern.

This is the Kato, from King Furniture. You've probably seen some of King's adverts - they're pretty aggressive with them . Every time I go to their show room, I change my mind about them. For example, I usually end up hating the couch I went to check out, but having my world rocked by another one in the show room. I think the problem is that the colours and way they are set out can vary so much. Anyway, the modular nature of the King's couches gives us the ability to get more seating in with only the one couch in a limited space, which is attractive. I'm yet to fall in love with any of them yet though.

The other way to cut it of course, is just to go with a more standard route, with a (nice) couch. This route is a little tricky, at least with online browsing, because I can't seem to find anything that great! The couple of options that I have seen are, of course, in the US, and not Australia. Maybe there's more, and my web-fu is just to weak to find them. I don't know, it's getting late, and I'm getting tired.

Here are a couple that I did find. Unfortunately I have no idea what they're like to sit on, or where to get their equivalents in Australia. I can't help but feel the best thing to do will just be to take a big trip up to Sydney and check out what's available.

As a side note, looking at online shopping in the US makes it really obvious how much more we pay for things in Australia. I'd find it quite frustrating if I didn't love Australia quite so much.

As I've been writing this, some crappy E! special about the Kardashians has come on the TV. I've just learned more than I ever needed to know about these people, who's primary claim to fame seems to be that they knew OJ Simpson and his wife. I think it's time for bed...