Nothing Less Will Do

I've decided to pursue one piece of perfect living room furniture this spring. My "stereo case" consists of plastic shelving, while I wait to find the right piece, because I'm a perfectionist and I'd rather have nothing than something I don't like. Today I drove to Cedar Rapids, because I have a suspicion that it will have better used furniture than Iowa City because there are fewer students to buy it. It's not that I won't buy new furniture, but I normally don't like it. I find most new furniture to be either too fussy or too clunky, and the chairs are too deep and bad for one's back. Even the ultra-expensive arty furniture just makes too much of a statement for me. I don't want to live in a gallery; I like everything cozy and inviting, or failing that, at least practical.

There was a traffic jam on the freeway, so I exited and cut through the Czech Village to the arty part of Cedar Rapids, which is a very small section of town. I drove past the Harley bar and some galleries and empty storefronts until I reached downtown, which, again, was not very far away. I've wanted to visit Jeff Jones consignment furniture store for over a year now, but I thought someone told me it was on 3rd St., where the Harley bar is, and I could not for the life of me find it. It's typical of me that it took me a year to pick up the phone book, write down the address--3rd Avenue--and drive over there. I'm not very good at keeping track of the passage of time. It's how I wound up in grad school so long. It's also why I wasn't upset when I turned 40; I had gotten upset the year before, when I turned 39 but thought I was turning 40.

Now that I finally know where Jeff Jones is, I will go there once or twice a month until I find what I'm looking for, whatever that is--unless I find it somewhere else first. I once picked out an entertainment center at a consignment store in Anamosa, but I never actually bought it, so Anamosa is my next stop.

Even so, of all the furniture stores I have ever been to, Jeff Jones is my favorite. I did not see any particle board, and nearly everything in the store had character. They have stunning furniture pieces. Even though I wasn't looking for a coffee table, I would have bought one there if it hadn't already been sold. It was perfect. It was light wood, probably a Prairie style, smaller than most coffee tables, with stained glass inset in the top, and a functional shelf under the table surface. There were outer slats that blocked anyone from having a clear view of the shelf. I saw other pieces with a similar look, and all of them had been sold. Probably I need to meet the person who bought them and just move in. Then I could stop shopping for furniture.