Slim Furniture, Where Have You Been All My Life?

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I never imagined the mere mention of three seemingly benign letters would make my blood pressure skyrocket. “PCS,” or Permanent Change of Station for all of you non-military folk, is the perpetual state of nomadism. We military families experience it on the reg.

Did my reminder of it just make you run to the kitchen and raid your emergency candy bar stash or get into the wine just a bit earlier than is socially acceptable? No judgement here. Fun-sized Snickers go well with boxed cabernet sauvignon. I heard that from a “friend.” 

The deluge of PCS dread hits me just as we are about to receive a new assignment. My family is approaching the middle of an 11 month tour, so that feeling for me has been looming for almost a year. Where will we live? Will the schools be decent? Will I be able to find a home which meets my ever diminishing wish list which includes a house that is inside, with bedrooms, and an enclosed space in which to store my kids most prized possessions that I mistake as garbage on a daily basis?

Will my “eclectic” hodgepodge of furniture collected from six different assignments and three countries fit in the aforementioned dream home? I will save myself the suspense.

No. It will not.

Enter Slim Furniture. This company and military families are a match made in Tuscany (which is as close to heaven as I can imagine a place to be). I honestly can’t gush about this furniture enough. It is exceptionally sturdy, modular, and completely washable. Yes, yes, yes.

Slim Furniture was designed by a former mover who was concurrently attending design school. As a mover, time after time, Mike from Slim Furniture was advising families as to where their furniture would fit and which doors and staircases their larger pieces just couldn’t make. When he came up with Slim Furniture, he made sure that with  all of the couches, chairs, and ottomans he created, this would never be an issue again. 

You can see from this photo that the furniture breaks down in a downright rational way. Notice the solid wood base, 12 gauge steel frame, substantial foam cushions and washable covers. That’s it.

Where’s the hardware in the makeshift green cellophane package hastily constructed by the packers that would make Dexter wince? How about the tools needed for assembly?

Slim Furniture says to the left with that noise.

It is shameful how often I am legitimately afraid that my mattress will fall through my bed frame because half of the screws and washers are missing from the support beams. The frame has been drilled into by the movers so many times, the screws don’t fit securely anyway. My tools arrived in our second shipment three months after we arrived, so I had to live with a squeaky couch and rickety desk until they were finally delivered.

There is not one model in the Slim Furniture line that requires a single tool or screw to assemble.

Neither my husband nor I can be considered “handy.” We almost broke up while dating after I decided it would be a fun project for us to put together a moderately sized nightstand rather than paying the $39 to have it assembled. I still contend I was correct, but long story short, it didn’t go well. He is always less than enthusiastic to be actively involved with any move, rearrangement, or assembly of a large item.

We put together a Slim Furniture chair and ottoman in 15 minutes with “help.” My girls love to assist (act as terrorists) in anything that they foresee will be complicated and stressful.

Yay! The joke was on them. This was SO easy. The instructions were clear, they came on actual letter-sized paper so us old folks could read them, and they included illustrations for each and every step of assembly.

I have reoccurring nightmares of trying to assemble a shelving unit with one of those metal Allen wrenches, 1,000 tiny screws and instructions. With every successful pilot hole I was required to drill with a 2-inch piece of what I assume is melamine and a screw the size of my pinky nail, another screw would mysteriously go missing. I finally found them in my daughter’s (empty thank goodness) potty seat after searching for  hours. I’m almost certain the Italian curse I poorly attempted to bestow on it was not successful, but nonetheless, it was an experience I am not trying to replicate in the future.

Assembling our chair and ottoman from Slim Furniture may have restored my husband’s faith in engineering and common sense. 

I have become accustomed (desensitized) to the shopping experience at a certain furniture store in which the aforementioned cursed shelving unit was purchased. I remember spending hours meandering through the enormous campus on my first visit and naively asking an experienced friend, “So you pick something out, and they bring it outside and load it in your car for you?” She couldn’t help but laugh at me.

My experience with customer service at Slim Furniture was just the opposite. They listened to me and suggested options based on what I needed. I dare say, it was a pleasant experience. I had the opportunity to speak with Woodrow, who asked me about my kids, my pets, and my style. He has multiple family members who are both active duty and retired military, and I felt like he truly understood the experience of a military family move.

You know, just like shopping at the Scandinavian Marriage Crucible.

As you can ascertain from the posted photos, I have a cadre of minions, both human and canine, who are allowed on my furniture. Just yesterday I had to remove a perfectly curated yogurt handprint off the back of my couch. This was after a two hour endeavor the previous day scrubbing the entire couch with a steam cleaner when my soaking wet lab made himself comfortable after a run in the pouring rain.

If the thoughtful and practical design of this furniture wasn’t enough to convince you to purchase it immediately, the fact that this company recognizes that “life is messy and messy gets everywhere,” should seal the deal.

Each and every surface of the furniture is easily cleaned. The frame and base can be wiped down with soap and water and the cushion covers are MACHINE WASHABLE! Hallelujah! No messing with fabric sprays that leave your couch wet for what seems like three weeks and no steam cleaners. Just unzip the covers and throw them into your own washer.

One of the most stressful parts of a move for me is trying to squeeze what was perfect in one home into what is questionable at best in the next. What makes Slim Furniture so perfect for military families is the options it provides as far as space and additional storage. Slim Furniture is completely modular, so it can conform to each an every space with ease. There are two sizes, a 36″ x 36″ square and a 26″ x 26″ square for smaller areas. Each aspect of Slim Furniture’s pieces is customizable, so what was once a side chair can become part of a couch with the simple removal of a side rail. A couch can be turned into a day bed with the placement of ottomans.

Finding places for visiting friends and family to crash is always a concern with military families and this furniture easily alleviates that issue. Anyone who has been stationed overseas knows the challenges presented when trying to fit American furniture into European or Asian homes. Getting things through the front door in many cases is a non-starter. Oh, and keep in mind that Europeans don’t believe in the necessity of closets. Huh? There were ZERO options for storage in our Italian home, which is why I bought the aforementioned shelving unit in the first place. Again, the intuitive design of Slim Furniture to the rescue. There is substantial, built in, easily accessible storage in every piece. Even the ottoman fits into the base of the chair if you don’t have room for it on a daily basis. 

By the Hammer of Thor, Slim Furniture, where have you been all my life?

A sturdy, modern streamlined piece of furniture at a reasonable price is my version of a magnificent unicorn. Slim Furniture goes above and beyond this dream, especially for those of us who live this unique military life. I received four immediate compliments on my chair from my Wine Club friends, and we all know how truthful people are by the end of those events.

Whether your priority is to have lasting beautiful furniture, for it to always fit in your home no matter where you land, or to maintain your sanity during a move, Slim Furniture has you covered.

Visit its website and check out all of the innovative and beautiful options available  https://slimfurniture.com/. There are even some super cool options for DIY’ers to further personalize their chairs, and the company encourages you to share your ideas with the rest of the Slim Furniture community. 

This is a sponsored post, but I could work for this company as I have loved my entire experience with Slim Furniture so much. They have shown a true commitment to working with military families, which is sincerely appreciated by all of us at Military Moms Blog. 

 

 

Military Moms Blog is thrilled to partner with Slim Furniture on this sponsored post.

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