Of course they don't have any!

Last night TheGuy and I went shopping for lamps. The plan was to go to Lowe's and look at the sets of lamps that come 4 to a box in the price range $50-100.

We went to the Lowe's nearest our house and we found a lamp set we liked, and it was on clearance for $55 for the set of 4: one nightlight, 2 table lamps, and one floor lamp. It was the right color scheme and we thought it would work.  It wasn't what I had in mind but the price was right and it wasn't ugly. This set even came with shades.

We "liked" the lamps but we weren't "excited" about them. Then we saw THE SHADES. The lamps shades that match my new ottoman: cream colored shades with charcoal gray cursive writing.  These were AWESOME! We tried the shades on the lamp set and they Fit! And it made the lamps look about a million times better! Okay, great! We had a plan. Except that the Lowe's we were at only had one shade and we needed three. The clerk helping us checked and said another Lowe's store 8 miles away had nine of them. Okay, great.

TheGuy and I bought the one shade. We didn't buy the set of lamps because we wanted to see if there were other styles that we might like better. We asked the clerk to check and the Lowe's we were going to had 6 lamp sets so we could get 2 more shades and the lamp set at Lowe's #2. Then we drove to the second Lowe's.

Oh but on the way we drove by a Home Depot- no lamp sets and all ugly shades.

At Lowe's #2 we found our amazing shades that matched the single one we bought a Lowe's #1. We also found the lamp sets. But in the row with the lamp sets, was a really cool lamp, of brushed silver pewter. It was just what I had originally wanted when we started lamp shopping. We had a big discussion. One table lamp with the script shade was going to be equal in price to the whole set of four, but it was REALLY what I wanted. It also didn't have a matching floor lamp. TheGuy and I went back and forth and we decided that it was worth the money to get what we really wanted. If changed our financial plan a little. We had the money to buy 3 shades and the set. With the increase of costs, we had enough money to get 2 lamps and 3 shades. Okay, no worries. We decided we would get three matching shades so they wouldn't get sold out. We also were going to buy two table lamps. We could go online and find a matching floor lamp later.

Only at Lowe's #2, they only had one of the silver table lamps and it was the one that was on display, and they wouldn't sell us that one. The sale's associate at Lowe's #2 checked to see what stores had another one. And.... yes.... you guessed it. Lowe's #1 had 3 in stock.

So, we bought 2 shades, then we drove the 8 miles back to Lowe's #1. Of course, the same guy was working in the lamp department and he chuckled when he saw us again. We have no idea why we didn't see these when we were there earlier; they were on display. So, we bought the other table lamp. Now, we have 2 lamps, and 3 shades. The third shade, if you're keeping track, is going to go on a floor lamp that we don't own yet. We need to find it.

So just a quick trip by Lowe's to look at lamp sets ended up in a 2.5 drive around the city to the big box style hardware stores.

But I gotta tell ya, these are really awesome lamps!

Maggie