Lately I've been featuring more of what I LIKE rather than what I do. I know, I know, no fun!
I'm always talking about what you can find on Craigslist if you look hard enough. Craigslist is not for the faint of heart, though. You have to be okay with the fact that someone else's butt has been sitting in your chair, because it was their chair first. Or that any number of things could have taken place on that hand-me-down sofa, or a worse thought ... the dining table. (So I keep the clorox wipes handy because any time I bring something off Craigslist home, it's the first thing I do.) Not to mention, you often have to go to someone's house or IN their house to acquire these pieces. However valuable they might end up being to you... I still have some issues with that. Nevertheless, if you have the courage, you can get great pieces of furniture for very little cash. And that's another thing... they always want cash. That's OKAY, I would, too.
You might remember a past post on things I found on Craigslist when I was hunting down wicker for our back deck. On that post I featured this set of wicker chairs.
Well, thanks to Poppa White (the FIL) I was gifted them for my birthday back in May. And now they have since moved multiple times from front porch, to living room, to deck. It was an $80.00 that was truly well-spent as wicker is expensive and these were lightly worn (I like to think of that as "having character") and had never been outdoors.
Yesterday was the day of chair acquisitions.... in the morning we went to pick up this fantastic $120 mid-century tufted leather wingbacked armchair. Yes, that's a mouthful. Try saying it several times quickly. I had posted the picture on Facebook asking opinions about the price for the age/quality and I got back a resounding YES, BUY IT. Wasn't that fun for all of you who participated? I listened and now here it is replacing the wicker in our living room for now (future location plans are for Tim's office).
In the afternoon we drove to south Austin to pick up two chairs for $15 which had cane backs and cushioned seats. They had been used in some office probably in the 80's and had been in storage ever since. I liked the cane backing and had every intention of recovering them with some schweet material for a fresh look, and they were in solid condition and the wood didn't even need refinishing of any kind so it seemed like a great deal. That is a good thing because we have acquired far too many pieces of furniture lately that are going to require a lot of "love." This was the listing:
a bit dusty from being in storage, so they could use a banging with a tennis racket or a little vacuuming. had these in my office, but no room for them now. both for $15!
I love that she suggests banging them with a tennis racket. Yup, that was my first thought: I should bang those with a tennis racket! Hmmmm. Oh Austin people!
Anyway, so we get to this person's duplex and meet her mother and see the chairs. I handle them a bit and Tim and I both try them out (never be afraid to really examine what you're buying -- learned that the hard way!). They felt nice and sturdy and were quite comfortable to sit in. The cane backing was complete and didn't have any tears or loose strands. So I was about to say yes when I thought to flip them over. What the heck! There was cane on the bottom, too! Someone had screwed a mauve (of all colors) chair pad over this beautiful cane. Stupid them, lucky me. What they did was basically preserve the cane seat bottom for me to uncover and relish. My intention to recover the cushions went flying out the window and now they look like this...
My point is this: $15 + 10 minutes with a drill and I have fabulous "new" chairs.
Who else can say that today? Nanny nanny boo boo.
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