I’ve been using these $15-back-when-I-bought-’em folding chairs from Target as dining room chairs for a long time. Say, four years now? They’re fine and all, but eventually they break, and now I’m down to three, plus two sets of random chairs that definitely don’t go together (projects. of course. sigh). So when I volunteered to host a foodie meetup dinner at my house for twelve, I took a look at my seven mismatched chairs and decided they would not do.
Off to Craigslist.
This dresser is wants to be treated to a fun new green coat. Along with a taller sister, the pair is $50 somewhere near Portola Valley.
I’m supposed to be giving a furniture refinishing tutorial to a DIY group I belong to. If this were more local, it would have made a great demo project. Lots of straight lines, very little intricate detail, easy to sand down, but not at all boring. Too bad gas is $4 a gallon!
Someone already had a similar idea, and look what they’re charging for it - $500, without even a new paint job. You can do better!
I’m on the prowl for a desk and this one looks charming. What I like about it is that not only could it serve as a ladylike computer desk or makeup vanity, it could also be a console table with a mirror hung over it, a landing strip in a large foyer, or the base of a DIY bathroom vanity (wouldn’t that be gorgeous?!). I could see it with a half-inch piece of white marble cut to size on the top for real oomph.
It’s going for $125 - and I assure you, if I had the extra room in my budget it’d be mine already. Get it before it’s gone!
When you consume massive amounts of design/homegood blogs on a daily basis, it’s a little like watching TV and absorbing the advertising. I saw this post on bud vases on Apartment Therapy last week. Over the weekend I was at a BevMo and saw this tiny bottle of vodka near the register. Brain immediately made a connection. Now if I can only get someone over here to drink the stuff, then I too can have a darling tiny blue bud vase. (For the record, the vodka was $5.99 - the same price as the AT vases, but naturally getting the vodka too increases your “score!” factor.)
I haunt Goodwills. When I’m in the neighborhood of one, I always go in if I have the time. Sometimes to browse for myself, but more often with an eye for generating extra income (a habit born before the eBay/Paypal conglomerate started jacking casual sellers with heavy fees). The problem is, sometimes I get attached to things I originally bought to flip. Like this Le Creuset wok I picked up yesterday from the Goodwill down near Liza’s house. It’s in excellent condition. I paid $12.99 for it. It looks like I can probably flip it for a very nice profit.
But of course the more I look at it, the more I want to keep it. I start wheedling with myself, “When are you ever going to be able to afford such a nice pot at this price?” Nevermind that I have a huge cast iron wok already, stashed in the upper stratosphere of my kitchen that I haven’t used since I got my nice chef’s pan. This one’s a more convenient size, right? And it’s prettier.
Then again, extra cash during tax season is pretty too. Ah, choices.
*Edit: I went ahead and put it on eBay before I could change my mind again. Once someone bids on it, I can’t retract it, so that ought to solve that. Hopefully. Here’s hoping I don’t spend the next month pining for it after it’s gone!
Here’s one that may take some work (and some upholstery know-how) but would be extraordinarily cute in a modern sunroom. Haggle the above set down to $350. Sell off the coffee table, side tables, and side chair for $150-200. Take the frame of the sofa out back and lacquer it in shiny red or yellow or other such modern hue. Have new, boxier cushions covered in a light linen oatmeal or charcoal. Voila! You’ve now successfully riffed a Design*Sponge idea and saved a ton of money doing it. With squared off cushions, this baby could look really chic and would make a stunning daybed.
This color scheme (and this) is nice too if you want to go more luxurious. If it were solely for my portfolio and not for living, I’d reverse it and make the frame chartreuse (slightly brighter) and the cushions cream.
(I am totally going to have to learn how to upholster so I can start doing these makeovers for less than the price of my first newborn.)
(And OMG do you see the prices on that Pieces website!?!)
These chairs are an awesome steal: four of them for $50. At that price, I’m incredibly tempted to get them myself. A quick coat of a bright colored paint (I’m thinking Chinese red, spring green, or yellow) and you’ve got yourself an charming quirky dining set.
This vanity, believe it or not, is $10. I wonder just how much work it needs? It too would be awesome in a colored lacquer.
I’m feeling cranky about eBay/Paypal lately due to just finding out that Paypal now gets a cut of everything I sell (old news, but do I ever read the endless stream of “newsletter” emails? Obviously not.) As I tend to use eBay as an extended yard sale, rather than a business model, I’m not happy about being forced to “upgrade” to a business Paypal account. Until I get over this tantrum stage, I’m reduced to just buying.
In my window-shopping for a cake stand, I saw this and thought it was cutely retro enough to pass along. And hey, everyone’s telling me yellow is this year’s color.
I’d hoard it ’til April and break it out for the first spring cake. A lemon pound cake, perhaps?
And a friend below the cut. (more…)
Between the long distances of where I was coming from and where I was going to over Christmas break, I allowed myself an hour pit-stop at an antique/thrift store by the side of the road somewhere in Virginia. I bought five goodies. Unfortunately I’m keeping two of them for myself. But the other three I’m willing to share.
This acrylic cover from an architectural model makes a great coffee table. The boss usually reuses these, but there are no models coming down the pipeline that will have a square base, so he gave it away rather than have it take up space at the office. Lucky me. It’s not my usual taste in furniture, but I am attracted to the fact that it looks like some ridiculously priced piece of nonsense from DWR.
One of the things I’ve taken to doing lately, as a total rationalization of my Craigslist habit, is doing my shopping on Craigslist or Ebay before I hit up a regular store. It’s nice to think of it in terms of reuse and recycle, rather than as a pervasive online shopping addiction. I’ve had some comically bad results…say, copper skillets that were 1/4 the size they appeared in the picture, but I’ve also had some really nice finds. Finds that saved me from spending the afternoon in Target and walking out with far more than I meant to get in the first place.
The white laminate drawers tell me this probably isn’t actually mid-century, but it’s definitely working the look. Modest in ambition but with some quietly unique details that set it apart - more furniture should aspire to this. Check out the storage area created by the raised desk surface. Great for a scanner, or a place to stash the laptop when not in use. And at $35 it’s a steal, even if you have to restain it.
A project I wish I had the cash and time for: Two Mid-Century Velvet Club Chairs on craigslist.
