Craigslist Frustrations!!

I am so anxious to get started on my next project....the all white foyer. If you are thinking, "haven't you started that yet?"... I hear you in my head! This is the problem....I need a demilune table. I have a beautiful shelf that hangs on the wall.

The problem is that baseboard heat. It keeps the shelf too high...and it drives me nuts! So, I want a table I can cut the back legs off, and have it at the proper height. The reason why I need to find this first, is because I am installing custom molding that will hopefully look something like this

It would be smart to have all the furniture first. That way, I can incorporate any cleats that the table would require into the design. Now for the Craigslist frustration. Seller's think it's retail.

Example....how much would you pay for this table?

It is a beautiful piece, and clearly high-end....it's $1,000. OK, I can't buy this in a store for that (It's Baker), but if I was going to spend 1K.....this is not what I would spend it on.

This one

Also $1,000. So frustrating. This one is not bad, and at $250 (it's Henredon), it is a fair price

However, it is too large for my space.

So, this is my strongest contender

It's a bit of a drive from my house (looks like my friend, Lisa is coming)...that's how Craigslist works. What do you think? Would you paint it? If so, what color?

On another note...I can't get this one out of my head. I want it in the worst way!

It is too big, and won't fit ANYWHERE in my home. I have measured so many times!! BUT, if painted white, it would feel very "Palm Beach".

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Vintage Sectional

I am on the Craigslist hunt. After staring at my family room for a few years now, I have decided that the only way we can watch television comfortably is on a sectional sofa. I am not a huge fan of huge furniture. I have a sectional in my living room. It is one of the first major furniture purchases that my husband and I made...almost 20 years ago! Yes, you read that right. It is actually in great shape. However, it is too large and bulky for my current taste. You many notice that my family room is not even on my list of home goals for 2012.

I'm thinking vintage sectional. One that would get reupholstered, of course. I don't plan on doing this upholstery myself. It would probably be more time effective to have a professional tackle it. The only way my family would tolerate an undertaking of that space.....would be the promise of a television (there isn't one in there now). Yeah, everybody wins!

Since I am in the middle of my dining room project for the One Room Challenge, my family room is just a thought. I do have a pinterest board on it, if you care to look, you can go here.

This is what I am on the hunt for

Craigslist via Kaboodle (no longer available)

I like the lower back and the fact that the turn is not "a bed". How about this one, already reupholstered

Via

It's $4,000.  and I think it is sold. No, I am not looking to spend that. I know I can find it for much less...that's why I love the hunt. This has potential

Via

Still loving the low back.

Via

This could be fantastic. So, my hunt continues. If I can't find it, so be it.....but I am really good at scouring craigslist! Once again, good thing my husband doesn't read my blog! What are you on the hunt for?

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Estate Sales, Craigslist, and A Daughter In The Trunk

So our daughter Anne may regret having come home this weekend.

It was a hunter-gatherer weekend for the booth, but Saturday was a bust.
We went to an estate sale at a big 18th century farmhouse.

Of the few things we might have wanted, all were priced way too high.
I am beginning to think I am not going to waste time on local estate sales;
prices are generally what this cheapskate thinks are too high.  It's Craigslist and auctions for me.

But we did enjoy looking at the house, which was amazing.

And much larger inside than it looks on the outside.



Anne took pictures with her phone inside the house.

Keeping Room; check out those floorboards!

Looking up the center hall stairs.  I've seen this same delicate handrail and balusters in other 18th century houses in N.J.

Upstairs hall; look at those boards.

More stairs, handrail, hall.  It's domestic sculpture.

One of the many bedrooms.

The other side of the Keeping Room.

A Study, lines with bookcases and a built-in bar.  In a newer wing of the house, which also housed a kitchen.

The study and the kitchen were in the wing you can glimpse on the right in this picture.

There's also a barn on the property.  This is one big homestead!

But we did get to see a part of New Jersey that was new to us but obviously,
from the age of the houses, not new to New Jersey.

What a beautiful old house.

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On Sunday, after church, we picked up a vintage French country style dining room table (Craigslist!)

that I hope to sell on eBay.  It is huge; with its 3 leaves it stretches to 10 feet long.  Lovely table.

Getting it in the back of the van would have been easy, except we had one Stow-and-Go seat up.

Where Anne was sitting.  So, we put that seat down, slid the table in, and . . .

had nowhere for Anne to sit for the 30-minute ride home.  What to do?

We considered strapping her to the roof of the minivan but, not being enthusiastic

about that plan on a 15-degree day, Annie crawled in under the table, and just lay down.

We took back roads home.  She survived.

We were not stopped by the local constabulary and ticketed for Bad Parenting.

Hi Mom!  Thanks for the ride home!

Howard realized that it was the first time since she was born that

Anne rode in one of our cars, without either a car seat or a safety belt around her.

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But this 3-day weekend is not over yet.

This morning, Anne helped Howard carry a highboy to my minivan and load it in.

And he closed the van hatch on her head.  Ouch.

It's only January, and we're already in the running for Parents Of The Year.

Anne's helping me bring the highboy to my antiques booth today, and I've promised to treat her to lunch.
I hope she doesn't get food poisoning.  -- Cass


P.S.  These are also going in the booth:

Milk glass goblets, and Avon ruby glass goblets and matching decanter.  

There were 12 milk glass pieces when I bought them (from a Craigslist listing) and when I unpacked them, there were 13.  I have no idea how that happened, but I'm pretty sure I'd have known if the little devils had reproduced themselves in amongst the pink packing peanuts.  

I think I'd have heard the clanking, and the giggling.

By the way, this is also the highboy that's waiting for its trip to the booth,

so I better leave the computer and fire up the minivan.  Have a great Monday!

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Come Junkin' With Me

I'm heading across the state lines
into Pennsylvania to do some antiquing.

Okay -- junking.  My kind of hunting trip.

If you want to come along, you better be quick.  The red minivan leaves in about 20 minutes!

I'm checking out some Craigslist things.  Among them are these:

Now you know I don't like to spend more than $15 on anything.

So I may have to do a teensy bit of negotiating here and there.

I'm betting on me.

Right here in New Jersey, there's a beautiful Henkel-Harris hutch-style cupboard for sale -- for $50.

Fifty dollars for Henkel-Harris, top of the line, American-made furniture.

Someone needs to buy that puppy.

Or I'm in danger of buying it myself.

So, why am I buying more little tables and chairs?  I'll tell you tomorrow.

But now . . . I'm outta here!   -- Cass

Link Parties!

At From My Front Porch To Yours, it is Treasure Hunt Thursday.  Click here and visit!

At Tales From Bloggeritaville, it is Thrifty Thursday.  Click here!

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A Peek Ahead, A Peek Behind

A peek behind?

Don't worry, not that behind.

We don't peek there, you big silly.

Behind in years.

I recently came across a Rubbermaid bin

that had been hiding in the attic for too long.  

Since we moved, in fact.

Inside its plastic depths were some vintage Halloween things.

At least, vintage according to Etsy's "older than 20 years" edict.  

For instance, this cheap plastic Halloween trick-or-treat bucket.

There is a black handle, but it's bent inside the bucket.

This one belonged to Alida; her name was written on the bottom

by her careful Mommy, and it's dated: 1990.

Alida was 4-1/2 years old when she got this;

Annie had a matching one bought that same year.

Hers will surface also, I'm sure, as I continue the attic excavations.

 In the bin was a calico pumpkin my Mom
made for me long before I had kids:

And some things my girls made as children.

In this collage, 2-dimensional wood cutout pumpkins; The Rag Shop used to sell them for 99-cents,

and I'd buy them every year, beginning when Annie was 2 years old.  There are also pictures of cotton  pumpkins

she and Alida did as Brownies; I used to love coming up with fun projects for my Troop, and this was a favorite.

Annie's handiwork:

 And her sister's:

I like beautiful, stylish Halloween decorations as much as the next guy,
but really -- does anything top the stuff our kids made 'way back when?


Well, maybe a crystal pumpkin, but that's another league entirely.


Did you see the plastic Halloween pumpkin coach that sold for almost $600 on eBay last week?
Un-be-freaking-lievable.


Meanwhile, last Friday I showed you some furniture listed
on Craigslist that we were going to check out over the weekend.

We didn't get this big French-style triple dresser,
much to my disappointment -- it was nice -- beautiful lines, excellent quality.
But the sellers' Doberman Pinscher was determined that Howard and I were not to be in their house.
She had very large teeth and raised hackles, was snapping and snarling, and her owners were not controlling her.
So, we left.  And I see that the dresser is listed again on Craigslist for this weekend.
Here's a hint to the sellers:  Put Doggy in the yard!  She's terrifying.
Now don't get me wrong.  I love dogs.  But this is more our speed:

And if any visitor is nervous around our Dion, he goes in the crate.  Dion, I mean, not the visitor!

But
we did come home with the butler's tray table,
from a different seller, for $15.

Don't you love how you can put down (or up!) any one of the leaves.  The hinges just stick in place, like magic!

Love those brasses.  They are going to be polished up, all ship-shape and Bristol fashion.

 As for the wood, it's going to be painted a brilliant blue.
This is my peek ahead -- to when our beach house living room is a blue and white delight,
similar in colors and woodwork to this room:

My sister Peggy found this picture in a realtor's online ad for a rental home in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
She noticed it particularly because of the natural wood trim, which is what our beach house has -- so
while this room is more decorated and formal than ours will be, it's a nice example of colors and overall look.

Anyway, right now Sherwin-Williams has a 40% off paint sale going on,
so I'm thinking I'll hit up the local S-W for some marine blue, once this rain stops.

Yes, la deluge, right behind the house.  Notice the waterfall over the granite step,
and even over the edge of the border, upper left corner.

As for the one-drawer stand from last Friday's Craigslist gleanings,
those sellers never returned my email.  
I haven't found anything I must have for this weekend . . .yet.


I did see a listing that carried with it a threat:
if their old armoire didn't sell by Sunday, the sellers said they'd be thrashing it.  Ouch.
Don't you love Craigslist typos?
If it's raining in your world, stay dry!  -- Cass
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Link Parties

Miss Mustard Seed hosts Furniture Friday.  Click here!

LaurieAnna's Vintage Home is the place for Farmhouse Friday.  Click here!

At My Romantic Home, it's Show And Tell Friday.  Click here!

Feathered Nest Friday makes its home at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

The Charm of Home features Home Sweet Home on Fridays.  Click here!

It's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.  Click here!

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