Another Craig's List Adventure

We had these chairs.  They came with out dining room table.  The table I like.  It's good wood, nice design, and I love the versatility that the leaf provides.  But those chairs.  Blech!  And luckily Husband wasn't a huge fan either.

I put them on Craig's List in January, the same time we put our patio furniture on there.  We never heard anything.  So I waited a while.  At the beginning of July I posted them again, this time lowering the price.  Still nothing.  Then the last week of July, Husband and I were so sick of the chairs we were just going to donate them to Goodwill and buy new ones.  The evening that we were planning on going to IKEA to buy new chairs, something amazing happened.  A women called to ask if we still had those chairs.  We did...and she wanted 'em!  It was a beautiful thing.  She came to pick them up and after some slight negotiations we had a check and she had our chairs.  We were so glad.

Our IKEA trip got postponed till the next morning and here's what we got.

We got 4 Henriksdal chairs, with the white Gobo slipcovers, and black-brown frame.  And we love them!  I think they look so much better than our old chairs.  I'm in love.  And when the budget allows, we'll add another two for a total of 6 chairs.

And oddly enough, a few days ago, Husband got another text asking about the chairs.  Almost seven months without the slightest interest and then in just over a week 2 call-backs.  Just wild!

$20 Well Spent

Last week I shared with you our first sale on Craig's List, and now I have something even more exciting to share with you.  Our first purchase from Craig's List.

Isn't it beautiful?!  It was on sale for $20 from a guy about 15 minutes from our house.  Living in Phoenix, that's saying something.  We brought it home and I immediately got working.  First I wiped it down with some bleach water.  Who knows what this guy was like! ;-)

It also looked like there had been stickers in some spots.  I soaked those with water and then gently scraped them off.  Easy squeezy!  After it was dry, I sanded it down.  Husband was nice enough to follow my sanding and wiped everything down again.

My next step was to stain it.  I used the leftover stain from this project.  And then it sat there to dry.  And lucky for me it was colder than it should have been in Phoenix, so what should have dried in about 24 hours took more like 72 hours.

So mid-week I used a super fine sandpaper to sand it down a little in between coats.  Then I started in on the second coat.  Luckily it was still colder than it should have been and I had to wait another 72-ish hours for it to dry.

While I was waiting for the stain to dry, I headed to Hobby Lobby to look for some new knobs for the drawers.  I wish it had been one of those awesome weeks when their knobs are 50% off, but it wasn't and I was too impatient to wait.

These are what I found.  While I was there I got some pretty wrapping paper to line the drawers with.

And after patiently waiting for the second layer to dry I put on the new knobs and lined the drawer with my nemesis, Spray Adhesive.  I was going to put Mod Podge as a protective layer, but it just wrinkled the paper and made it look dumb.

Anyways here's what the dresser replaced.

And here is the final product.

I'm so totally in love with this dresser.  Never mind that I spent more on the knobs from Hobby Lobby than I did on the dresser itself, I think it is beautiful.  And since this was my first furniture project and my first purchase from Craig's List, I think it is just awesome!

Our First Craig's List Sale

Last weekend we sold our very first item on Craig's List (or six items).

 

We posted it shortly after New Year's.  Almost immediately we had a few inqueries, but nothing too exciting.  Then about two weeks ago, a women text Husband asking if they were still available, which they were.  So Sunday afternoon, the woman came over to pick them up.  We didn't make as much as we had posted them, but it was still an extra $180 and we finally got rid of the patio furniture we were no longer interested in.

I'll be back soon with another Craig's List First!