Treasures

It's always fun to move into a new house and decorate a new space.  I LOVE to redecorate and I LOVE to have an excuse to do it...although I don't always need one.  Inevitably some of the things we move from an old house don't work in a new one, though, and there are some spaces that require new furniture purchases.  We purged A LOT in this move.  I was ready to stop carrying around so many things that I didn't really want or need.  But I've noticed after living here for a few weeks, that there are a couple of spaces that needed something specific that we didn't already have. 

Do you know where my favorite place is to go for those things???

craigslist!!

There are ALWAYS, ALWAYS unexpected treasures on craigslist!

When we moved from Utah to Texas, we sold our 13 year old couches (because it was time!) and we bought new, beautiful leather couches.  I'm not crazy about having totally matching "sets" of furniture, so I looked for a coffee table that was unique and specific, but I didn't necessarily want something that would match the couches...just something that would go.  I looked in antique stores, department stores, thrift stores, and finally, when I couldn't find what I wanted, I tried craigslist.  And after a couple of weeks, here's what I found...

I LOVE this piece of furniture.  It was exactly what I was looking for.  It's unique, beautiful, and perfect for the room.  And guess how much I paid for it???  $70  Yep, that's it...$70.  

And, incidentally, those two wrought iron containers on top of the table were also purchased from someone I found on craigslist. They were $5 each.  Originally they were candle holders and each one had a clear glass, candle-shaped cylinder in it.  But when I got them home, I decided to wash them, and I broke both of them...yep, BOTH.  So, I threw away the cylinder pieces and decided to fill the containers with some brown Christmas ornaments that I got on 75% off at Hobby Lobby in January.  (who would put brown ornaments on their Christmas tree anyway????)

Back to my craigslist gushing...

So, this time, when we moved into this house and I needed a few extra things, instead of going to all those other places, I started on craigslist.  Originally we had our small entry table in the hallway where it's been in all of our previous houses.  But in this house, it was way too small for the space.  I had in my head that  I wanted something like this...

 ...so, I started looking on craigslist...but while I was hunting for that, I found this...

I didn't intend to get this table.  And it didn't quite go with my original plan for this room.  But when I saw it, I instantly loved it.  My husband and I drove down to a gorgeous part of Dallas near SMU to look at it.  And I LOVED it even more when I saw it in person!  And...it was only $75!!  It's too large to be an end table.  And too round to go in the entryway.  But with some rearranging this afternoon, I found the perfect place for it.

This room is nearly finished.  All it needs is a rug so the couches don't slide around when you sit on them.  And a picture of the Logan Temple above the fireplace (which I don't think I can find on craigslist.)  I love the way that beautiful table looks in the corner with my sister-in-law's "FAMILY" art hanging over it.  And my husband was very sweet to take an hour break from his 270 emails this afternoon to hang those shelves for me.  

I spent the entire day rearranging all the furniture downstairs to accommodate this table that I didn't even intend to buy.  But in the end, I LOVE the way things turned out.  

We moved this corner shelf, that we inherited from my husband's grandmother, from the family room into the dining room.  It used to be in that corner where the new table is now. 

We moved this console storage table from behind the long couch in the family room into the kitchen.  And now I have a place for all my cookbooks, my roosters, and all the games that we play on the kitchen table anyway!  Hooray! 

We moved the little entry table from the entryway into the living room (on the wall opposite the loveseat.)  

That empty space next to the books is waiting for a little treasure chest that will house our Settlers of Cataan game, but I have to wait until next week when it goes down to 50% off at Hobby Lobby.

think this, only minus the gold coins...

AND...the best thing that I did today...I moved my great grandmother's buffet from the dining room into that spot in the entryway that I was trying to fill.  Which means that I can stop looking for that other piece, and I don't have to spend $300 to get something to fit in that spot.  (I probably wouldn't have spent that much, but that was the budget we decided on.)  Doesn't it look so pretty??  It's still very close to the dining room which makes it not only beautiful, but functional, too!

So, thanks to craigslist, I found another awesome treasure!  Thanks to craigslist, I spent the day doing something I LOVE to do.  Thanks to craigslist, I saved my husband $300 (which I reminded him of more than once today.)  And thanks to craigslist, I found some unconventional ways to use furniture that I already had in my house! 

It's been a great, fulfilling, productive day.

I LOVE craigslist!!