I didn’t want to say anything last week about it, but Christmas came a little early for me.
It was my one day off of work (in addition to being a freelance writer and blogger, I work at a small local clothing boutique) and I was psyched to get all the little things that still needed doing for the upcoming holiday out of the way. But it was not meant to be.
As I was busy puttering around the house, I got a call from my boss who wanted to let me know that the abandoned coffee shop next door was finally being rented out and they were clearing out all the things that were left behind. Would I be interested in taking a look at some of the furniture?
At first I was hesitant because there was so much else that needed doing, but I had been talking so long about wanting to decorate my place that I decided to take the time and head on down anyway.
You always read about these kinds of situations on DIY blogs about how they scored such and such a chair at this sale, or how they found this fabulous lamp at a garage sale for fifty cents, but as much as I say I’m into DIY I had never encountered such a deal before. Maybe I don’t go to enough garage sales. Or maybe it’s because I still struggle with reimagining pieces of furniture. Either way, I approached this sale with a certain amount of trepidation.
The place was a mess. The owners had left EVERYTHING behind-plates, utensils, blenders- the works. They also left behind three armchairs. One wasn’t in very good condition- it looked like the upholstery had been slit in some sort of knife fight. (I have a very overactive imagination). The other two were slightly worn but the frames were in good shape so I asked if I could have them. They suggested that I pay twenty bucks for each of them.
I considered. Both of them were fairly big armchairs. They did need recovering- which depending on the fabric I chose might be a little expensive- but even after considering the cost of renting a van to move them they would still be less than probably what they originally retailed for, which I’m guessing was upwards of 300. So I said yes and they offered to store them for me until I was able to pick them up. Then for an additional ten bucks they told me I could take whatever else I wanted.
At first I was a little bit hesitant- I wasn’t even sure what I wanted- but once I started to get into the groove of things I ended up with a lot of stuff. Here’s what I got:
Here's some of my loot in the laundry room
- eight folding chairs (with padded pleather backs and seats)
- one big box of glasses in assorted sizes (which I’m going to go through with L)
- a big package of napkins (hey, why not, you can always use some napkins!)
- two cupcake stands: one has two-tiers and is rectangular and the other has four-tiers and is circular
- sixteen assorted platters (the small kind that you would put appetizers on or use as sandwich plates or something) Some are part of a set and some clearly are not. All of them are nice and white and crisp, though, with no chips or marks.
More of my stuff in the laundry room
- a big metallic red platter (so Christmasy!)
- three different kinds of flavoured syrups so I can start experimenting with different kinds of drinks and coffees in caramel, hazelnut and chocolate. Eat your heart out, M!
- a small wooden tray that I plan to DIY using some kind of funky paint (I’m thinking metallic?)
- six giant jars with lids
Considering I have very few fancy dishes and things like that I was happy to grab what I could for an extra 10. I’ll definitely be spreading the love though with my fellow Twenties Project members (I just don’t have the room to house all of that stuff- nor do I entertain that much!)
All in all it just goes to show that sometimes you really can find treasure admist all that junk- you just have to be willing to look for it!
Already I’m dreaming about new covers for my new chairs. Watch out for some posts on my fabric hunting in the near future. It’ll be like watching a kid in the candy store.
Calling all DIY divas (of the male and female variety!) What are your thoughts on my chair makeover? Patterned? Solids? Embellishments? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment below or drop me a line at thetwentiesproject@gmail.com. Photos to come soon!
The Twenties Project 