I know that’s a cheesy title, but when you see what we found, you’ll understand!
Saturday, Brian woke up earlier than I did (as usual) and decided to check out Craig’s list. Days before, we’d talked about how small my desk was. It has one surface for a computer, but where the shelves are, it’s higher, making it hard to fit books, notebooks, and a laptop.
I didn’t get a picture before Brian had it all packed up. |
I loved that desk. It wasn’t real wood, but it was a lovely color and I loved the shelves, but Brian found a desk on Craig’s list he wanted to check out. Brian was so excited, he woke me up to tell me about it.
“This is such a steal!” It was an oak “L” shaped desk with lots of drawers, and the owners were only asking $130. Brian said new oak desks of that size would go for around $1,500, so we agreed to check it out.
As I ate breakfast, he found another desk. This one was also wood, painted black, and included a chair. It was bigger than my old desk, but not massive. It looked simple and sophisticated, and I knew it would match perfectly with our other Craig List finds: our coffee and end table.
$20 |
$20 |
This desk and chair were going for $85. Not a steal, but we decided to check it out too.
Brian also found a free desk, but we weren’t very interested in it, it wasn’t real wood and it was really long and heavy.
We looked at the black desk first. To our surprise, the couple who had posted it was from Iowa, and they had been to our home town on a few occasions! Their daughter’s roommate was selling the desk, but they were screening potential buyers. Their daughter and her roommate lived in a gorgeous condo, so I don’t blame them. Because they were really sweet and from Iowa, we paid full price for the desk and chair.
$85 |
This is my desk now. Here I do my schoolwork, blog, spend time on various social media sites, and as Brian suggested, writing letters.
Our next stop was the oak “L” shaped desk. Brian was already sold on it, before we even found the house. But when we pulled up, he started to waver. The yard was full of junk. The house looked nice, in nice neighborhood, but their grass was the only dead brown lot on the street. When they let us in, we there was hardly room for us inside, and the desk was almost blocking the door. Mounds of stuff piled all over everything.
“We’re doing some remodeling,” The man said. Judging by the fact that the piles filled the downstairs and wound up the stairs to the second floor and out the front door, and the wife was too embarrassed to come out of the kitchen, I’m kinda doubting it. Full sized cardboard cut outs of Justin Beiber and Jacob from Twilight stared at us from their perches on piles of stuff.
And the desk. It had severe water damage, marker or paint splotches, and the finish was totally ruined.
“You could sand it down and refinish it if you wanted,” the man suggested.
“What do you think?” Brian asked me.
“I think….we need to think about it.” I said. Safely in the car: “No way.”
To my joy, Brian agreed, “I don’t want to pay $130 for a project like that.”
So, he called the people with the free desk. They said we could come right over, and when we got there, a smiling lady led us upstairs to the desk. They had just bought the house and were doing serious remodeling. Her story I believed; the towers of moving boxes and the torn up carpet made sense. Lucky for us, her husband arrived when we’d carried the desk to the top of the stairs. It was definitely a man’s job. They carried it out, and somehow we squeezed it into the Durango with the other desk and chair. Don’t ask me how. I wasn’t sure we’d get either one out of there without calling the fire department for the jaws of life.
$0 |
Look at how well it matches with our bookshelf! The bookshelf is real wood, and we brought it from Iowa. A match made in heaven.
If you’re wondering about that white metal curved thing in that picture, it’s a wall sconce, and I bought it at Savers for half off. You can see it better and all the other cool things I got that day here.
But it doesn’t stop there!
Recently, we were given some more free stuff. We’ve been wanting a couch for a long time, and God graciously provided not just a couch, but a loveseat, and two matching lamps!
Oh Yeah! Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever need one of these, but since I’ve been blogging, I’ve seen so many amazing sewing projects that made me wish I had a sewing machine. I figured I’d just stick to paper crafts, but our friends gave us this machine for free! My friend (who will remain nameless) said it didn’t work, and her husband insisted she just didn’t know how to use it. I plugged it in, the light came on, and it ran like a dream. I guess he was right…but, finders keepers!
Don’t feel bad for her: she’s getting another machine for free. And really, if she wanted this one back, I would give it to her, but she says her new free one will be better.
The moral of this story is this: If you need something, pray about it, and look on Craig’s List! Sometimes God just likes to give us gifts.
Brian is completely addicted to Craig’s list now. Like, he scours it every evening.
Have you found anything fun lately? Has a piece of furniture or art ever altered the entire decorating style of one of your rooms? Please share!
Renee Ann says
Finding bargains is such a good feeling. Your house looks great!
withoutadornment says
Wow! It's awesome when God provides, isn't it? Y 🙂
Janelle says
your couch looks like it is in really good condition! Someday I hope we can get a couch (but not from some unknown person with potentially unknown crawlies living in the couch haha). I love craigslist as well but unfortunately the craigslist here is much much worse than in Iowa. No one is selling anything good! I have been constantly checking for a 3-4 drawer dresser to use as a changing table and so far no luck. On the positive side we have been able to sell some of our stuff on Craigslist 🙂
HonorMommy says
Awesome finds! I love the wedding picture above your desk :-D. And your friend (who shall remain nameless) probably hadn't tried to use the machine since the day her husband brought it home–maybe around 8 years ago…just guessing of course. And maybe she didn't know how to thread the needle and maybe it didn't come with any instructions and maybe she needed someone to show her how to sew so she was waiting for said person before she got out the sewing machine that had been sitting in her garage, forgotten for the last 8 years (hypothetically of course). And maybe the new sewing machine, which she says is better, comes with a person to show her how to use it so that really does make it better, right?? I'm just guessing on all of this of course. Glad that unnamed friend could get you started on new crafty stuff! ;-D
vivi b. says
you know, I've always wanted to have a sewing machine. I hope to get one too as soon as I have decided to find time to use it!
I like the black desk! =D
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Sabrina says
I got a free sewing machine this evening, as well! I need to utilize Criagslist more…the only drawback is that you don't realize how much time you spend on there! But it's totally worth it if you can save money and get great finds like you did. 🙂
claire says
I really like your list and the gratitude in your heart! Also, hooray for freebies! 🙂