my first craigslist purchase

I’m always searching Craigslist to see what I can see. 

Is there something for sale that could be cool possibly after a little bit of paint. 

I came across some book shelves. 

They looked old which I liked.

They had storage at the bottom of the shelves which I liked.

And they had some character which was most appealing to me.

The description was VERY vague.  There were no dimensions in the listing.  Plus there were 2 listings of the same thing.  The description said, “sold as set your choice”.  So it makes one wonder does the person have 4 book shelves or was it simply just a mistake.

So I called.

The gentleman said he indeed had 4.  The book shelves he had left were the ones with the door.  Yippee!  Those are the ones I wanted in the first place!  I didn’t know what I would do with the shelves that had the desk unit. 

I also asked if he had dimensions and if they were laminate or wood.  He was not at the location so he didn’t know.  OK.  The back looked laminate, I can do something with that.  I’ve painted laminate before and it was just fine.  I just didn’t want the sides and tops to be laminate.  Also it looked @ 36” wide but I couldn’t tell with the depth.

We made arrangements.  His location was close to my husband’s work.  Perfect!  My husband has a truck and he went there after work. 

He pulls up and he sees the book shelves in the picture I showed him the night before.  Apparently the gentleman had 4 but the ones in this picture were the ones he was classifying as the ones with the door.  So they weren’t the same.  Do I like the desk unit?  Could it be something I could take out?  Hmmmmm

My husband also thought they had a lot of laminate on them.  Hmmmmm  Should I go for it?  They were cheap!  The gentleman owns storage units and after someone vacates they have x number of days to get their stuff out.  He was selling bits and pieces of a lot of different stuff.  He just wanted the stuff gone so he can rent out the unit again.

So I decided to go for it.  (You could probably guess that from the blog title).

After my husband got them home, my first thought was they were DEEP!  They measure 18” and I’m not crazy about it!  I want to explore if there is anything I can do about that.  The desk door does not look like you can take it off, which I’m not trilled about.  But maybe it could be our computer desk area.  Not what I had in mind for them.  I’m also not trilled about the handles.  They look to bedishy.  At least that's an easy fix.

On the plus side, the book shelves are all wood veneer except for the back!  The back is just stapled on and can be easily taken off.  I was thinking painting it a different color or doing some strips or chevron pattern OR I was even thinking of wallpapering it.  In any of those cases it wouldn’t matter what the surface was.

So I’m happy!  My first Craigslist purchase was a success!

Now they sit in my garage waiting for me to decide where to put them and what exactly to do with them.  I’ll keep you posted.

Stay tuned…..

kick start this old blog

 I once again feel the need to kick start this old blog!

 

Seeing that I haven't written since October 2012 and it's now mid-summer 2013 I have a lot of catching up to do.

 

A "Lego" themed birthday party right before Christmas for my youngest.

 

 

Enjoying a "white" Christmas at home.

 

 

Hosting a glorious celebration at Easter with family and extended family.

 

A wonderful Florida vacation in the month of June.

 

At that brings us to today....enjoying a sweet treat on a hot summer afternoon.

 

 

And let's not forgot all the chorus and violin concerts, gymnastic practices, ballet recitals, swim lessons and homework, homework, and more homework.  To say the least it's been busy!

 

I still am doing daycare during the day, but I am feeling the need to restart this blog. 

 

I HAVE a degree in interior design.  I went to college for 5 YEARS!  I've asked myself recently, "Why I am not using it!"  So in the middle of our life, I would like to redo bits and pieces of our home. 

 

I found a wonderful group on FB in my community that you can sell items.  I'm sure every community has something like this, or you can use Craigslist.  I've already sold 2 items in the last 3 days and plan to sell more.  My hope is to sell and then buy.  So yes it's going to take me sometime, but I'm in no hurry.

 

That's where the restarting comes in.....I want to document the whole process on this blog.  My long term goal is that this can be a new venture for me as a designer.  I don't know!!!  It's a ways away, but I guess I have to start somewhere.  And let me tell you that I was pretty pumped from my first 2 sales!

 

Wish me luck!

 

Thanks for stopping.

 

Bye for now!