My Mission Week 4

Has it really been a month? No, it couldn't have been.  WOW!  I have a feeling time is going to whoosh by the next couple of months and my baby boy will be gone!  Hopefully the next 24 months will go just as fast.

So, I'm not anywhere near my goal.  I am waaay behind.  I did sell a couple things this week, but I have to share what I found to sell in the future!!  I'll make you wait in suspense though.  I'll show you after this week's sale.

Yup.  That's it.  I have 8 items currently posted on Craigslist, but this is the only one that sold this week.  Go figure.  I've had lots of contacts about other stuff, but they went nowhere.  Maybe I'll get lucky and all those will sell this week, right?




Okay, I made you wait long enough.  Here is the exciting news.  But first, behind door number one:

I found this gorgeous commode at a nearby garage sale.  It looked in immaculate shape.  It looked like a fine piece from Ashley Furniture or something.  25 bucks? Sold!  I took it home and opened it up to find this in the drawer:

I went online and tried to look up the maker.  Regency House, Inc. is a high end furniture maker from North Carolina.  I can't find any pieces online to compare it with, but I'm sure it's worth a lot more than chain store furniture.  I'll list it as $100 this week and see what happens.


And here is the other exciting find:  I'm so excited.  Are you ready?  Okay, okay.  Here it is:

I bought this very heavy baby for $125

I was planning on painting it white with a black top and handles.  Not gonna happen.  Why?  Well, I found this in the drawer and looked it up too:

Lo, and behold, this is a masterpiece!  It is a 1950's John Widdicomb French Provencial Carved Dresser.  It's valued anywhere from $600 to $1500 dollars on the market.  

I definitely can't paint it now!  I'm not sure how much to list this on at yet.  Maybe I'll start somewhere in the middle and see what happens from there.

In the mean time, here is one I can paint.

I've got great ideas in store for this one.

Other items I'm working on this week:

Two chests that need sanding and restaining.

This cute little one I finished last week.

The many still listed on Craigslist, and maybe a few other small pieces that I can dig out.  Hopefully it will be a more productive week.

Sales for the week: $40

Expenses: $0

Profit: $40

Grand Total: $300

Craigslist

Craigslist has me baffled.  I will post something and get a few calls/texts/emails about it, and it usually goes something like this:

Person:  Is your {table] still for sale? I really NEED it, LOVE it, WANT it,  gush, gush, gush, etc.

Me: Yes, it's still for sale.  

Person:  When can I pick it up?

Me:  Any time. I will be home most of the day today.  Just let me know when you're on your way.  My address is.....

Person:  Great. Thanks!  I will be there at such and such time

Me:  Thanks.  See you then.

So I when it gets close to the time they come, I wait in the house so I can hear when they knock on the door.  I can't hear it when I'm redoing furniture--besides, I usually have my headphones in.

The time comes and goes when they say they will be there.  Hm. They must be lost or something.  I'll wait a little longer. I do a load of laundry and clean the bathroom.  A half hour has gone by, still no person.  I clean out the fridge and unload the dishwasher.  1 hour past the appointed time.  They must be really lost (I'm so optimistic).

After about an hour and a half, I get the hint.  They're not coming.

I can understand this happening once in a while, but it seems to happen to me 50% of the time.  Is it just me? What am I doing wrong?

But, the other 50% of the time I meet some wonderful folks.  I've had buyers drive all the way from Tolleson (half way to California in my book) just to pick up a $40 table.  I've had a pregnant lady who was about to pop come by herself to pick up a heavy dresser.  Of course I loaded into the SUV for her.  I just hope her husband unloaded it when she got home.  She looked like the kind who would do it herself if you let her.  I've met a guy who just got divorced and was doing his new house HIS way.  What kind of man doesn't like the way his wife decorates, huh?  Maybe that was the reason for the divorce.  Hee. Hee.  Just kidding.

All in all, despite the waiting game, this has been so much fun!  I enjoy this process of taking stray pieces of furniture, grooming and pampering them, fall in love with them, then watch them get adopted into a new loving home.  Sniff.  Sniff.

Bathroom Update Part 2

Slowly and surely, I am bringing my bathroom to the 21st century.  It started with the $5.50 chandelier.  Now moving on to the shower.

I got this wild idea while cleaning the shower.  I was tired of looking at the outdated, ugly brass every morning.  While scrubbing the scum from the shiny metal, I had an epiphany.  Paint it!  

I ran and grabbed my Rustoleum Black Spray Paint and a piece of sand paper and went to work.  I taped off all the glass, sanded down the brass until it was not so glossy, and rubbed it with liquid sander/deglosser, just for extra measure.  I'm sure I didn't need to do all that, but just in case.

I proceeded to tape off all the glass area, and began to spray away! Ooh, how I love to spray paint stuff.  It feels like I'm playing paint ball with high-powered paint ball gun.....and I'm winning! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

I got so excited, I didn't think about taking a picture until I was almost done (see the black on the door jamb).

Now for the after:  Ta-Da!  Welcome to the present, old shower!

I was a little worried if my husband would like it, so I played it up that I did something drastic to the house today. I let him stew about that all day.  Then when he got home, I led him to the bathroom.  He didn't seem to mind at all.  I guess I softened the blow a bit.  Whew.  Now on to the cabinets.....some day.

My Mission Week 3

This past week was a week of peace.  I didn't do any treasure hunting, or much refurbishing.  First, because my husband tells me I already have enough "stash", and second, it was General Conference weekend, where members of the Church of Jesus Christ have the opportunity to watch and listen to the counsel given to us by our prophets and apostles. This was on Saturday and Sunday.  I did do a little garaging on Friday, but didn't find anything that was jumping at me to take home.

So, here is what did sell this past week.  Most of these pieces were basically flips:

I found this adorable white table at a garage sale and listed it on Craigslist as is.  I didn't do anything to it but clean it up and dust it off.  I was secretly hoping this wouldn't sell so quickly because I had intentions of painting it and mod podging it.  Oh well. It found a new home at the cost of $40.

This black table also went pretty quickly to a couple of cute sisters that were moving in together to their first apartment.  This one didn't take much work either.  Just a light paint touch up.  Sold for $40 as well.

Another great garage sale find that took nothing more than a light re-stain to mend the scratches and dings.  Sold for $50.

Last item of the week:  this black beauty.  This one took some TLC.  It was in pretty bad shape when I found it, but nothing a little spit, grit, glue and paint couldn't fix.  I had it listed for $180, but let it go for $125.

sales for the week:  $155

Expenses: $0

Profit: $155

Grand Total: $260