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How to describe your used furniture on Craigslist.

Thanks so much for sending this, Nate! It made my day.

Rollin' in my 94

A few weeks ago, I left a comment on My Little Apartment (addicted! to that blog, btdubs) about how much I love Craigslist and how it’s been the most consistently positive factor in my life for the past five years, but I don’t think I ever fully spun that yarn here.

I know I’ve mentioned that just about every piece of furniture in my house is from CL (except our bed because…ick), but that’s just the tip of the iceberg, really.

About four years ago, I was working in marketing at a gigantic accounting firm, where I made some wonderful friends. One friend would always complain about how she could never find any dateable guys. So each morning, I’d scour Craigslist for the gnarliest, creepiest m4w ad and send it on over to her (we’re talking “I’m in jail right now, but I’ll be out in four to six. Need someone to take care of my kids while I’m in here” or “420 in my garden apartment?”). One day, I saw an ad featuring a cute guy who was just looking for some people to go to the movies in Grant Park with him. I almost forwarded it along, but then I got to thinking…

A couple months’ prior, I had gotten out of a years’ long relationship. I thought about it a second and decided I should probably start going on dates again and this would be the guy to get things started. It’s not like I was going to marry him or anything.

So yeah, I ended up marrying him. My wedding toast was a sincere and heartfelt salute to Craig Newmark.

Before we got married, I moved in with him (and out of the apartment I shared with my wonderful Craigslist-found roommate) and we furnished our home with many a CL score. And then I moved on from the gigantor accounting firm to my job via a Craigslist ad. (Hey! Here’s an article that quotes my company’s founder in today’s Times. Neat).

The latest development: I’m pregnant and if it’s a boy we’re naming him Craig. Hell, if it’s a girl we probably will too.

Ha, just kidding. No babies just yet. Don’t freak.

The latest development is that over Thanksgiving my husband’s awesome aunt and uncle gave us a super sweet 1994 Dodge Caravan that I’ve already been using to haul around my scavenged treasures. It’s so bad ass. Craigslist will never know what hit it.

And yes, I’m taking suggestions of what to get airbrushed on the side.

Benchwarmer

I'm in another city, so that basically means I'm out of the Craigslist game for the rest of the week. But I can't help myself from poking at it like it's a hornet's nest I found lying on the ground.

And oh boy does it sting. I want these doors. Want. Them.

I have no place and no plan for them, but I just know my life would be much more complete if I could only add "pair of carriage doors" to my ever-growing pile of treasures.

Well, hello sailor!

Justin Peddycoart:How I paid my rent by thrifting.


Oooh, and he's a pretty cute cat guy too...

This: Also acceptable

Sad news, kids. I didn't get the lockers. I may have shed a few tears when I got the e-mail from the lady saying she'd sold them out from under me (hussy!). What can I say? It was a frustrating week.

But it's a new week (and almost a new month!). Craigslist will provide new, better lockers. I'm sure of it. In the meantime, can someone please send this to the market?

I'm in love. I don't know exactly what it is about this storage rack that tugs at me, but I love the practicality of the wire mixed up with the whimsy of the color or some such nonsense. Whatever it is, I want it.

In other news, our halls (well, to be honest, we only have one hallway) are decked in a pretty half-assed manner, but it only took the duration one Nat King Cole holiday record to toss up some fairy lights and fake garland. Why no, I'm not planning to have any guests over in the next month. Why do you ask?

Also, I have class this week/weekend and just now realized I have to find, buy and read the following books by Thursday morning:
"The Appraisal of Personal Property: Principles, Theory & Practice Methods"
"Auctions: The Social Construction of Value"
"A Short Guide to Writing about Art"

Crap. Crap. Crap.

It's alive! (not really, it's just some chairs)

I'm thinking for Halloween, I should make some sort of spooky chair graveyard scene out on the sidewalk because I can't seem to stop collecting them. Chairs of the Living Dead? Nighchair on Elm Street? The Texas Chairsaw Massacre? Please stop me, because I will go on.


So this weekend turned out to be a great one for thrifting and garage sales. Along with some other weird, wonderful finds, I picked up four chairs* that FINALLY work with my kitchen table. I don’t even want to say how cheap they were cause you’d get mad.


(Wow, Alison. Way to not line up the table and the light fixture. At all.)

After searching high and low and rotating chairs from my way-too-big-for-a-two-bedroom-apartment collection, I was pretty close to throwing in the towel and buying a set of Salt Chairs from Design Within Reach or, more reasonably, these guys from Ikea. I’m so glad I was patient.

I wanted something armless since the table is shoved in the corner most of the time. I mean, there are only two people in my house and neither of them is Jennifer Grey, so why not. But these go above and beyond. I really like the way the backs curve along with the roundness of the table, and while I don’t think I would have picked out the light finish, I really think it works so well with all the white in the room.

Also of note: the pendant Libby from Alexander Salvage helped me pick out. It’s finally up, and I’m so happy with it. It actually gives off a pretty bright, intense light. So sometimes Marc and I play good cop/bad cop with the cats and interrogate them about how they spend their days. It’s really tough to get them to talk, but it turns out it’s about 80% napping/5% licking each others’ faces/5% fighting when the licking gets too weird/10% howling at the back door.

*I actually picked up the chairs at An Orange Moon, which is a super cool vintage store at about 59th and Western run by a woman whose garage sale was right around the corner. I’m telling you, go see Lynne’s shop. It’s beautifully set up, and she has some major finds (if I could have, I would have cleaned her out of all the mid-century pottery in her shop). She’s super friendly and her prices are great.

On Sundays I worship at the house of Craigslist

In other news, I recently found out what kind of people food my cat Harvey likes.

Hard-boiled egg yolk!

He's also already putting in lots of time on the Kofod Larsen rocker I bought yesterday (for a freaking song!).


Bonus: My mom has given me some great, simple white canvas I can use to recover the seat.

Black poodle curls may suit Harvey just fine, but they're just not my cup of tea.

*Speaking of breakfasts of champions, I had a drink at Kurt Vonnegut's favorite bar over the weekend. Such a cool, homey place. And just when I was beginning to lament the lack of good dive neighborhood/corner bars in Indianapolis.*

Um, Craigslisters?

Those orange lockers are still up. Reduced. Somebody get them (and then invite me over to see what they look like). I have no room and no money, but they're like a cute orphaned dog I can't bear to see up on Petfinders.com any longer.

P.S. While scrounging around, I happened upon this awesome clock. $30. No windup key, meaning you can permanently set the clock to 4:20, dude.

People far cooler than I

(Since returning from vacation, I feel like I have heaps and mounds of things I want to talk to you about, which could translate into about a million posts a day, just FYI.

Or not. Due to laziness, the backlog may remain just that until it ends up forgotten and shoved off into a corner like so many suspect takeout containers in the darkest recesses of my refrigerator.

Let's hope not!*)

ANYWAY
I'm the last person who should go clothes shopping (or anything shopping, for that matter) seeing as how our spare bedroom is lumped with numerous black garbage bags full of clothes that I have no room for and need to put away (like TONIGHT. We're having house guests for the weekend. But oh no. Can't do that. I'm wisely choosing to instead meet a guy with an--in his words--"whitish, cream maybe? hatchback kind of small van" in River North to look at rug. If you never hear from me again, you can probably determine why. How fitting that my life would end at the hands of Craigslist**).

Nonetheless, I still really, really want to check this lady out: Christine Bejasa and her Sometimes Store.

From GB: "When life hands you lemons, you... set up an impromptu vintage clothing store in your ex-boyfriend's bedroom in the apartment you once shared together to fund your upcoming media project. Right? Right! At least that's what Venus writer Christine Bejasa decided to do when her ex moved out of their Pilsen apartment and she needed funds for her online magazine start-up.

The Sometimes Store's grand opening happens today from 11am to 7pm at 913 W Cullerton, on the first floor. True to its name, the store won't always be open. But that's all the more reason to attend the grand opening today. That, and it's guaranteed that nothing in this, the "sharpest collection of vintage clothes you've ever laid eyes on," will be over $15.

Need more information? Call (773) 396-7979."***

Nice, nice.

And check this out: Supermarket Sarah posts picture of her home and you can snag awesome vintage finds right off her walls. Pretty brillant!

*I digress

*Again, with the digression.

***I have it on good authority that there will be snacks as well. See? This one was actually on topic.

Cutting a rug

Hey, awesome rug. What's up?


Do you want to come live in my house?

I really wish you would.

Somebody please buy these already

These awesome lockers have been on Craigslist for what seems like forever. They're taunting me with their slimness, their awesomeness and, well, their orangeness.

Come on, this winter (I know. I shouldn't even mention it.) would be much sunnier if you could cram your coats and boots into one of these tangerine slices.

Oh man, if I had $275 burning a hole in my pocket...

...(not to mention somwhere to actually put it)

This beaut would be MINE.

The big reveal

Are you all excited? I know I am.

Here it is. The table of my dreams. The one I never, ever thought I’d own since there’s always a better way to spend thousands of dollars than on a kitchen table.

You might have seen it peeking in the picture of the kitchen chair, but whoomp there it is. A Saarinen marble-topped round table (see what I was saying about my marble addiction?). Not long before I found this special little filly, I was telling my parents how much I loved it, but the price tag made it way out of reach. I was contemplating buying a knock off, which would still be expensive but not quite as insane. They suggested scrimping and saving until I could buy the real deal one day, reasoning that something like that would be much less likely to lose its value over the years.

So I settled in for a long wait.

Turns out, I didn’t have to.

I was poking around Craigslist, looking for a table—any round table—to fit into the little nook in the kitchen of the new place. And there she was. I knew I had to act fast, so I called the seller right away, who happened to be home and just a few miles from my office. I moved a few meetings around, jumped into a cab (I almost never take cabs. Don’t even think I didn’t take the train back to work). It was love, and I plunked down half of the money for the table (which while still a steal, wasn’t exactly cheap in my book), made arrangements to pick it up the following Saturday, went back to work and wondered if I had just done one of the dumbest things in my life.

Lucky for me, everything turned out well. The guy selling the table didn’t run off with my money or sell it to someone else with more cash. I was super freaked out because, even after I had seen it, he left it up on Craigslist for the rest of the week. When I had first come to see it, he told me about how his parents bought it for him from 1st Dibs a while back but didn’t want to move it to his new place. I totally couldn’t understand why anyone would leave it behind in move---but I started to a little bit when Marc, his parents and I went to pick it up.

I don’t know how to explain how heavy the top (or even the base, for that matter) is. Months from the move, I think Marc’s dad has still mentioned how heavy it was every time I see him. Back home, it took all four of us to right the thing. Ahh, teamwork and no hernias! It was a lucky day indeed.

It’s so nice when things come together so well, you know? Having the perfect space for the table, family and friends to help you move it, and a sweet deal on something I’ll treasure for years.

So far, my beautiful table been host to such classy happenings as poker games, a couple of cat runway shows, some late-night Taco Bell feasts and many delicious bowls of Cap’n Crunch. I hope she’s not too insulted.

The table easily seats six, so I’ll try to do right by having a nice dinner party at some point.

Craigslist: My sordid past

The light was a little better last night, so I stook some more pictures of Craiglist finds from around my house. Also exciting is the Flickr group of CL finds I discovered today (sometimes I’m a little late on the uptake).

I just added it all up, and all of the furniture pictured below is from Craigslist, and combined, it set me back less than $1,000. It’s taken some time and some serious hunting, but we all know that’s at least half the fun.

Let’s start with the cheapest:
I guess that’s a tie between this terrazzo table and the old metal hospital cabinet below. The table is part of a pair. The other one holds my orchid (not a metaphor for something naughty…get your mind out of the gutter). Marc and I each bought one from a girl in Chinatown and now they’re reunited—and it feels so good…
I used to have this cabinet in my bathroom, which had no storage at all. It was great. Now, it’s a super-handy catchall in the office. The best thing? It’s magnetic! Since the fridge isn’t, it’s nice to have a place to tack up pictures and stuff. Maybe the best $25 I’ve spent.
These guys are new. This is the fourth(!) marble table I’ve acquired in my short Chicago years. Might have a problem. We just picked these up from a nice lady downtown so we’d have a place to sit on the back porch. So far, we’ve had one dinner there, and it was lovely. It’s the perfect size for two people, and I love the wrought iron base.

Also in the $50 range is this mid-century dresser: Originally, it came in a great bedroom set, but the headboard, highboy and night stand went to live with Shan and Matt, where they look gorgeous in her blue bedroom. Torn apart—and it feels so good…

We bought the set from an older woman who was moving into assisted living. She was so nice and tried to give us the entire bed, an old answering machine, sheets, you name it! We saved the wallpaper she used to line the drawers. She told us all about the store in Chicago where she picked it out. It’s nice to that stuff, I think. I hope when I pass it on, I’ll have some more good stories to share.
This chair actually has a mate, you just can’t see him. I bought these from a young mom in Old Irving Park who was making room in her home for her new baby. She was a real furniture lover and had some gorgeous stuff. I love these chairs so much. At first, Marc wasn’t sold on the teal, but now we both love it with the reddish brown wood floors. These were $80 and need a smidge of work—still useable, though.

You know what? I’m going to save the really big ticket item for tomorrow. Stay tuned to see what caused me to immediately jump in a cab and head to the Viagra Triangle and break off a bulk of my furniture fund. See also: the thing so heavy it almost killed my boyfriend and his dad.

Anyone having a Memorial Day Party? Wedding? Church picnic?

Because Connie in Orland Park has some real bummers for parents. So weak. They're making her get rid of all of her awesome party stuff.

For free, you can snatch up:
- a beer pong table
- extra beer pong balls
- circular chairs and some bar stools
- a TON of hawaiin themed stuff-grass skirts, umbrellas, cups, bowls, etc.
- a futon frame (sans mattress due to a large rip in the side from moving it)
- bags full of plastic cups and plastic shot glasses
- ice tub
- some beer bongs

Praise Craigslist, this girl sounds like Jim Anchower's dream woman.

Sold out like a Ludacris concert

Since I know the gang is so concerned:

I ended up selling those fiberglass chairs.

It was amazing, I posted them on Craigslist and got about 1,372 responses, including three messages from one guy who was obsessed with having the chairs. His most recent e-mail:

"ok I'm going ga gaaa for your chairs. pls contact me so I can pick them up and they can be my new babies in my home!"

On principle, I kind of didn't want them to go this dude. Maybe I'm a coldhearted snake (look into his eyes) but make it seem like you're going to sit in the chairs, hang out, whatever, not molest them.

IMMEDIATE UPDATE:

Just checked my e-mail: (I wrote to say someone was coming to look at them)
"oh my gosh. so sad. ok. I can pick them up now/today/earlier than her, but I guess that would be "underhanded" to beat her to the punch - would it? .YES it would. that was my evil twin talking, sorry!!!. they are the perfect color/shape/everything. ok please let me know. I hope they don't show well for her. : )

wait, what if I offered more? like a bidding war? ( I can't offer much more, but I could offer a little if I penny pinch)"



Is it ok for me to be a bit skeeved out, or am I out of line here? (Sorry, dude)

Humanizing the vacuum

So, let's see. What happened last week? Here are some pictures of questionable quality to show you:

1. Got the new table set up in the dining room on Monday. Poor, sad table with no chairs.


2. On Tuesday, I got a haircut. Here is the back:


Just to spice it up, here is the front view on another day. Sorry about the self portraiture. I get all akward when someone else takes my picture for no reason. It's also just emo enough for my Myspace.


3. On Wednesday, my pretty shoes arrived:


4. I have no recollection of Thursday.

Oh, that's right, I accidentally sent a picture of a deep v-neck t-shirt clad Jake Gyllenhaall astride horse to my boyfriend's aunt, whom I've never met. I wish I were kidding.

Also: I went to the Violet Hour and spent a bajillion dollars on delicious drinks. Sorry, no photos of that.

5. On Friday, Marc and I showed our love for 'merica by posing in front of a giant flag...and then getting yelled at for parking (for, like, one minute!) in a private lot. USA! USA!


You can tell how excited he is about being number one and putting a boot in y'alls asses (cause that's the American way....actually the American way is probably better represented by my consumerrific Thursday night activities):


6. Saturday. Bought more stuff! Oh, dining room table, you will be lonely no more. For I went all the way out to Hinsdale for these lovely fiberglass chairs.

Oh. They're to short for you? I see. No, no...I understand.

Right now, the spurned chairs live in the kitchen nook. Will they stay? Who knows! It's wild over here!

More Saturday stuff: the pool, Salvation Army, making jorts (PLEASE click on that link. It's a wonder.) for Marc (which he did wear out to the Hideout that night. What a champ.), the Map Room, where Marc and I met Renee to drink beers poured in glasses that physically resemble the two of us:

Just imagine little cutoffs on the tall, skinny one.

I also had my first taste of a Tom Collins. Gin at its best!

7. On the seventh day, the Lord rested, but I sanded and spray painted a chair frame (and my foot...and my hand):

(please, please ignore the dusty floor...)

This, incidentally, is the frame for the chair i reupholstered. Since I'm a dummy, I didn't take a before picture, but I will tell you the chair's old vinyl indoor/outdoor blue flowered fabric looked like something that old lady in Mama's Family would wear. And I like things granny, so that's saying a lot. Here it is with the bottom attached:

(again with the dust! we're MOVING, ok? well, in two months. but still)

The whole chair (the back will actually sit higher so there's a gap between the top and bottom, but I haven't screwed that in yet. I'm thinking about ripping the whole thing apart and adding piping):

More happy things: The "Come on shake your body, baby, do that Conga!" edition

1. The ever-more AMAZING flower spikes on my aloe and sanseveieria (mother-in-law’s tongue) plants:


I can’t wait for the blooms.

2. This book: All Families are Psychotic. I decided to read it (affectionately) in honor of my trip home last weekend and loved it. I recommend! Someone brilliant should make it into a movie. It would be a fun one to watch.

3. Sunday dinner at Smoke Daddy with 312 (It’s 4U). I love you, cornbread.

4. Poetic Licence shoes. I just ordered two pairs. Oh my god. Shoes. See also: Let me borrow that top.

5. Ripping a bunch of free jazz from my dad’s CD collection. Too bad my computer’s battery died before I could grab all the jams from his Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine albums.

6. A coworker giving me free cat food “just because I showed up at work on a Friday.”

7. Plans to pick up a great little teak dining table (with leaves!) that I got for a song on Craigslist.

8. Finding out why Damen Avenue used to be Robey Avenue.

9. This text I got first thing this morning (sent last night): “Overheard at Empty Bottle just now: ‘We’re kinda looking to leak a sex tape. You into that?’ Made me laugh.”

10. Not being born into the Baekeland family.

Any Arrested Development fans out there?

If you have an $45 burning a hole in your pocket, you can pick up this hand chair on Craigslist and be that much closer to recreating Byron "Buster" Bluth's bedroom.