My Latest Craigslist Score: Ghost Chairs in Time for Halloween

This find was actually found a couple weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to writing about it now.  Have you ever seen ghost chairs in designer spaces?  They look like this:

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They are also made in a smaller version for kiddos:

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At $133 each for a child's chair, they aren't cheap.  

This pair of blue Kartell Lou-Lou Chairs was listed on Craigslist for $50 buckaroos total:

They are really liking life at our house!

Mirror Score!

Check out what I found listed on Craigslist late last week:

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A faux bamboo mirror!  

Remember a couple weeks ago I posted here about missing out on one of these golden lovelies?

This mirror was actually listed as a 'bambo mirror' which would explain why I didn't find it earlier even though the posting went up on July 10th.  I have been searching 'bamboo' or 'faux bamboo'.  

We picked up the mirror this weekend for forty buckaroos (Not bad when you consider how much these mirrors are going for on Ebay!) and it's in great shape!  Persistence pays!

Campaign Furniture Score

Can you see what these images have in common?

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Okay, this image is a giveaway!  Campaign furniture ties the images together.  Campaign furniture was historically designed for use in military campaigns.  The furniture was intended to be easy to fold, pack and carry while marching.  Now let's look at more campaign desks:

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And here are some campaign style desks that are currently available for sale:

Campaign Desk World Market, $229.99

Asheworthe Campaign Desk Williams Sonoma $3850

And here is what my sweet Bill picked up for me from Craigslist for the low price of $40:

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And here the desk is in our garage (sadly, I forgot to take a picture before we covered it up and put it in the corner...behind all of the other furniture projects we're working on:))

Getting the desk and storage chest in the car were an adventure for Bill.  I'm starting to think he should write a book about his Craigslist pick up adventures.

The finish is actually in pretty good shape, so I'm not sure if I'll be painting them or not.  We'll see!

And now, Kiki, you know what campaign furniture is!

CraigsList: Why I Love It

Early last summer, we bought this IKEA Malm Headboard on clearance for $20:

We bought it because we were worried that the canopy bed we were planning to put in our guest room would be too high for the ceiling fan that is in that room.  Well, we got the IKEA headboard home, moved into our new house and found that the canopy bed cleared the ceiling fan without a problem.  Yeah for our canopy bed, boo for the Malm bed that was stored in our garage for the last 9 months.  I caught a glimpse of it the other day and thought, 'I need to Craigslist that'.

When I got a moment, I brought it inside and took some pictures of it.  After seeing the $129 selling price for it online (it must have been taken off the IKEA website this past week because I can't find it anymore), I asked $60 OBO for it.  Within a few days of listing it, the headboard was sold for my asking price to a nice young man who informed me that our local IKEA is no longer selling the Malm Queen Headboard in the store.  He was ecstatic.  I was also ecstatic because I made $40 and didn't have to store the bed anymore.  Everyone was happy!! 

Then it got better.  This weekend, I took a quick look at Craigslist and found this World Market Sourav bench listed for $40.  It retails for $199 (on sale for $179 currently) and also has an oversize shipping surcharge of $25 that I would have to pay because World Market doesn't like Minnesota anymore.  And it got even better yet when I found out that the bench wasn't used.  It was brand spanking, still in the box, new.  Wahoo!!

Check it out:

The family that was selling it had purchased two benches, but then decided they only wanted 1 bench.  Well, thank you indecisive family.  Thank you very much!!  We (and by we, I mean Bill...he's my Craigslist gopher) were ecstatic to hand over $40 for a brand new bench, and the family was happy to have the box off their hands and a little cash in their pocket. 

This bench, you see, matches our dining room buffet, and while I don't tend to be matchy, matchy, I didn't love the look of our old bench in the dining room (it was another World Market store closing purchase) because it's a little short for the table and the color is kind of orange-y.   (Some of my wall baskets are orange though too, so it wasn't awful:).)

See our before picture:

The bench served its purpose well though, and I thought that it would potentially be replaced with the mismatched chairs that I'm searching for (see this post for more details on future dining room plans).  We love having a bench though.  It's super easy for the kids to sit and eat, and you can put lots of kids on a single bench when we're having playdates.  Also, the kids use the bench for helping me cook and bake. They put their mixing bowls on the bench and stand next to it because it's the perfect height. 

Now, I have the exact bench that I was seeking out (for it's length and color and price point pre-shipping and surcharge, of course), and I feel like I got it for free. 

We just had to put the legs on it:

Thanks Lucky!

And now here's our new bench:

Cost Breakdown:

Money made on Queen Malm Headboard Sale: $60 sale -$20 original cost of headboard=$40
Cost of World Market Sourav Bench: $40
Total Cost Out of Pocket: $0!! 

And that's why I love Craigslist.