Another Craigslist Score

We've done it again!  ...Well, actually this all happened nearly three years ago but it's still exciting.  My last Craigslist Score post was so popular (maybe 10X as popular as my average post) that we thought we'd delve into our bag of tricks (aka- the condo) to see what other Craigslist treasures we might have found that could actually have some real value.

Since basically half our stuff (furniture and decor accessories) are from Craigslist, it wasn't too difficult to find another diamond in the rough.  I actually already have a third "Craigslist Score" post in the works but I need to space them out a little. ;)

So let's rewind about three years to the time when we had a firm offer on our condo but had not yet moved in.  At the time, I was trolling Craigslist like a fiend, DIY-ing art for the living room (so there was paint everywhere,) reupholstering chairs and basically trying to pack everything into the living room of my teeny tiny 450 square foot apartment.  It was hoarder madness!  I seriously had to use some acrobatic moves just to get to the kitchen!

Now imagine this weirdo lamp (below) has been up on Craigslist for a while and, while the smoked glass kind of worked with our theme, I just couldn't decide if it was too much.  It was certainly over-the-top but I had never seen anything like it...   I was really on the fence about it and almost didn't even mention it to Corey, but I'm kind of a sucker for the unique and retro...

We were already out for the day running errands so I ended up making an appointment to see the seller.  Part way through the morning, I stared at the picture of the chandelier that I had printed from Craigslist and told Corey that I was having second thoughts.  I thought it was a little too obvious or kitsch or... just too... something.  At that point Corey turned to me and said firmly, "We're getting it.  This one's my decision."  Folks, this was a real turning point for the guy who, until this point, had been a little horrified at my crazy taste in home furnishings and had really wanted no part in the actual decorating of our condo.  I guess he had finally decided that this was going to be OUR home!

When we arrived at the seller's home,  the man selling it was obviously a little disappointed to be letting the lamp go.  We asked him more about the situation and he explained that he had bought it at a church bazaar for $150 but his wife hated the thing and wouldn't let him hang it.  He had saved it in his garage for ages but it was time to let it go.  He really loved it and since we all knew it was probably worth more, Corey and I didn't even negotiate the price.  Instead, we paid him the $75 and promised to give it a good home. 

Anyway, we cleaned it and it needed some minor electrical work and once we finally moved, we hung it in our dining room.  Aside from our harvest table and a few other items, it was one of the first furnishings in our new pad.  Corey hung it before we even had baseboards (below) and, it grew on me quickly since it kind of added to the funky vibe that we had wanted.

It was shortly after we moved in that I came across an HGTV House Tour (photo below) of the home of designer and Design Lab blogger, Arren Williams.  Our ugly/funky chandelier was in his living room!!!  How cool did we feel?!  I didn't even care if he was using it ironically (since we sort of were too) but I wanted to know more about that lamp.  I tried to contact Arren through his blog to ask if he knew more about the lamp but I never heard back. 

I did send the article to the Craigslist man who had sold us the lamp... I joked that I hoped it would help him win the next decorating debate with his wife.

 

Time passed and life happened and Corey and I forgot all about our quest to find the designer of our ugly/funky lamp... Until my post on the Craigslist director's chairs became so popular and many of you asked if it was a one-time fluke or if we had found any other "treasures" over the years. 

 

I took a quick inventory of the condo and remembered my lamp.  So I checked online, searching key words and found a lamp that looked almost identical being sold on Main Auction Galleries Inc.  They didn't list a price (and I was too busy last weekend to call) but most of their items were reasonably valuable.  At least now I had a name of the designer to help me search: Frederick Ramond.

 

 

 

This time I used the designer's name in my search and I found a very similar version of my lamp being offered for sale on Center 44 for MUCH more than I had expected.  Now, I have no idea how to appraise lamps (I'm certainly no expert) but I have never seen a lamp like this other than lamps by Frederick Ramond and ours seems like the correct age to have been an original model.  The one discrepancy I found was that all of these lamps (even the one in Arren Williams' home) seem to be made of lucite while ours is glass.  Still, it's fun to get an idea of the market value:

 

 

Yowza, right?  Well, although I originally found it, Corey talked me into this one!  We are also grateful to the Craigslist seller who loved it so much that he brought it home from a church bazaar, knowing that his wife probably wouldn't approve.  We hope he gets to choose their next lamp!

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Craigslist Score!

I've already written here and here about our experiences with Craigslist.  When we first moved into the condo, Corey was still in school and most of my savings were directed towards the down payment and necessary renos.  This left us with an entire 1000 square feet (give or take) of space to furnish on a pretty strict budget. 

Instead of settling on generic Ikea (not that I have any problem with Ikea) furnishings, we made a game of finding unique pieces for our space.  Not only did this strategy end up costing us less, it gave us a chance to express ourselves and save some quality items from the landfill. 

We decided to incorporate a vintage theme to give ourselves a place to start.  Armed with only a very basic knowledge of iconic styles and designers, we decided to forget about trying to find anything with a pedigree and just focus on items with cool lines or interesting character.

Now, I don't pretend that this didn't take some perseverance.  For a month before we moved and a couple of weeks after, I probably checked Craigslist twice daily.  I searched words like "chrome" "vintage" "retro" and "eames," hoping it would yield some cool results but mostly finding either junk or fabulous designer furniture which was priced accordingly. 

Eventually, we started to turn up some worthwhile results and (due to my Craigslist "Spidey Sense" and commitment to being the first to pounce on a good quality, reasonably priced listing) we built our home one item at a time.  We met some interesting characters along the way and we're still pretty sure they people who sold us the lamp bases that now live in our bedroom were trying to get us to join a religious cult... Not kidding.  But we can now look back on it as an adventure.

One day, we found a pair of director's chairs with a chrome base being sold in Ajax.  They were clearly 70's vintage and they looked just like the chair pictured in the top photo, only the back was smoked lucite (which actually matched our funky smoked glass dining room light fixture) and the seat was an ugly light brown suede.  The price tag was $100 for both so we arranged to pop by after work that day.

I know it's a little controversial (I'll save the debate for another post) but we both eat meat and wear leather and we decided that covering the seats in some cowhide would make them seem more unique.  It was a simple DIY:

• We purchased some cowhide scraps since we weren't going to use it for a rug.  Sometimes you can also buy an imperfect hide (with a scar or brand mark) to use for upholstering.  This will save you some money.
• We flipped them over and unscrewed the seats.
• We traced them onto the cowhide scraps we were using.  Trace generously (leave at least six inches on each side) since you can always trim more later.
• Use a staple gun to secure it.  We left the corners until the end so we could use both hands to fold it neatly.  Cowhide is thick so be patient.

•   Note- this is an old DIY so forgive me for just flipping the chairs for the photographs and not taking them apart again.
• Once you're finished stapling and the corners are fairly smooth, you can trim the edges.  Don't worry about your mistakes showing- We are definitely NOT perfectionists and nobody has ever noticed.  Check out the close-up of our messy work, below.
• Be generous with your staples.

And voila!  We have two funky cowhide chairs that are charmingly (we think) mismatched.

But that's not the end of the story, although I promise to get to the point soon. 

When you buy a vintage item with no thought for whether it's designer or actually worth something, you gamble.  For us, it was not a big deal.  We assumed some of our pieces might be worth something but our goal was only to find items which made our space happy.  Sometimes you "win" though and today, I was randomly searching online for matching chairs.  I've been considering selling them when we move and wanted an idea of what others are selling for online so I ran a Google search for "vintage chrome director chairs lucite back" and came across this listing on Center 44:

Jackpot!  What do you think?  Maybe I'll hold on to ours after all. :)

Update:  This wasn't a one-time deal!  Check out another of our "Craigslist Scores" here.

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