Wood!
Okay, so I commenced the whining too early. Monday morning I called Perfect Dresser Dude; it was still available and he agreed not to take any buyers until we could get there to check it out. We left at 9:30, found the place, spent about two minutes confirming that it would work for us and 10 strapping it into my Escape with about nine bungee cords. A quick stop for gas and snacks that Mad could spill all over my newly vacuumed interior, and we were off.
The timing was great, too. We didn't have much traffic coming down the hill, and going up was a breeze. By the time we were almost to our off-ramp, the southbound traffic was jammed up with trailers and boats and cars full of hungover Vegas losers. (Okay, and maybe a few winners, but statistically you know I'm right.)
Corey had spent the weekend at my mom's, but they arrived just before we did, so the dresser came in and upstairs immediately. No foul stench stinking up the place, and it looks nice, too. For now it's in the loft until we can move the desk that has been Mad's changing table into our room.
We spent the afternoon hanging out. Tom grilled burgers and corn. A cooling breeze blew through the house.
That evening I got an email from another person who was interested in the dresser I had posted on Craigslist. I gave him a call and our address. The guy actually showed up. Even better he was excited about the dresser. He loves to refinish pieces and believes that this dresser might actually be solid walnut. To me the top looks like a veneer, but I could be wrong. I don't refinish, I have only finished raw wood. This guy seems like more of a semi-pro than a hobbyist, so I took the opportunity to show him our dining table (like that was hard, it's still sitting, 3/4 finished, in our garage; it was right next to the dresser). We talked stains and stripping agents. Hopefully I'll remember all about Blue Lightning when the time comes (yeah, that link is more for me than for you, unless you're interested in helping with my table and chairs, lol). We were in total agreement that Tom and I should have never selected chairs with spindles in the back. In a complete reversal of traditional roles, Tom stated, "But it's pretty." Yes, dear, it's pretty.
The man paid us and promised to send pictures when he's done with his latest project. It was then that I remembered we'd never introduced ourselves, not even on the phone. After he and Tom loaded the dresser ("upright, please") into his truck, we exchanged names and went our separate ways.
And with the purchase and sale of the dressers at $45 a piece, Mad and Fynn's new dresser is still free, which is way better than $100!
Showing posts with label dresser. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dresser. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
I Seem To Have Missed Out On the "Easy" Part
We've decided to find a dresser for Fynn and Mad to share. My brother's family gave us one that they were just going to put out on the curb. It's perfect, except for the cigarette smell that we can't seem to get rid of.
I'd been hoping to find one through Freecycle.org, but we're not having any luck. Since we are committed to spending less than $100, I have spent the past three weekends driving around our area looking for yard sales. So far I've come across three dressers. None would withstand my use, let alone that of two little girls in a few years.
The upside of all that driving around is that I can now say with assurance that Tom and I picked a solid neighborhood for our first home. Every neighborhood we'd looked at in a nearby town (which would have put us 15-20 minutes closer to everyone else) is a shambles. Of course, ours went through something like that right after we closed escrow, so there's hope for those places, too. It's just that more of them looked worse there than anything we had around here.
Since random driving around isn't accomplishing anything other than using up gas and confirming yet again that I should let go of my complaints about being so far away, I have added a couple of strategies to my bargain hunting repertoire.
The first was to check out local resale stores. Two crap dressers from the 70's at one place, nothing anywhere else so far.
Second was to check the PennySaver. Note to self: If you want a shot at something listed there, maybe checking your mail for the latest edition more than once or twice a week will help move you up in the queue.
Third, today we stopped by an independent furniture store. They have a utile dresser (no idea of the quality since it was all wrapped up) for $125. However, we are committed to staying within the budget we've set.
Fourth, I have begun haunting Craigslist. Everyone says it's so easy to get great deals on Craigslist. Now I have found some amazing pieces of furniture for very reasonable prices. In Los Angeles. In Koreatown. In Santa Monica. In my own local listing (Inland Empire, which sounds better than it is... or maybe sounds like someone trying to boost their own ego, which would be exactly like it is), I find crap. Much like the crap that I've seen at those yard sales and resale shops.
I did find one this afternoon that seems perfect. Even better, it's $45, an amount equal to what I'm asking for the dresser we already received from my brother's family, thereby making it free. Best of all, unlike my brother and his wife, the current owners of the perfect dresser do not smoke in the house. The downside? It's located about 55 miles from here and the guy didn't call me back until 8:15 tonight. And Tom would rather drive down there in the morning than go tonight when there will be minimal Vegas and River traffic. The guy would not promise to hold it.
If all of this doesn't work, we have one last option. Tom works for a company that is well-known for its home furnishings. We know the furniture for kids sucks, but the rest of it is generally good to great quality, if you want to spend those prices. They have an outlet store a bit more than halfway down to San Diego. He'll be calling them every Tuesday morning (after their shipments are in) to see if they have anything we might be able to use.
Are there any bases we haven't covered here?
I'd been hoping to find one through Freecycle.org, but we're not having any luck. Since we are committed to spending less than $100, I have spent the past three weekends driving around our area looking for yard sales. So far I've come across three dressers. None would withstand my use, let alone that of two little girls in a few years.
The upside of all that driving around is that I can now say with assurance that Tom and I picked a solid neighborhood for our first home. Every neighborhood we'd looked at in a nearby town (which would have put us 15-20 minutes closer to everyone else) is a shambles. Of course, ours went through something like that right after we closed escrow, so there's hope for those places, too. It's just that more of them looked worse there than anything we had around here.
Since random driving around isn't accomplishing anything other than using up gas and confirming yet again that I should let go of my complaints about being so far away, I have added a couple of strategies to my bargain hunting repertoire.
The first was to check out local resale stores. Two crap dressers from the 70's at one place, nothing anywhere else so far.
Second was to check the PennySaver. Note to self: If you want a shot at something listed there, maybe checking your mail for the latest edition more than once or twice a week will help move you up in the queue.
Third, today we stopped by an independent furniture store. They have a utile dresser (no idea of the quality since it was all wrapped up) for $125. However, we are committed to staying within the budget we've set.
Fourth, I have begun haunting Craigslist. Everyone says it's so easy to get great deals on Craigslist. Now I have found some amazing pieces of furniture for very reasonable prices. In Los Angeles. In Koreatown. In Santa Monica. In my own local listing (Inland Empire, which sounds better than it is... or maybe sounds like someone trying to boost their own ego, which would be exactly like it is), I find crap. Much like the crap that I've seen at those yard sales and resale shops.
I did find one this afternoon that seems perfect. Even better, it's $45, an amount equal to what I'm asking for the dresser we already received from my brother's family, thereby making it free. Best of all, unlike my brother and his wife, the current owners of the perfect dresser do not smoke in the house. The downside? It's located about 55 miles from here and the guy didn't call me back until 8:15 tonight. And Tom would rather drive down there in the morning than go tonight when there will be minimal Vegas and River traffic. The guy would not promise to hold it.
If all of this doesn't work, we have one last option. Tom works for a company that is well-known for its home furnishings. We know the furniture for kids sucks, but the rest of it is generally good to great quality, if you want to spend those prices. They have an outlet store a bit more than halfway down to San Diego. He'll be calling them every Tuesday morning (after their shipments are in) to see if they have anything we might be able to use.
Are there any bases we haven't covered here?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The First Big Thing and Girl Parts
Okay, it's the second, really, but the first first thing isn't working out so well. What the heck am I talking about? Baby stuff! Yay!
A couple of months ago my niece gave us her old dresser. It's the right color and size, and the style even works with the girls' room. But my brother and his wife are heavy duty smokers. We have had that dresser and all the drawers spread out over our patio on sunny days and wiped it down with vinegar five or six times. The smell seemed to be gone well enough that we moved it upstairs to our loft. Still didn't notice any bad aromas. We had Mad's party and the big reveal on Sunday (more on that later), and put the drawers back into the dresser just for tidiness. When I took my dad upstairs to show him Mad's "new bed" we stopped and took a whiff of the dresser.
I can barely smell anything, but as soon as we opened the drawer, I could smell that smell. Ugh! If anyone has a workable solution to get the stench out, I would love to hear it. Plan B is to post wanted ads on Freecycle.org and hope we get a better dresser.
So what has supplanted the dresser as the first big thing? We got the baby's mattress. As we've learned more about being green (I'm proud to say we were green before green was cool... but embarrassed to say we're lazy... so maybe we're really teal? aqua?) and health conscious, we have learned about all the nasties that get put into crib mattresses. So Mad has our family's first organic mattress. And by organic, I don't mean the cotton cover is organic, but sprayed with chemical flame retardants. I mean it's got an organic rubber core and cotton and wool padding and cover. Wool is a natural flame retardant.
We love the mattress, but hated the whole process of getting it. I found a website for a company based in Vermont, called and made the order. The 2-3 weeks estimate for shipping turned into 10 weeks. It almost didn't arrive before Madelyn! And when it did arrive, it was folded in half in a box.
Even if that company were still in business, there's no way I'd send them my money again. We found another company, EcoBaby Pure Rest, that not only manufactures their own mattresses, they have a showroom. And they're in my hometown, San Diego! I called to confirm that they had mattresses in stock, Nance and I made the drive and picked one up. It's leaning against the wall in our living room right now. Shipping is only $35, which is about what I spent in gas, but I was glad to have it in my hands immediately (okay, after about two and a half hours of driving). The bonus of the day came when the sales guy, Victor, told me they give a 20% discount for coming to pick it up. I saved $88. Yay!
To make it less of a spent-the-whole-day-driving kind of day, we went over to the harbor and had a fabulous lunch at The Fish Market in an enclosed patio right over the water. The only downside for me is that I haven't completely regained my taste buds from this pesky cold.
In other Baby Fynn news, I had the EKG done yesterday. Her heart is strong and healthy. Even though I have some minor heart things, she does not. The doctor asked if I avoid caffeine. I do, in part because of my own palpitations and mainly because who wants to have a hyper baby en utero? Then he told us something we'd never heard before: Caffeine during pregnancy is linked to babies developing skipped heartbeats, too. Who knew?
After he was done checking out her heart, Doc spent a little time doing another ultrasound. For part of it he switched to 4D. I saw my daughter's face. It felt like meeting her a little. I can't wait to really be face to face with her.
And, causing me to think these ultrasound people are more than slightly obsessed with genitalia, he reconfirmed that we are having a girl. The picture he printed is pretty grainy, so to be sure we didn't forget that we're having a girl, he typed "Vagina" and put three arrows pointing to it. If that wasn't enough, he also typed a message in the corner.
JUST LIKE MOMMY!
Thanks, dude, for the picture I will never show (at least until she's, you know... annoying me around her friends or something).
A couple of months ago my niece gave us her old dresser. It's the right color and size, and the style even works with the girls' room. But my brother and his wife are heavy duty smokers. We have had that dresser and all the drawers spread out over our patio on sunny days and wiped it down with vinegar five or six times. The smell seemed to be gone well enough that we moved it upstairs to our loft. Still didn't notice any bad aromas. We had Mad's party and the big reveal on Sunday (more on that later), and put the drawers back into the dresser just for tidiness. When I took my dad upstairs to show him Mad's "new bed" we stopped and took a whiff of the dresser.
I can barely smell anything, but as soon as we opened the drawer, I could smell that smell. Ugh! If anyone has a workable solution to get the stench out, I would love to hear it. Plan B is to post wanted ads on Freecycle.org and hope we get a better dresser.
So what has supplanted the dresser as the first big thing? We got the baby's mattress. As we've learned more about being green (I'm proud to say we were green before green was cool... but embarrassed to say we're lazy... so maybe we're really teal? aqua?) and health conscious, we have learned about all the nasties that get put into crib mattresses. So Mad has our family's first organic mattress. And by organic, I don't mean the cotton cover is organic, but sprayed with chemical flame retardants. I mean it's got an organic rubber core and cotton and wool padding and cover. Wool is a natural flame retardant.
We love the mattress, but hated the whole process of getting it. I found a website for a company based in Vermont, called and made the order. The 2-3 weeks estimate for shipping turned into 10 weeks. It almost didn't arrive before Madelyn! And when it did arrive, it was folded in half in a box.
Even if that company were still in business, there's no way I'd send them my money again. We found another company, EcoBaby Pure Rest, that not only manufactures their own mattresses, they have a showroom. And they're in my hometown, San Diego! I called to confirm that they had mattresses in stock, Nance and I made the drive and picked one up. It's leaning against the wall in our living room right now. Shipping is only $35, which is about what I spent in gas, but I was glad to have it in my hands immediately (okay, after about two and a half hours of driving). The bonus of the day came when the sales guy, Victor, told me they give a 20% discount for coming to pick it up. I saved $88. Yay!
To make it less of a spent-the-whole-day-driving kind of day, we went over to the harbor and had a fabulous lunch at The Fish Market in an enclosed patio right over the water. The only downside for me is that I haven't completely regained my taste buds from this pesky cold.
In other Baby Fynn news, I had the EKG done yesterday. Her heart is strong and healthy. Even though I have some minor heart things, she does not. The doctor asked if I avoid caffeine. I do, in part because of my own palpitations and mainly because who wants to have a hyper baby en utero? Then he told us something we'd never heard before: Caffeine during pregnancy is linked to babies developing skipped heartbeats, too. Who knew?
After he was done checking out her heart, Doc spent a little time doing another ultrasound. For part of it he switched to 4D. I saw my daughter's face. It felt like meeting her a little. I can't wait to really be face to face with her.
And, causing me to think these ultrasound people are more than slightly obsessed with genitalia, he reconfirmed that we are having a girl. The picture he printed is pretty grainy, so to be sure we didn't forget that we're having a girl, he typed "Vagina" and put three arrows pointing to it. If that wasn't enough, he also typed a message in the corner.
JUST LIKE MOMMY!
Thanks, dude, for the picture I will never show (at least until she's, you know... annoying me around her friends or something).
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