Craigslist Find of the Year

Oh Craig, you are such a good friend. You're such a giving guy, never short of new adventures. I can spend hours with you, moving from topic-to-topic; anything from chairs to coffee tables and jobs to sporting events. And for the past year, we've been talking about one topic, in particular, an awful lot. For awhile there I thought you weren't listening to me. I would talk about my need for a solid wood buffet, with both drawers and cabinets to ensure I have enough space. I also talked to you about size, but all you wanted to offer were either small cabinets or oversized china cabinets. Until last week. Last week was a turning point in our friendship. Last week you gave me this. Craig, I think you just became my best friend (sorry Kelly!).

Alright, enough about Craig. Here's how everything went down.

Early last week I came across this buffet in my daily Craigslist scour. Solid wood? Check. Drawers and cabinets? Check. Less than 55" long? Check. And no significant damage? Check Again. Could it be that I finally found my buffet? After running through my mental checklist, I emailed the seller right away and told him that I was interested in buying this beauty. I didn't hear back for a few days, and quite frankly I figured it had already been swiped, so I kind of forgot about it. Then on Friday of last week, he emailed to tell me that I could call him over the weekend to arrange a time to go see it. I was running out of work when I saw his email and didn't pay much attention.

So Friday night came and went, and I went out shopping on Saturday without thinking about the email all day. Finally, on the way home from girl's day, Meredith and I were talking about how I still needed a buffet. I was explaining one that I had been eyeing at Pottery Barn, but knew I could never afford ...

... when it dawned on me that I never responded to the Craigslist email. How could I have forgotten!? I called the number from the ad right away. The guy gave me his address (which happened to be just down the street from me!) and said that I could come by that night to see it. This was sounding very promising!

Meredith dropped me off and I had an hour to kill before I could go see my buffet. I spent that time explaining to Jesse (and the other guys) that I was going to look at a buffet that I had every intention of buying. Either Jesse was distracted by all of the testosterone or he actually realized how long I've been looking and how badly I've wanted to find a buffet because he just sort of went with everything, without asking too many questions. I then asked Drew if I could borrow his Forerunner, in case I decided to buy it, and ran out the door.

(I'll abbreviate this next part) I went over there, fell in love, realized it was WAY too heavy to carry up the stairs without more help, called Jesse and Drew to be my sherpas, lugged it out of the house watched Jesse and Drew lug it out of the house (while the seller told me everything I need to know about staining and painting wood furniture). Then we drove it home and plopped it in our dining room basement.

And here it is in all it's glory ...

Wanna know my favorite part? Probably that full-length drawer. That or the curves on the bottom. But I also like those little doors! Ok, I love it all!

I really wanted to bring it right up to the dining room, but it weighed at least 150 lbs. and I couldn't imagine asking the guys to drag it all the way upstairs to drag it back down to my garage in a few weeks, which is where I'm planning to refinish it.

I've never really painted or stained furniture before, but I've been itching to refinish something of my own for awhile now. It will probably be a slow process, with lots of learning along the way, but I'm excited to take it on!

Since it'll be a few weeks before I can touch it (I'll be away the next two weekends), let me leave you with a few ideas that have been swirling around. Ooh, and if you are one of the few people that read the blog, will you do me a favor and vote on one? I'm pretty sure only about 4 or 5 people read on a regular basis, but I'd love to hear from you!!

A. Stained Wood

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I played with the lighting of my original picture
to make my buffet a little less Cherry

B. Dark/Light Combination

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C. Antique White

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D. White Stenciling

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E. Antique Color

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Alright, help me prove that there are at least a few people reading this and place your vote! :)