Have you ever surfed the “free” category on Craigslist? Well don’t. It’s addicting!
The siren call of getting something for nothing can be hard to overcome. I know, because I spent several weeks checking it obsessively for something wonderful.
The hard part is, if you’re not willing to get in the car and go someplace RIGHT NOW, you’re going to miss out on the wonderful stuff.
And mostly, the wonderful stuff…really isn’t.
As my mother said, “If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is!”
But here’s my story!
This is the end result of a pretty little waterfall dresser I picked up FOR FREE!
When the ad popped up, I excitedly e-mailed the owner, only to find that it had already been spoken for. <sigh> Much to my delight, the freeloader before me prior interested party was a no-show, and I was next on the list!
This is what it looked like when I got it.
Not bad, right? There were a few chips and dings, and the finish was old and faded, but all the drawers and hardware were there…I picked it up without looking a gift horse in the mouth!
When I got it home, the hidden problems became apparent. A couple of the drawers were pretty much held together with spit and baling wire, and I think all the drawer guides, slides, and whatsits were missing.
But the exterior was really in such good condition that I couldn’t bring myself to paint it! So instead, I sanded off the old finish coat and used General Finishes Gel Stain to bring the wood back to life.
Look at this detail!
The problem was that fixing the drawers to work properly was really beyond me. I could cobble them back together so contents didn’t fall out the cracks, but I really didn’t have a clue how to construct new wood slides and guides.
So this was a piece I chose NOT to take with me to the barn sale. It did go to a new home via Craigslist yesterday, but of course I had to be completely honest about the condition of the drawers. I felt bad that I couldn’t really restore it to full usefulness and beauty.
But hey…it cured me of cruising the “free” category on Craigslist…at least for a little while!
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