Craigslist Treasure

I’ve been doing a lot of Craigslisting looking for an Empire Revival Style Dresser. I’ve had my heart set on one for quite a while, however when they come up they tend to be rather pricey, missing parts of the veneer or missing their mirrors. So when I came across this guy for 50.00 I knew I had to jump on it quick. Thursday night I headed out after school and arrived at the guy’s house at about 8 PM. We measured and concluded that it was going to be a tight but it would fit in the back of my Versa. Welp, not quite. We did manage however, with some bungee cords, plastic twine and  a moving blanket to make a go of it. It was about a 45 minute drive back to ittybittybungalow and it was one of those rainy nights that makes the lines on the road difficult to see but, going slow and steady both the dresser and I made it back in one piece.

There are a lot of other things that have been going on around IBB. I’ve hung a new light fixture on the porch, I replaced my bed so I can get my mattress off the floor after the epic mattress fail and I have finally finished the major project of removing all my windows, stripping them with the heat gun, repainting them, replacing the ropes and then re-hanging them so that they open and close like butter, well… as close to as they are going to get anyways. Yesterday I even planted bulbs in the front yard for the spring.

All in all, I’m just been working out a lot of details lately. I have to say its so much more refreshing to come home now that most things are the way that I imagined I would like them on to be when I first saw the house. Granted there are still lots of things to do, but I’m not really feeling the pressure that I had been to get them completed before, mostly, because I think that they are only things I will know and care about (ie. getting the filing cabinet set up, organizing the cupboards more neatly and setting up an organized system for the garage).

Murphy’s Law

So… a while back I e-mailed this guy about these chairs, and he never wrote back.

Well… guess who called today?

Anyways he says he has seven of them and he would like 100 dollars. That’s a pretty good deal I think. They do need to be re-cained in the seats, which I can totally learn how to do. As you can see here:

But they all match and are for the most part the style that I was shooting for. So I’m driving out to Buffalo  to get them on Wednesday afternoon. Sigh.

These chairs are made by the Heywood-Wakefield Company. Heywood-Wakefield was very popular during the 50’s for thier streamlined blonde furniture. Here is an example:

But these chairs are an earlier example of thier work. Here’s how I know this. The tag on the chairs reads Haywood Brothers & Wakefield Company. So Why Haywood Brothers and Wakefield Company instead of just Haywood-Wakefield? Back in the day Haywood and Wakefield were seperate companies and major competition for one another. But in 1897 the companies merged and became known as the Haywood Brothers & Wakefield Company until the name was changed to just The Haywood-Wakefield Company in 1921.That means that these chairs must have been made between 1897 and 1921.

Later we can all play a mean game of musical chairs.

This is what obsessive looks like

Alright I think I might have gotten a little carried away here. First, I was going to get the navy chairs to surround my dinning room table. Then I found out that when I found the one I have on the side of the road, I should have run right to 7-11 to play the lotto because that was a minor miracle. If I want to buy three more vintage ones they are going to run me around 100 bucks each, plus shipping. If I want three new ones that’ll be about 400 each. Feelin a little defeated, I did a little Overstock.com hunting and came up with this option  

These guys (Steel Silvertone Side Chair) are 136.99 for a pair. Which means that for four (even though we really want six) It would cost 273.98. That stings a little bit and so they were ruled out along with the idea of the Navy Chair.

Cut to Scene Two: The School House Chair. It began with the arm chair that I found at the thrift store a few weeks back. I thought I could find three more to match it minus the arms. I was incorrect. A couple weeks of trolling Craigslist and scavenging at estate sales and we’ve assembled quite a team. If you take a look at the first picture I’ll give you the rundown. From the left:  Office Chair, East Avenue estate sale on half price day 10.00, the next came off Craigslist from a downsizing family in Webster 15.00,followed by the Canal Street Thrift store find at 5.99, the next chair was gleaned from an estate sale in Gates, also on half price day for 7.50, the last chair is a friend of the second chair, they were a package deal in Webster for another 15.00. The total of all five chairs being 53.49. That’s a Billy Fuccillo style HUGE cost savings… especially when you consider the fact that you have to remove the rolly chair from the line up because he really has nothing to do with the dinning room table, that drops the total to 43.49 or about 10 bucks a chair. Win.

Now let’s chat about the new dilemma. I like things to match. I mean I really like things to match. I know that I could look really trendy and hip if I painted them all black and made them a family but I’m just really kind of on the fence about it. A lot of it has to do with my deep-seated matching issues, but some of it has to do with the fourth chair from the left. Maybe its just that he hasn’t been painted yet but he is a little taller and boxier than the rest of the chairs. I think it’s a little red headed stepchildish. Meanwhile on the big O, no, not Oprah, Overstock.com we found these:

These chairs (the Slat Black Rubberwood Dinning Chairs) are 147.99 for all four. But what the hell is Rubberwood? Well according to my very esteemed Google research it is an environmentally friendly wood source. They grow it in Southeast Asia for latex, then when the tree stops producing they use the wood for furniture and engineered lumber. So they all match,  they are black like I wanted and they are a pretty good deal. Hence the dilemma.

Right now I’m leaning toward the Rubberwood Chairs, actullay I take that back..maybe I just need to look for something else to replace the stepchild? I’m really not sure.

What do you think?

What’s Good on Craigslist 2/21/11

Good Morning.
Lets see what’s cooking on the Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse Craigslists

Happy Hunting!

Antique City of Buffalo Desk – 100.00

Dresser or… TV Cabinet?-50.00

Ironing Board -10.00

Industrial Bins -10.00 ea.

Vintage Fans- 45.00

One lonely chair in search of five friends.

See this chair?

I have one that I found on the curb last winter over in the South Wedge and I would like more. I would really like six, but I’d be happy with four. So here’s the deal. I know that they are kicking around in people’s basements, sheds, attics and most often in their offices. I won’t ask any questions about how you got them, or where they came from. Just know that I will take very good care of them. But seriously… If you have any leads that would be fantastic.

Update 2/22:

I’ve come to find out that these are called Navy Chairs. They are still made by a company called Eamco. You can pick one up for around 400.00. Yikes! I got mine for free. Granted mine was made by a company called Goodform… but it’s still worth about 150 bucks according to eBay. Why are they called Navy Chairs? Well here’s the scoop. Back in WWII the US Navy needed chairs that were sturdy, cheap and that wouldn’t rust in the salty air. Hence the Navy Chair. Its made of one continuous piece of aluminum with no seams and no welds to break. Being aluminum it won’t rust either. Let’s just say 150 bucks a chair doesn’t fit into the budget at IBB. If you find one for me I’ll give you a pat on the back.