The Search for a Dresser

Have you ever sold something on Craigslist?  My husband has been very successful doing so but I have not.   Not that I have tried.  I’m a little scared :).  I leave him to deal with the strangers.  But… I’ve looked…oh have I looked on Craigslist!  I can think of one piece in our house, the mirror over our front room fireplace that I love still to this day.  We met the guy in a parking lot about 3 miles from our house (see…totally sketch!)  Yes, a little shady but there is nothing better than finding a gem in a sea of trash. 🙂

If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen that I am in the process of redesigning my daughter’s room.  She has our hand-me-down bed and I bought matching side tables off Onekingslane.com.  Also in her room is a highboy dresser which is no longer big enough to hold her big girl clothes.  This has lead us to commence a search for the perfect dresser for her space.

Where to Look?

I have been eyeing a few darling pieces at pbteen.com and even potterybarn.com but nothing is perfect.  Plus, did you see the price???!!!  Eeeks!  I really don’t want to pay $1000+ for a kids room. (Sorry kids!)

I actually haven’t looked on Craigslist (maybe I should do that today!) but have you facebookers heard of FB Marketplace?  If you are browsing on your phone, there is a fun little “storefront” icon at the bottom of your screen.  Click on it and you will find the Craigslist for your area.

BEWARE: you may find something you DON’T need, but may end up purchasing because you love it! 🙂  I almost bought a dresser last week that had the cutest bones but just wasn’t fit for the space.

Visit the Piece!

A picture only shows so much. I went to visit that cute little thing I just warned you about above.  In person, you could tell someone had tried to refinish it and it just was a sloppy job.  There were corners where the paint was clumpy underneath the top coat.  I looked on the inside of the drawers.  I could see they replaced the handles with new ones and the handles of the bottom drawers were different than the top two drawers.  I knew, even if I LOVED the bones of the piece, I would have to spend EXTRA CARE on getting that thing back to pristine, usable conditions.

Think About the Function

My daughter’s current dresser the drawers are too small. So this new piece needs to have lots of drawer space.  I love this french piece below (which would also need looots of work) but it only has 2 substantial drawers plus a narrow top drawer.  Even though it’s super cute, a good price ($135) and some little granny loved and used it for years, this was just not the right fit for my daughter.

Think About Color

In my daughter’s room, she has a white bed and teal side tables so the new piece needs to be something that coordinates with those colors.  I knew going into the world of recycled furniture I may not find the perfect color.  I am good and ready (Insert strong woman emoji!) to refinish something if it had the perfect bones and isn’t too “weathered”.  This piece was the color I was thinking (black or charcoal) but again, I think the storage isn’t quite enough for what we were looking for.

Beware of Seller

Then I found this gorgeous piece!  It’s light in color (I could still paint it black or charcoal if I felt that would look better in the space), it has gold accents which my daughter just loves AND it’s more contemporary which she also prefers.  I love a good antique but so far my daughter is not a fan… 🙂

BUT…like anything that is on Craigslist or FB Marketplace, you have to beware of the seller.  I have bugged and bugged this seller and she has even brought the price down online but she will not respond to my messages.  I finally asked her if she was still interested in selling it (which I TOOOOOTALLY understand!  I know I have some furniture pieces that I just love and would have a hard time parting with).  She responded that she was sick all weekend. (“OK.  So let me know when you are better and I’d like to come look at it!”).  That was over a week ago.  Bottom-line, you can’t make someone sell something to you.  But, you would also think if they put the piece up for sale that they would want it out of their space.  Who knows. *sigh*

So, the search continues.  The perfect piece is somewhere, but just not out there right now for the price we want to pay.  In the meantime, my husband has now learned about FB Marketplace, searched for a dresser and found ANOTHER dresser he likes!  It is a little more rustic and won’t fit for our main home but I said it could possibly go in our cabin home.  He’s negotiating now… 🙂

Do you ever treasure hunt?  What has been some of your favorite finds?  I would love to hear/see!  Maybe we could start our own friends marketplace!

xo, Melissa

*featured image from the Jess Lively blog Isn’t it beautiful?!!!