Thursday, August 12, 2010

Craigslist Countrified

On Saturday, Dustin and I went on another Craigslist adventure (yes...I’m pretty much obsessed. But, I limit my searches to furniture, and stay out of the “encounters” section. Sketchy!) This time, the item of choice was a new console cabinet for our TV. (you know...the one we’re not watching...) Great news is it was antique, solid wood, and only $15. Bad news is we had to pick it up an hour away. But we decided to make a day of it, so we headed out into the Mon Valley (otherwise known as the country.)

Our first stop was in Charleroi to browse some antique stores. We found a fun store called Tim’s Secret Treasures. It pretty much looked like an episode of hoarders....just without the health code violations. The amount of stuff he had was unbelievable! But this “treasure” was by far my favorite:

If you are in the market (why did I say if?) for a giant plaster rooster wearing a Big Ben jersey then you are in LUCK!

We stopped by another store, but then had to skeedaddle (that’s MonValley talk for leave) to make it to the Army Surplus Store. It was a trip for work, but Dustin and I had fun browsing the aisles. (I really wanted a giant tent...we could have sleepovers in the backyard!)

From there we ventured to Brownsville to pick up with our Craigslist purchase. It was then that we encountered the perfect storm of navigation: a confusing road name (how many East National Pikes could there be? Plus an "old" one?), a missing GPS (it accidentally went home with my mom's car), and a bridge renovation. After crossing the same bridge three times, passing a horse and buggie parade (not lying) we finally got accurate directions, and ended at our desination....conveniently located before bridge. But we made it, and the seller was very nice- even if he didn't have exact change.

So we swapped $20 for the old console and headed off again, chancing our direction handicap to try a local cafe. We should have guessed that it would be an extremely small town joint- in that the chef/owner also lived on the premises. But regardless, it was delicious, and they even made their own desserts (and wedding cakes!) Of course I had to get a treat to go....


So that's how we spent last weekend....Oh- and the topper was that on Sunday night, Dustin and his friend Sean got the record player going (we plan on removing it to make room for all our stuff, but still...kinda cool.) And if some Christmas music isn't enough for you, as an extra special bonus, you can see Meg accidentally hit on my husband at the end....




craigslist console from Courtney Bowden on Vimeo.

6 comments :

  1. Wait! You're really going to get rid of the record player??? I don't know how I feel about this...that piece may be worth more than you think.

    ReplyDelete
  2. true...but i think it's all about personal value. The record player is worth nothing to me. But a piece that can hold all of my DVDs and electronics? Very valuable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. To be clear... I have no intention of getting rid of the record player. (Am I a hoarder?) But I am going to take it out of the console. Rest assured through Rachel that it won't be thrown away. Maybe I'll become all retro and into vinyl because the sound is soooo much better!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Whew! Okay...I feel better about the whole thing now. Are you going to leave it as is? Or refinish it? I just saw on that blog that you showed me "Lifeingrace"...she refinished a chair by painting it yellow!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Of course...you had to post my humiliation for all the world to see. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey Meg ... that's a married man you hussy. (You don't know me ... but I promise I'm joking, Dustin will tell you)

    And Dustin ... I'm impressed ... that's one BIG (rooster) you got there.

    ReplyDelete