This is what our bathroom looked like before.

Functional, but not really what I imagined for our main, and only bathroom.  Ever since I first laid eyes on this space and the HUGE open area of the room, I knew it needed either a claw foot tub or a beautiful hutch.

Well, the tub was something that would need plumbing and all that, plus they are expensive and we’re not really tub people.  Not really.  So we decided that a pretty hutch would be good in there.  The metal shelf was just temporary.  And I really was not happy having the cat litter box in there, but hey, you gotta just bid your time when you move into a 100 year old farm house and all that.

 

Well, I have to tell you my secret for Craigslist and these other online sale places like Ebay and Freecycle and even these newer Facebook groups.  You have to be very consistent and you must have a checklist of things you are looking for.  I check just about every day on the various lists…   my search checklist is for…   Picket Fence, Marans, Maran, pony (looking for a harness or saddle cheap), hutch, queen headboard (for Jessy), jersey dexter cow, shetland (to see what might come up with sheep or ponies!), Ipad, sheep, ewes, angora and sometimes banjos.

Usually, nothing much comes up, or it’s too expensive or too far away.  But you have to look and watch.  When something good comes up, you’ll be right on top of it and you can usually get in and name your price.  Might as well not…  most people are pretty excited to get an email or call so quickly, that they will entertain your decent, but lower prices.  I figure the worse they will say is no.  Now mind you, I don’t ask for really stupid lower prices and sometimes, things are just such a good deal, I just pay the asking price.

Like this hutch.

We got it the asking price of $50.   I could hardly  believe it.  It’s beautiful, turn of the century, heavy and in great shape and the young woman only wanted $50 for it.  It has glass in the two side shelves and is all fancy maple cut in contrasting pieces of wood.  It’s HEAVY…  haha… and I just can not believe it.   And it fits the space beautifully!   I can’t wait to dress it out and make it really nice.  So far its awesome and holds everything we needed to have in there without having it all out and in the open!  Storage to die for.  And it suits the space so nicely.   I have a set of curtains to hang next to it, to sort of hide the darker wood of the window surround from not matching the hutch as nicely and to give folks a bit more modesty from the farm animals watching in.

(It’s really too high for anything to peek in, but hey, you just never know…)

So my advice is to have a plan, some great keywords to search for and search often.  One of the ways I’ve also found some real surprises is by typing in small town names that are near you.   This REALLY works for me, because I live in a cluster of little towns.  It won’t work for you if you live in a big city.  But what is cool, is if you type in smalltown name, you get everything that is for sale in your neck of the woods.   This is how a got a beautiful 15 foot carpet runner for $20 in nearby Fayette.  Now that is way cool.

When I think back to all the great things we’ve gotten for the farm off Craigslist alone, I’m stunned… we really  have done nicely and usually really reasonably!  It’s really made a difference for us and our meager budget.  And I like that it’s local and reusing things that might get cast aside or tossed.  Way cool!

 

 

 

 

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