A Tale of a Craigslist Sale

While it's arguably the most fun to score a great piece on Craigslist for cheap, it's pretty darn thrilling to sell things too!  (I've written about my love of doing so before.)

This past September, I bought a dining table and set of six chairs from my friend Craig for $100 total, with the intention of doing some work on the chairs and using them with my current table (this one).

I planned to sell the table, even though I thought it was actually lovely itself.  (When I mentioned to my husband the possibility of storing the table in the garage long-term and "switching it out" with our current one when the mood struck me, he basically told me I was insane and no way were we going to be doing that.)  Sad face.  

As for the chairs, I was inspired by this photo while re-reading the Domino book.

 

  I love the look of pairing a wooden table with chairs that provide some contrast.

I felt pretty sure about what color I would paint the chairs (white), but wasn't quite sure what I wanted to use for reupholstering the seats.  Ultimately, I knew I needed something kid-friendly (read: wipeable), so I debated between laminating some fabric or going with a fabric that was already spill-proof.

When I found this orange faux-snakeskin at a local fabric shop for cheap, I felt the decision had been made.

I can't remember exactly what I paid, but it was well under $10/yard I'm quite certain.

What followed were many, many hours of prepping, painting, repairing and reupholstering the chairs, which though old, were actually quite sturdy.  (post to follow with details on this process)

I finished this one chair and was pretty pumped about it.

However, once I'd gotten three chairs done, I found that fitting them each on one side of our table (like we're used to doing) was a bit tight.  womp, womp.  (I think Decorating ADD probably started to set in too and I was probably already dreaming up a new scheme that I thought would work better.)

At this point, I was already half way in, and I'd probably spent about $100 on supplies, so there was no backing out.  I finished the rest of the chairs and got these babies ready for their photo shoot.  With nearly two months till our move (at the time), I figured I had enough time to try to be fairly patient and sell the set on Craigslist.

Turns out after a couple weeks of reposting my ads on Craigslist, I was able to sell the set for $450 to a very sweet girl who was very excited about her new furniture!  Granted, I spent some time and money on this project, but I continue to be encouraged by what a little elbow grease and spray paint can do :)  Rest assured my profit of $250 will go towards some new pieces we definitely "need" for California.  I hope perhaps this inspires someone reading to get creative if you happen to be looking for an unexpected way to make a little extra cash!