Thursday 11 February 2010

A Make Over

Perusing antiques shops and going to auctions is a favourite way to spend a few hours, but I do suffer from falling in love with more items than our little home can cope with. So, sometimes I have to bid my "find" a reluctant farewell and leave empty-handed.

Last summer I was at a local auction but bidding on furniture was definitely out of the question as neither my floor space nor purse could afford it. Sure enough, I fell headlong for a fabulous vintage table. I was lost in a vision of my ideal home office when the floor space issue started nagging and so we said a parting farewell. Then, just as I thought I'd overcome my demons I did it... The auctioneer moved on to an art deco glass fronted cabinet with ornate finishing and glass shelves. I'd already been amazed at the low prices at this auction but was stunned when the starting price of this piece continued to drop with no takers. Eventually, the auctioneer shook his head and said "What, no-one wants it for 5? Okay, moving on to Lot number ..." And then I heard a voice "Yeah, I'll take it for 5!" It was my voice. The reality of what had happened hit. Not for the first time that day I was seeing good quality furniture unsold at five pounds, but this time I had rescued it. My other half would not be impressed. Where would it go? I knew the terms and conditions, the deal was done, I held up my number.


After the second attempted trip to fit it in the car and bring it home, it stood awkwardly in the middle of the sitting room in our small one bedroomed flat. We could try selling it on Ebay for a profit I suggested. Or we could try sell it to an antiques shop in town, or just give it to them and be rid of it. We pondered.

We decided to keep it in the end, after much layout rearranging. As we already had quite a lot of dark wood furniture we decided to sand it down and paint it to liven things up a little. We're very pleased with the results....

Monday 8 February 2010