Patience, Young Jedhi....

Have I ever mentioned my love of craigslist? It's like a huge, online yardsale...what's not to love? I have some friends who steer clear of craigslist, for fear that they will be murdered. I'm not too concerned, mostly because I send Steve to do all the pick-ups. He's a black belt in karate. He can handle it.

So, I have been searching craigslist for the past year for a set of four counter height barstools with rush seats and high backs. I wanted the Pottery Barn look, but I can't afford the Pottery Barn price ($269 per stool...hello, crazy!). No offense to those of you who have purchased those lovely stools, because they're pretty and droolworthy, just not in my budget. Unfortunately, throughout the year, my search yielded nothing. Do you know how hard it is to find four stools that are exactly the same? I had not given up hope, but was starting to think I needed to increase my budget (or beg Santa to please stuff some stools down my faux fireplace).

That is, until last Saturday morning. Steve and I loaded up the girls to do a little yardsaling. My man likes to yardsale. That's hot, don't you think? We were running late (9:30 a.m.) and I was whining about all the good deals being gone. As we were speeding down the main street of our town, on the way to a rather wealthy neighborhood yard sale, I spotted them out my window.

"Barstools," I yelled, as Steve slammed on the brakes and said, "Where?" Good man, I tell you. We made a quick u-turn, and I wondered out loud about the size and the condition and whether there were three stools or four. As I was mentally going through how much I planned to pay for said stools, Steve screeched to the curb and said, "Go!" Right there in front of me were four, perfectly matching, sort-of-pottery-barn-like, barstools. Four. I tell you, I was about to pee my pants right there on Main Street (as I cooly turned around, smiled a huge smile and held up four fingers to Steve).

Then I calmly made my way to the owners and asked, "How much do you want for those barstools?"

The lady said, "Well, I'd like to get $25 for them."

I thought for a moment. $25 a piece...$100 total. I only had $80 with me.

And then I said, "So...$25 each or $25 total?" She looked at me like I was a little crazy and she said, "Oh, just $25 for all four of them, honey."

To which I yelled "SOLD" and started jumping up and down, right there on Main Street. It took ten minutes to figure out how to stuff them in the back of the car, but I was super excited!

And, now that you've made it through this long story, I present to you...
My Barstools...

I'm planning a little kitchen/family room redo (yes, it will be our fourth paint color in the family room)! When I do that, I'm going to repaint the stools (white or maybe turquoise or orange or red???). But for now, I'm just thrilled with my frugal find!