Wydeven Designs: Estate Sale Weekend - Rationalizing My Purchases

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Estate Sale Weekend - Rationalizing My Purchases

I reported on Friday about a wonderful sale in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta where I bought some great fabrics. I had earlier visited a sale in Sandy Springs and contemplated several purchases - particularly a pub table and three windsor-style distressed chairs for my pool room. This room has until VERY recently been stuffed with my refurbished furniture awaiting sales and shipments. I have in fact been running an "inventory reduction sale" to make room for holiday family guests that will be staying with us. My husband really wants to use the pool room over the holidays so I have been able to either sell the pieces or store them elsewhere. That of course meant that I needed some furniture for the now vacant (other than pool table and one large table) room.

Pub Table and Chairs in Pool Room

I decided to keep a set of oversized Highland House club chairs that look great in the room and bought the aforementioned pub table and chairs to fill a vacant corner. So I rationalized making an infrequent personal purchase - aided by the very good price they gave me.

On Saturday, I visited several more sales - this time in the Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton areas of greater Atlanta. I was not too impressed with any until the last one in Milton which was being handled by Golden Opportunity sales - run by Doris and her husband. I have bought wonderful pieces from them over the years including my very own 8-piece Hickory Chair dining room chair set (I will get back to this set later in this overly long blog).

At the sale, I saw a lovely Hickory Chair old French style chest of drawers at a good price but didn't know if it would work in my foyer to replace a piece I no longer loved. Upon arriving home (having made NO purchases all morning), I measured the space and found it just fit. I called Doris, offered her a reduced price, we haggled and settled. I told her I would return on Sunday to pick up.

My Hickory Chair Chairs

That brings me to this morning when my loving husband agreed to join me for the pickup - not entirely enthused about any new furniture for the house but in agreement with the general premise of replacing the old foyer piece. We arrived and proceeded to get the piece into my trusty minivan AND my husband liked it well enough to congratulate me on finding it (or some such words)! As we were leaving, old friends of ours who happen to live in Milton arrived to check out the sale and we chatted with them in the townhouse dining room. Doris (remember Doris - she's running the sale) commented to me in passing that she was surprised I wasn't interested in the French style dining room chairs upholstered in, of all things, black patent leather. I said: "Doris, don't you remember, I have those great Hickory Chair chairs in my dining room that I bought from you and I just love them!".

I quickly looked the chairs over and learned they were American-made, fruitwood finish and high-quality hand-tied 8-coil construction. I told her and everyone in the area that someone should definitely buy these chairs because they were wonderful and a not-bad price.

Anyway to make a long story a little shorter, we are no more than a mile or two from the house when I told my husband that the chairs were really nice; may in fact work as well or better in our home; and, that I probably should have bought them. Sweet guy that he is - he said call her and see what she'll take - I did, we haggled, we settled and returned to add the six chairs to our purchases.

Now I am faced with the dilemma of deciding which set to keep and which to sell BUT in the meanwhile we decided that we do need some extra seating for the holidays and that the patent leather will be great for the grandchildren - easy to clean!! Where will they be stored? Of course, in the now practically empty pool room! Also, we had almost spent $$ on folding chairs and look at the money we are saving not having to buy those! OK, that's all the rationalizing I am doing today!