Craigslist Finds

Posted in For the Home by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

This post should really be titled “Things I’d Like To Buy & Hoard.” But I’m not being that honest today. Emily Henderson does frequent posts on “Craigslist Trolling” in different cities with amazing finds she’d scoop up and sometimes even gives pointers on how she’d refurbish them or style them in clients’ homes. In similar fashion, when I start daydreaming of taking everything out of my house and designing it all from scratch again, I sometimes troll Craigslist for fun to see what I might put in this fictionally empty house of mine. And every so often, when I’m not even looking for it, I come across something magical like these amazing barstools for so cheap I think I should call right now and go snag them before someone else does. And then I’d hurry home to get rid of our current dining room table, chairs and bench so we can start fresh with these brass beauties…le sigh…

Or this lovely bentwood rocker. These pop up quite often but usually the wicker/cane needs repair. This one looks to be in excellent condition. Side note: check out this sweet painted one from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Santa Ana for a whole $32! you can see a small hole in the upper corner, but hey, nothing a little blanket thrown over it couldn’t hide!

If you happen to be in need of a whole new dining room (like maybe you did take everything out of your house so you could start all over? well done, you!), this is a killer deal for everything (buffet, hutch, dining table, and chairs) you’d need and really all you’d have to do is update the upholstery on the dining chairs. Such a steal. And I just can’t resist the brass and those cloister-like details which are not only beautiful on the hutch, but cleverly tie in on the table base. Too much good stuff, I tell ya!

And the other day I was reading a blog (sorry, can’t find it now) and the writer was lamenting about how she completely regretted not snatching up a pair of midcentury wire lounge chairs like these for her non-existent patio. I sort of want to buy them for her now. But I can’t recall who she is so maybe I’d just keep them for myself. I do love them.

Have you scored anything amazing on Craigslist lately? What are you currently searching for?

18Apr2013

I’ve Been Busy…Buying

Posted in Beauty & Fashion, For the Home, Thoughts & Stories by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

Lately, I’ve been buying a lot of stuff. A lot. What can I say? I’m in a good mood, it’s spring and I love clothes.

A lovely lady I know named Lyndzee (I love alliteration!) has fabulous style and is an incredibly impressive thrift shopper. Lucky for me (and you, though I’d rather you not like her stuff so that I can keep scooping up her fun pieces without as much competition), she has started selling some of her finds on Instagram in a lovely shop called Thrift Archaeology. It’s been quite fun following her posts, albeit a bit distracting as I anxiously refresh my Instagram feed all day. Last week I was the lucky winner of this plaid skirt, this vintage bag, and an amazing beaded cocktail dress that I cannot wait to wear! So excited. And feeling the buzz of finding good thrifted clothes but not actually wanting to go out and hunt myself (though it is one of my favorite things to do), I hopped on over to Etsy and discovered a darling vintage shop called secretlake, which just so happened to be having a moving sale with all the merchandise marked down 30%…yay! I picked up this fabulous cobalt dress (you know how obsessed I am with cobalt. see here and here) and this wool coat (what I like to call “grandma chic”…read: totally my style).

But I haven’t just been thinking of myself! My mom loves to wear lace tops with skirts to work — they’ve gotta be comfy and simple like throwing on a t-shirt but chic enough to look like a smarty pants at the office. I got her two from Banana Republic, though I’ve also been swooning over this one from Madewell (found via DesignLoveFest).

And, wait, there’s more.

I haven’t just been buying clothes. I promise. I bought my Dad some awesome dog books for his birthday, I got my mom some lipstick in a totally fierce shade (which I’ll wrap up with those blouses for mother’s day just around the corner), and picked up some of my favorite loose mineral powder (which now reminds me I need to invest in new makeup brushes…).

Lastly–and maybe my favorite–I scored an awesome dresser on Craigslist that is in such great shape I can hardly believe it. The guy I bought it from said it’s been in his family since the early 60’s! Love it. It needs to be cleaned up a bit but I think I’m going to keep it just as it is for now before I do anything drastic like painting it. It’s made of real wood (read: it’s heavy), has a beautiful color tone and wood grain, original hardware with an awesome patina, dovetailed drawers, and the larger drawers have built-in wood dividers which I think are just so neat. I was going to say “they definitely don’t make furniture like they used to!” but that’s probably not true. I bet a lot of places and people make furniture of such great quality, it’s just I can’t afford any of it. Thank heavens for Craigslist, right?

Here’s a closeup of the hardware and details…

P.S. How quickly I forget…I also bought this adorable dress from Madewell and wore it to a bridal shower on Saturday. The colors are so pretty and it fits like a dream. Even the girls at Anthropologie asked me where I got it when I stopped in to buy the bride a gift. Best compliment ever, I’d say. And I’m super excited for our trip to Havasu in two weeks so I splurged on this gorgeous paisley swimsuit top from my favorite, J.Crew (found via A Cup of Jo). Goodness me, that’s a lot of stuff I’ve been buying. Please don’t judge me. And don’t tell Mumbles. 😉

26Nov2012

Missed Connections

Posted in Thoughts & Stories by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

Mumbles has a funny friend named Matt (technically Mumbles found him first but what’s yours is mine, right?) who came to visit one day and we somehow got onto a story or subject that led Matt to introduce us to the glorious awkwardness that is the Missed Connections section of Craigslist. Have you been there before?! Brace yourself if you haven’t. There’s lots of good, free content to keep you entertained for hours (hours!), and while there’s definitely a creepy factor of 14 on a 1-to-10 scale, sometimes you come across one that’s actually a little adorable, and other times you learn things like you shouldn’t ever make eye contact with anyone at the gym. Ever. Also, sometimes it’s like a game and folks will say something like “…if that was you, send me an email and I’ll know it’s you if you can tell me what color my hat was” and I think desperately that if I ever got really bored and nothing seemed funny, I could probably answer a bunch of these with guesses.

While we’re at it, let’s not forget that the stories of inopportune moments is a great subject for movies (see: Serendipity and the so-bad-it’s-good On The Line featuring former N*Sync’ers Lance Bass and Joey Fatone, and smokin’ hot lady Emmanuelle Chriqui).

Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found book with illustrations by Sophie Blackall

So, next time you’re looking to fill a void in your heart, need to appreciate the collective ridiculousness of people that live near you, or you just have some time to kill: crank up “Escape (If You Like Pina Coladas),” grab a cup of coffee and head on over to the Missed Connections section of Craigslist. Oh, and if you have a friend like Matt who truly appreciates the art of the missed connection, you might want to invest in a few copies of this insanely awesome book.

Do you have any missed connections stories to share? Leave a comment below!

P.S. Did you know that there’s a Craigslist section of Rants & Raves?? How did I not know about this before?! And now that I’ve told you about that, I can further confess that there are quite a few folks posting in the Missed Connections section who should be told they’re inappropriately posting a Rant and should therefore redirect their ad to be classified correctly. I mean, you’re going through all this trouble, right?