The hub-sand and I were proud of ourselves for not falling for what we viewed as the toddler-bed fiasco: the idea that when your baby outgrows his crib, you must buy him a cute, junior-size bed. A year or so later, your child’s head begins to press against the edge of that little rocket ship, Dora Explorer cupcake, or Thomas engine, a sign that it’s time to purchase a standard twin-size bed.
For us this was yet another attempt to wheedle us into spending more money than necessary: another piece of furniture, another odd-size mattress, special sheets…. That’s a whole lot of hassle as well as expense. Instead, we bought our little guy a twin mattress and, so we didn’t have to worry about his falling out of bed and hurting himself, placed it on the floor of his carpeted bedroom. It worked well, but there’s a downside: we’ve never bothered to buy him a proper bed.
I have finally resolved to do that. And, once again, I find myself confronting the dichotomous world of furniture buying: on one end of the spectrum, well-made, nicely-designed pieces that cost a fortune, and on the other, particle board and fake veneers. There’s little in between, it seems, and, as I tend to have sirloin taste on a ground-beef budget, I’ve been hunting online for sales and perusing our local Craigslist.
Craigslist can be entertaining as well as functional. Earlier today, I pulled Jonah into my lap and explained what it’s all about. And I gave him some pointers: “If it says ‘beautiful,’ chances are it’s horrendously ugly. ‘Vintage’ is a fancy way of saying ‘old and falling apart.’ And pictures of sofas are usually fun to look at, because they’re nearly always saggy and disgusting.”
Here’s more: Click on “Beautiful pictures!!” at your own risk, and if it’s advertised as “funky,” it seriously is funky. “Gorgeous?” Even more garish than “beautiful.” “Shabby chic” appears often, most usually for things that are terribly shabby and not the slightest bit chic. And a listing that combines a series of the above terms (“Primitive Farmhouse Antique Chair”)? Fuggetaboutit.
Then there are the creative spellings. I do enjoy the rather common “dinning,” but there are more inventive ones: Today I spotted several iterances of “dressor;” there were also “chanille,” “aquraium,” “porcelin,” “marshmellow” and ”karoseen.” Consider purchasing a “gold colored large in-cent burner” for $150, or a not-very-roomy-sounding “chest of drawer” for $65. And, in case you’re interested, the asking price for the “Miller Lite Beer Mobil 1 Ford Decorative Hanging Hood” is a mere $130.
But there are most definitely needles in the haystack, or pearls amongst swine, or… I think I may mean diamonds in the rough? I’ve already found several candidates for my son’s twin-size requirements. Which leads us to the back-and-forth appointment-making, visiting and assessing, and figuring out a way to cart the purchase back home. I’ve done this before, you see, and it’s all part of the Great Craigslist Hunt.