A few posts back, I mentioned that I moved my office from my apartment to a room in my accountant’s office down the street and so far it has worked very well.
Now what do I do with the extra room in my apartment? None of my friends need a place to stay and unlike Cleveland (when I had an extra bedroom available in a single-family house I owned), I cannot become an Airbnb host.
Besides, what I would really want is a nice place to read or have a quiet conversation with one or two people. I already have a great TV spot, but when I read, I don’t like any distractions, except possibly quiet music.
So how to furnish “the new den” without blowing the bank.
Recliner and Loveseat
First stop was estate-sales.net to research a recliner and love seat. It took me several weeks of scanning sales on the site, but I finally saw a perfect Italian-leather combination at a sale in Henderson. Normally, I don’t visit house sales until Saturday (when everything is 50% off), but as I wanted something specific, I was first in line on Thursday and I picked up the loveseat, recliner, and two end tables for $680, which included same-day delivery to my second-floor apartment.
I prefer professionally managed estate sales over private house or garage sales. The items are more accurately priced, usually better presented (though not always; see below), they accept credit cards (there’s usually a minimum), and quite frankly, some Las Vegas private sellers (especially those in financial trouble) can be a pain to deal with.
Bookshelves and Books
I already had a wall of bookshelves I’d purchased four years ago during a “big brown” closeout at Walker Furniture. I happen to like large dark-wood furniture, but according to a close friend who deals in used furniture and antiques, big brown furniture is passé. Due to the move, there was now considerable room on the shelves, which I expected would take a while to fill. Not!
Last weekend, I went to another estate sale, where I discovered in the garage two bins of 45 mint-condition Franklin Library books – that I got for $75. Fifteen of them I didn’t have and seven of them were better copies of what I owned. I sold five to a friend for $25 (he was thrilled) and the rest went to Amber Unicorn Books for a $55 book credit, which I’ll use up shortly.
Miscellaneous Items
For a total of $198, I picked up two handcrafted metal stools from overstock.com (using some old points and a 15% discount coupon that they pass out to almost everyone) and another $100 for a faux-leather storage ottoman from Amazon. I have friends who are reluctant to use either site, but I have bought more than $100,000 worth of stuff over the past 20 years from them with very few headaches.
Final items: I moved in an old chest my grandfather made (it has a campaign medallion from the 1880 Presidential election on the front) that I use as a bar, plus a small chair I got for $40 two years ago from Lynn’s Consignment. Last touch: a $12 reading lamp from IKEA.
All done – for less than $1,000. I hope to spend many great evenings there.
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