Well it helps that I've been accumulating stuff since I was 15, lol! And that I frequent estate sales, antique malls, and online auctions on a regular basis.
One dining table was from my first apartment when I was 18 and is down to 3 of the 6 original chairs. The second dining table I got at an estate sale some time in the past decade and stored in my parents' storage until I could get a house to put it in. Then a few weeks ago, right after closing on the house, I went to two different estate sales and found one set with the dining table and 2 china cabinets for $75 each (probably would be $1-2k for the set new if not more!) and another estate sale had the 3rd china cabinet.
It's about the same story for all of the other items, including the sofas and dressers - I went from none to two of each just from going to really good estate sales. Scratch that - one of the dressers was given away at the U-Haul storage facility we were emptying, and the rocking leather recliner was on the side of the road a few houses down from my parents' house when I asked the nephews to go retrieve it for me. The guy I bought the washer and dryer from online was also willing to sell his 3-seat theater seating for about 1/3 what I would have paid new, so I took him up on that offer as well.
I've just gotten really lucky with finding what I've been looking for via the estate sales and auctions in an amazingly timely manner.
I even found a cheap cantilever umbrella on one of the online auction sites, which I was planning to purchase at full price after the pool was finished. That way I could have a corner of the pool in shade for my pale skin to hang out in. But not only did I get that sooner and cheaper than expected, but my eldest nephew also got one of those $1k Bowflex systems for less than $300 at the same auction!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2022-08-15 04:51 pm (UTC)And that I frequent estate sales, antique malls, and online auctions on a regular basis.
One dining table was from my first apartment when I was 18 and is down to 3 of the 6 original chairs.
The second dining table I got at an estate sale some time in the past decade and stored in my parents' storage until I could get a house to put it in.
Then a few weeks ago, right after closing on the house, I went to two different estate sales and found one set with the dining table and 2 china cabinets for $75 each (probably would be $1-2k for the set new if not more!) and another estate sale had the 3rd china cabinet.
It's about the same story for all of the other items, including the sofas and dressers - I went from none to two of each just from going to really good estate sales. Scratch that - one of the dressers was given away at the U-Haul storage facility we were emptying, and the rocking leather recliner was on the side of the road a few houses down from my parents' house when I asked the nephews to go retrieve it for me. The guy I bought the washer and dryer from online was also willing to sell his 3-seat theater seating for about 1/3 what I would have paid new, so I took him up on that offer as well.
I've just gotten really lucky with finding what I've been looking for via the estate sales and auctions in an amazingly timely manner.
I even found a cheap cantilever umbrella on one of the online auction sites, which I was planning to purchase at full price after the pool was finished. That way I could have a corner of the pool in shade for my pale skin to hang out in. But not only did I get that sooner and cheaper than expected, but my eldest nephew also got one of those $1k Bowflex systems for less than $300 at the same auction!