If I had to give one of my budget finds the title of “crowning glory”, this one would be it.
I had been looking for quite some time for file cabinets to use in my office (yes, now I have an OFFICE…oh, how I love our new house!) and had pretty much settled on the idea of the ugly metal ones and finding a creative way to hide them (for budget reasons of course). I hadn’t taken the plunge to purchase them yet in hopes that maybe I could find them used or cheap or even free from a friend.
Now rewind your calendar back to Christmas Eve. It was an amazing Christmas Eve, our first one in our new house and our first one at home with just us….perfect in every way. Our morning festivities were over and Daniel and I looked at each other trying to decide what to do with the rest of our day off. “We could go look at those thrifts stores down the street that you have been wanting to see” YES. Yes yes yes! So we were off. Never having stepped foot in these thrift stores, we had no idea what total luck we had; each of the stores had a sign that said “Today only, 50%off”. Although I am skeptical of such signs as I find most places like this run “sales” every other week, we later found out that they truly only hold this sale once a year to clear out all the inventory before the January rush (apparently New Year’s brings a lot of stock to the thrift stores!)
So skepticism high and hopes low we wandered inside. Then I saw this:
I opened the drawers up to find each drawer was actually a double filing cabinet THAT.ALL.WORKED. and the drawers I found were heavy, not cheap or wobbly as I would have expected. My heart started to race, my palms grew sweaty, and the choir of angels from heaven seemed to have started singing in my ears. The price tag on the top read in bright red ink: $50. A total bargain.
Considering that I had been drooling for quite some time over this and this…the $50 price tag was more than perfect…I would have gladly paid the non-sale price of $100. Daniel on the other hand took some convincing. We didn’t have the right car with us, we had a toddler with us, and to top it off, this thing weighed about 1,00 pounds (it is made of press-board which I later learned is the heaviest wood choice out there). The color is ugly, the top banged up (and other wonderfully logical reasons we shouldn’t bring it home with us)….but I can paint it I said with my best puppy-dog-eyes. I begged, I pleaded, I promised to come back on my own and figure out a way that he wouldn’t have to lift it.
40 minutes later I was pulling into my driveway…with only $25 gone from my pocket (To my surprise the red $50 price tag WAS the current price and I still got an extra 50% off!)….and a smile as big as Alaska across my face. I ran up to Daniel and gave him the biggest hug I ever have. I was in heaven: My first big furniture renovation project at a steal of a price!!
Two coats of primer, 3 coats of orange paint, and a month later I had this:
And now it sits in my office holding all my Sundin Photography files, adorned by my first amazing budget find, and making me smile every day looking like this:
I have since been back to those thrift stores about every other week hoping for another gem, but have only come away with empty hands and immense glee as I realize what total luck–kiss-met–God’s blessing, my credenza find was that Christmas Eve day. My crowning glory.
