Detroit is one of those places that is popping up more, and more around here. First off there are like 1 million people from Michigan that live in LA – presumably because during a certain time/generation people fled the less than awesome economy there. But now, of course, it has a burgeoning art scene and yet you can still buy a house for so little. It makes it tempting to think about, but for now I’ll just troll…And MAN THERE IS SOME GOOD STUFF HERE.
1. $20 Mid Century Dresser The color of this dresser is intriguing to me (mid-century rarely comes this light), the shape is good and that price? Ridiculous.
2. $20 Vintage Chair YES. Oh man. This would cost around $350 to reupholster and you’d need 4 yards of fabric, but I’d suggest closing your laptop and making that happen right now.
3. $90 Mid Century Side Table Interesting shape/style and storage to boot.
4. $40 Set of Four Stackable Vintage Chairs How adorable are these little suckers? They belong in a California pre-school (you can tell where my mind is today) or are the perfect chairs from some up-and-coming design bloggers. Perfect colors.
5. $75 Pair of Vintage Sofas Sofas like this always remind me of my Captain America sofa – aka one of the worst design mistakes to date. But remember, you don’t have to stick with the shape of the pillow if you don’t want to, and you can get rid of the skirt and just see some simple legs. It’s probably a high quality sofa and the arms make them both really unique. $75 for the pair is insane – just remember that I think these would be $800 – $1200 to reupholster. But I don’t know the upholstery market in Detroit – it could be WAY less there.
6. $250 Set of Four Vintage Dining Chairs Interesting, unique, not a bad price. If you can handle that intense style you should absolutely get these.
7. $35 Mid Century Chair For my Portland house. Or good upholstery inspiration. Sometimes I feel like this kind of quirky upholstery choice works best on vintage, a long time ago and if you tried to do something like this now it could look really try-hard and forced. But I like the two different fabrics.
8. $30 Pair of Tufted Twin Headboards Call your fertility doctor, tell him you want to have twins – because these headboards are so cute.
9. $45 Pair of Vintage Wicker Chairs Yup. Simple bucket wicker chairs that should don a porch or sunroom fast.
10. Best Offer Vintage Art Deco Love Seat I’m terrified, but intrigued. It could absolutely be recovered to make it work but I fear mainly in a fashion magazine with a weird model on top of it. These kinds of houses are pretty hard to pull off in our more normal houses.
11. $30 Set of 5 Rolling Chairs Office, kitchen or game room, these guys could use a recovering (cream, navy, or black linen?) but comfy rolling office chairs are hard to find for this cheap.
12. $200 Pair of Milo Baughman Style Chairs Cool and weird, but definitely a project for a good upholsterer unless you can work with this color. I’ve tried to have sling chairs repaired before and it ain’t cheap and often they don’t know how to do it, so keep that in mind.
13. $100 Kilim Rug PRETTY.
14. $75 Vintage Oriental Rug This could be really red and generic in person but in the photos it looks really saturated and pretty great for $75.
15. $80 Mid Century Desk Cute. Nothing too compelling just a good piece at a good price.
16. $100 Vintage Pine Dresser I LOVE THIS. It would fit perfectly in our new nursery.
17. $75 Art Deco Dresser Cute! He looks like a little angry man, but one that would add a lot of quirk to a room.
Where to next?
We totally #11 rolling chairs in my house growing up in the 80’s!! Who new they are now design finds!
Love the wicket and the #4 preschool chairs too. Perfect ice-cream colors!
XX Analog House
http://theanaloghouse.blogspot.com/
Richmond, VA please! I’m a renter in my 20s so finding inexpensive but cool furniture is key. I always struggle navigating Craigslist – any help is greatly appreciated! Plus, Richmond is an awesome city!
I think she did Richmond not long ago? I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure…I live in Charlottesville, hey neighbor!
Love Charlottesville!
I second that! Please come to Richmond! @Natalie, there’re loads of MCM around (my passion), but I find it takes a lot of patience to find precisely what you want. Try Urban Dwellers, Teegeebee Mid-Century (in West End Antiques Mall), Born Again Furnishings and Epoch Furnishings. Killer Junk RVA is a FB group hatched by Killer Junk Studios as a forum for member sales. If you get a sudden windfall, then LaDiff is fantastic for modern. Good luck from a life-long “River City” neighbor.
Thanks so much, Tracy! I’ll definitely look into these 🙂
@Natalie I’m thinking about moving to Richmond, but can’t decide on a neighborhood. Any suggestions for a single female in her mid 20’s? Thanks!
Hi Carly! You should definitely look at the Fan and the Museum District – great locations that are close to a ton of restaurants, the VMFA, and outdoor activities. Richmond is super walkable and there’s always something going on! Both these areas have people in their 20s, as well as young families. Downtown is more expensive but the buildings are modern – all depends on what you’re looking for. But if you do some digging in the Fan, you’ll find old buildings with great history and updated interiors. Hope this helps!
Loads of good finds in good ole Detroit. That #13 rug? So good.
Louisville should definitely be next, I’m on the hunt for a new table 😉
Josh | The Kentucky Gent
http://thekentuckygent.com
So many good finds in Detroit! It feels like all of the good stuff in Cincinnati gets snatched up right away.
wow! these are amazing! who knew! these things are insanely cheap!!!
so do you buy craigslist things out of state? i recently read an article about that. i’m not brave enough. + i’m too cheap to pay $20 for a chair but $300 for shipping …..
What finds! And the prices! Looks like you should take a buying trip, or hire a local buyer. I bet the thrifting is good too. Just think of the profits!
Those headboards are a steal! I wish we had a need for them in our house, and that we lived in detroit to get them!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Cleveland should be next. Stick to the Midwest!
Cleveland! 🙂 I’d love to see if you’re a better CL sleuth than I am (which, I’m pretty certain you are).
Thanks for doing Detroit!
I really want those #11 rolling chairs, but I want to use them for an office, so I only need two. Anyone else need some?
I don’t know if you’ve emailed the seller, but I have spoken with her and am planning to just buy one chair… so she seems willing to split them up!
Toronto!!! Of course, Craigslist might not be your best route there, but you could do a Kijiji Toronto. You’ll definitely find some goodies there!
YAAAAAAAAS! I love my city and am thrilled to see this. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
To the suburbanite seller that marked up that chair from $20 to $175 after seeing this post – you suck.
Thanks for trolling Detroit! I peruse Detroit CL often…and I never find anything good. What search terms do you use? Maybe I’m being too specific.
Nashville, TN!
yah! i’m close enough for that to work!! (in B’ham)
Love these finds. The rugs look to have a real good quality http://Www.dorisleslieblau.com/blog
MIAMI please!
Please please please do Miami!! I feel like there are a lot of treasures to uncover if you can get past all of the old people leather furniture 😉
Salt Lake City, please!
Love the new website design, by the way. The instagram feed at the bottom is fun. It’s like an encore when we get to the end of a post.
It would be a bit of a challenge…..but could you do Birmingham, AL?!
Oakland pretty please!
This is the first time I’ve ever wished I could go to Detroit.
What is this Captain America sofa you speak of?
Ugh. Such awesome stuff. Great finds! I dare you to find anything cool on CL in Maui. I’ve been here for two years and have found nothing! Please give it a shot! I’ll buy whatever you find. 🙂
Saint Louis!!!
Please do Atlanta! 🙂
I love your finds! And you inspired me to look for my own flea finds. I found two AMAZING chairs that I want to reupholster but then I read an article about making sure your used furniture doesn’t have bed bugs and it freaked me out! What do you do to ensure your cool finds are clear of anything gross??? I love my chairs and want to re-create them but am scared to bring them in my house. PLEASE HELP!!!
I saw a peek of your bathroom tile on Instagram and am eager to see the whole reveal on your bathroom. This comment is a vote to have that post ASAP. Is the bathroom done yet?
Boulder or Denver
Lincoln or Omaha
Boston
Des Moines
Manassas, VA, please. For non-natives to the D.C. metropolitan area, we have a HUGE traffic problem (the worst in the nation according to a recent study). People in the Virginia suburbs (such as Manassas) are NOT traveling to D.C. for Craigslist items, or vice versa. So you get a different variety of stuff and price points depending on if you search in the suburbs or not.
You’re so awesome at finding the good stuff on CL! All I find is IKEA stuff. 🙂
Emily, you are a delight. The CL scene in Detroit rocks — so much good stuff. I picked up No. 16, and that little bit of magic I will attribute to you.
Cleveland! 🙂
YAAAASSSS DETROIT! My home! It really is a great city. We’ve had our ups and downs, but some great things are happening. There are some great finds here!
As you’ve learned, Michigan people are EVERYWHERE! I swear everyone has a handful of people they know from MI! I moved to Florida for a few years and I felt like I met Michigan people on every corner.
The black armchair is still available, but now at $150. Lol. I wonder what it’ll go for?