Nashville, Nashville, Nashville. I love visiting you. I love the vibe, the people, the ‘culture’ (drinking and dancing) and obviously the show. But I’m not going to brown sugar coat it, my Craigslist shopping experience was rather fruitless. It’s not that it’s not good stuff – it’s that its too expensive. Craigslist should be full of beauties or steals – not just nice vintage for store prices. I’m not blaming the people – actually the opposite. I’m assuming that there is just such a market for good vintage there that indeed they can charge these prices and still probably sell. Good on you.
But of course I did find some good ones …
1. $800 Super Expensive, but beautiful sofa Ok, this sofa better be in AMAZING condition and you better not have to recover it. It’s still a bit grandma with the skirt, although I think it could work – here’s how:
Ochre grasscloth on the walls, white Saarinen tulip side tables, a huge modern abstract above it that has a lot of white and blues in it, and a really worn antique deco rug.
2. $100 Vintage Sofa Bed I love these old sofa beds because they have such better shapes than most modern sofa beds. Redoing them will cost around #=$1200 (upholstery, labor and new ‘innards’). So make sure you are prepared for that.
3. $400 Vintage Large Sectional Its good. Its big, straight, masculine and if that fabric doesn’t need to be changed then its a steal. I’m into it. I am.
4. $55 Retro Lawn Chair Meh. Ok, I got desperate. its fine. Try to get it for $35 max.
5. $325 Midcentury Modern Dresser Totally pretty. Cheaper than new and better than ikea, but nothing that is making my insides flame up like the first time that I smelled Eternity cologne on Andy Anderson at an 8th grade dance, if you know what I mean.
6. $55 Midcentury Modern Side Chair Cute. If it works in your color palette then its a decent chair for $55. Again, with the Eternity Cologne metaphor, but i like it.
7. $150 Retro Adjustable Desk Lamp I do love these lamps. I used to have a yellow one that stopped working so i donated it and of course now I’m kicking myself. Its bright, poppy and awesome, but no, not a steal.
8. $80/2 Vintage Folding Chairs This is because I’m addicted to folding chairs. It’s a leftover fake need from my New York days when you always needed easily storable temporary furniture. I have these four now which I love. But these two are cuties, for sure.
9. $70 Bentwood Rocking Chair If only little Charlie/Oliver/Starke could be nursed in such a chair, but alas I’m going for the comfort route (which is a secret, but I think you’ll be surprised and possibly even impressed with my ingenuity this time). I love this chair as a sculpture, but less as a chair. It’s a ‘looking at chair’ as opposed to a ‘sitting in chair’. Phrases such as those drive Brian Henderson (and virtually every man in America) to the murdering point.
10. $55 Midcentury Modern Dresser. You are not a dresser. You are a nightstand. You should be $35. This is getting ridiculous. Just because you are ‘mid-century’ does not give you the right to charge $55 for a mediocre single nightstand. Rant over for now.
11. $20/4 Vintage Dining Chairs If this is indeed $20 for 4 then someone should grab these RIGHT NOW. Even if they are $20 each then they are a steal. Nice shape, pretty wood. Get ’em.
12. $3500 Milo Baughman(esque) Chairs You are NOT trying to charge $3500 for Milo Baughman ESQUE chairs are you? In Nashville? These i find all the time here for $600, or $1200 when they are recovered. So even $2500 would be seriously expensive. Sure, I love these. Great shape, lines, super comfortable, yadda yadda. But either you are Milo Baughman and you can charge $2500 or you aren’t and definitely shouldn’t be charging $3500!!!!!
Send me to a cheap city, folks. Maybe its just because we are throwing every last cent into the house and we are out of ‘honey can I hoard this?’ money for a while, but some of these prices are just too much for the goods. For $3500 you better be totally STUNNING and absolutely one of a kind. Go on 1stDibs or even Chairish if you feel you have valuables. But on CL, lets keep it a bit more affordable shall we?
I’m about to head to my home town of Coos Bay Oregon (on CL, not in real life) unless any y’all has a better suggestion. Where should I troll next?