Shopping for Free

So the furniture hunt has been on, and it's pretty exciting to picture the furniture we are collecting and how it will fit into and create our home. Our first piece of furniture that we bought together was a game table. We were in the salvation army, and happened upon this mini foosball table. I didn't even have to think about it twice, I was sold. After I called out for Chris and he rushed around the corner in alarm, he discovered that not only was this a foosball table, but a multi gaming table! Which includes: a bowling lane, a pool table, backgammon,  table hockey, ping pong, and many more. It was super exciting when we packed it away and then unloaded it into my room at home. This was months ago, we did not have a place to  put it, but we had a gaming table.

So as I am quite a list person, I recently started making a list of everything we had for our apartment, and everything we needed. The list began with the foosball table on the have side, and everything else on the need side. At first this was very overwhelming, what was I going to eat and sleep on the foosball table? Plus furniture is so expensive, how the heck are Chris and I supposed to come up with all of that money in order to build our home!? Well. First my mom made sure that I had a bed, she offered the bed in my sisters room up to me (Because of course...as soon as I move out, my sister is moving right into my room.) Then she said "Ohh I have a table and chairs for you!" And the next list began. The funny thing is, that my parents have owned the King Ferry Hotel for many many years, and they have always had an abundance of properties, but I never thought any of that would do me any good. (Look where I ended up---Culinary school..huh.)

The Studio

Well yesterday my mom needed help moving furniture out of one of the biggest rooms in the hotel because an artist by the name of Alice Dalton Brown, has rented the room to use as her studio over the summer months. Before moving all of the furniture to storage, we first started a pile for all of the items on my "shopping" list. I asked my mom about a kitchen table that we had when I was a girl, a metal enamel table top, with wings. We walked around the bend in the porch and there was that table which held so many childhood memories. As my sister and I carried it to our designated area, I thought of all the memories that I could build on top of already fond memories because my mom was allowing me to have the table. We then lugged a mattress and bed frame down the stairs for Christopher. There really is a surplus of furniture. Then after that my mom gave me a choice of two dressers that were not in use, and mentioned I might need an end table. I was just so happily surprised by all of this shopping that I was able to do, and for free! After digging out two chairs that were hand painted and used to live in our kitchen nook when I was eight, and setting aside a few items I was not sure Chris would approve of, I was very content.

new to us kitchen table

It astonishes me how many pieces of furniture my parents actually have gathered through the years. Each piece has a story or a garage sale steal that each treasure was found at. It was quite fun to shop around for all of the furniture that will make me feel more at home. The list has become quite smaller, I think we only need a book shelf and maybe a couch, but that we may have covered as well. I am such a family girl, so it doesn't surprise me that the furniture my family has used will comfort me when I move away from what I know now as home. And the best part is that I am not the type of person who wants brand new everything, I am a unique antique gal, and all of the old cute furniture we acquired is just that.