eBay Baby!

We just bought an awesome new piece of furniture.

I've been stalking sideboards on eBay for a few weeks and my work finally paid off.  I've learned that they haven't really gotten on board with Craigslist over here like they have in America.  I mean, it exists and there's stuff on it, but not nearly as much furniture as in the States.  So I started checking eBay for the perfect piece to use as a TV stand in our lounge.

For the wife of someone who knows the ins and outs of eBay like the back of his hand, I sure didn't know much about it.  I think this was the 2nd thing I've ever purchased from eBay.  I did a search and sorted it by distance from my postcode.  Did you know that you could do that?  So cool.  Next I looked for nicely constructed sideboards that weren't at more than a few dollars.

A few caught my eye, but I wasn't sold on any of them.  Then, I found it.  A lovely wood G-Plan unit.  I'm not sure how old it is, probably 1960s or 70s.  I liked the design and size, so I put it on my watch list and then kept checking.  A few people bid on it and the price went up to £10.  Yikes!  Was I going to lose it?  I'd decided I didn't want to spend more than 15 or so.  The bidding stalled out and I watched as the clock ticked down.  With 20 seconds left, I put in a bid of £10.50.  I worried one of the other bidders would swoop back in and swipe it out from under me.  The page refreshed and I had won!  Oh huzzah!

So Ross and I drove to nearby Swinton to pick up my spoils a few days later.  When we pulled up in our Toyota Auris, the couple out front looked at us disparagingly and asked if we had a van because the sideboard would "never fit".  Ha!  I scoffed at them (silently in my head).  We don't need no stinking van!

So Ross and the man went in the house and came out with the sideboard.  They slid the sideboard in and the couple gave a "huh" of surprise when they saw that it only hung a bit out of the back.

After some serious tying and securing, we were all ready to go and drove very slowly down back streets home.  Then came the best part- carrying it up the stairs to our 3rd floor (2nd in the UK) apartment.  It involved a little finagling to get it around the tight corners, but we did it with little pain and almost no complaining.

I discovered that the handles were cool wood loops.  In the pictures on eBay they'd looked brass or something and I figured we could replace them eventually, but now we don't have to bother!

I still need to rehang the duck painting so it's centered over the sideboard and drill some holes in the back so we can put the dvd player, radio, and Sky+ box inside.

It could stand to be refinished, but it's fine for now and overall I'm so happy with my new piece of quality furniture for only £10.50!  It somehow makes our lounge feel more finished and grown up.  Does that sound weird?