How I Scored $25 Stools on FB Marketplace
Moving into an apartment is a lot of work, and can be expensive. Really expensive. With all of the move in fees, deposits, it gets a bit overwhelming! I have always been a huge bargain shopper. I have never paid full price for anything in my house. I scour the internet for sales on a regular basis and am constantly refreshing my local FB Marketplace and Craigslist. You would not believe the things I find on there. Both amazing and strange. I am known by all my friends and family to find the BEST things on FB Marketplace for my home. Including this pretty gold mini trunk and silver plate. $30 and $15!
It takes 3 things to score the good stuff.
Patience, Diligence, and Vision.
Patience:
I tell everyone who asks me how I find such great stuff the same thing. You HAVE to be patient with everything and everyone. You cannot get attached to ANYTHING- although I am a freaking hypocrite saying that giving that advice because patience is something that I do not have. You cannot go into something feeling attached before you have it in your hands- or in your car. If you do get attached to something, chances are they will ghost you and you will forever be thinking about that piece that your sweet little heart fell in love with at first sight. Happens to me a lot. Especially when I found a set of pink velvet wingback chairs for $50. They were gone in seconds, and I messaged him less than 10 mins after he posted them. But that is besides the point. The point is to not get attached to anything- although those would have been pretty cute in my California apartment. And don’t get your feelings hurt if something ghosts your booty. I know Halloween is coming up, but man- that is just not cool.
Diligence:
I also preach and preach that if you are on a mission to find something, you need to be refreshing every hour. FBMP has a way to knowing how often you are looking and for some reason pushes some of the good stuff to the top of your feed, I swear. This can be or bad for you. Good if its a diamond in the rough, or is something most people wouldn’t want. Bad if its something GOOD and the person has it priced right. That is why you want to be the first person to message the seller. If you know it is a hot item, offer them more than they are asking. Sometimes, if they seem honest and I really want something but can’t get these fast enough, I will offer to pay them 1/2 upfront to hold. This is risky, but I haven’t been burned by it. * knock on wood *. The point is, if you want something just keep searching for it often. Think of more streamline names for things. So instead of “Marble Antique Burl Wood Chest” search “Old Wooden Dresser” or “Marble Dresser” or “Vintage Chest”. Get the picture? Cool.
Vision:
You cant just get onto FBMP with zero idea of what you are looking for. You need to be specific, by not really being specific. If that makes sense. If you are looking for a round side table, look for the round side table. If you are looking for new dining chairs, play up some of the wording in multiple searches and see what comes up! If you do not have a direction or vision of what you are looking for or need, your house might end up on the next episode of Hoarders by over-collecting crap you thought you liked, but actually ended up hating and throwing/giving away. I know I have to sometimes take a step back and control myself when it comes to thrifting. I just get SO EXCITED when I find something, and have to have it right then and there. LOL!
Another thing I want to mention. If you know something is GOOD, and I mean GOOD- keep that to yourself and do NOT make it a big deal to the seller. They likely have no idea what they have their hands on. This may seem like a no brainer, but sometimes you an drop clues without even realizing it. For example, I found a “Wooden Wardrobe” on FB Markeplace the other day. I messaged her about it- cause it was GORGEOUS. I asked “Is this burl wood?”. I realized the second I hit send what I had just done. I just put into her head that that was something interesting, and perhaps rare. She replied saying, “I am not sure to be honest".” And I left it at that. I wasn’t married to the piece yet, and to be honest- I do not have a place for it. Well, today I was notified a piece I had inquired about had changed in price. Typically that means the seller lowered it, but this particular case she raised it. From $90 to $300! Turns out my little question lead her to some research and turns out.. the piece is worth over $4,000! Now, getting a $4,000 piece for $300 is still amazing, but— let this be a lesson to you! Do not be overly excited about something to the seller or ask too many questions!
So, naturally when we signed on a apartment that needed counter stools I knew it was going to be a mission to find ones that were both cheap and cute, and in the quantity I needed, 3-4. I have looked for barstools in a previous apartment that I lived in and I think they are among the hardest thing to find. They are either super expensive $100+ each or they only have like.. 2. Ha! So when I saw these counter stools listed on FBMP 10 mins ago for $75 I JUMPED on them. I wasn’t sure if I liked them, if they were gross looking, the right height, the right color, or if they would even work in my space. I just knew to get 3 barstools for $75 is unheard of so I wanted to claim them and have the first right of refusal on them.
Here is the listing.
Again- I was pretty “meh” about them. Not super sure. But knew that worst came to worse, I could resell them for equal or more value of what I paid on them. So I messaged the woman and asked if she would take a $35 deposit on them to hold them for me until I could get up to here. (She was about an hour away from my house.) She is a kind older lady and was very sweet and of course, agreed. So I sent her the money via Venmo and planned to head up there the following day after work!
Over the next day I had posted multiple things on my IG story regarding the barstools. Sometimes if I am on the fence about something I like to ask for a poll and get some opinions! Don’t do this unless you really need that extra push! I secretly weight certain people’s votes more than others. I definitely trust some designers more than myself, so if my design crush says no, I will walk away. But if she said yes- then you already know that I am not second guessing myself one more second and am b-lining it to the woman house to get them! Sure enough, a handful of designers I seriously respect said they were amazing so I left it at that and considered them mind in my head. LOL. They were mine and I was so excited to get them them!
I picked those babies up the next day and they were AMAZING. Better than I had hoped- and in way better condition and coloring than I thought. I loaded them up and drove my hour back home. Brought them inside, cleaned them, and placed them in their position. and…Ahhh! They are PERFECT!
DON’T SHOOT ME DOWN ON THIS ONE
What do you think? Good, right?
Let this be a lesson to you that you can find really good things anywhere. Local thrift stores, Craigslist, Offer Up, FB Marketplace, Garage Sales… you name it! You just have to be patient in knowing if you wait out for the perfect thing, it will come! You have to be diligent in your search. And you have to have a vision of your space in knowing what you want or need for the space to feel complete!