I've never been one to decorate a room with a specific theme. I hate most things that come in character form and cringe at the thought of looking at it on the walls. My style consists of a color palette and texture. For Kensi's nursery we did white & gray with pops of pink. It was very simple and easy to change for her big girl room. {which still needs to be shared}
Lately, I've been drawn to a lot of dark blues and rustic features. We want to incorporate a lot of texture. We're using the same crib we used for Kensi, a white Jenny Lind; I absolutely love this crib style for either gender and it keeps a touch of vintage in the room; but this time finding a dresser was hard. We started searching our local antique stores this past summer and just recently found this handsome fellow at a consignment store.
It came with the mirror attached, but we removed it and hung it in our entryway instead. My parents were actually the ones to stumble upon this piece. Lucky for us to have fam that loves to shop antiques and know how to find good solid pieces of furniture.
Lately we've been really surprised how many dressers have been revamped and marked up for a very pretty penny when the bones of the dresser aren't even that good. Many shops do this because most potential buyers have no idea what to look for and are sold simply on the look of a piece.
Here are some of our tips to shop....
Shop with a purpose. Shopping antique or consignment stores can be very overwhelming. It's so important to go with a purpose. Know what your looking for or shop for a specific space. Once you narrowed your search results down, it won't seem like such a tedious task once you get there.
Know good quality. There are many shops that raise the price just because they carry some true antiques. It's important to know what you're buying and what to look for in quality. For dressers or buffets look for dovetail joint by simply pulling open a drawer. A dovetail joint is when two boards are fastened together by several trapezoid shaped cuts. It takes more time and effort to create this detail and once it’s done it doesn’t require any other fasteners. If there is no dovetail work then it was assembled using nails or staples. Don’t get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a piece made with nails/staples, it just means it doesn't have the craftsmanship quality and you should be aware of the quality of your piece before you agree on a price.
Good things come to those who wait...sometimes. It can really pay off to wait and watch an item. Several shops in our area have three prices listed by date. The longer it sits, the lower the price. If a piece you're interested in has been sitting for quite some time, many shops will give a 50% discount off the original price. Which brings me to the next tip....
Negotiate. Don't be afraid to ask for a lower price. Shops usually have quite a bit of inventory and want their pieces to move in order to get new stuff in. Ask what the lowest price they'll take is if you agree to buy the piece that day. Also, If you continue to keep an eye on a piece and visit frequently, shops tend to negotiate more.
Shop around. There are so many places to find furniture. Aside from antique and consignment {gently used and much newer} stores, check out auctions, estate sales, flea markets, Craigslist, garage sales and resale stores such as Habitat for Humanity. It's shocking what you can find once you open up your realm of stores.
We found Finn's dresser and mirror combo for $160. It's vintage, solid oak {super heavy}, and has dovetails. A complete steal. And it only took us six months to find it ;)
We could spend every weekend rumaging through second hand stores. To some it may sound boring and an awful way to spend a Saturday, but you never know what you may find :)
Happy Shopping on this beautiful Saturday!
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