Life 2013 - Learning to Love Second Hand Shopping

I love the way my New Year got started. Steve, David, Luke and I were hanging around the house wondering what we could do. Celia was still in Kentucky, enjoying her shopping day with Nana. I suggested that we go to the mall, but boys don't really like that kind of shopping so I was fairly quickly vetoed. We contemplated taking the train into the city. That was a great idea except...it was 19 degrees outside and all the museums were closed because it was New Year's Day. So, when one doesn't want to brave the cold Chicago air while taking in the beauty surrounding Lake Shore Drive -- What is one to do? Go furniture shopping.

Yes, furniture shopping was second on our list. We really needed to get something comfy to sit on in our newly set up basement.

We commenced our search at Darvin's which is a huge furniture store in Orland Park. They were having a 50% off "sale." I was a bit overwhelmed with all the choices Darvin's offered. They had Broyhill, Thomasville, Lane and all kinds of wonderful name brand furniture. Still I was unimpressed with the choices of sofas. I was even more put off that prices were still often in the thousands of dollars and we were simply looking for a basement couch. It didn't help that  Luke was running around live a wild child jumping on furniture and disappearing from time to time.

I had noticed a second hand furniture store - New Uses - on 159th as we drove toward Darvin's. After spending a good hour in Darvins, fruitlessly searching, we decided to check out the new second hand store. At New Uses, Luke and I stayed in the car because I just knew that this place would not hold a candle to our beloved Village Door. This is our local second hand store in Homewood. We love shopping there because they have great stuff at very reasonable prices. We practically furnished our new house here in June. All the proceeds from the Village Door go to a cancer support center. I actually feel good after having purchased something from the Village Door. Another reason I opted to wait in the car is that Luke was being a total crank. After about 20 minutes, enough time for Luke to chow down on his McDonald's fries and start on the apple slices and tame the hungry bear. Soon, the guys returned. They had actually found some potential furniture.

Luke and I joined David and Steve and were also liking the basement couch which  turned out to be an Ethan Allen. Ethan Allen furniture is very sturdy (more on this in Part Deux).

We were very impressed with New Uses, which we later learned is a part of the Plato's Closet, Clothes Mentor line of second hand stores. We bought a sofa, a bookshelf, a painting and a mirror for David's room Thinking we were spending closer to $350, and very pleased with ourselves for being so frugal,  Steve was surprised when the clerk announced, "Your total is $235.18."

"Did you get the bookshelf on there?," Steve inquired.

"Everything is 30% off today!"

"This just keeps getting better and better," smiled Steve.

What a great way to start the New Year.