My Best Secondhand Furniture Find Ever! {Deal of the Century}

 

I shared my new obsession love for Facebook Marketplace (and a few helpful shopping tips) a few months ago. I've discovered so many beautiful and unique finds for our home at a great price!

I love this method of shopping because I can browse at my leisure (usually right before bed 😂), or if we're looking for something very specific, it allows me to "save" a search for specific keywords and/or set up alerts to notify me of new listings. 

There was one big item I'd been looking into for some time. I've looked here and there for years, but more recently the hunt started when I painted this cane buffet table earlier this year: 

It turned into a pain of a project, but it was all worth it -- we LOVE the end result. That warm wine color is so lovely!  

But as often happens, one little change created an itch to make another one. We've had our dining table for seven years and I loved the wood top: 

A few years ago I refinished it and added a protective Tung oil top coat -- it has held up beautifully and is so low maintenance. 

But the more farmhouse style tabletop and metal base were not meshing with the changes I'd made in the room. I've been dreaming up ways I could change out the metal legs, but never moved forward with it because the planked wood top was what really didn't fit in. 

Plus, it was starting to drive. us. crazy. that we couldn't push the upholstered chairs at the ends all the way in. 

As time passed, I was envisioning a more traditional table in this space. It would be nice to have something larger as well. 

The dining room is part of our open concept living area. It was labeled as a "morning room" on our plans and is full of windows and natural light. 

It's not a traditional, stuffy dining room, but I was craving a little bit of a traditional style in there. 

All that to say...I did some research looking into new dining tables -- maybe something with a darker wood tone and a simpler design? Turned legs with a bit of character, but nothing too fussy. 

Um...it's been a long time since we've bought a table I guess, because I about choked at the prices. Everything remotely similar to what I wanted (decent quality) was $2000 to $4000. 

It was then that I decided I needed to be patient. And stalk Facebook Marketplace. :)

Months later the skies opened up and THE TABLE was on my phone screen. I poured over the pictures and enlarged all them to study every detail -- it was exactly what I wanted! The size, color and design were all perfect.

The best part was the price...only $100! I couldn't even believe it. It all fell together -- I was even able to borrow a truck from a neighbor to pick it up.

The stain color was perfect in our home. The turned leg design was exactly what I had envisioned for this room: 

It's not in perfect condition, but the imperfections are minor. Most noticeable were some spots along the sides that were worn off. (You can see some of them by the chair in the photo above.)

It only took a few seconds with my stain markers (see more simple updates on wood furniture without painting) to make those areas blend back in again: 

 

The top has a few spots and scratches, but you really have to look because of the glossy finish:

There are a few water spots: 

I've heard that mayonnaise will remove water spots on wood -- has anyone tried this? I'd love to know how it went for you!

The glossy finish on top is the only thing we'll have to get used to...I like furniture we don't have to worry about. We entertain a lot and have a number of animals, so I don't want anything too fussy. 

But I also don't mind a lived in look. :) I'm not going to babysit it, and if we have issues I'll refinish the tabletop. It has a wood veneer so I would need to be a little more delicate than normal, but it's always an option. 

Overall I'm absolutely thrilled with it -- I think it is just gorgeous: 

The brand name Hooker was on the underside of the table so it isn't as old as I thought -- only from 2019! But get this...I looked up the product number and it's the Tynecastle dining table and is still available for more than $1700!

The sweet woman who sold it to us just wanted it gone, as they are moving out west and building a house in the middle of the mountains. It sounds absolutely amazing and I wish I could friend her to follow along on their adventures! 😁

I literally just happened upon my best secondhand find ever! 

I was worried our wood dining chairs wouldn't work with the new table, but they look great! Best part is we can push the upholstered armchairs alllll the way in: 

Our old table was around 80 inches long, and I was feeling like we could go quite a bit bigger in here. The table as is runs the same length, but a bit wider. 

But with the two leaves added, it can go as long as 114 inches. We have one leaf in and with that it's 96 inches long. It fits this room so much better!:

Now we will be able to sit ten people around the table if needed. This will be wonderful when we have a house full of people at parties and especially at Thanksgiving.

I forgot to mention the rug! It's the Reseda rug from the Lone Fox line at Joon Loloi. I have a few of these affordable, thinner Loloi rugs around the house and love the design and colors on this one. 

The quality isn't quite as good as my other ones, but it's still a beautiful rug and is holding up well. The price for a large rug is hard to beat!

I purchased it about a month after painting the console and the colors work so beautifully together. I LOVE the rug with the dark table: 

I feel like there's nice balance in here...I didn't want the room to get too fussy. 

The casual chairs, more modern pendant fixture and cozy window seat help to keep it comfortable and not too serious:

I've always added character to our home with DIY projects, but over the past year or so I've been leaning into adding it with furniture too. 

Here's a reminder of how our dining area looked after I painted it this neutral color called Pachyderm: 

And here it is a year later with richer accent colors and wood tones: 

 

The rainy days we've had lately made for the perfect moody vibe in here! :) 

I have a few smaller updates I'd like to make to the built in and window seat, and I'll share those soon. Would you paint the built ins around the window the same color as the room, or leave it white? I go back and forth on that!