One stop shop, furniture finds.

I've been promising for a week now that I'd share a few fun finds.  Last weekend Hubs and I went down to pick up a new set of tires for our car in St. Louis.  Since we were down there, I peeked on craigslist to see if there was anything I had to have.  Well, there was.  Luckily, the seller responded right away too, and we headed over.  The little dresser was in the basement, so we trekked down stairs to take a look.

Enter rush of excitement.  The basement was full of goodies!!  The couple who owned the house told us that the furniture was all in the house when they bought it, and they didn't want it, so they were trying to get rid of it...and for some really amazing prices (aka-- well within my budget! Weee!)  

Umm...I'll take it!

After we left, Hubs told me that his thought when we walked down the stairs went something like, "Oh, crap. There's no way we're leaving with just one piece."  Well, for the record, we did...

...that night.  And OMG!  She matches the little French table I just finished.  She's a little taller, and has a little different details, but how funny to pick up such a similar piece in such close timing, right?

Anyway, I picked up a trailer, and headed back down the night after, little brother (aka- the muscle) in tow.  I pretty well fixed their problem of wanting to get rid of the stuff.  If you offer it, I will take it.  

This is one of my favorite pieces from the trip.  A claw foot bookcase/cabinet.  It's in great shape, and really just needs some conditioning.  No paint for this pretty boy.  Not pictured are the glass doors, and shelves, but they're all there.  I LOVE this piece.  Claw feet make me swoon.

I also picked up a bedroom set that has the dresser, mirror, and bed.  There was also the original little dresser I originally set out to pick up...you know, the one that started it all?  She's upside down below.

The last piece I originally set out to take home was this cute little side table.  The drawer needs repair, and the top is really rough, but it's cute, and I think she can pull herself together to be a show stopper again.

That's a lot of loot from one stop!  But the insanity doesn't stop there...no, no, no.  As we were packing up the last of this, I noticed a lonely headboard.  I asked about the price on it, and found out about another piece as well.  Both came home with me.

(I brought "the muscle" back home with me too.)

This is my piece de resistance.  I can't believe I almost left without "the secretary."  It is never leaving my house.

LOVE.  Okay, so she needs some work.  Her mohogany exterior's been covered with a sloppy mustard yellow paint job, the finial is missing from the top (didn't notice that until I got it home), and one handle is missing.  But did you SEE her feet?

Don't worry if you didn't.  Here's a close up of them, and yes- they're dirty.  I've washed them, but it's going to take quite a bit to get those claws clean.

Ahhh... ball and claw.  Does it get better?  More swooning.

This is a picture of the missing handle.  What's really neat about this desk is that there are two types of handles.  The difference is very small...so small that at close glance you couldn't tell, but it's the points on the bottom of the handle.  I didn't take a picture of the actual other handles, but I found a similar one online to show an example in this side by side.

Neat, eh?  It's the details that matter.  Those little ones really show me that this is a quality piece that a lot of thought went into by the makers.  So, I'm on the hunt for a handle that has points.  Do you have one lying around you'd like me to buy?

(Pictured are the five generations of Lammert's, courtesy of www.stltoday.com)

The maker- that reminds me.  All of the furniture has brass plates showing it was made by Lammert's Furniture of St. Louis, which was a large dealer of fine furniture founded in 1861.  They closed their doors in 2007 after five generations of Lammert's sold their goods.  I later learned from the home owners that when cleaning out the house, they also found an Emmy the previous owner had won from a screenplay.  I'm waiting to find out the name of what she had written, but still...  What a neat find, and how cool to now have the pieces that she picked out for herself once upon a time!

My basement is full, and my paint room is nearing completion.  I'm so eager to work on everything.  This is by far the best furniture stop I've ever had.  I'm so thankful to have met the owners, and shared some time with them; helped them out by taking the furniture off their hands, and picked up a lot of new fun pieces to work on.  Have you ever had a trip where you came back with so many pieces from one stop?

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