Check out this opportunity in a country near you…

The local American Embassy imports tons of furnishings/appliances for their embassy workers/diplomats, etc.. They buy most of the items from places like Drexel and in the North Carolina Furniture showrooms. Every 2-3 years they restock and need to dispose of their used items. The items are usually between 3-6 years of age, and have been used by a couple or perhaps a couple with a child or two. Meaning the items are kept in very good condition.

Then the Embassy will place a small local ad inviting the public to come BID for the items. When you arrive, you will receive a pamphlet listing all the ‘Lots’ with a section to place your bid. The items are sold ‘as is’ and since the warehouses cannot usually accommodate, the items are stacked up on top of each other and not presented in any way to encourage high bids. The truth is, they dont even care what the bids are - the highest bid takes the item. I have heard someone pay $50 for an item that was originally $1500! In theory.

In reality, the demand for American items in overseas country is so high that once word spreads, it may be impossible to outbid your foreign neighbors who are dying to have ownership of items from the ‘land of golden opportunity’.

Tips:

1) As with Ebay, it helps to bid in odd numbers, like 1057 instead of 1050, so if there are multiple bids of the same amount, you will have the edge.

2) These items are purchased in bulk, and many are repeats. If you want a china closet and there are 10 up for auction, select the one in the poorest condition (that is reasonable to be fixed up) and bid for that one. Chances are more people are bidding for the items in best condition. Unfortunately, you cant bid on all 10 and win one - if you bid on all 10, you may just win all 10!

3) Dont forget to pay attention to local taxes added on to the winning bid amount. In some cases, you may have to pay 50% extra in taxes. Keep this in mind when you bid, since they view your offer as a contract.

4) Most important - DONT TELL ANYONE!! The word of mouth about these events spread like wildfire, and with it goes your chances of winning .

Today is the day they were supposed to call to tell me about what I won. It is 10:30 PM, and I am still waiting by the phone.

Any minute now.

What I have written so far is not very telling why this is called a ‘furniture’ blog. I am taking full advantage of this blog’s newness to get a little nostalgic and entertain myself… as long as I am pretty much the only one around anyway….

Everyone at some point in their life has heard the next 10 words…in fact I would think it safe to say that they heard them a LOT more than once…

What Do You Want to BE When You Grow UP?

Certainly there is the 3-7 year old version of the question where you hear fireman, ballerina, and so on.. but it doesnt stop there. When you find yourself daydreaming about your summer plans, someone will pop the bubble and jolt you back to reality..

Between going to College and the people badgering you about your ‘future’, you have to make some decision, at precisely the age in life when you are least equipped - and then thats it.. the question stops. For better or worse, you are now considered a grown up, and whatever it is you are doing now, well that is apparantely what you wanted to BE.

That is unfair.

I am actually kinda peeved that when those 10 words were directed my way, I had no clue, and now that I see the world for all of its possibilities - so many more ideas to conquer - NOONE CARES!!

… In fact, I still have a lot of growing up to do!

In order to correct this mistake, let me be the first person to ask you as an adult (I dont expect most kids to hang out at a furniture blog)

What do you want to BE when you grow up? Take your time answering…

I could for sure tell you what I DIDNT want to be.

I didnt want to have anything to do with the arts - interior decorating (still scarred from Sid), fashion design, graphic artists - even my stick figure drawings were unfortunate.

I didnt want to be a writer - Since my writing could never match the quality of books I chose to read, I lacked the confidence to ever consider writing for a carreer (maybe I cant spell either?)

Yet here I am today, WRITING about my livelihood from FURNISHINGS (well intending to…) - and dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Buying furniture IS an art.

Excuse that little rant. Women need to vent, ya know

Needless to say, I made it to college - my first experience sharing a room! In a dorm room with girls, where everything is up for grabs, the only place that is sacred is the BED. It becomes the center of your own small universe.

To this day, my bed remains my personal sanctuary, the one place in the world that belongs to me. Well..in theory.

I work at the computer until I cant keep my eyes open, and my head is falling on the keyboard. When I do finally allow myself to call it a night, I start to tingle with excitement at the thought of my BED and a good book. As I approach, I begin to recall the piling up of 3 loads of laundry on this very bed, that I SWORE I would get to hours earlier. Not only has this completely escaped my mind, but it has since been half kicked off the bed and wrinkled by the sweaty little body of my child, who now possesses 90% of this sweet space. Then I pick up all the laundry and create a leaning tower of Pisa in the corner of my bed (of course on top of the sock pile that is ALWAYS present), throw the warm body over (did I mention that we are potty training at nights?), curl up in the fetal position (the remaining space) with my book, and fall asleep in less than 60 seconds, with the book on my face.

You can try to break me, but my bed and I have a very strong, long term relationship, and we will get over these difficult patches together. I am certain of it.

My 2 bed essentials -

I have about 4 of these -

Neckroll Pillows

and the way to bring your office to your bed:

Lap Desk

Have a great weekend!

My first real memorable experience involving furniture was the the following: We were having sleep over guests to my house. My parents had spent a lot of money redoing the house and they were proud to be able to show their friends that despite having 4 young, unruly children (3 boys + moi), everything was under control. I dont think I will ever forget the look on my mother’s face, when upon opening the sofabed for the guests, a long lost banana was found smooshed in the mattress. So that was where the smell was coming from!!

The next memory came years later. We had moved to a new home, decorated by Sid. You have to lisp the S on the Sid, since either that’s what we always did to make fun of him, or that’s the way he pronounced it. He did a beautiful job, insisting I make my room feminine (that I would regret it otherwise, when I decided I really did want to be a girl).

Just like when my mother bought me expensive clothes, it turned out to be a waste, since I refused to wear most of it, most of this newly decorated house was lost on me. Growing up with all boys, the truth is that I never really paid much attention to any of it. I was actually embarrased by the opulence. I was also one of those clueless people who upon exiting a home with a friend, would have to sit through my friend’s remarks on the artwork, the furnishings, the linens, when I ONLY paid attention to their variety of junk food, books, and movie collection. I began to worry about how I would be equipped to set up a home, when I seemed to lack that which came so naturally to many of my girlfriends.

Meanwhile the stock market crashed, and my parents suffered terribly. We all got to walk around this beautiful house, with these beautiful furnishings, with all the ogling neighbors, knowing too well that Sid had made off like a bandit, and at least we could live in comfort and luxury, if we couldnt afford to go to college..

Stay tuned for more….

That’s right, we have decided to create our own furniture blog. A quick look around shows that there are not too many such blogs out there, and we intend to fill the gap. Come back again soon as we add more entries.