It was a bit of a surprise to see at the places that sell "real" furniture, the prices were high for good quality in bad style. Given that I live close to IKEA, in trying to find a good chest there, I found some lower quality for prices that were not that much lower than the high end places. The best looking chest also happened to be the highest quality and the most expensive out of all the suitable ones...how do I say this? I'm a woman, perhaps if I just went there just looking for something to put my clothes in, I would've picked the cheapest thing and went home. End of story. But no, I need high quality, low price, good style. At IKEA...I felt like I was trying to pick the best out of the reject pile and I just can't do that. So what are my options?
Secondhand stores, flea markets, vintage stores, Goodwill, and the Salvation Army.
As of late, I've found that chests of drawers happen to be one of the less commonly carried items at flea markets oppose to chairs and desks...yeah...this is a college town. On top of that, flea markets are kind of hard to come by in this town.
Second hand stores are a little less conspicuous in this town. Slowly driving up Burnet, I discovered that it's a haven for furniture shops. I found this furniture consignment shop called It's New To Me. Upscale furniture consignment they say. For one thing, upscale furniture just means someone else paid a lot for it, it doesn't necessarily mean it's in good taste. I also found the welcoming crowd rather unsociable and unfriendly. Or perhaps they're shy. Either way, the rather boring furniture and unwelcoming staff made me cross this place off of places to consider.
Exposure to a lot of places is important, you never know what you're going to find. So, near the intersection of Pasadena and Burnet, I found this place called Second Hand (unfortunately, no website.) The man in there is nice, easy to talk to. I've visited this place a number of times and I see how the stock changes daily. They have a lot of wooden furniture, good quality, shelves, chests, dressers. The prices can be a little high at times and some can be reasonable, but, as the man will tell you, they all can be reduced. This place is worth multiple visits.
Goodwill and the Salvation Army are great places. I've found more often that Goodwill doesn't carry bedroom furniture as much as the Salvation Army. Salvation Army can vary from area to area. I've been to the one off of 45 and I tend to never find anything there. The Salvation Armies in San Antonio (if you're willing to do the drive) are goldmines for good quality vintage pieces just shy of being dirt cheap (for furniture). I'm not really sure how this happened, but I'm not complaining either. What's the downfall with the Salvation Army? If you see something you like that's part of a collection, you have to buy the whole collection. It's still reasonably priced and could easily be $100 more at any vintage shop, but do you need the whole collection? I was looking for a chest that would fit in my closet.
Given the non-sucesses listed above, I resorted to one of my go to places: Room Service Vintage. Given the style I was looking for, it could've gone two ways: pay a lot of money for a new reproduction or pay a moderate amount for something used. Contrary to the thought that vintage places sell old, used things at beyond retail prices, if you take into account style and quality - many of Austin's vintage stores are quite reasonable. The good thing about Room Service Vintage is that they have a website that updates the stock in the store. It saves gas. It also allows you to see when something goes on sale. That said
SCORE!Solid wood, there are shelves in the cabinet, I'm going to sand it and re-stain it. It was also on sale.
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