Zannee’s Blog at BargainsLA.com

As previously noted in this blog, both my husband and myself went completely ballistic and bought an antique secretary a couple of months ago.

He had grandiose ideas about purchasing a flat screen, wall mounted HDTV TV above it. Cool…that’ll work. Then we priced them. YIKES! Not this year… may be after Christmas.

In the mean time we put our old TV directly on top of antique secretary and to protect the secretary we put an old beach towel under the TV. I can’t tell you how much a beach towel totally ruins the effect of owning an elegant mahogany antique secretary. I should have trailer trash stamped on my forehead.

I had enough of the tacky towel in the living room and decided to sew a table runner in a nice, thick cotton velvet. I grabbed my mother in law (the family fabric expert) and went to F & S Fabrics in West LA.. They have a cool selection, but at $18-$35 a yard, I’d have none of it.

I trip downtown to the fabric district was necessary. I know from past experience to go early and on a weekday. So last Friday, without anyone in tow I headed down, parked in a pay lot ($5) and spent a couple of hours journeying through dozens of fabric stores. I could have easily been distracted by the gorgeous selections in brocades, chenilles, silks and knits all at 35%-75% less than regular fabric stores. There were a lot of cotton velvets at $8-$9 a yard at the smaller independents stores. But I knew the color I wanted and ended up at Michael Levine’s. There must have been 30 different cotton velvets at $10 a yard so I could get just the right hue of maroon. I got 2 yards and a couple of tassels to finish it off.

An afternoon of sewing, and voila! Living room tackiness gone, antique secretary protected for just $33….$24 in fabric, and $5 to park and $4 in gas.

If you are planning on a home décor project (re-upholstery, curtains, bedding) and need fabric, do go down to Maple between Olympic and 8th. You’ll have thousands of fabrics, trims and notions to choose from and you’ll save a bunch of money.

Michael Levine’s, 919 & 920 S. Maple Ave., Los Angeles 213.622.6259.

BTW… Morrie’s is located right next to Michael Levine’s. Great spot for women’s designer clothes for less… 50%-80% off!

This week I went back and researched a terrific bargain source, Urbanism that I hadn’t been to in a long time. While I was there, I found a fabulous little table top organizer, perfect for organizing dvd’s, cd’s or computer programs. I normally pass on purchases while researching. But this décor piece stuck with me.

As I wondered around I was struck with how overwhelmed my home had become with my tiny home office spilling out into my living room. As BargainsLA has grown, I have been trying hard to keep some resemblance of a home separate from business. I started by purchasing an amazing Hooker computer armoire two years ago to hide a work station in my living room. That worked for awhile. I now have a 24″ IMAC on top of that. No hiding that. It’s pretty, but very obvious.

The chaos spread to my antique dining table that I had to cover with a garish oil cloth table cloth to protect it. I convinced myself that my recent purchase of an 1880’s antique Empire secretary desk would help clear that mess. Fat chance! You can’t even close up the desk drop with all the laptops and paperwork floating on it.

Now I am looking at coffee table décor item to help hide the business chaos that has taken over my abode.

Am I stubborn….? Most assuredly!
Am I focused on solving the dilemma….? Absolutely!
Am I living in reality….? Not a chance!
Give up on my quest for a normal home environment …. NEVER!

So I bought the cool décor item. At a deal of course. I paid $43 instead of the original $75. Gleefully I brought it home and gave it to my husband to organize. He did not understand my delight in the object and dismissed my cause. He’s living in reality and I am not.

What I really need is a larger home. I’ve started to read the Real Estate section. Guess I am still not living in reality.

Sunday morning our neighbor calls to tell us it won’t fit into her new place and we can have it. But we are still stuck on a decision.

First, both hubby and I adore the piece and can put it to good and practical use. But we don’t need it. Secondly, it would be a financial strain to get it in the next couple of weeks. If we wait though, chances are it would be sold to someone else.

We go over our rules of thumb when buying furniture:
Do we love it? Is it useful? Is it well priced? Would it go with what we already have? Can we afford it?

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and maybe!

Most importantly on “one of a kind” pieces… would we regret not getting it?

Yes.

So we bought it. Bob came down on the price 10%.
(A good rule when antique shopping is to expect a 10% reduction.)

We had it delivered that day and spent the rest of the day polishing it up with Howard’s Restore a Finish, Feed and Oil and polishing formulas.

Howard’s products are the best for making a piece looks its absolute best without stripping or refinishing.

We are thrilled with our new piece! Our nice 11-old entertainment armoire (Originally purchased at Designers Bloopers) was donated to Burbank Discovery Shop. I knew they would take it even though they are really picky. It’s a nice piece… we got it at a great price …but our new antique secretary hutch was much better. Eventually, we can put a wide screen TV above it, which we couldn’t do with our old armoire.

Sometimes it’s worth going overboard. Now on to taxes….