My Dining room table and chairs, were just what I was looking for and found on CL. I had a set that worked great in my previous home, but wanted something like this. DH agreed only if I could sell our set, which I did without a problem. The china cabinet in the background was bought at an antique store, it looks exactly like the one my grandmother had, but my stupid uncle let his ex-wife have it. My daughters' bedroom, entirely furnished with craigslist and ebay: Before pic of the french provincial furniture that all my little friends had as a child and I desperately wanted, but my parents had no money and couldn't afford to buy it. And the after pic: The little green upholstered chair was also bought on CL. The dresser, mirror, and highboy dresser were bought on CL for $150. There is also a desk that isn't pictured. The pair of twin beds were won on an auction on ebay for $139. We live in central NJ, and the beds were located in Philly. We drove there for the day and took our daughters to the Camden Aquarium. The beds will always have a story and a memory attached to them now. In my opinion the furniture that is purchased today is just lacking in quality. I would much prefer to buy solid wood furniture second hand and spruce them up.

The 1,500 one did not end up checking out ok - there was heavy rust on some of the brackets in the icemaker and it was obvious in person that it was not taken care of well. It's been fun but I've learned that what would actually work best for us is an integrated set so that we could have it blend in seamlessly with the cabinets, probably 18" freezer and 30" refrigerator columns. All of this running around wasn't a waste because beforehand I didn't realize there was a difference between built in / panel ready and integrated and now I know what we need.

I doubt it's second hand that is hurting retail. As mentioned before, I think it's a proliferation of garbage materials. And in my town, (pop 160K) we have two enclosed malls each with a Macy's, one has a Sears, the other Pennys and Nordstrom, and a new outdoor mall within 10 miles. There are 2 Targets, 3 Walmarts, four regional superstores, countless mini-malls, dozens of furniture stores, mattress stores, Tuesday Morning, 2 TJ Maxx, 3 Ross Dress For Less, and countless others. We also have 2 Lowes and 2 Home Depots. And virtually the same stuff in every store. The only place to find original things is downtown at the independent stores. My biggest gripe is amount of product at the stores. Clothing in particular. I cannot find clothing in my size, because the stores usually only carry one or two in that size and half a dozen each in the smaller sizes. When the size I need sells out the fastest, you'd think they'd stock more of that size! Plus the selections are garbage. But when I go to Goodwill (and we have 4 of those!) I ALWAYS find nice, quality seperates in my size. Oddly enough, I also find lots of NWT smaller sized items that the stores dump off! I know that it's very fashionable in my area to shop at Goodwill. I have even seen some 'boutique' second hand thrift stores-where they glean the top of the line goodies & vintage items and sell them at the special Salvation Army & other charity thrift shops. I have virtually furnished and/or decorated my home and yard with second hand items. Mattresses and upholstered furniture being the exception. Lamps, tables, even rugs I've gotten from CL and thrift stores-and most are well branded. Even yard sales have turned up Waterford for pennies on the dollar. I hate buying retail when I can save money and buy it much cheaper (and helping with my personal goal of reduce, reuse, recycle). I do draw the line at buying intimates, sleepwear and swimsuits 2nd hand. But I've gotten great new shoes at amazing bargains. And for those who get queasy at the thought of buying used clothing-chances are the items you buy in the store have been tried on, and therefore used, too.

It appears to be oak, and is a well made door. None of the panels have split - that's good and probably means they are not stuck in their slots. I would not hide the beauty of this wood under paint. When refinishing, be mindful about causing the panels to stick in their slots. Those should be free to expand and contract. If the panels become paint stuck in their slots, those may crack. Notice how this door is constructed. It was made this way to accommodate the nature of wood. When wood either shrinks or expands from moisture content changes, it changes dimension mainly in the cross-grain direction; The dimension with the grain changes very little. That is why door makers try to have as much grain as possible laying parallel to the perimeter of the door. Dimensional changes across the width of this door is mainly due the left and right framing pieces; Very little change is from the cross piece. This door should not be exposed to weather. The face of outside doors exposed to wind, rain, and sun should have weather resistant construction and finish.