Last weekend we journeyed two hours north to Arlington, Virginia so Clara could have some quality time with her cousin Elsa (and apparently so my cousin Travis and I could rock some daddy-plaid, shorts, flip flops, and matching Kettler bikes together (the latter of which were both his, found for a huge deal on craigslist).
While there, Elsa’s mom, Cat (who is Sherry’s BFF that we introduced to my cousin back in 2007 – and now they’re married with two kids) took us to this cool shop in Old Town, Alexandra called Red Barn Mercantile. It had tons of beautiful stuff, but what caught our eye most was this bowl of vintage printing press letters.
Six bucks later we snagged a “C” so that Clara can be now represented amongst our original collection of letters and numbers (7, J, S, L, O, V, E). The first three were purchased at a NYC flea market just weeks after we started dating on 7/7/05 (which explains our love of the number 7) and the last four came from a flea market in DC a few years later. We also looked for a “B” for Burger, but they only had lowercase ones (which just look like a “d” instead, since they’re backwards). Sorry Burgs! The search for an uppercase B continues…
But that’s admittedly not that amazing as $6 purchases go. It was actually our other $6 find on that trip that we’re still pinching ourselves about. You ready for this jelly?
Six dollars got us more than just this cabinet hardware…
…it even got us more than this whole cabinet…
…it actually got us SIX CABINETS. All for just six measly dollars. Not each. Total.
If you’re in as much disbelief as I was when Sherry first told me about her find (Clara was napping in the car, so I stayed outside with her and Sherry went in and called me with the details), here’s some proof:
We found them at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Alexandria (sooooo glad we decided to swing by there while visiting the area) and they truly were just selling them for a dollar each. Apparently they were once nightstands at a hotel. The hotel donated a truckload of them and the ReStore had finally gotten rid of them all (priced at $15 each)… until some overzealous purchaser brought back a bunch that he had leftover. So the ReStore guy told us they priced them at just $1 to get rid of them quickly (they already made their money we assume, since they have a No Refund policy).
Oh and for anyone worried about bedbugs, I’m an obsessed checker-outer due to a life-changing encounter with them back in NYC, so I frantically looked over every inch of them like a paranoid weirdo before taking them home (and then did another thorough check once at home, just to be sure). You can read about that harrowing NY experience here. When it comes to what I look for, I’ve learned that bed bugs are visible to the naked eye, so you should be able to see them and their droppings if you look everything over and check cracks & crevices. They also don’t like slick surfaces like glossy cabinets or plastic bags and prefer softer things like mattresses and upholstery where they can more easily walk, along with dark crevices where they can lurk/hide/ruin your life. So when buying something with more places to hide than cabinets (like an upholstered armchair) you’ll want to be extra careful – but you should still see some evidence of them in the form of small little stains on the upholstery, usually along the seams – which are (shudder) their droppings. You can also leave things in a holding area like a garage or sunroom for a day or two and recheck them again before bringing them inside.
And speaking of getting them home, miraculously we could fit two into our Altima – even with all of our travel gear like a pack & play, a dog crate, a baby in a big ol’ carseat, a husband, a wife, etc (one cabinet fit in the trunk and the other sat in the front seat while Sherry rode in the back with the Burger, the bean, the pack & play, and the folded up dog crate). The ReStore held the others since my dad was serendipitously going to be in the same area for a meeting (he drives a Honda Pilot so the remaining four fit nicely inside). We’re usually the suckers without any means to get big things anywhere (especially when we’re so far away from home), so it was a nice change of pace. I guess these $6 cabinets were just meant to be ours…
Well, as evidenced above, they actually cost us $6.30 with tax. So I guess it was the best six dollars and thirty cents that we ever spent.
They certainly don’t feel like shoddy $1 cabinets. I mean, just check out the interior fittings on them. Hellooooo slide-out shelves!
If you didn’t already connect the dots, they’re meant for our built-in office workstation that we talked about in this post and we hope to set them up like this: two cabinets against the left wall, open space for a chair, two cabinets in the middle, open space for a chair, two cabinets against the right wall to create built-ins that we discussed right here in this floor planning post…
With that arrangement we’ll have exactly 30″ for each of our chair openings, which is perfect since our chairs are 24″ wide (and six inches of wiggle room is a lot more than we have in our current small-homemade-desk-made-from-a-door situation). Of course our new cabinet friends do need a bit of work before they’re ready to move in permanently. For starters, they need a coat of primer and some glossy white paint (they appear to be 100% solid wood, so they should be great when it comes to adhesion and durability like traditional painted cabinets). Oh but we’re not going to paint the inside of them (lots of white built-ins actually have wood interiors – which hide marks and smudges a little more, too). All of the new white KraftMaid drawers from our first kitchen were wood on the inside, and we really loved it. But don’t worry, we’ll share all the painting details as we go.
We also need to do something about their height, because they’re only about 26″ tall and our chairs are 27″ (so the arms wouldn’t even slide under them if we added a countertop at this point).
Ideally we’d like our desk to be about 30″ tall, so I’m thinking I’ll build just a simple box on top of each cabinet pairing that I can paint along with the cabinets so they look seamless. Haven’t decided if it’s worth building it as a little open shelf up there or just fronting it with a solid piece of wood (kinda like those dummy drawers in front of kitchen sinks). Or we could build them up from the bottom. Not sure yet, but we’ll definitely keep you posted.
It was not only amazing to find $1 cabinets, but to realize that they weren’t too tall like 99.9% of the base cabinets out there (which are 35″ and hard to cut down since they’re one solid piece that includes the kickstep) was such a relief. Plus they were still deep enough for a desk (upper cabinets were the right height but only 12″ deep, which would make for a very very skinny desk or all need to be built out from the back with a lot more lumber than building these up a few inches). So yeah, we’re psyched. After some pretty thorough searching, the cabinet gods were good to us. Which was especially nice after the file cabinet gods weren’t as sweet (we searched for eight months for secondhand file cabinets for the office and ended up giving up and spending $150 on this system from Ikea). You win some, you lose some I guess.
Anyway, since not everyone can stumble upon the cabinet equivalent of The Dollar Store, we thought you might appreciate hearing the other places that we looked and the other solutions that we considered (of which there were maaaany). So we’ll be back to fill you in on all of that research / legwork / consideration in a few hours. Hopefully sharing a few other options that we considered may help someone else who can’t find secondhand cabinets that work for their project. In the meantime, what’s the best under-ten-dollar purchase that you’ve made? Was it clothing? House related? Did you buy a movie ticket and meet the man of your dreams there? Someone out there has to have one of those should-be-made-into-a-movie stories.
Debi says
You guys are the luckiest people I know. I have never had that kind of luck ever… Looking forward to seeing it all come together!!!!!
Peggy says
Wow! We bought some sink base cabinets at our Habitat Restore, for a similar project. My husband was able to remove the flat panel and build drawers to fit the space, and add shelves to the insides for functional storage. I can’t wait to see what you come up with to make these amazing cabinets work for you.
Anne says
I was pumped when I picked up a pair of $.46 shorts at Target last week for my son. However, that in now way compares to your find! This may just be the best $6.00 anyone has spent. On a side note- I had a bad case of bed bugs when I was in grad school. To this day I am not sure if it happened from an IKEA bed or a hotel. It was nasty and I am now well informed (and still crazy about IKEA). The exterminator told me to always check the seams of hotel mattresses. I always vacation with a flashlight for careful checking. Due to not living the greatest neighborhood at that time, I did a courtesy to all the homeless people and actually used sharpie to write on the mattress “do not use, has bed bugs.” Sure enough less than 4 hours later, the mattress disappeared from the dumpster.
PS- I have been a reader for over a year but never commented. Guess I am making up for loss time!
Karen@treechanged says
Serendipity indeed! I can’t believe you guys! Not goin’ to punch ya though – I’m living those crazy finds vicariously through you.
About your height problem – have you thought about floating the stands? We did this with our bathroom vanity and it works well. It holds a surprising amount of weight. Looks a little more open and uncluttered, too.
They show one here, so you can get what I mean: http://www.the-brick-house.com/2011/08/ (Shhh Don’t tell them how much you got yours for!)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s definitely something we never thought about!!! Thanks for the link- love that blog.
xo,
s
Gayla says
OMG YHL! You are the luckiest thrifters ever! I am supremely jealous!! hahaha That must be the perks in living places with great first hand shops– the 2nd hand shops are more than just particle board! hahaha… not that i am dissing my never-find-real-furniture town or anything… hahaha
i can not wait to see the desk- so there for no procrastinating… i am super anxious (and jealous as previously mentioned) to see your new built-ins! I am sure they want dissapoint…
and OMG they are going to look great walking in the new dining room into the new office and great built in furniture with shaker style doors on both…. swoon. seriously.
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen says
Deal of a lifetime right there! Can’t wait to see how you guys use them in the office.
Drea says
Of course you guys would find $1 perfect-for-our-office-project cabinets! Thats AMAZING! I can’t wait to see the final result!
Carol's Cottage Creations says
Oh my gosh! You totally scored.
Bboss says
Great deal. Charlottesville has a Habitat store that has some good deals. They also get the hotel leftovers, although I’ve never seen a $1 cabinet.
I know I’ve spent $6 for a great project, but can’t think of it right now.
Lauren says
Awesome! Totally stoked to see how it all turns out.
Isabel says
They look so good already, can’t wait to see how they end up. I’m so in love with the hardware on them! Amazing find!
This definitely isn’t the “best” under $10 purchase, but it’s the most recent one so I remember it: $8 for a textbook that costs $130 used at the school bookstore. Booya.
And I just have to say… 5% tax… *wistful sigh*. I need to move to another state.
angel p says
Awesome find!!!!! My best find was a $10 chair I picked up at a garage sale. It was super unique and all hand carved but it wasn’t something somebody made in their garage or anything. I could tell right away it was special. Perhaps it was those lions heads on the arms that got my heart fluttering. Anyway, I brought it home and got to researching it and found one exactly like it that had sold at some big auction for $450. Apparently, this was a replica of some really old chair and there weren’t all that many made. Yay me! I will never sell it though because it is just too awesome and besides my little one uses it and calls it her throne when she plays princess.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow that’s awesome! I kept reading the second sentence as “my best friend was a $10 chair” which cracked me up.
xo,
s
Nevin says
WOW! My son volunteered at the Mechanicsville location this summer. I would go in each time I picked him to look around. I too got some great finds, yet yours tops the cake!
I like the idea of an open area – for files of things you are working on to baskets to “hide” stuff you need handy. Can’t wait to see the end product!
:)
Meredith says
I found a pair of pajama pants at Target on clearance for $3. I was super excited, until I came home and realized the size on the price tag (L) was not actually the size of the pants (S). I thought it wasn’t worth returning for $3, so I passed them on to my 5’1″ roommate and she got her free pajama pants and I (hopefully) got some $3 good karma. :)
Kelsey says
Sweet deal!
In grad school I went with my girl friend to a bar to play pool. There were two tables and someone (my future husband!) was already playing on the free table so I went to get quarters. When I got back my friend said, “This guy says we can play with him.” So I never even had to spend my quarters and I met my amazing husband.
YoungHouseLove says
Nice deal! Haha.
xo,
s
Tiffany says
I cannot wait to see this project.
alllthingsstyled.com
Joanie Anderson says
What a killer deal on the cabinets!! Why can’t I ever find anything like that {sigh}! I’m going to stop by by Restore on my way home.
Sandy says
Awesome find for you guys! That is my Restore, and I am looking for something just like that for my own office built-ins! Guess you beat me to them! Can’t wait to see what you do with them.
By the way, if you are ever looking for another cool ReStore-type place up here, have you ever checked out the ReBuild warehouse? I find tons of amazing stuff there too.
YoungHouseLove says
Never checked that out! Thanks so much for the tip!
xo,
s
Kevin says
Man I’m jealous. Those are the biggest nightstands I’ve ever seen.
Donna says
I have a feeling the silver hardware has some ORB-ing in its future. :)
Lani @ Diapers and Divas says
Love the cabinets…what an awesome find!
As for stories…My best friend and I were on vacation in Las Vegas and stopped in a bar for one last drink at 2 am. We were pissed we had to pay a $5 cover at that hour….but….that’s where I met my husband! We eyed each other from across the room, he bought me a drink, and we talked everyday after that, despite the long distance dating for 8 months (California to New Jersey!). We always joke that that was the biggest payoff we’ve each had in Vegas!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, jackpot. Love it.
xo,
s
Abby says
Found a little gem of a coffee table at Goodwill for $6 one time during a 1/2 off sale. I painted it and love it to pieces! It was worth every bit of the price…it’s amazing to think that you could get a piece or pieces of furniture for the price of a McDonalds meal. Congrats on the awesome find! :)
Chrissy Henry says
Hi Guys,
This is totally off topic but I remember that you posted about a personalized address stamp that you got. I have been looking and looking and cannot find where you had gotten that from?? Please help!
GREAT find on the cabinets bwt!! Can’t wait to see how the desk turns out! :)
YoungHouseLove says
It was by Three Designing Women! I think you can google who sells them (sites like expressionary.com often have sales). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Chrissy Henry says
Thanks so much! I have not been able to find cute ones anywhere!
Pam the Goatherd says
Your find inspired me to find out where the closest ReStore is to me. Since I live in one of the poorest rural counties in Michigan I figured we wouldn’t have one anywhere nearby. But I see from their directory that there is one in my town!!! And if they don’t have anything I can check out two others about a half hour drive away – one east, one west. Now to go see what they’ve got…
Sheena says
I think adding the open shelf atop these beauties would be perfect & soo practical with low profile, flat baskets. That way you can store papers & office supplies neatly hidden. I’m thinking something like this http://www.polyvore.com/castela_dvd_basket_set_target/thing?id=3223072
Great find you guys!!! :)
YoungHouseLove says
That could be super cute! Thanks for the link!
xo,
s
Melanie says
My in-laws live in Richmond, VA. They have mentioned that store before. I have my mother-in-law hooked on your site.
If you are in Carrytown – look her up at Carrytown Dolls and Bears.
YoungHouseLove says
Love it! Here’s hoping we bump into her!
xo,
s
kmkat says
Great find! As to raising the desk surface, I hav seens a number of Ikea hacks (you DO read http://www.ikeahackers.net/, don’t you?) wherein a table- or desktop was elevated 2-4″ by putting four little metal legs between it and the underlying cabinet/support. It’s a nice look, cheap, very easy, plus it creates a nice little space for bits and pieces. Oh, and you could paint the legs oiled bronze ;-)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah that’s another great idea! Of course we love Ikea Hackers!
xo,
s
Laura says
Do you put bedbug covers on your mattresses?
YoungHouseLove says
Nope, we have an organic latex mattress though (wool encased + latex interior layers) so we hear pests naturally don’t like them very much, which is nice.
xo,
s
Laura says
What about the guest room mattress?
I just got a new mattress and I’m unsure if I should cover it with a bedbug or allergy cover.
YoungHouseLove says
Nah, we haven’t. We’re hoping our guests don’t have an issue (I don’t think they travel much on people, but can be in their luggage) – maybe we should add one though. You know we’re crazy about the whole better-safe-than-sorry thing!
xo,
s
ruthie says
This is INSANE! I would have been jumping for joy and peeing my pants right then and there. Love the insides too. I’m assuming these will get a coat of white paint??
YoungHouseLove says
We’re not sold on painting the insides since our new KraftMaid drawers from our first house’s kitchen had wood interiors (and we loved that they hid marks and scrapes a bit more). But we’ll definitely paint the exteriors and both sides of the doors!
xo,
s
ruthy says
what?! I’m super jealous…we’ve been going to the re-store twice a week and are looking for cabinets to use as a base for bookshelves we are wanting to build…but no luck. We did find cabinets last year to build the base of our bed though. But we spent about $100 on them all. http://discoverystreet.blogspot.com/2010/09/home-details.html
YoungHouseLove says
Awesome project! I love it!
xo,
s
Anne G. says
I have been trying for about 6 months to figure out what the heck to do with the office I share with my husband. Right now we have two big desks, but they don’t fit end-to-end along one wall. I LOVE your idea of cabinets with one long desk top. I am definitely going to try some version of this, so I’ll be checking back on your progress to hopefully get more tips and ideas for my own project. Thanks! You guys are da bomb. Now, if I could just find a screaming deal like you did on cabinets…. Can you send some of your luck my way? :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- luck is officially sent. Have fun!
xo,
s
Barb says
How is it that you are both so lucky all the time? I go into GOODWILL and think….I am going to be just like Sherry and find great buys……I leave frightened because the place is downright scarrrrrrrrryyyyy! I really have tried more than once. BOOKS are cheap there, I must say , but I use a Kindle…
Your cabinets are brilliant and will look so nice as your office desk. Carry on and can’t wait to see the finished product.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Barb! We definitely leave empty handed 99% of the time when it comes to Goodwill and the ReStore (it’s definitely hit or miss) and the Alexandria ReStore was waaaay bigger and better than ours in Richmond, so I think we just got lucky this time!
xo,
s
Stephie says
That’s funny you guys left Richmond to visit Alexandria this past weekend- I left Alexandria to visit Richmond! We visited a friend and went to the river- it was awesome. The best $10 I ever spent was on a dress I got at a thrift store- it was from Anthropologie, which I have never actually bought anything from there at full price. Why should I when I can find it for cheaper with a little digging? :)
April was in CT now CA says
Best. Deal. EVAR. Y’all are good deal guru’s! I can’t wait to see how the office progresses and how awesome will it be to have all that space to spread out since y’all work from home? Exciting!
My most recent deal(s) were some $300 Pottery Barn file cabinets on CL for $25 each, I still can’t believe it and they’re super heavy pieces. So for $50 smackers I’ve got the base for what will hopefully be my crafty/desk area if I could just figure out what the heck to use for the desk top area! I can’t seem to nail down (har, har) what I should go for. A hollow core door? A stainless top from Ikea? Maybe some butcher block? Have I mentioned I’m not a decision maker?? haha
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that sounds awesome! Send us a link when you’re done so we can check it out!
xo,
s
Pamela says
BAH! I feel your pain with the bed bugs! One apartment I lived in there was an infestation, not in my apartment itself but someone else, so they made the whole building go through the bedbug prevention process. They actually even kicked us all out of the place for a whole week while they sprayed each room twice. Talk about a pain. I am lucky that my place wasn’t infested, although doing all of that and dolling out all the cost for laundry and having to stay at a friends was a pain in the rear lol.
Nikki says
Nice work, guys! Crazy you were in Old Town– we live here and love it!
Stephanie H. says
Someone may have already mentioned it, but if you build the cabinets up, you could install kick step drawers. They would be great for extra printer paper and file folders; accessible but out of the way. They would also be great for craft or coloring supplies for Clara. When she’s a little older, she could easily access some coloring books and crayons on her own to occupy herself while you are working.
YoungHouseLove says
That would be super fancy! I love it!
xo,
s
LibraDesignEye says
Here’s a vote for the open box at the top – very attractive, and you could find a great wire basket to slide into the space for use – maybe for work in progress. Must admit I love having a specific place to put things I’m working on but don’t want to leave “out” when people come around. Terrific score, and whatever you do to them they will look great in the space.
Angela says
What a great fine! Maybe you need new chairs without arms?
YoungHouseLove says
We love those chairs so we’re psyched to make it work!
xo,
s
Kim Schoenherr says
I’d definitely add a little shelf to the top. You can never have too much storage! Plus, adding to the bottom just seems much more difficult, and putting a false drawer in seems like more than it’s worth.
OOH! You could put in a pull-out desk tray that’s as wide as the 2 middle cabinets. You know, kind of like an extension of the desk… but higher than a keyboard tray…
Like this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7gjZVlvsWhg/S961qrGR0-I/AAAAAAAAAIY/ttNfjD15Ifc/s1600/craft+desk2.jpg
At least, that’s what I’d do :)
YoungHouseLove says
Another fun suggestion!
xo,
s
Crystal says
I just got a toddler size jj cole bundleme for $3.73 (it was $4.97 but discounted and i didnt even know) till check out for my almost 2 yr old. I saw them for $50 online.
You could also make the ends or middle a cubbie instead of a drawer. Like the slot you used to hide the laptop in. It could raise it enough and might be less work.
Love you guys and I share you with all my friends. Thanks for introducing me to Pintrest too!
YoungHouseLove says
Another great idea! Thanks!
xo,
s
Crystal says
Opps.. Typo
heather says
My husband salvages so much stuff, you would never know. Recently a client gave is a 3k-6k solid cherry entertainment center because it didn’t go with her new home (in trade for a basket of veggies from our garden). He built our barn for roughly $600, and so far the foundation for our new addition has cost us under $200. I have no idea how he does it. At all. My best find has been a dress. $140.00 talbots dress for $10.00 at our local Mardens. I shrunk it in the wash a size or two and now it fits pretty damn good.
A.C. says
Wow what an awesome find! Yay, I’m so excited to see this desk come together now! I have a bad habit of wandering into Salvation Army stores and finding these huge, amazing wood curio cabinets or hutches or bookcases… but I live in a tiiiny studio apartment and have Zero. room for anything like that. My heart weeps for the ‘could-have-beens’ I’ve had to leave behind. I did find a really cool Tiffany-style lamp for $8 once though.
Might this desk-building adventure be the motivation to get some paint on those office walls…? ;)
Wom-mom Ethne says
First, poor little Elsa – all the bandaids. Second, in a breakdown, does this now replace your washer and dryer in ‘deepest discount ever’? Not sure about the value of these.
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, not sure! I think we saved around the same amount (500-ish dollars)??
xo,
s
Nora says
I bought a white ceramic dog for $4.99 at Urban. We also got wood and leather stools for our kitchen bar for $5 each at a yard sale. Over $6 total but $5 was still a pretty good deal.
Bed bugs give me the heebie-jeebies. I really want to go to Vegas but it’s bed bug central. My sister lives in Hoboken, NJ and they just got bed bug infested everywhere from bedbugs from NYC. :( So gross!!
Rachel says
That is awesome. We are slowly redoing our house and I am just waiting to catch a break like this for our remodel.
Carolyn says
I love the look of the built in desk, we’re probably going to do the same for our space. I’m curious what material are you going to use for your desktop? Painted wood? Butcher block? quartz? Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
We’re not quite sure yet. Still have some hunting to do for that!
xo,
s
joyjoy says
What an amazing find! I can’t wait to see what you end up doing with them.
My best cheap find was a book of rose prints. I picked it up at a garage sale with the intention of tearing out and framing the prints I liked best. I took it home and looked it up only to find out that it’s actually a limited edition, hand signed and numbered, commissioned watercolor collection of the royal roses of London. Needless to say, I didn’t tear any prints out. I guess it isn’t so much the best thing I ever found so much as it was just a lucky find, since it’s now sitting in my house unused because I have no idea what to do with it!
Megan @ Are We Wed Yet says
How do you guys find this stuff!! Sned some of the luck my way will you? I cannot wait to see the office with these!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Luck is officially sent! Haha. Have fun!
xo,
s