Something Exciting Is Happening – Two New “Projects!”

October 27, 2015 by Courtney 9 Comments

(The other day, I revealed my past life as a project manager of multi-million-dollar IT projects.)

I love projects, no matter what they are.  EVERYTHING MUST BE A PROJECT!

I used to volunteer for an organization in town and took their main fundraiser from barely breaking even, to bringing in $35,000 annually – and it was just a “beer in the park” event.  All of that money was donated to local charities – ALL OF IT.  I headed up a 5K fundraiser for a friend with cancer several years ago to raise money to pay their medical bills – and that is probably still my favorite project to date.  We raised $12.000 for the family, and they needed it, and it made us all feel good.  I wish all projects could benefit someone in some way like that.  It’s so much more fun when you’re raising money for someone or something rather than reporting to CIO’s and CFO’s on projects gone awry because of reduced funding, staffing, and time but ever-expanding scope.  UGH.  (This is why I don’t write about my past life – oh the frustration!)

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Hottie’s parents are moving – downsizing from a massive, beautiful property backing to a forest… to a townhouse.  Yeah, it’s bittersweet for them, and for us.  They’re doing it, “because it’s the right thing to do,” not because they really want to.  Their property is an 8-hour a day job because of my MIL’s insane gardening skills (she’s amazing!) and just the sheer size of the land.  For a moment I thought it would be fun to buy it for the land/lot, but then I remembered how much work it would be.

They are getting rid of lots of things.  That’s the whole purpose of the move.  Hottie’s grandma passed away almost 2 years ago and the work put on my MIL to get the house ready for sale was incredible.  She swore then that she would not do that to any of her kids (thank you, MIL!), and she is standing firm on that.  This means there are lots of things that they want to take to Goo.dwill or S.alva.tion Ar.my.

STOP!

You can imagine what came out of my mouth when they told me that they’re donating everything.

“I will sell it.  Show it to me.”

Holy SHIT.

Their garage was FULL of vintage stuff – like truly vintage, highly desirable stuff.  Their house is stocked with vintage things too, but they’re leaving them there for the time being for staging the house to sell.  The big gem… well the 4 big gems… vintage “tanker” steel office credenzas/shelves.  And not in grey, not in army green.  But in TEAL.

I’m no antique enthusiast, but from what I’ve seen on the FB swaps in the 10 months I’ve been active on them, is that this stuff goes FAST and not cheap.  I told my FIL that I would take care of posting these, collecting the money, and all he has to do is set them out for people to pick up at a certain time.  He agreed but said he wouldn’t take the money, but Hottie and I already know how to force that on them – I refuse to profit from their items.  I am just glad to have them in my “claim” so that they’re not given away for free to someone who would sell them for a HUGE profit.

I started researching this and refinished pieces sell for $800-$1500.  In this condition, I think I could sell them for $150-$400 a piece (that last one is a highly, highly sought after piece).  I am so excited, but of course, I need to find the buyers!  Even if I have to sell them for $100 a piece (which is 100% doable), that’s $300 for my in-laws!  Add that to the table and chair set I’ll sell of theirs for $100-$150, the retro office swivel chairs for $30-$50 a piece, etc. ad nauseam and we will have a pretty awesome gift card for them when this is all said and done.  I am so excited!

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So in the excitement of all of this, I decided that my favorite piece is NOT going up for sale… it’s going in Bryson’s big kid “things that go” room.  The room will have teal, so this will fit in great!  Hottie’s lucky I’m not abandoning the nursery furniture all together and filling it up with the cabinets above.  HA!  This is the piece we’re keeping:

When I saw it in the garage, I gasped out loud and immediately wanted to keep it.  Now I get to  🙂  I can’t get it home soon enough!

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I will spend this coming weekend measuring, taking better photos, inventorying more things, etc. and I cannot wait!  There will be a spreadsheet involved outside of my normal “Items for sale” tracking sheet I’ve been using for my own stuff (I’m about to cross $6,200 in sales since mid-January!).  I have a lot more research to do before I post anything, but all of it’s fun!  I am in no hurry since I know it will sell fast, and then my project will be done.  I am always sad to complete a fun project.

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But WAIT!  I said I have two new projects on my hands!

Part of my in-laws’ downsizing is getting rid of exercise equipment that is in terrific shape.  They asked if we want it, and we said YES.  A dream is coming true for us… we will have a COMPLETE HOME GYM!  Of course, now we need to move the sofa sleeper out of the guest room that I worked so hard to find the perfect drapes for, but … WE’RE GETTING A COMPLETE HOME GYM!  Our guests can sleep in the theater room – screw ’em.  HA!  (As Hottie pointed out, the kids will love having the sofa sleeper in there for sleepovers, and we have overnight guests so rarely, that it’s not an issue.)

We already have the treadmill (from my Grandpa – and that thing still purrs like a kitten!), but we’re getting a Life F.it.ness X3 elliptical cross trainer (retailing for $2,000 today) and a HOIST Prime 8 weight machine ($1,000 retail, it appears).  Our entire home gym will have only cost us $80 for the mats that are under the treadmill (FIL has the mats for the new stuff).  Hottie wants to put mirrors up and hooks to hold our resistance bands, etc.  I have race photos framed that I haven’t put up yet, so I’m excited to do that.  It’s going to be a bona fide workout room!  The only downside is that there will not be room for the kickboxing bag or space to do workout videos.  But… that’s OK.  (Jos, I’m still thinking on PiYo… a friend offered to sell me her DVDs…)

This is going to be a lot of work.  Moving that sofa sleeper out will be hard – getting it in there was awful and we said we’d sell it with the house.  HA HA – guess not!  Making this all fit will be tricky but it’s do-able.  Getting the mirrors up will be a chore, but fun.  Hanging the old race photos and memorabilia will truly be a mini-dream come true for me!  I just cannot believe it!

I can’t wait!