My daughter, Emily, asked me if I would consider driving to Fraser, Colorado for a few days to help her furnish a 4-bedroom townhouse she wanted to move into. I called my sister, Sandy, and asked her if she wanted to join me. She got a thumbs up from her family and took vacation days from work. The road trip to Fraser began. Game on!
We left Wisconsin on a Wednesday and arrived in CO the next day. We stopped at Winter Park Ski Area to stretch our legs and visit Emily who was working.
After the fun, we spent hours on Craigslist, searching for the right furniture, bookcases, table and chairs; all the things one needs when setting up house. Many phone calls, left messages, emails, and call backs later, we had our plan. Emily made a schedule and a route.
Let me tell you right here and now, it was a day unlike any other I have lived. Some of the fun was hanging out with Emily and Sandy the whole time. Some of the fun was getting to know the people selling their treasures: some were moving, some were down-sizing, some were starting families and had to simplify. By the time we were loading our purchases, they knew our story too. It was like they were now our friends. In some weird way, we wanted to stay in touch. We didn’t though. We did have this brilliant idea to take a picture of everything we bought with the owner. It makes for a great story. They loved being part of Emily’s new start.
Our plan was to purchase on Friday and pick up on Saturday. We used GPS to get us around Denver (impossible without it) and saw the same street names many times as we spent the next 7 hours crisscrossing Denver. We were in basements, back yards, garages, storage units, and living rooms. How it all came together was remarkable and something we never could have predicted. So, are you ready? Here we go!
Friday morning, Sandy, Emily and I headed for Denver with a list a mile long. We parked our car at the U-Haul place and got a few instructions on how to drive the thing. Here’s the nice young man that trusted us with his vehicle.
Buy #1: the Craft Buffet. Emily is a crafter too. She has lots of gadgets, stamps, wire, beads, paper, tools, etc. All of it has to be organized. She wanted something to store all her scrapping things. We found the answer in this little unit that Jenny was selling. If fit nicely next to the stairway. It holds almost everything...almost. Emily had to buy the black unit to store all her paper.
Buy #2: The Dining Room Table. Melissa had been 'stood up' 6 times by the time we called. She was overjoyed when we actually showed up. She showed us the dining room set: a cherry wood table. (It can expand to seat 10!) The 6 chairs were in good condition and it would be easy to reupholster the seat cushions, (which we did in black). Don't they look fab! The pictures on the wall? We bought a world map and cut it in half, then framed it. Kayla, Emily's roommate, chose a few of her favorite places she visited while travelling in Europe to frame. It came together really great!
Buy #3: the Chair! Emily liked this overstuffed chair and ottoman from the start. It was a neutral color, oh so comfy and a good price. tammy and Josh were moving to Florida and didn't have room for it anymore. It was an easy decision. We had our accent chair.
Buy #4: the Matching Lighted Bookcases with glass shelves. We thought they would look fantastic on either side of the fireplace. (Barbara recognized our 608 area code as she lived in LaCrosse WI for 12 years; “love the people, hate the winters”). She uncovered a rocking, swivel, newly upholstered chair...really nice looking. We came to the conclusion that we wanted this chair as the accent chair if we could get the matching sofa to the overstuffed chair and ottoman. A call to Josh and the matching sofa was removed from their moving van in the nick of time and placed in their garage for us. How awesome! We had our living room furniture! (Oh, we ended up not using the bookcases...they went to the local thrift store for some other lucky soul.)
Buy #5: The Slate Coffee Table and End Tables. Adrienne wanted to sell her husbands really nice slate coffee table. Baby-on-the-way meant these pieces had to go. They were made of slate squares that fit into a black iron grid. Loved the colors in the slate: blues, grays, tans. They looked sophisticated and brought in a touch of color. Adrienne wasn't around for pick-up, so her husband (we'll call him Slate) gave us a hand. VOILA!! We put them all together! This is Emily's living room with the sofa and chair, the swivel accent chair and the coffee table. Isn't it cozy?!!
Buy #6: The Cherrywood Queen Headboard and Footboard. Okay, this was for the guest bedroom, which my husband and I would be using when we came for a visit. This bedroom set was high quality and I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. Julia didn't need it anymore and was storing it in her garage. It was classy. It was well-built. It was simple. It came with a side table that could easily be used for a dresser.
Buy #7: The Estate Sale. We happened across many garage sales that we couldn't go to because of our strict schedule, but there was this one estate sale that we just had to visit. It had so much potential - a whole house of potential! We found Emily's future double bed here (frame, headboard, mattress and boxsprings.). We also bought an antique mirror with a pretty ornate frame. Bonnie, who was running the sale gave us a plate of homemade cookies as she peeked in the back of the U-Haul to truly believe our story. Aren't people nice!!!?
Once everything was picked up and packed up, our U-Haul was full, with no room to spare. Emily drove up over Berthoud Pass like a pro, I was shot-gun; Sandy followed in the car. Denver was hot and sunny all day with temps in the 90’s. We lucked out weather wise. When we drove over the pass it began to mist and we witnessed the most spectacular double rainbow I have ever seen. It was epic! It was dancing on this green backdrop of lodge-pole pines and spruce trees. We stopped to take it all in! 
Well, that’s the story. Thanks for making it all the way to the end. While I have been hunting for bargains at garage sales for many years, this adventure was unique in that we did it all in 72 hours! We did a lot of diy to make it all work together: painted headboards, side tables, and dressers. We thrifted for artwork, dishes, decorations. We bought some things new: stools, pillows, and bedding. It was a really fun adventure that produced a lovely place to live. Amen to that.
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