My addiction: Surplus Auctions

When I started at the University I had to go to Surplus to get some furniture for my office. While there I noticed a beautiful antique piano. The surplus guy told me to come back for the auction. Apparently someone decides when something is no longer worthy of university use, and they auction it off to the highest bidder. So Charlie and I went back for the piano and ended up with a desk and a few other miscellaneous items -- and we've been attending the quarterly auctions since.

I've furnished the living room in auction finds:


The chair was $2. Probably because it was upholstered in orange pleather and had copper-colored legs. The couches were $7 and $1. They're sleeper sofas so they weren't fun to move, but easy to reupholster. Here is a before:

Obviously it's during my progress, but you can see the previous fabric. Samantha was afraid of a thunderstorm so she hopped right in!

This is the piano that started it all. Moving it and tuning it cost more than the piano itself, and we had to cut part of a wall down to get it in the house. Well worth it, the piano turned 100 this year. The chairs to the left are also auction finds, $2 for both.