Living in a small home #5

Moving to the right of the kitchen/new workspace...the before shot:
See how this shelf (the one that's now behind the couch) used to take up an entire wall? It jusn't wasn't the most efficient use of space. To the left of that, was old hand-me-down desk that I used to keep my good china on. I was always worried about it, because the desk was really too flimsy to be holding such a heavy, fragile load.
Here's the same space now. Last year, I got a great deal on the solid wood french country china cabinet at an auction, and was able to almost fully pay for it with my birthday money. I love it:o) The other wood piece is actually being lent to me by my grandparents. (They bought it at the same auction where I got my cabinet, and haven't been able to transport it back to their home in OH yet. I'll be happy to house it for them as long as they let me!:o) These two pieces have really helped me expand my VERY limited kitchen storage space.

If you're ever in need of nice furniture pieces, I highly recommend checking out local auctions. I don't know if they're good everywhere, but the one by our house is AWESOME. (To give you an idea...here's how we paid for our china cabinet: We got it for $350, as well as a vintage corner cabinet for $150. We resold the corner cabinet on Craigslist.org for $275 cash, and sold the old flimsy desk where the china used to live for $35. So that's $350 - $160 profit = $190, which my birthday money from generous family members nearly covered. Believe me, I had been looking for a nice china cabinet for a couple of years, and most of them are well above $1000. Since there was no way I was paying that, I was pretty motivated to get creative to get what I wanted:o) If you attempt something like this, though, definitely do your research and have a good understanding of what the pieces you're considering are worth in different markets!