The Steal of the Century

Go ahead, call the bargain-find police on us. I dare you. Because on Saturday morning, we snagged the deal of the year at the auction. Bold statement, yes. But, believe it.

Mama H finally got here (!!) late Friday night and the first thing on our to-do list - yes, there is a list - was to hit up the auction on Saturday morning.

When we walked into the back room, I saw this beautiful sight:

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White chairs? That's it?

Yes, that's it.

We've been searching for new dining room chairs. We'll briefly ignore the fact that we don't yet have the pedestal dining table for the chairs. That's being ordered post-kitchen renovation. (I'm so practical.) I knew it would be difficult / near impossible to find matching wooden chairs for the table. So I'd been toying with the idea of slipcovered chairs instead. We all know the usual places you can find these: just about everywhere. But I wasn't quite prepared to pay full retail for a seemingly basic piece of furniture.

So imagine my surprise when I flipped the chair over and saw this tag:

HA! Not that I'm a brand snob, but yes, the C&B chairs were on my shortlist when shopping around. And now I've found them at the auction? You're joking.

Thanks to the trusty iPhone, we pulled up the C&B website for to have a look at the chairs. On sale for $169.99. And I need 6?

Cue Mr. B and his amazing bidding skills. (Remember the Pansy Painting?) We agreed a price limit and then he was off.

Bidding started at $10. No bites. Then $5. No bites. Then $2. Great, we'll start there. Mr. B went back and forth with some guy until $6. And then the other bidder backed out.

Say what?

Yes, the other bidder backed out.

And Mr. B won the chairs. 

FOR $6 A CHAIR 

For a whopping total of $42.80 (sales tax and commission included) we became the proud owners of a set of 6 gently used Crate and Barrel slipcovered dining chairs.

Granted, they need new slipcovers. But for what we saved we could buy a set of slipcovers for every season. Plus a spare.