House Guest // Raiana Schwenker

I can't lie to you guys. Part of me wanted to wait a week before posting this so I could have first dibs on all of the Craigers gorgeousness today's house guest found in my city. (To be fair, I've made a move on a few of these with no luck.) Let it be known that Raiana is as good as the rest of the Craigslist champs, and she's kind enough to be sharing her dirty little secrets. Woop!

If you aren't already familiar, I highly recommend stopping in to see Raiana. Maybe you recognize her little feature on Sadie & Stella that went viral on Pinterest? Girl has crazy good taste! The perfect balance of traditional, glam and edgy. And as a fellow lover of vintage goods, sic barware, brass, and blue and white china, she had me hooked in an instant. (I mean, are you kidding me with this crop??)

I digress. Let's hear from Raiana.

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You guys, I am so excited that Tobe asked me to be her House Guest! We have learned that we have a lot in common, especially design wise. One thing I know we share, and I am sure share with all of you - is that we want high style, but without the high price tag. More specifically, we wan't high end vintage that is unique, well made, and gorgeous. Craigslist is a goldmine for these pieces, and finding that one amazing piece you have been hunting for can seriously feel like winning the lottery. The only problem is that sometimes your odds are about the same. However there are definitely some tips and tricks to make using craigslist a bit easier, and help you weed out the garbage to find the treasure. Here are some of my tips and favourite keywords:

   

One of the biggest things that will aid in your success on craigslist is having the patience to go through every page of ads[ and then through them all again after simply adding an 's' to the end of that keyword ;) ]. It's also beneficial to have a trained eye - practice, learn furniture styles, periods, finishes, manufacturers, designers...etc. Those skills are probably what makes certain people seem to have more luck than others. It's not always luck, usually time and experience [and a little crazy passion :)]. I have noticed I can go through ads extremely quickly, and zero in on the good ones when they come up - its just taken practice and experience. Same goes for flea markets and antique sales, eventually your eye is trained to skim quickly and narrow in on the treasure.

 

There are a ton of variations, and if you have the time and patience it pays to try them all. For example - sofa, couch, sectional, settee. Sofa table, console table, entryway table, accent table. Try 'highback' , and then try 'high back'. In the tips graphic I mentioned trying to anticipate how someone with no knowledge of what they have would describe their item. For example I often see brass chair being advertised as 'gold metal'. I found a pair of these, listed as 'yellow metal cottage chairs or good for a student house' [im effing serious people.] So try and dumb your search terms down a bit sometimes, and even downright mangle the spelling of a word and you can sometimes hit the jackpot - because who else would think to search for shandeleere?

 

And just for fun I hit up Tobe's local CL, or maybe just for self inflicted torture...because now i'm in physical pain that I can go pick some of these items up.

 

[brass coffee table here | rare spun fiberglass patio set here |upholstered arm chairs that I am just dying over and need here | brass lamps here ]   [bamboo armoire here | x base cast iron patio set here |vintage sofa here | brass mirror top console table here ]   [bamboo desk here | chinoiserie vintage loveseat which I just think could be the greatest here | milo style brass etageres here | mirrored deco dresser here]   [set of three campaign pieces that will be insane when cleaned and painted here |bamboo and burlwood side table here | milo baughman for thayer coggin sofa here | burlwood pedestals that I would buy in a heartbeat here]

 

Do you guys have any other tips for how you find the best stuff on CL? Whats the most amazing thing you have ever found on craigslist?

I hope this was helpful! Have a great day xox