Two Things We’re Glad We Didn’t Buy Full Price

*Sigh*  This is a sad tale about a rug and a table and also, let it be a cautionary one.

If you follow along with us on Instagram, you may have seen the story I posted a couple of weeks ago about the $20 mid-century modern table that I scored at my fave, Dirt Cheap.  Ever since I spotted this table:

…a Project 62 beauty only sold at Target, I craved it.  Those legs had me at first click.  We bought our current dining room table and chair set at a thrift store shortly after we were married 10 years ago for $100 and it was the price we loved, not so much the design.  But, it served us well and is still going strong but gosh, a girl can dream about better, right?  At $400, the Project 62 table wasn’t in our budget so I just said a prayer that one would trickle in to Dirt Cheap in the future and kept my eyes peeled there.  And guess what?  One did.  Actually, they got six.  (For those of you not fortunate enough to have a Dirt Cheap by you, they sell lots of things from lots of retailers and one of those retailers is Target.  The Target stuff they sell is new – clearanced stuff that never sold, damaged stuff, and customer returns.  In one word, it’s amazing.)  Anyway, they had six of these tables and they were all pretty beat up on top.  Scratched, stained, dented…usable but very imperfect.  They had them marked down to 50% off the original price.  So, $200.  Still too much for us, especially in the condition they were in.  Our plan was to scrap the top and make something better.  Anthony and I made a deal to ourselves that we’d watch them and grab one if they ever came down to $30-40.  Honestly, I figured they’d get gobbled up long before they ever got that low but once again, a girl can dream.

So the first time I spotted them at Dirt Cheap was about two months ago.  I go there almost once a week and you bet your bottom buck, I counted how many were left.  A month ago, one got away and there were five.  And there were five up until a couple of weeks ago.  The way that pricing works at Dirt Cheap is by percentage…things come in and they’re marked anywhere from 30-50% off the original price right off the bat.  Then, what doesn’t sell gets marked off by higher percentages every so often.  I’ve scored a few things there for 90% off so I was just waiting for that number to reach those tables.  Well it wasn’t, at least not fast enough, and so I casually asked one day how much they’d give me one for considering they were still there and had little interest.  Well apparently, a girl with four small kids and a husband looks like she needs more than one (slash they were really desperate to get rid of them and free the space) because they told me I could have one for $50 or all five for $100.  Ha!  What would you do? 

Here’s the sitch swirling around at this point in my life…we were moving in two weeks.  Two weeks.  Moving.  Into a small house just like the small house we’re currently in.  A small amount of room for one table much less five.  Anthony.  If I took all five he might go into cardiac arrest.  But $50 is over my max for these tables in the condition they were in.  So.  Many.  Thoughts.  Meanwhile, my kids are getting more and more restless and the guy in charge (the one who offered me the deal) strikes up a conversation about Catholicism with me and we start talking about Mary (he thought we Catholics worshipped her, HA, never heard that one before) and finally, I cave.  “Shoot, my husband is going to freak out but I’ll take all five.”  Signed, sealed, and not delivered…”Uh, sweets, you have to drive to Dirt Cheap and pick up five tables for me.”  (Then sticks her head in the ground.) 

Anyway, in the end, the four that I’m not using were sold and so, in the end, I paid $22 for ours.  (The other four were bought from me and are going to be fixed up and sold to financially support our church’s mission trip to Guatemala this summer.  So, if you’re in Mobile and you want one of these table in like-new condition with a better top for $150-200, email me!)

And, I love it BUT I would never pay what Target is asking for it.  I don’t even think I’d pay more than $200.  So, if you’ve spotted this table too and can’t stop thinking about it, well, stop.  It’s really sturdy and the bottom is wood (Anthony didn’t believe me when I told him that but Target’s site says so…) but on top of being pretty easily scratched and dented, the MDF top has stained soooo bad.  I mean, it was already stained but Gianna got a little too excited while coloring a piece of paper with “washable” markers last week and…I can’t get it off.
 
Mind you, I haven’t tried anything but a sponge and dish soap (because you’d think that would be good enough for a “washable” label, right?) but since we’re planning on building a new top for the table, I’m not that concerned.  However, if I had paid full price for this thing, I’d be pretty ticked.  Actually, I was looking on Target’s website under the customer questions and a couple of the most recent questions are about the cleaning qualities of the table and Target has yet to answer…
 

Also, one of the reviewers stated that hers stained after her kids got to it too.  Shoot.  You’d think it’d be sealed with something pretty good being whtie and all but not this one.  Find yourself another table folks or find one for cheap and remake the top.  Then it’ll be worth asking price.

Second sad tale – our bedroom rug.  You might recall I snatched this rug up also at Dirt Cheap one fine day for $20 after it sat there for weeks on end, dirty as all get out, without a buyer.  I cleaned ‘er up and we lavished in the truly marvelous comfort she brought to our feet…for about three months.  This is right after we got it and I cleaned it:

And this was yesterday:

After that three-month mark, I noticed it was really matted down along the side we walked the most.  This is after only three months!

It might be hard to tell how matted it is but look at this picture of the part of the rug under our bed; the part that doesn’t get walked on:
It’s super soft and super plush…because it’s never walked on.  Imagine that?  Walking on a rug…

It’s sold on a few different sites - Rugs USA, Houzz, Overstock – and has mainly five-star ratings on each site.  But, BUT, if you read the two and three-star ratings from the people who wrote their reviews after living with it for awhile, you’ll find out how it’s stood the test of time and foot traffic.  That is to say, not well.  Womp, womp.  Once again, if I had paid the $350-500 it’s being sold for on those sites, I’d be pretty upset.  Toilet, meet my cash.  I mean, I guess it’s not a complete and total waste of moolah because it’s still aesthetically pleasing.  I’m just glad I didn’t pay full-price.

The sad thing is, I’ve seen this rug get glowing reviews on many a blogger’s blog.  Of course things get glowing reviews when they’re brand new, I know.  That’s the tough part about doing product reviews and one of the main reasons why I don’t do them anymore here on Bean In Love.  You can’t really tell if a product is good until it’s stood the test of time.  Which is also why, when reading reviews of items before buying them (we are HUGE advocates of reading allllll the “verified buyer” reviews on retail sites), pay attention to those reviews that were written by people who owned the product for awhile.  I don’t usually listen to podcasts but last week I had a free hour and so I tuned into Young House Love and they talked about reviews.  One tip they gave, which I thoughts was solid gold, is to read all of the two, three, and four-star reviews.  The five and one-star reviews are good but usually written by the most passionate people and sometimes, as we all know, emotions can be extremem and only focus on the good or bad, not pros and cons.  Also, some companies can get around the “verified buyer” reviews by giving products to people to review and then having those people write a “verified buyer” five-star review.  Boo.  So, stick to those two to fours.  ;)

Anyway, we are moving.  Tomorrow.  I really should be planning and packing and not sitting and writing.  Off I go!  Next time I hit publish, I’ll be hitting it from our new rental and hopefully have just painted some kitchen cabinets or something.  :)

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Have you ever been thankful you didn’t buy something full price?  Or have you ever bought something full price that you regretted later?  Spill all the FYI details!