I used to think my life was “normal” and that my daily encounters were typical things that happened to not only myself, but to everyone. It never occurred to me that my life wasn’t “normal” until I began to hear on a weekly (and sometimes daily) basis, that I should have my own reality show (and I’m pretty sure that isn’t necessarily a compliment). In summary, my life as far back as I can remember it has been full of “what in the world” “what are the odds” and “never in a million years” responses, and my master bedroom headboard purchase was no exception.
Rewind to 8 weeks ago…
I had decided I was finally ready to tackle the final room in my house (my master bedroom) that needed a transformation to showcase my current decor style that would better represent who I am and what I love, so I began thinking about what I wanted my room redo to look like and incorporate. I wasn’t in a hurry at the time to get the room done and knew when I found “the” headboard, I would know it was the one and would design the rest of the room around it. I have come to learn that “normal” people deciding on a new headboard would go to a local furniture store in search of their dream headboard or perhaps order one online. That sounds terribly boring to me and in fact…it’s not even something that had crossed my mind or I had considered. In my mind, it was obvious that I would be looking through junk stores and on the side of the road for my dream headboard, not because of expense (because at the end of this story…I certainly paid a decent amount for my headboard) but for the thrill of the hunt. It is so much more exciting to search for weeks for something unique and amazing that no one else has. I wasn’t looking for a generic headboard, I was on a mission for a statement piece. After about a week of hunting, I found “the” headboard. As soon as I pulled up to it, I knew it was the one. There it was…laying in overgrown grass, with weeds growing through it right on top of an ant pile that had made it their habitat. Dreamy right???
After an extended period of time I find someone in the nearby junk store and inquire about the bed. His exact response (cant make this stuff up folks) was “Oh I’m sorry…that’s not for sale. I originally had $700 on it, but the Lord hasn’t told me I could part with it yet, so I can’t sell it.” My response was something like “I’m sorry…what? It’s laying in grass in the elements of the weather, covered in ants, the original glass arched window in it has now been broken and it’s deteriorating everyday that it continues to sit in these conditions. What do you mean you won’t sell it?” He repeated his stance and I mean seriously…how can I argue with that?? I have bought from this man before and am aware of his very tight financial position. I knew he was already a month behind on his rent and desperately needs the money from this sale, yet I’ve been down the “it’s not for sale” road with him many times before and unless he feels like the Lord wants him to sell it (logical or not) it ain’t happening. I let him know, I’m ready whenever he decides to sell it and he knows how to get a hold of me and left but I thought about that headboard everyday for the next few weeks to come.
A couple of weeks later, I visit him again and he’s still not ready to sell it. I’m convinced this headboard is destined to be mine and I’m not in a rush and can wait. And besides, I haven’t even told my husband about it or showed him a picture yet because there’s no sense in doing that until the darn thing is “for sale” anyways.
Last week…
I get an email that a very popular blogger wants to do a home tour of my home in her blog! My first thought is how super excited and honored I am for the opportunity. My 2nd thought was “oh crap…my master bedroom”. I had 48 hours to get my house ready for a photo shoot. I should probably have had my head examined for agreeing to take this opportunity considering my house is still under construction from the water leak and I have no ceiling in my kitchen as well a few other areas of my home, but pics of my master bedroom are pretty much a requirement for this blog and it’s a rare opportunity I may never get again, so I agree and make another trip down to renegotiate this headboard transaction. He still isn’t ready to sell it, even after I offer him $300 OVER his asking price, so I explained to him that one way or another I was going home with a new headboard from somewhere today because of my time crunch and he offers a solution. “How about you borrow the headboard for the photo shoot and I can have more time to pray on if I can sell it or not”. I quickly calculate how ridiculously heavy this thing is to move (not once but twice because I’d have to return it), the level of annoyance or possible anger from my husband when I explain the commitment I’ve made to return it the very next day so it can go back to laying in the grass on the side of a highway and the fact that it’s 6 pm the night before the photo shoot and I haven’t purchased bedding or even begun to decorate this room and realize…clearly, my options were limited, so I agreed and then casually asked my husband to swing by on his way home to pick it up. I managed to leave out the fact that it’s covered in ants and all of the glass has broken out of it so we will need to finish breaking off the remaining glass in order to not wind up with a severed artery while trying to move this thing into our house. When my husband goes to pick it up and they stand it up the owner is overcome with joy and asks my husband to stay right there so he can take a picture of what he saw.
Well obviously the Lord wants you to sell this headboard to me;) He wants you to catch up on your rent and I would be able to get this beauty out of the outdoor elements and it would be well cared for in my home. This is obviously a no brainer, but this seller can’t be reasoned with. We completely disassembled the headboard, cleaned out all of the ants, put it back together and safely got it home. I’m -150% (yes that’s a negative) stronger than I need to be to lift my end and we don’t have a single dolly at the house to move this on because they are all at the store. To further complicate matters…it won’t fit in the 1st 2 doorways we try to move it in because it’s a custom built item. We’ve moved quite a bit of furniture in very unpleasant conditions at this point in my career, so this isn’t anything new to us. We’ve come up with some “hacks” along the way…one being skateboards. When you are in absence of a dolly, borrow your kids skateboards and it’ll get the job done, not as smoothly…but it works.
The photo shoot went perfectly but in the pit of my stomach all I could think about was the nightmare that I faced the next day of undoing everything we did all day to get this room put together so I could return it, so I worked on my “argument” all night in hopes I am able to convince this man to sell me the headboard before we return it the next evening. I made my way to his shop the next morning prepared with all of my valid points on why he should sell it to me. I made sure he understood, that once we returned it…there is no way I would be able to buy it in the future if he changed his mind (without getting a divorce that is) and that it was his last chance to sell it to me for my above price offer. As I began to argue my case and try to get him to look at this logically, I realized…he’s not even putting up the battle with me today, that he had on my prior visits. He smiled and looked at me and said “I will sell you the headboard. Ever since your husband picked it up and I saw the cross through the opening, I’ve felt at peace about you owning it and have prayed on it many times and feel that the Lord is in agreement that you should have it and I can part with it now”. HALLELUJAH Praise the Lord!!! I’ve never been so relieved in my life! I’ve also never worked so hard on begging someone to sell me something either. I’m glad this is the final room redo I need done in my house, because I’m exhausted from the experience, but I do love my new headboard 🙂
