If you want something, go after it

Taking a break from the renovation aspect of this project, I wanted to interject a word of advice generally.
You never get anywhere in life unless you apply yourself and go after what you want or what you want to achieve. I do not believe there is anything in life you cannot achieve or believe in the word impossible.
You know, I did not grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. Hard work and going day after day toward what you set your mind to is one of the best lessons in life I ever learned.
Case in point, is a baby grand piano. I had it in my mind that I just had to have a baby grand piano. Just about everybody knows how expensive they are and not exactly something a lot of people are going to be able to afford. I certainly could not.
I went on craigslist and I looked and looked in 2013. My mind was set and I was determined somehow I was going to get a baby grand piano.
One day I came across an ad on craigslist for a 1916 Rosewood Kranich and Bach baby grand piano. It had been restored and was in great condition. The seller wanted $300 for the piano which of course was a steal. I did not have the money for it.
I contacted the seller and offered a trade. We talked and he came to my house WITH the piano one rainy day on a trailer on the back of his SUV. He had no idea what it was this trade was going to be and neither did I.
We wound up trading an antique corner cabinet I had bought and an old Star brand victrola for it. He had brought a friend with him and between those two and David and I we managed to get into the house and set up.

My Kranich and Bach Baby Grand

The seller became a friend. He was a nice guy and his girlfriend was nice as well. They were young. He had bought the piano at an auction for himself, but his girlfriend was not letting it come into the house lol. My lucky day.

While cleaning the duplex out we came across just about anything and everything you can ever imagine finding. Wound up that shortly after the seller contacted me and offered to trade me back my corner cabinet. He knew I liked it, but I liked the piano more of course.

I had bought the corner cabinet from a local antique dealer. It was from an old house. Had leaded glass arched door and was just what I saw in my mind. I got it and painted and fixed it up. I hated to part with it and was glad to have the chance to get it back.

Turned out one snowy day the seller came with his girlfriend and they "picked" at the duplex taking things that were really things we were going to throw away. Rusted old wash tub and things like that. He came that day again with the corner cabinet on the trailer and left with things he picked out to trade for it. They wound up using that old rusted wash tub this past Christmas season to put their Christmas tree in for a stand.
So my garnering my nerve and contacting the seller asking did he want to trade wound up with my baby grand which was appraised for $22,000.00. Never could have bought it otherwise and even if I could have would never have spent that much anyway.

Funny how things work out. I wound up talking to the antique dealer shortly after and she told me there was a matching corner cabinet. It was in pieces though as it was built around an old radiator pipe. Wound up trading her some old canning shelving in the basement for it. Have not had the time to get it together yet but I will.

As you will see as this blog progresses, we managed to put together quite a collection of antiques, furniture, china, crystal, silver, art, etc. People are always amazed when they see our house thinking we spent a fortune on the things we have.

I am not ashamed to pony up and tell them the house is decorated with things other people did not want. Almost everything came from yard sales, flea markets, church sales, auction, thrift stores (a lot of it DID come from thrift stores) and sometimes antique shops. We would lay something away and pay on time until we could pay in full and get it out of layaway.

From crystal chandeliers and everything in between, somehow we managed to focus and make it happen though I think a lot of people thought I was half crazy.

Never take your eyes or your mind off of what it is you want to achieve or what you want to go after. Not for a second. You cannot sit back and wish something into reality. Get out there and make it happen. You will have disappointments but that makes the successes that much sweeter believe you me.

I have been blessed and very fortunate. I do not believe in the word luck. I do not believe there is any such thing. 

We managed to make a home and decorate it just the way we wanted for pennies on the dollar. Just about every bit of it being something somebody else did not want and got rid of. I am proud of what we have managed to do with determination rather than dollars. It makes it mean that much more.