Tuesday's customer inspiration - my computer room!

Before I share photos from my home of some of the fabulous furniture I've purchased from Jubilee Furniture - I need to tell you about this past weekend at the store.

Remember how WGN TV aired a segment on the store last Monday? Well, I'm here to tell you the power of the press is alive and well! We had a record number of customers in the store this past Friday and Saturday which translated into record sales of $11,460! Yes, you read that correctly - we sold over $11,000 worth of used furniture this past weekend. And the common refrain when asked, "how'd ya hear about us?" was "the WGN broadcast." So, to Marcus Leshock and WGN - THANK YOU! And if you missed the 3 minute segment, scroll down to my WGN post and listen and watch (I don't sound too much like an idiot *smile*).

I really thought my post last Tuesday was so pathetic (my brother-in-law sitting in a recliner they purchased from the store - not that my brother-in-law is pathetic - but it's pathetic that I have to ask family members to send me photos for my Tuesday customer inspiration post!), but apparently none of you who have purchased wonderful things from the store and own, and know how to operate, digital cameras thought it was pathetic enough so you felt guilty and decided to send me your photos!

So, until this Tuesday customer inspiration thing takes off - or - we go through my entire house and I have nothing left to show you and I give up on Tuesday customer inspiration - we'll continue through my house.

With that warm welcome, can't you hardly wait to continue?!

This morning before leaving for work, I snapped a bunch of photos of the room we call the computer room - just in case no one emailed me photos. The computer room got its name because it's where we keep....our computer. It's sort of like when my kids were little and had stuffed animals with super creative names like Bunny and Birdie (two of their favorites). There's something to be said about easy-to-remember names like Bunny and Birdie when you're sleep deprived and most of your clothing has spit-up stains on 'em. Ahhh, good times!

Anyway - as you walk into this room in our lower level (remember my house is a split-level) you immediately see a nice wing back chair which was purchased from Jubilee Furniture - as was the side table next to it and even the coaster on the side table! Don't you want to sit down and relax?

This cool trunk is also from the furniture store as is the red shaded floor lamp.

I just recently purchased this table lamp from the store after another desk lamp we had died.

Most of the furniture in the room is from IKEA and there's nothing from Jubilee in either of these photos, but I wanted to let you see the rest of the room.

This artwork is just a framed print - and though it's hard to see - it's a path meandering through some woods (I love roads/paths/streams leading off somewhere - makes me want to continue on and see whatever amazing things are just around the bend). There's something about the chick that was too sweet for me not to buy it!

So that, dear reader, is a look at my computer room!

I would love to see how some of the things you've purchased from Jubilee Furniture look in your home and you can email me (sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org) with your photos! Please?

Blessings!

Tuesday's customer inspiration - Peggy and Jim's amazing recliner!

Hey! Thanks for stopping by to see our weekly customer inspiration installment! Several weeks ago my sister, Peggy, emailed me with the subject line "if you're desperate..." and included a couple of photos of a fantastic recliner she and her husband, Jim, purchased from the store about a year ago (is that when you bought it, Peggy?). Guess what? I'm desperate. So, thank you, Peggy and Jim, for allowing me to show off your amazing looking - and more importantly if you ask Jim - super comfortable recliner which is positioned by the front windows in their pretty country living room!



I'm not sure anyone else in the family is allowed to sit in this recliner!

If you think Jim looks familiar and you attended Lake Park High School or Elmhurst College - you're correct - it's the same Jim! Though retired from Lake Park for a number of years now, Jim still teaches at Elmhurst College.

Again, thanks to Peggy and Jim for allowing us to see how yet another wonderful Jubilee Furniture piece of furniture looks outside of the dreary warehouse and inside a lovely home!

If you've purchased something from the store and are willing to take photos of how the item/items looks/look inside your home and can email me (sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org) - I can stop pestering my family - which would be wonderful and they would all be very grateful!

I'll write another post tomorrow with a link to a segment WGN TV did on Jubilee Furniture on Friday which aired on the 5:00 p.m. news last night - so please stop by again!

Enjoy these last few gorgeous days of fall, dear reader!

Blessings!

Tuesday's customer inspiration - a day late - welcome to Kim and Scott's wonderful home!

Good morning and thanks for coming back to take a look at Kim and Scott's amazing Chicago apartment! Though Kim and Scott have only purchase two pieces from Jubilee Furniture (a lamp and a filing cabinet) their whole apartment is well worth the time to virtually wander through it. They have a fabulous website (http://www.yellowbrickhome.com/) chocked full of thrift store finds they've turned into masterpieces as well as great posts on how they've turned their 650 square foot apartment into a gorgeous, color-filled, I-wish-I-lived-there home for themselves; their dog, Jack; and two kitties, Maddie and Libby. Sigh. Envy.

The first time I met Kim and Scott was several months ago when they stopped in and purchased this great table lamp. Kim writes, "We love the design and shape, and we think it fits pretty well in our living room."


(don't you love the orange elephant too?!)

Then in mid-September I got an email from Kim with this subject line, "Jubilee to the rescue?" in which she asked about our current filing cabinet inventory since she needed a specific size. I was happy to measure and email back with a description and photos of what we had available (and am happy to do the same for anyone, just call 630.337.1467 or email sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org). Scott stopped in the following Friday to see for himself if any of the couple we had that met their size requirements would work and - yay! - one did.



The one Kim and Scott selected was donated from an area design firm and wasn't your typical two-drawers-for-hanging-files filing cabinet, yet was perfect for their needs. I love how organized each drawer is! It makes my heart go pitty-pat!

Kim writes, "We heart Jubilee, and we're always telling our friends that it's worth the drive from the city. There is so much potential in your store, that often times Scott and I wish we had a whole room to devote to 'future projects'...sort of like a furniture graveyard that we can revive when we have the space and time!"

Kim, you know the love is going both ways!

And dear reader, I heart you too!

Customer Inspiration - John and Deanna's beautiful, from new to old, china cabinet story!

When John and Deanna stopped in at Jubilee Furniture a couple of weeks ago, they really didn't think they'd find anything since they were looking for something pretty specific. They were so sure we wouldn't have what they wanted that neither of them brought in their wallets! Can you tell where this story is going? You're right! They did find a beautiful piece, but I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's back track a bit.

John and Deanna will soon be receiving John's grandmother's beautiful old dining room table and chairs, but Grandma is keeping the matching china cabinet. Knowing they would not be able to find an exact match to the antique table, they were simply looking for something that would compliment it. After a quick glance, they walked right by a very contemporary looking china cabinet we had in the store. As they shared with me what they were looking for I suggested they circle back and see if it might work. The clean lines, gorgeous wood, beveled glass and mirrored back might make a nice backdrop for the antique table and chairs - didn't they think? At that point I left them to mull it over (no one likes a pushy sales person - even a friendly one like me!). John asked me for a screwdriver to see about removing the hardware and after more discussion they decided to take it.


(in place at John and Deanna's home still with the original hardware)

The rest of the story goes like this. Once they got the piece home and removed the original hardware, John and Deanna remembered a box of old hardware they had in their garage - sorted through it, cleaned up the pieces and - wonders never cease - they fit PERFECTLY in the china cabinet!



The old hardware "aged" the china cabinet and will, I've no doubt, make a gorgeous companion to Grandma's dining table and chairs!



A beautiful ending to a beautiful Jubilee Furniture purchase - wouldn't you agree, dear reader?!

Do you have your own Jubilee Furniture story you want to tell? If so, email me (sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org) with the details and photos.

Take care and I'll see you back here Friday with my weekly update post (but I'm telling you now we have amazing donations coming in this week - so make plans to head out to the store either Friday 1 to 8 or Saturday 9 to 4!).

Blessings!

Customer Inspiration - my family room

Hello and welcome to this week's customer's inspiration! I know LOTS of my customers are in the process of taking photos of their fabulous Jubilee Furniture finds and emailing me (sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org) as I'm writing this (hint, hint) - but until their emails come through I'll show you how wonderful the things I've purchased from the store look in my family room. Remember, the point of customer inspiration Tuesday is to show how terrific Jubilee Furniture furniture looks in your home - whether you've made any changes to it or not. Couldn't be simpler and a number of people have mentioned how much they've enjoyed these posts.

So without further ado, welcome to my family room!

One wall in the room is filled with built-ins and both the retro metal lamp (with yellow shade) and the cardinal artwork (it's actually a place mat) were purchased from the store. There were two identical lamps and I bought both of them and my husband uses one in his office in Chicago.

Here's another metal lamp which I bought at the store and the quilted throw is also a Jubilee Furniture purchase (we normally don't have stuff like the throw in the store, but occasionally we do - remember our mantra? - you never know what you might find at Jubilee Furniture!). The photo to the right gives you a better view of the room to understand the floor plan. The stairs lead up to our entryway (it's a split level home). Lamps are often overlooked at the store - they're sort of scattered around and often need new shades - but are priced really cheaply and well worth the cost to replace the shade (and sometimes the shades are just fine, thank you very much!).

The artwork in the photo on the left is from the store and both the TV and the coffee table the TV is on were purchased from Jubilee. The TV is a Sony rear-projection model that I paid $100 for at Christmas and we did recently have to buy a new lamp (to the tune of $125) - but it's a great TV. The coffee table/TV stand I purchased about two months ago (we had the TV in a different room) and I'm thinking about painting it, but am not sure what color. Orange? Black? Thoughts? There isn't a lot of color in the room - and actually like it that way - but would love to do something fun with the TV table.


Just another view of the room.

I'm considering replacing the sofa, chair and ottoman with a large sectional - if the right one, at the right price ever shows up at the store (would be nice to have additional seating in the room - only four can sit comfortably) - but it's fine for now.

And that, dear reader, is a look at how some pieces from Jubilee Furniture look in my family room!

I hope you're doing well!

Until Friday (I promise lots of photos to make up for being off last weekend!)!

Customer Inspiration - John and Judy's home!

Hello and welcome to John and Judy's lovely home! As missionaries returning from Spain, John and Judy relocated to DuPage County with no home and no furniture. Thankfully, they found the perfect house quickly and then found Jubilee Furniture and their furniture needs were also quickly solved (well, over three or four weeks - faithfully checking the blog and then spending a lot of time in the store with tape measure and a list of needs - that is!). One of the things I love about working at the store is getting to know - a little - my customers and I've very much enjoyed getting to know John, Judy and their daughter, Alyssa. Amazing people. So, when they were in again on Saturday and mentioned practically their whole house was furnished with Jubilee Furniture furniture - I asked if they would take a few photos and email me so I could showcase their home in my Tuesday "customer inspiration" segment - and they graciously agreed!

So, let's take a look at their shaping-up-very-nicely-if-I-do-say-so-myself home!


I love the colonial style of this lighted china cabinet! It's interesting to me that more often than not when a couple is purchasing furniture from Jubilee both parties are invested in making each selection and that was certainly true in John and Judy's case. Every purchase was made jointly with both of them looking at each piece of furniture from every angle and considering the cost of purchase and getting it home before making a final decision. This piece looks wonderful in their dining room!


Here's Alyssa lying on her full-size bed - the head board and frame were just purchased on Saturday from the store and Alyssa got to pick them out! I love the color of Alyssa's room and think the wood and iron head board looks great! Not to mention how lovely Alyssa looks too!


Their family room is ready for TV night or an overnight guest since the sofa is a sleeper and the rocker/recliner looks like a perfect place to nap (ooops, can you tell I'm having a "fatigue fit" as my grandmother used to say?). You know I'm a plaid girl so am loving the sofa!

The sofa, chair and end table were all purchased from Jubilee and look great in John and Judy's living room. I especially like the fabric color with their wood floors!

We don't often get outdoor furniture donated but when we do it usually goes fast and that's the case with the four chairs J & J purchased. They already had the table and interestingly the chairs were donated without a table - so you might say it was a match made in heaven! The cheery yellow mum, comfy, bouncy chairs and the lovely weather we've been having makes this deck - I imagine - a great gathering place to unwind at the end of the day!

Since there appear to be a few "holes" left to fill at John and Judy's place I'm thinking they might continue to regularly stop in at Jubilee Furniture - which makes me smile since I always like seeing 'em (bring Alyssa too!)!

John ended his email by writing, "Jubilee has been a tremendous blessing for us as we set up housekeeping here in the US on a limited budget." Ahhh, how sweet is that?!

Have you purchased something from the store that you could take a photo of and email me at sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org so I might share on a Tuesday in the near future? If so, that would be great! Though we work hard staging the furniture each week in the showroom - bottom line it's an old warehouse with awful lighting and no windows and things just look better in your home and it's fun to see them there.

Thus ends another customer inspiration, dear reader!

Take care!

Customer Inspiration - Mandy's amazing retro apartment!

Greetings and welcome to Mandy's super cool apartment which is brimming with fabulous furniture that she purchased from Jubilee Furniture! Mandy is the perfect example of what semi-regular browsing at the store will net - since her shopping has happened slowly over the last year or so. And she's not done yet - thankfully! - she writes "There are still a couple of rooms in our apartment, like my office, that I haven't acquired a Jubilee piece for yet. All in good time..."

Let's begin our tour...

Though I love this cabinet (it's the liquor cabinet in an odd corner of the kitchen), it's the lamp which was purchased from Jubilee. It looks almost identical to the one I bought recently from the store and have in my bedroom - but Mandy's has a better shade than mine. Mandy emailed me, "The lamp is a gem...It adds nice ambient light when we have dinner parties."

The maroon wing back in Mandy's library (she writes, "if you can call it that") is where "my boyfriend loves to read every night." Though Mandy is hoping to reupholster the chair, "he'd be perfectly fine with it if we don't reupholster this piece, but the maroon is really not doing it for me." I actually don't mind the color - especially like it with that super fun sunny yellow library card holder which I love and I also like the ottoman (neither - alas - were purchased from Jubilee but that's okay). I can see why it would be a wonderful place to put your feet up and dig into a great book (speaking of great books - have you read The Help by Kathryn Stockett? It's set in Jackson, Mississippi in the late 1950s/early 1960s and is written in three different women's voices. It's a riveting read about black maids and their white employers.)

One thing Mandy writes is, "Had I known in my early days of Jubilee shopping that there is no need to be hasty in your shopping and if you wait long enough the perfect piece will turn up, I would never have bought two chairs I want to reupholster." Thanks for the good reminder, Mandy!

This chair isn't one that Mandy wants to reupholster since it's perfect - in all it's orangeyness - just the way it is! It's in Mandy's bedroom and I love the earring tree on the dresser next to it - can you see it?

Though the bookcase with color-coordinated books is the show stopper in this photo - it's the coffee table that Mandy purchased from Jubilee and it's amazing too! She writes: "And the coffee table is great too (really, have I gotten anything I haven't loved at Jubilee?). Obviously the photo of it isn't recent - I don't leave my Christmas decorations up all year. ;) But I took it last December and I liked this photo, so I figured I'd just include it." And glad I am that you did, Mandy!

I left my personal favorite Jubilee Furniture purchase that Mandy made to last - this pink retro chair - which, if I'm remembering correctly swivels and rocks! It's Mandy's favorite too, "It's totally unique and fits great in our living room. That little corner is one of my favorites in our apartment. It sits right next to an old doctor's cabinet I got in Ohio, where I house my Alice in Wonderland collection." How cool is this?!

Speaking of cool, Mandy ends her email with these words, "Thanks for being so awesome Susan. Seriously everyone I have gone to Jubilee with has commented on how cool you are. And all of the volunteers are really sweet too. I spread the word as much as I can!!"

Since I am probably the single most UN-COOL person you will ever meet - I just might have to frame Mandy's email and highlight her comments!

Wow - wasn't that a wonderful glimpse into Mandy's place?! What a great collection of different styles which come together in a refreshing, beautiful way! Thank you, Mandy!

Have you purchased something from the store that you'd be willing to take a photo of and email to me at sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org? If so, YOU might be showcased next Tuesday!