Store AND Warehouse CLOSED!

With Governor Pritzker issuing his "shelter in place" order for Illinois - both our store and the warehouse are closed - minimally - through Tuesday, April 7th (the Governor might extend his order). To be super clear - the store will not be open this week or next, our customers can not pickup anything they've purchased and our donors can't drop off anything either. We're also not offering donation pickups until the "shelter in place" order has been lifted.

Of course, Jubilee Furniture will be compliant with this order - but the reality is our closing is going to be financially hard for Outreach Community Ministries. There are hundreds of families, couples and individuals who rely on the services offered through Outreach. Those who are most vulnerable always feel the impact of reduced funds for the critically important services they count on more than others.  It's that simple.

I mentioned last week our annual banquet for our center in Carol Stream has been cancelled. Our resource development office created a "virtual" banquet showcasing some of our services along with a powerful message from Pastor Paco Amador from New Life community Church Little Village in Chicago. It's well worth the time to watch (in my opinion) and if you were in a position to financially help - that would be amazing!

Bottom line - we hope you're doing okay, dear reader, and we're grateful for you! 

Store will be CLOSED this weekend and next!

In order to keep our staff, volunteers and customers as safe as possible during the outbreak of COVID-19 Jubilee Furniture will be closed as follows:

CLOSED: Thursday, 03/19; Friday, 03/20 and Saturday, 03/21
CLOSED: Thursday, 03/26; Friday, 03/27 and Saturday 03/28

We'll continue monitoring what local, state and federal guidelines recommend and make decisions accordingly and will - obviously - keep you updated. 

If you've purchased furniture and haven't picked it up - our warehouse will be open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 3 pm BUT please call Joel (pronounced HO-el), our warehouse manager, at 630.244.0751 BEFORE heading to the store.

And then, dear reader, we want to thank you for your continued patronage these last 14 years! Every dollar you spend at Jubilee Furniture approximately 60% is going to help those most vulnerable in DuPage County through the programs and services at Outreach Community Ministries. If you have time - here are some amazing stories of hope that will inspire and encourage you.

And if you have the financial means to give directly to the work at Outreach (especially critical now during this time when we've closed Jubilee Furniture and had to cancel our spring fundraising event) here's a convenient online form you can use. 

These are hard and bizarre times - truly unprecedented. We'd appreciate your prayers and, please know, we're praying for you as well. 

Take care and good-bye until I have more to report. 

A day in the life of a Jubilee Furniture donation pickup team

Last Thursday - instead of posting photos of our fabulous furniture which had been donated and was just waiting for you to come in and purchase, like I always do - I was out with my pickup team helping with pickups (well, technically, I didn't do much actual lifting and moving but, man, it was a lot of up and down from the cab of the truck!). I thought it would be fun to snap a few photos along the way to document the day. I'll let the photos tell my story without any narrative. If you aren't my mother or one of my sisters - feel free to skip this post (and even if you are related to me - feel free to skip this post. Haha!).

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it, dear reader - what it takes to fill the store with amazing furniture week after week. I do have to give a huge shout out to We Move - a company located in Chicago who we've used multiple times over the last two years - both for fill-in drivers and to deliver donations from the Merchandise Mart and Serta. This time Chino drove for us and he was seriously the best! We Move does residential and commercial moving and deliveries, both local and long distance. Give Dave a call at 312.752.0009 and tell him Susan from Jubilee Furniture sent you.

I'll see you tomorrow with my usual weekly update post! 

Tuesday Customer Inspiration - Kim's skirt-less - and fabulous - club chairs!

Wow - two weeks in a row I have something to share with and inspire you!

Here's Kim's email:

Hi, So excited that I had to share what we did with the little club chairs that you and I knew would be too costly to reupholster!  ($450 for labor alone, no skirt and would need 6 yards of fabric each.)  The following are photos of how we modernized these cute little chairs.  Our son is a professional carpet and upholstery cleaner and he cleaned them up very nicely!  He persuaded me that I didn't need to reupholster them...he likes the retro look!  My hubby finally bought into it too.  See captions below the photos for what we did.  Our 15 year old daughter was the one who said right at Jubilee, can't you take the skirt off?  They have nice black legs.  I hope you can use these photos to inspire some of your other customers!  See you soon!  

God Bless,

Kim

 carefully removing the staples from the skirt without tearing the fabric

 using a seam ripper to remove the welting from the skirt (my poor hubby doesn't really know how to use a seam ripper...I just said pose for this photo!

 stapling the welting back onto the underside of the chair

 Nicely finished edge.  You can barely see where the original skirt was. :)

Now aren't these a cute pair of chairs?  Thanks Jubilee Furniture!

Yep, Kim - they are extremely cute chairs! 

Have you purchased something from the furniture store that you've transformed (a lot or a little)?  Take a couple of photos of what you've done and email me at sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org so that you - like Kim - might inspire others!

Thanks so much, Kim!

Tuesday Customer Inspiration - Michelle's creative and sweet baby shower book nook!

Welcome!  If you're newer to the blog, let me explain what happens on Tuesdays - IF - a wonderful customer has emailed me photos. 

Starting with the certain knowledge that all Jubilee Furniture customers are amazing, creative, environmentally careful and smart with their money - I decided I wanted to harness these things in order to inspire others.  So, I began encouraging customers to send me photos - and a brief description of whatever they did to whatever they purchased from the furniture store - in order to post said photos/descriptions for a wider audience to view and possibly imitate.

If you click on the Customer Inspirations tab above - you'll see thumbnail photos of previous posts that will truly encourage and inspire you!  Some of the posts show seriously transformed pieces and some simply how nice used furniture can look inside a lovely home.  Either way - it's fun to see what people have done with things purchased from a dimly lit warehouse in Carol Stream, Illinois.

Here's the email I received last week:

Hi Susan,  

I came into Jubilee back in the beginning of June and bought a book shelf for a baby shower. Thought I would share how it turned out!  The theme for the baby shower was Baby Book Club and everyone brought a book instead of a card.  Instead of playing a game during the shower, I had all the shower guests put their hand prints on the piece as a tribute to the baby!  I really love how it came out!

Michelle

If I can read the price tag showing in the before photo - it looks like Michelle paid $18 for this storage piece.  Just by painting this fairly generic piece white - Michelle instantly improved it 100%!   Add in the colorful and meaningful hand prints and this piece - perfect for large flat picture books - is off the charts fabulous!  How sweet and what a special piece of furniture for this new baby!

This is such a great idea that would work in so many different ways!  Maybe instead of hand prints, have each guest write a note with permanent marker and sign their name or do the hand prints on a toy chest or...

What fun and many thanks to Michelle for her splendid idea!

I'll see you on Friday for my weekly update post, dear reader!  Until then - take care!

Tuesday Customer Inspiration - David's creative and beautiful dining rooms!

Hello!  Remember Tuesday Customer Inspiration?  It's where one of my amazing customers sends me an email at sgalbraith@outreachcommin.org with a photo or two of whatever they've purchased from Jubilee Furniture and a short (or long) explanation of what they've done (or not done) to the furniture.  The idea behind TCI is to help inspire others to see beyond the deary warehouse, bad lighting and humid interior to what so much of our inventory can become with a little imagination and sweat equity.

David has a gorgeous apartment in Chicago and has been featured on TCI before (check it out here).   As a professional designer he's trained to know what to look for when shopping for furniture - but his secret is something anyone can learn - keep an open mind!

Here's David's email:

Hi Susan,


You posted some pictures of my flat around a year ago.  I wanted to send you a snap of my newest Jubilee find/project.


I decided to redo my "formal" living room and turn it into a sort of dining area.  Mostly, I really wanted a space that could be used as a home office but also serve as flexible space for entertaining..and I decided that the sunniest room in my flat should be the room that I use the most, not the least.  I already had a table and some great chairs hiding in storage, but needed a very large functional piece of furniture to hide away all of my mess...and I wanted something that would be an unexpected piece to find in a dining room.


It also had to be tall enough to fill the wall and cover over the horrible plaster work that "someone" did who thought it would be an easy DIY project!


What I ended up with was a pair of metal office lockers that were painted office beige and looked nothing short of sad in the back of Jubilee.  The price was right, some considerate soul had taped the keys to them inside the cabinet, and the dimensions were just about perfect.


The big trend in the city is stripped metal furniture, where people remove layers of paint to expose the steel underneath.  One palm sander, a couple of hours of sanding, and a coat of clear coat left me with two cabinets that proudly show the steel and look far removed from their officey brethren.


I also decided to hang up the "wonky" chandelier that I used to use as a table lamp.  I would anticipate the person who gave it to Jubilee disliked it for the very same reasons that I love it!


I love coming to Jubilee, and always try to approach every piece in there with an open mind!  My style might not appeal to everyone (or even to myself at times) but a little creativity can really make a piece come alive.


Hope that all is well!

Wow - when I think those two metal storage pieces where probably in someone's garage or basement - and how unbelievable they look in David's dining area - it's wild!

In a follow up email David shared another photo of another dining space in his home (his flat is two apartments combined) used for things like when he opens his home for church potlucks or a formal dinner for 24!  It's in his English basement which is below the main living space.

David writes:

Quite a few chairs down there came from Jubilee and I reupholstered all of the seats in a matching murky green silk mohair to formulate them into a set.


A huge THANK YOU to David for taking the time to send fabulous photos of his gorgeous home and for resurrecting Tuesday Customer Inspiration.  Continue the trend by sending me YOUR photos!  Please?

Tuesday's Customer Inspiration - Melissa's comfy, lovely, up-scale, CLEAN chair and sofa!

Melissa's email is so fun, so wonderfully captures our "attitude" at Jubilee Furniture - I think I'll just shush up.

I came in to Jubilee the beginning of December, after seeing a picture of what I hoped was the couch of my dreams on your blog.  I wasn't able to get there until Saturday morning and was sure the couch would be gone (all the good stuff usually is) by the time I got there.  Imagine my surprise seeing it there front and center as I walked in the door.  I debated long and hard between it and another retro couch that was there. I sat, I lounged, I chatted with the ladies as they sorted through some toys they were packaging.  I even lied down on both of them (the couches, not the ladies!) for a while.  You see, I had made the mistake of purchasing a set from craigslist last spring and had only briefly sat in one of the chairs before deciding.  After getting the set home and trying to sit on the sofa through an entire movie, I discovered it was not comfortable at all!  Not only that, but the material was seriously sun-faded in several spots.  And I paid $500 for the set!


After nearly an hour of testing - with the ladies being not only patient, but encouraging - I decided to purchase not only the couch (a steal for $115) but also the chair I found lurking in a dark corner.  I wish I had a true "before" pic of the chair.  The one I've sent is after I took it apart, cleaned the frame and washed the cover.  It was D.I.R.T.Y!  It washed up wonderfully and with a fresh coat of black paint and a stylish pillow, looks brand new.  The couch was great "as is," but I do think it looks decidedly up-scale with the addition of my french script pillows, don't you?


And, I'm happy to report, the couch has hosted many a movie marathon and various comfortable lounging positions for the entire family since December.  Thanks Jubilee!

 top photo is of the sofa Melissa ended up buying while still in the store

bottom photo same sofa in Melissa's lovely home boasting some cool french script pillows 

(love! Yes, very up-scale, Melissa!)

Melissa wasn't kidding when she said this chair was dirty!  It was!  I think it had a $15 price tag on it (do you remember what you paid for the chair, Melissa?) because I didn't know if it would clean up or not - obviously it did!  Add a coat of black paint and another french script pillow and can you say, "Ooh la la"?  (French script pillow, ooh la la - I crack myself up sometimes!)

It also makes me laugh that Melissa said she found it "lurking in a dark corner"!  Truly you never know what you might find at Jubilee Furniture (partly because our inventory changes so quickly, partly because you can't see some of our stuff!).

Remember the purpose of my Tuesday post is to inspire you to view used furniture in a new and creative way!   A huge - THANK YOU - to Melissa for doing just that! 

We have another big week of donation pickups so plan on spending some of your Easter weekend with us at the furniture store!  We WILL be OPEN Friday from 1 to 8 and Saturday from 9 to 4!  Remember to hop back here on Friday for my weekly update post!