Secondhand Kijiji chandelier

Our Lower Town apartment is full of track lighting. The living room, hallway, dining room, Cora’s bedroom and the kitchen all have track lighting. I’m not shaming track lighting entirely; it does have a place but I don’t think its place is the main light source of any room. As you can see in the picture below, this was what the main lighting in our living room was up until this week. A giant strip of track lighting that was haphazardly aimed at the TV, the door to our front porch, and three random areas on the floor. It wasn’t great and depending on where you sat, you’d either get a face full of light or it would be so dark at night that you couldn’t see what you were doing.

I know I could just reposition the lights to suit specific areas, but overall as a room, having track lighting in this way was not working. So I took to Kijiji to find a new [to us] light.

I searched for “chandeliers” for a few weeks [you’d be amazed at what some people’s definition of a chandelier is] and finally came across this beauty. I know it’s not everybody’s cup of tea but the combination of gold finish, size, fancy shape and warm acrylic ‘crystals’ were exactly what I was looking for! It was advertised as $70 which sounds like a lot of money, but when you consider modern looking pendant lights I found elsewhere online were going for upwards of $120 on sale, for us, this was a total bargain. It was full of character and just what I was looking for. It also came with all the original light bulbs [two of which I’ve removed because we just don’t need 6 light bulbs. I’m hoping to get more energy efficient bulbs soon].

I took all the crystals off, washed and dried them and Handyman Dave came over last week to hang it and do all the electrical gobbledegook [something I’m terrified of and won’t do].

I patched over the holes and repainted along where the track was [it was this colour underneath] and the room immediately felt so much more welcoming. The living room feels cosy at night and with the dimmer switch, the chandelier looks about four different levels of fancy.

I could have bought a new chandelier but I knew that if I waited long enough, a perfect light would come along on Kijiji and not only at a better price, but secondhand too. Yes, I will be buying some new lights for certain rooms in our apartment but I knew a modern light wouldn’t look as good in our living room.

Secondhand Schoenhut baby grand piano

As I was searching Kijiji for a storage bench for our hallway last week, one of the ads to show up in my search was this tiny toddler grand piano [and subsequent tiny toddler grand piano ‘bench’, which is how it showed up in my search]. I had to have it … for Cora. I showed Robert its picture and within 15 minutes I was arranging to collect it from the seller.

It was advertised for $40 on Kijiji as some of the legs on the bench were wobbily and the seller explained they were unable to fix it for years. Challenge accepted. I took the piano as is and 5 minutes after bringing it home I fixed both wobbily legs [I wrapped the screws on each leg with a bit of masking tape and screwed them back into the bench. The screw and socket (?) seal had just become loose over the years]. I leaned back and allowed the smugness to wash over me and I bathed in it for several minutes.

I’ve tried finding this ‘Schylling’ piano online but the closest thing I’ve found was this Schoenhut Baby Grand Piano online from Target [I can audibly hear Canadian’s weeping] for $169.38. It’s a surprisingly solid piano made entirely of wood – no cheapy plastic parts.

It has the sweetest little chime sound to it and Cora is already a huge fan. Unlike our poor neighbours. If you’d like to see our new-to-us baby grand piano in action, check it out in my saved stories on Instagram under ‘Thrifted’ [only viewable via the app]. It’s amazing and perfect and I can’t wait to put it in Cora’s room once it gets more organised.

Do you have a favourite secondhand piece you found recently for a sweet deal? That’s my favourite thing about finding excellent things secondhand; how much cheaper they are than brand new and I feel almost no guilt when buying them.

Secondhand French provincial sofa and armchair

Despite it being a Monday, I’m very excited to share photos of our new secondhand French provincial style sofa and armchair that we got our hands on last weekend through Kijiji! And I am so in love with them.

I had been searching Kijiji for vintage and vintage-style sofas for a while and every time was met with either beautiful sofas that were way outside of our budget (a months rent minimum) or the polar opposite of threadbare couches with disproportionate price tags. Then one afternoon while Cora was napping, I logged onto Kijiji to see if there was anything new (or, I should say, ‘new’) and there on the first page was a peach coloured French provincial sofa and armchair …


The seller was looking to have the set gone by the weekend, so she marked them as free. F R E E. You can imagine the sounds I made when I saw those four letters, so I sent a message, made a few phone calls later and the next day the sofa and armchair were being delivered to our apartment.

There are a few stains on the fabric and the foam cushions have seen better days (which is understandable, I mean, it’s a 30 year old set), but it’s otherwise in incredible condition. Both the sofa and armchair are very firm and comfortable and are just what I’ve been needing for my hip problems (yay, ongoing post-pregnancy issues). The wooden frame of both the sofa and armchair are incredibly sturdy and the springs in each are perfect. But I do have big plans for this set. I’m planning on having them reupholstered in a dark gray velvet and have the back of both pieces tufted. Not too unlike this beauty …

I’ll be getting a few reupholstering quotes in the coming weeks and I’m hoping the cost of reupholstering both pieces will be exorbitantly cheaper than buying a brand new sofa (which I’m not totally against, but the past few months have been very expensive so I’m trying to keep costs down. I might splurge on a new footstool).

In the mean time, I’m happy to keep a peachy sofa set in our living room. And so is Juniper, in case you were wondering.

Image four credit.

Also featured – how to mattify gloss paint