I 'heart' Craigslist

Today, on this day of love, I want to dedicate my post to one incredible man. He has helped Brendon and I save hundreds of dollars on items like a couch, kitchen cabinets, a closet and a bathroom vanity. He's given us the thrill of pursuing a good deal and ignited our inner haggler! This Valentine's Day, we dedicate our love to Craig and to honour him we'd like to share with you some of our recent deals.

It started with Jenn back at the beginning of January. She was moving into her mom's house to save money so that she could go travelling. But she needed to downsize to make that happen and had to let go of her Ikea Pax corner wardrobe. Ticket price: $150

Then Maria came along with her couch. She's originally from Germany but has been living in Vancouver now for over two decades, working as an artist. But her mother is ill and its time for her to pack up her life here in Canada and return to Europe. The first to go up for sale was her lovely little love seat that seems made for our small home. Ticket price: $130

Once we picked out the couch it was time to try and see if we could get a deal on items that were brand new. Within a week I came across Ani and Seraphin from Premium Bathrooms. The couple just started up an import company specializing in ready-made bathroom vanities. The cabinets are made from rubber tree wood and are especially good for wet, warm areas like bathrooms. They also happen to have beautiful designs and lots of options for small spaces. We bought everything we needed - a vanity, sink, faucet, drain and mirror. Ticket price: $500

With the success of a brand new vanity under my belt I gained enough confidence tackle the biggest challenge we've encountered yet - kitchen cabinets. We tentatively typed in 'custom kitchens' into the search bar and sure enough Craig offered me five or six options. To put this into context, two weeks ago I was crying and cursing at the Ikea kitchen planning tool...but that's another post. For now all you need to know is that we'll be working with Terry and Rob from Heritage West Interiors and installing Greenlam - a funky green laminate product.

Next on our list is this gorgeous coffee table made out of wood from and old factory. Wish us luck!