Once upon a time, I made my first trip into Big Lots! and now I am living happily ever after. Generally I have specific places to get my favorite things, like Lowe’s, Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods, and Home Depot, but Big Lots! has never been on my radar. (This doesn’t include my online places.) We were ready to furnish and stage the Cocoa Villa property when Carly and I decided to take a look around the local Big Lots! and see what they had. I am telling you, we filled the truck with everything from pillows, vases, greenery and dishes to an incredible bargain on 2 Broyhill living room chairs. There was barely enough room for Carly and I in the truck when we finished unloading our carts.

Here is where the story takes a funny turn—literally. The chairs were so heavy and so densely packed into the bed of the truck, we just knew they wouldn’t move on our short drive home. So away we went with all our treasures, delighted in everything we found at our new favorite place. We arrived at the property and began unloading with the excitement of a kid in a candy store. When the truck was empty, I looked around the room and asked the guys where the second chair was. They said, what second chair? Chair #2 had not made it all the way home. That’s right, we lost it somewhere between the parking lot and the house. You would think we would have seen a huge chair fall off the truck in transit, but no.

The final piece adds a little mysterious twist. We got in the truck and backtracked over our route, but there was no lost chair by the side of the road. Nada. Nothing. Knowing a living room chair cannot vaporize into thin air, we could only deduce chair #2 found a home with a very observant driver somewhere along the way. So. We found Big Lots! to be a great resource, we learned to tie everything down in the truck, we blessed someone with a brand new chair and we ended up with a great story. There’s never a dull moment in the life of a designer.

Saying goodbye to the chair,

Karen Conrad