For the last couple months I have been looking for a chair to replace one in the living room that had broken down and gotten quite grimy. Whenever I sat in it I felt like I was resting my chin on my knees. Notice I did not say that since I wanted a new chair I went out and just got the first one that jumped into my vision?

No, that space needed just the right chair and I was thinking red would be nice. We looked at Fred Meyer, even contemplated the chair that matches my couch (I don’t like my furniture to match), hit a few early-fall garage sales, just looking for the perfect chair for that space.

My youngest daughter recently got rid of her bunk bed, which required I sell some of her bedroom furniture on Craigslist. I was sitting in my room Thursday night looking for the dresser I had posted a couple days before, wondering what the trick is to selling on Craigslist. It was a surprise to me someone even found the bunk bed within four days of its posting. The speed which furniture stacks up on the site is boggling; even narrowed down “by owner” and “south King County.” I could not find my own dresser on there.

I found it by making the search more specific and I realized I needed to make the title description simpler. So I made a new posting for it and watched it fall down the list as the evening wore on. As I was lamenting on how difficult it is to try and sell stuff on craigslist, it occurred to me I should take my own advice and look for a chair on Craig’s list.

There are a gajillion chairs on Craigslist, but I was persistent (because that’s the proper, polite way to buy something on craigslist). There, posted four days before, was “Big Red Chair.” The ad said it was a sturdy chair. I showed the ad to my husband; we pondered it for a few minutes, then I got distracted with something else.

Friday I was busy all day visiting a friend. After she left, my husband, daughter and I found ourselves in the living room with a gap of time. We were just going to have leftovers, so I didn’t need to jump up and immediately start dinner. As we sat there chatting, I was sitting in the chair I wanted to replace and the subject of the Big Red Chair came up. I got my laptop and checked to see if it was still there. It was, so I called.

The gal who answered the phone was baffled I had called because she thought she took the chair off Craig’s list. Then she wasn’t sure she wanted to sell it. I told her it was up to her. She decided I should at least look at it. Fortunately, and fortuitously, she lived just a couple miles from my house (that chair was just meant to be mine). I made my daughter come with us because she’s the flop-tester of household chairs.

The chair was beautiful, but large. So we measured it then went home and measured the space. We determined it would fit nicely because of its shape, got burgers to celebrate our imminent purchase of a Big Red Chair, then picked it up on the way home.

It’s beautiful and lovely, my Big Red Chair that, by the way, has coil springs (my favorite). To keep the arms from getting grimy on this chair, I dug out some fall-colored, cloth napkins that match it perfectly.

That evening, someone contacted me about the dresser; apparently buying on Craig’s list sparked some sort of Craig’s list karma. That’s what happens when we take our own advice.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. She is coming to you from the arms of a big red chair. You can also read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.com or on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh.” Her column is available every week at maplevalleyreporter.com under the Lifestyles section.