We had a stroke of luck at a neighborhood yard sale: a huge framed painting, more than three feet wide and over two feet tall, for only $20. The frame had a small dent, but that didn’t bother us. Even if we didn’t love the artwork itself, the size and the sturdy wooden frame made it a bargain. We could always paint over the canvas or use it as a base for another piece later on.
For the time being I leaned the piece on the back of the dining buffet to judge the scale and imagine how it would look hung there. While I was doing that I accidentally nudged a glass-based lamp sitting on the left end of the buffet and sent it tumbling to the floor. Luckily our daughter Clara was safely seated in her yellow highchair at the table, so there was no risk to her. To complicate matters, we were in the middle of a short power outage, so I had to sweep the area thoroughly by hand until power returned and I could vacuum the corner for good measure.
As if the broken lamp and the outage weren’t enough, the large framed painting that had been leaning against the wall shifted and knocked over a second lamp along with the artwork itself, a ceramic bowl filled with postcards, and a small resin pineapple. Miraculously, the lamp’s cord stopped it from smashing completely, and the postcards and the artwork escaped damage. Only a few small points from the decorative pineapple chipped off, which was hardly noticeable.
When John came home a short while later I filled him in on the chaos. By then the power was back on, so I vacuumed the area while he mounted the painting securely to the wall with a heavy-duty anchor. That felt like the only reliable way to keep the oversized piece from sliding again.
It’s not the kind of artwork we’d spend big money on in a store, but for $20 it gives excellent scale and presence, and it’s perfect for now. Eventually we might hang a print in front of it, or paint directly on the canvas to create something that feels more like us. In the meantime, I’m relieved the painting is finally staying on the wall where it belongs.
Reflecting back, I joked that I might have jinxed the lamp when I mentioned keeping a similar one for years, but clearly its “twin” wasn’t so unlucky. For now the items on the buffet are temporary arrangements—pieces we already own and are using while we plan longer-term upgrades. Someday I’d like two matching lamps with more character, maybe sculptural bases or bold-colored shades, to better balance the scale of the art.
It still amazes me how the frame managed to leap over faux coral and a ceramic leaf dish and only topple a bowl and a lamp, both of which survived. Maybe a few fortunate events were tucked into the unfortunate ones after all.
And in case you were wondering where Clara was during the after-photos, she was doing what kids do best: darting through the shots, sometimes clutching her iPad. Her running commentary—“oh no, it fall down!” followed by a soft, “the picture fell down and hurt the head”—was equal parts alarming and adorable and lightened the mood while we cleaned up and secured the painting.
Have you had any recent lucky finds or small disasters at your place? It’s funny how a single Saturday can include a great bargain, a broken lamp, a blackout, a falling painting, and a handful of laughter. Despite the commotion, we ended the day with a new focal piece on the buffet and one less loose lamp to worry about.