We stumbled on a lucky find: a huge framed artwork at a neighborhood yard sale for just $20. And by huge I mean genuinely large—over three feet wide and more than two feet tall. The piece came in a solid wood frame with only a small dent, which didn’t bother us, so we grabbed it. At that size the frame alone would have been worth the price, and we liked having a ready-made base to work with if we decided to paint over the canvas or layer a different print atop it.
John wasn’t especially fond of the painting itself, but the bargain and the scale made it a practical choice. While we debated whether to hang it or repurpose the surface visually, I leaned the piece against the back of our buffet to test the scale. Before I knew it, I’d accidentally knocked a glass-based lamp off the left side of the buffet when moving the heavy frame.
Thankfully, Clara was safely seated in her yellow highchair at the dining table eating, so there were no bare feet in danger. To complicate matters, we had a brief power outage that lasted about an hour. Since I couldn’t run the vacuum during the outage, I swept that corner repeatedly to make sure all glass shards were gone. That was two annoying incidents back-to-back—broken lamp and a temporary outage—but nothing life-changing, just a hassle.
Then the unexpected happened.
While I was still sweeping the broken glass, the large framed piece that had been leaning there for about thirty minutes suddenly shifted. It took the other lamp with it and tumbled off the buffet along with a ceramic bowl full of postcards and a little resin pineapple accessory. It was one of those moments where you realize how quickly small accidents can escalate.
Miraculously, the lamp’s cord was just short enough to prevent it from smashing into countless pieces on the floor—small luck in an otherwise clumsy chain of events.
A few of the pineapple’s tiny points snapped off in the fall, but the damage is barely noticeable. The framed artwork itself (it doesn’t have a glass pane, only a wood perimeter frame) and the postcard bowl survived intact. Small reliefs piled up: nothing majorly broken and no injuries. Still—can things please stop toppling off this buffet?
John returned from his errand around then and I got to give him the blow-by-blow on everything he’d missed. The power had come back on, so I ran the vacuum in the corner while John secured the frame to the wall using a heavy-duty anchor. That seemed like the only reliable way to keep this jumpy painting from making another escape attempt.
Once the frame was firmly anchored, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. This isn’t a piece we would have paid hundreds for in a store, but for $20 it’s perfect for now. We like it as a bold backdrop and we’re already imagining future options—overlaying a print we prefer, painting over the canvas to create our own artwork, or using it as scenery for a larger composition. For the moment, I’m just grateful it’s staying put on the wall.
When I previously mentioned how long we’d had that glass lamp—over five years in an earlier post—I might have jinxed it. But it seems its twin was luckier this time around and survived the fall.
Everything currently displayed on the buffet is temporary; we’re styling with pieces we already own until we decide on a long-term direction. Someday I’d like to replace these mismatched lamps with a pair that feel more intentional—maybe sculptural bases or bold-colored shades to add personality and balance to the space. We’ll keep refining it as we go.
I still can’t quite believe the frame managed to slide over the faux coral and a ceramic leaf dish without knocking them over, only toppling the bowl and the lamp. It felt like a mix of misfortune and small mercies.
As for Clara—she can’t resist running into my shots. In case you were wondering where she was while I photographed the aftermath, here she is, often clutching her iPad and providing comic relief.
She shouted “oh no, it fall down!” from her highchair when the painting toppled, then muttered something about “the picture fell down and hurt the head,” which was adorable amid the chaos. Has anything unexpectedly gone awry in your home lately—a lucky find that nearly caused a disaster, or a small series of mishaps that ended with everything mostly okay? We’re relieved this one ended with a funny story and a sturdy wall anchor.