It's been almost two years since I bought my house. From the very beginning I decided not to furnish the home all at once. I didn't want to buy a living room set or a bedroom set. The main reason was to save as much money as possible. I like solid wood furniture, and well made furniture is always very expensive. So I decided to either save money and buy high quality new furniture, or to buy good quality secondhand ones. Sometimes I even found solid wood furniture at the curbside. I don't know why people leave perfectly good furniture at the curb. Maybe they don't like it anymore, or don't have enough room. Whatever the reason is, if the piece is something I've been looking for and is in good condition I take it home. I guess that's one advantage of living close to a ritzy area. If my little hatchback could speak, it would have very interesting stories to tell. 😊
Here's list of things I found either at thrift stores or completely free.
Here's list of things I found either at thrift stores or completely free.
Bedroom:
I bought a brand new IKEA bed, and a mattress several years ago. Everything else in my bedroom is either free or from thrift stores. I don't have a lot in the bedroom.
Bedside table - free, from a friend
Mirror - free, from a friend
Dressing table - a thrift store find ($35)
Dresser - free, a curbside find.
I painted everything and added new knobs. I must have spent about $50 for paint and drawer knobs.
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| Bedside table. |
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| Mirror & dressing table. |
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| Dresser. |
Library / office room:
Desk - free, a curbside find
Roll top desk - free, a curbside find. It had no drawers and a friend of mine added two drawers found at a thrift store.
A 6 ft bookshelf - free, a curbside find.
Another bookshelf is a Craigslist purchase. I don't remember how much I paid for it. Probably around $15.
I also have two smaller bookshelves bought new, about a decade ago.
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| Desk. |
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| Roll top desk. |
Sofa - A thrift store find ($150)
Coffee table - A thrift store find ($26.50)
TV stand- A thrift store find ($40)
Bookshelf - from Habitat restore ($25)
Bookshelf - from Habitat restore ($25)
Ceiling fan - free from a thrift store. (It was in a box in pieces, so I think thrift store people didn't bother to assemble it.)
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| Sofa. |
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| Coffee table. |
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| Ceiling fan. |
Kitchen:
Table and two chairs - A thrift store find ($45)
I'd love to have a Hoosier style cupboard for the dining area and an old fashioned rocking chair. So now I'm on the lookout for these. 👀
XX
Nil
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| Kitchen table & chairs. |
I don't have a lot of furniture. The house is small, so there's no room for too many things. In the spare room I have another roll top desk that I got for $2 from a garage sale. My dining table is also from a friend. She gave it to me when she bought a bigger dining room set.
I'd love to have a Hoosier style cupboard for the dining area and an old fashioned rocking chair. So now I'm on the lookout for these. 👀
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Nil
I bet you will find them! My furniture is also from my family or the Salvation Army. I prefer the older pieces. They have so much charm and character. They don't break, either.
ReplyDeleteYes, Stephenie that's why I too love old furniture. They have so much character and are well made.
DeleteI think you've done amazingly to source all your furniture that way, and I especially love the painted furniture in the bedroom. I'm tempted to have a try myself.
ReplyDeleteMy furniture is all a mix of things I have bought over the years and others which have been given to me. X
I decided to paint the bedroom furniture because they had different shades of brown. So they didn't look nice together. :) You can try painting a small piece of furniture first. I sanded and then used spray paint. I think spray painting is a bit more expensive, but quicker.
DeleteYou certainly have created a beautiful home on a budget, we have a few schemes called freecycle and freegle here where people list free things, you really could set up the inside of a home without it costing virtual nothing.
ReplyDeleteWe have freecycle and also buy nothing groups on Facebook, Marlene. But I haven't tried them yet.
DeleteI am amazed at the beautiful things you've picked up from the curbside!
ReplyDeleteSecond hand furniture is great, you can find such great quality for a very nice price.
Yes thrift deluxe. And I also like to imagine the history of these used furniture. :)
DeleteYou have been very resourceful, Nil and they all look great.
ReplyDeleteThanks earthmotherwithin. It's so satisfying to save money and also to save a good piece of furniture that otherwise would have gone to trash.
DeleteYou are the furniture bargain queen! I'm very impressed with how much money you've saved and how many pieces of wonderful furniture you saved from the landfill. I'm on the lookout for a bed. No luck yet, but I'm trying to be patient.
ReplyDeletePatience is the key, Priscilla. Sometimes I think 'oh I can afford to buy one brand new', but my problem is that I can rarely find the ones I like even when it's an expensive brand new piece. And I'm not rich enough to have custom made furniture. So waiting and then buying second hand is the best way to go for me.
DeleteFantastic! Brilliant! You are a pro, at this!
ReplyDeleteAnd look at all the lovely items, you got!
That roll top desk! Amazing!
Yes, people are trying to down-size (I doubt) or are getting new stuff (probably), and don't want the old. If no one they know, wants it, to the curb it goes.
Although here, one can find a charity, which will come and pick it up.
I'm glad in your area, they provide it (curbside), for those who are smart enough, to see a wonderful bargain!
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Thanks Wisps of Words. I was so tickled to find two roll top desks - one free and another for $2. I think some people don't like 'old fashioned' stuff. :)
DeleteYou certainly know how to find just what fits into your home. It all looks so nice. I envy your talent to see something that you know will work. We did somewhat the opposite by saving and scrimping until we could afford to buy the pieces of good quality furniture in the style I wanted. Other than re-upholstery we have kept everything for 30 years now and I will never, ever re-decorate.
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic Anita. I would have done the same if I had started early. I'm a late bloomer. :) Most of my savings go to retirement accounts because I have a lot of catching up to do.
DeleteGood items can be found cheaply if one has the patience & time. Your home is looking very comfortable
ReplyDeleteThank you Lyn. :)
DeleteNil the two years have gone really quickly and look how much you have saved in that time! Your house is looking great with all your Op Shop finds etc. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks Chel. I can't believe it's already two years. :)
DeleteI agree with you. It amazes me. I used to live in a gated community and I basically furnished my whole house with charity shops and free curbside. My ex-husband used to riddle me about my garbage diving, that was until we had an estate sale and I made 6000 dollars from all my free stuff. I would use my talents and strip feuntitire and build things to make them wonderful. I'm proud of you dear girl for your innovative spirit.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's amazing to be able to make $6k from your free stuff. Like the saying goes one man's trash is another man's treasure, right? Not only we save money, we also reduce perfectly good stuff going to the dumpster.
DeleteI'm sure you'll find the rocking chair and Hoosier piece, Nil. It's pretty easy to find good furniture second hand. There is just so much of it out there. I love the way your house looks. You've done a great job of finding pieces inexpensively. That's the best way to do it slowly over time .
ReplyDeleteThanks Belinda. It does take time, but when I think about how much I can save by buying second hand, it motivates me to be patient. :)
DeleteKeeping my fingers crossed for you to find a rocking chair soon. I quite fancy one myself :-) but our house is already quite full. That's so amazing, an entire house furnished at low cost, you did really well. We were lucky to inherit some really nice pieces of furniture from Richard's dad and we now have quite a collection of stuff that we love. We've been in our house for 14 years and it is still a work in progress. Currently, I am looking for a lampshade for the living room. Have a lovely weekend. x
ReplyDeleteI hope you find a lampshade soon Christina. :)
DeleteIt's great that you inherited furniture from your parents. My sisters inherited parents' furniture because it's not practical for me to have them.
I love your frugally furnished home, Nil. You have done well! Your bedroom pieces look well matched because you painted them all white and put the same kind of drawer pulls - one has to look closely to see that each is a little different in style. And I love that vase on your desk!
ReplyDeleteSeveral of my first apartments were furnished with other people's donations, curbside finds, and thrift store pieces. My parents and I had no money to buy new furniture. We made do. Our first apartment in Florida had no furniture at all, other than a patio table our landlady gave us, along with a couple of chairs! We slept on the floor on quilts I had made and used cardboard boxes, covered with cloth, as side tables! In our second apartment in Florida, a friend gave us a dining table and my step-father found an odd-jobs man to build us two benches with plywood, which my mother topped with foam cushions that she sewed covers for and those were our "sofas"! LOL. We still had no beds, but, we had mattresses that someone gave us. Needless to say, we left it all behind when we moved to California!
In California, our first apartment was furnished with items friends and family gave us, bits we picked from the curbside, etc. It was only when we moved into the 2nd apartment, that we had a little spare money for furniture. My bedroom set was bought at a thrift store; it was particle board and not very good, but I used it for several years, my daughter used it, too, for a few years, and I still have the chest of drawers that came with it! I now have mostly matched sets in my house - they were a gift from my mother. But, I still have the little table I picked up from the curb, the desk and tea trolley I bought from a second hand store, etc. :)
I hope you will find your Hoosier cabinet and rocking chair in the near future. In fact, I know you will.
Your parents were so frugal and resourceful. And you are the same. How precious those memories are. Thank you so much for sharing them. I can relate to them in so many ways.
DeleteI shared my first apartment with a roommate, so she had furnished it by the time I moved in. I bought a new mattress and a box spring set, and my bedroom had a small built in bookshelf. I didn't know about second hand furniture stores, and didn't have money to buy anything else new.
Later I always lived by myself and never had new furniture. There was a time I too used a covered cardboard box as a coffee table. And, for years I had an air mattress. Only after I got my current job that I decided to buy a real bed. :)
Have you read W. A. Silva's "Pasal Guruvari"? In that story, Wimala uses wooden boxes covered with cloth as furniture. I remember even then as a teenager how impressed I was. Down to earth frugal people have always inspired me.
Nil, I don't think I've read that book.
DeleteIt was all a bit of an adventure, at the time, when we had to make do or do without. None of us ever recriminated about what we left behind and what we had to face in our new lives, although, at one time, money was so tight, that my parents seriously considered going back. Sometimes, my daughter asks me what were we thinking of!
I totally agree with buying from thrift stores or getting curbside pickups. You have done very well, Nil, and so-called shabby chic is in style. We brought all our bookcases and end tables and other pieces from our VA home and many were also formerly in our NJ home. It is a shame that people discard usable pieces but good that others can reuse them as you have done so well.
ReplyDeleteSo true, Beatrice. There are so many perfectly good pieces end up in trash I hope people at least donate them to thrift stores so others can use them.
DeleteVery nice! I think furniture was made better in the past (at least at a reasonable cost available to most) so your pieces do look very well-made! Andrea
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrea. If I'm patient I can find good solid wood furniture at thrift stores. So that's what I normally do. :)
DeleteYour home looks really nice Nil and I love your roll top desk. A lot of our furniture is wooden as well, and is either hand made by my husband, or are family pieces we've inherited. New furniture is so expensive and just doesn't last.
ReplyDeleteOh how nice it is to be able to make your own furniture. Your husband is very skilled.
DeleteYou have great taste, I love all your furniture and yes I dont know why people throw away good furniture, we live in such a throw away society
ReplyDeleteI’m always amazed to find good furniture at the curb, Bridget. But, like they say “ One man’s trash is another man’s treasure “. :)
DeleteIt's always fascinating to find people that share the same interests. I collect furniture as well. It always amazes me the things that people simply set to the curb. I collect my furniture carefully and really, all of it is used. My bedroom set is 100 years old. The bedroom sets in the spare rooms are older still. My dream? To open a second hand furniture store. Everyone deserves a beautiful home, and it can be achieved so inexpensively!
ReplyDeleteWow! A 100 year old bedroom set! Nowadays most things don’t last even a decade.
DeleteI love secondhand stores. I hope your dream comes true very soon, Debby.