Posted in General Decorating, Furniture Ideas, Livingrooms, Repurposing |
What are the best tips on buying living room furniture?
September 20th, 2006
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Full question:
What are the best tips on buying living room furniture? We live in a rural area, small / modest home.
My answer:
You probably are aware of the “discount” store options open to you:
1. Thrift Stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army)
2. “Box” stores (Here they are Big Lots)
3. Auctions (I just came from one and bought stands that would work for end tables, plant stands, or towel stand in a bathroom, etc.- I got three of them for $1 each).
So I’ll share some ideas on “repurposing” stuff - taking things that had a life as one thing and using them as another. All of my examples used stuff I got at the places I mentioned above. Examples:
1. In one bedroom, I used stacked suitcases as the table next to a reading chair. I keep clothes in the suitcases - my winter stuff during the summer and visa versa.
2. In that same room, I used a teacart as a TV, DVD, VCR stand.
3. In my office, I use stacked hatboxes next to the sofa as a side table - I store photos in the boxes.
4. In that same room, I used an upside-down dressing table covered with a six-paned window as a coffee table.
5. Also, in that room, my desk is a door laying across two file cabinets.
6. In my guest room, a bird bath covered with a piece of glass I took off one of those pole lamps with a glass table, is a side table.
7. In my livingroom, a blanket chest is my coffee table. My kids’ baby books and childhood memorabilia is in there.
8. I made a footstool out of a suitcase, four legs, a piece of foam, some fabric and two belts.
9. In the diningroom, I turned a bookcase into a lighted plant stand by mounting small fluorescents on the underside of the shelves.
10. In the kitchen, I stood a bookcase on the top of a microwave cart to make a shelf that can hold cookbooks, spices, extra dishes, whatever.
11. I also stacked crates on their sides - one on top of each other - and used them to hold cookbooks.
12. In my laundryroom, I used another blanket chest that I got at an auction for $4 for TWO things - it holds all my wrapping paper, bows, gift bags, etc. AND it’s a bench for putting on and taking off boots and shoes.
13. On the porch, I put a twin bed that I got at the Salvation Army up against the house, and covered it with lots of pillows. It’s a “day bed” where I can sit on the porch OR sleep on it.
14. I used metal aquarium stands as the bases for holding small bookcases that I used for books, knick knacks, etc. I painted both pieces the same colors to make “sets”.
15. In one of my bathrooms, I made a stand for next the the toilet out of an upside down candleholder, an aluminum lazy susan and another piece of glass I got off another floor lamp.
I guess my suggestion would be to “look” at things differently to see what you might be able to turn into the furniture you want/need.
Your Frugal Decorating Diva,
Nancy
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