Redecorating?? Bargains are to be Found.

My hubby and I find ourselves re-decorating the living room unbeknownest to ourselves.  We have just run into such bargains on living room furniture that we couldn't pass up and it has allowed up to upgrade our current decor.

The first thing to come in from a thrift shop was a very nice blue wing chair ($40!!) in great condition, as I had been coveting my husband's chair - which was getting tatty. (We had gotten it for $40 or so a few years ago & I had thought about slipcovering it - but I couldn't find any I liked and they would have cost more than this CHAIR.)

THEN my husband found ANOTHER recliner wingchair in a thriftshop for about $60 - bigger than the other chair (so that's the daddy chair & I have the mommy chair.) That chair is a nice rose pattern, and looks new, too.  When we went to the Pottery Barn to windowshop the other day, I was appalled to find similar chairs to ours at $400-500 a piece!! These chairs were really bargains.

THEN my husband decided to replace our computer typing chair (orig. $15) with a bigger executive chair we could use as an arm chair if company came by.  We saw there was a sale at an office store, 1/2 off - so my husband went, and saw a slightly damaged floor model (with blue upholstery - my stipulation) and asked the manager for a sale price and got it 1/2 off. ($170 chair for $90, the most $ to date).

We then ditched the little old couch we had from his bachelor apartment.  I tried to give it away on freecycle.org - but no luck, and it ended up in the trash, sorry to say.

THEN when we were at one of our favorite Salavation Army thrift shops in Pasadena, I saw an office computer desk, with a hutch for $39!! (worth at least $300) It was made in Denmark, with a nice veneer, and looked as if it had been a floor model, as there was no wear! So we are tossing/selling the little computer desk and assorted stands we have now and moving up.  The only trouble is getting it HOME.  But my husband says he can take the hutch off, the desk and take it home in the truck.  (I keep on saying there is a reason we keep the truck!) And a friend will help us get it up the one flight of stairs to the apartment.

So let's see, we have gotten 2 chairs @$500 ea retail + 1 chair $170 retail + office desk $300 retail  = totalling almost $1500 of furniture for $240!!! With deals like that, I don't know why people pay retail.  And it was fun patting ourselves on the back looking at the prices at the Pottery Barn, thinking of the savings.  We have much better things to do with the $ than line their pockets!

And this is NEW furniture.  I usually get vintage, but the upholstered pieces are better new(er).  One has to be on the lookout - and have an eye and not do it all at once - but I have been looking at apartment internet decorating sites and watching HGTV about small spaces, and gearing myself up for this, as it looks like we are staying around here for a while - and we have to think about maximizing space.  But we have a color scheme -  with our lt. yellow walls & white woodwork - sort of a colonial one - so blue is great - and the lt. flowered pattern, too - and our style is cozy cottage/shabby chic.  We certainly don't have the room to play with minimalism.

I think you would agree that getting ALL that furniture for less than 1/2 of a Pottery Barn or Costplus easy chair is a great deal! Just broadcasting to you all that it CAN be done. (If I am terribly thrifty I will try to SELL off the old computer desk and stand(s) - as I did with some furniture from MY bachelor apartment furnishings before Xmas...I made $300 from that one day of a yardsale & cleared out a lot of stuff...)

Then we have some furniture coming that I inherited from my parents (my old bedroom stuff, actually).  I included those pieces in my thinking about re-arranging the furniture in our home office (1/2 of the living room).

There was a lot of nice furniture at that Salvation Army - if I were an enterpreneur - I would have bought the matching set of bedroom drawers - because altho the yellowed finish was battered, the wood was solid underneath & would have responded well to refinishing! But I have a similar piece coming, so I passed.

So, why spend $$ at Walmart or Target on fiberboard furniture that will not last, when you can get such good deals on hardly used furniture or old solid wood vintage pieces??

Recession?  Ha!  we can cope.

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Decorating? c. doverpublishing

Trying to create harmony in the home.

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