Makely

Today is Day 10 of a 31 day series on creating and cultivating an eclectic home.  For some crazy reason, I have accepted The Nester’s challenge to write on the same theme every day for the month of October.  This may end up killing me.  Or you.  But, I appreciate you reading and welcome your comments.

Yesterday, we talked about free (or almost free) ways to obtain eclectic decor.  Today, we’re going to move from free to cheap.

Cheap Ways to Obtain an Eclectic Decor

1) Junk stores – Have you ever been to a junk store? It’s sort of a mix between a thrift store and an antique store.  Most of the stuff is just what you’d think it is – junk.  But, occasionally, you can find a diamond in the rough.  I wouldn’t expect to find a great piece of antique furniture here, but perhaps you’ll run into something great that you can repurpose.  If you like the thought of a treasure hunt, then try to find a junk store or two in your area.

2) Habitat ReStore – Our local Habitat for Humanity is one of my favorite places to visit for new/old goodies.  Our store is an old warehouse filled to the brim with old doors, windows, light fixtures, reclaimed wood flooring…you name it, it’s here.  Sometimes I find great treasures, and other times I walk away empty handed.  During my last visit there, my friend JJ pointed out this beauty of a chandelier and came up with a great way to repurpose it.  You’ll have to check back later to see what I did with it (and she is an evil genius!).

Here’s a list of all of the ReStores around the country.  I hope there’s one close to you!

3) Garage Sales and Moving Sales – Obviously, garage sales and moving sales are a great place to score some cheap decor.  Definitely don’t discount the furniture you find as old junk (although some of it is).  The previous owner may simply be swapping out her decor for an updated style, or the owners may be moving across the country and don’t want to move many of their belongings.

4) Estate Sales – I have never been to an estate sale, but I am simply chomping at the bit to go to one. A true estate sale is one in which the entire contents of someone’s home are put up for sale, usually as a result of a death in the family.  I was never that interested until I started watching Cash & Cari on HGTV, because it seemed a bit creepy to me.  But now, I’ve got to go to one!  A friend of mine told me she got a 1950s record player cabinet in beautiful condition for $15 a few weeks ago at an estate sale.

5) Thrift Stores – The most obvious of all cheap places to find great eclectic furniture and decor is at a thrift store.  Make sure the piece is in good condition, and remember that you can easily change the color or style of a piece through paint, hardware, and moulding.  Some of my favorite pieces in my home were once thrift store cast-offs.

What are some good ways you’ve found cheap decor for your home? And what have you found?

Today is Day 9 of a 31 day series on creating and cultivating an eclectic home.  For some crazy reason, I have accepted The Nester’s challenge to write on the same theme every day for the month of October.  This may end up killing me.  Or you.  But, I appreciate you reading and welcome your comments.

If you’ve been following along with this series over the last week or so, you have likely determined your eclectic style mix and have some general ideas about how you’d like your home to look.  But now, you are probably asking, “Where do I get this stuff I really want without spending a ton of money?”

I’m so glad you asked!  I have put together a list of some ways you can build an eclectic mix of furnishings.  Today, we’re going to talk about the freebies, and over the next few days, I’ll introduce some other methods of obtaining eclectic deliciousness.

Free (or Almost Free) Ways to Obtain an Eclectic Decor

1) Host a Virtual Furniture Swap for local friends – If you have a piece of furniture or two that serves a great function but is not necessarily your style (like pieces of a matching set), host a virtual furniture swap with your local friends.  Set up a private Facebook page that you could invite your friends to join (and they could invite their friends, and so on).  Take photos of the piece(s) you would like to trade, and post the photos and the measurements on the Facebook page.  You could either do direct trades with each other (i.e. Sally and Jane swap coffee tables) or you could have do a trade with several people (i.e. Sally takes Jane’s coffee table, Jane take’s Kelly’s dresser, Kelly takes Sally’s dresser). Obviously, you’ll only want to take pieces that fit (or can fit with a little elbow grease) into your style mix.

If you only want to swap smaller decor items, throw a party and have everyone bring something to trade.  Everyone leaves with the same number of items they brought.  It’s like free shopping!

2) Craigslist “Free” listings – I’ll talk more extensively about Craigslist during another post, but often times you can score some good pieces for free on CL that just need a little DIY.  Who could forget the infamous Kid Rock/Britney Spears coffee table?  Saturday afternoons are great times to check the free listings, because many people post what didn’t sell at the morning garage sales.

3) Put the word out – Often times, it takes just the small effort of putting the word out.  Alert local friends, family and neighbors that you are looking for a new dresser or end table.  Ask them that if they have any pieces they were planning on taking to Goodwill, please let you take a peek at them first and see if you can save them the hassle of transporting the furniture to the donation center.  😉

After all, that’s basically how the yellow Miss Matched dresser came into my life.

How have you scored free pieces of furniture for your home?