Cheap or Free furniture ideas

[VanO62]

Can't stress enough Goodwill, Salvation Army and yard sales.

Also try not to furnish it all at once. I know this is hard to do, but if you are patient the finds will come to you.

Let people know you are needing furniture - you can get something more to your liking later - just make sure this is ok with whoever is giving it to you.

I love the look of all different chairs around a table. Have seen them all painted a unified color or left in their original state. But my fave is each one painted a different country color.

I used two free wooden captains chairs in my living room with my couch for about 2 years until I came upon some rocker recliners at a yard sale for $10 apiece. The chairs are now out in our garage for hubby and visitors to sit on when they take a break from working on something.

[Lindsey]

I second ana-white.com You can even ask her questions on her Facebook page and she will answer. Hubby and I are making her pub table for this months project.

I also 2nd (3rd, 4th?) thrift stores. Check out the blog Better After for ideas on how to change that yucky piece of crud into something beautiful!

Good luck!

[many houseapes]

I remember my mother using a very sturdy cardboard box....she covered it with beautiful contact paper & made a sidetable with it...she also made another end table with a shelf in the middle using the same method.I believe a few years ago, someone here had posted a link to a site that actually gave you tutorials on how to make sturdy furniture from cardboard boxes...just wish I could remember the site's name and who posted it.

[tracergal007]

Our local radio station has a swap shop each morning; I got a queen size sleeper sofa plus a leather overstuffed recliner from there for $100 for the set.

[mndtrp]

Let people know you are needing furniture - you can get something more to your liking later - just make sure this is ok with whoever is giving it to you.

This right here. I moved everything I had to Colorado in one vehicle. As people started upgrading their furniture, they gave me their old stuff. I had used, and free, furniture up until last year (about 10 years), before I finally started replacing with new. I then gave my old furniture to other people, perpetuating the cycle.

I've also done the rich-section-of-town-trash-day scrounging, and come home with a lot of cool items that only needed minor repairs.

When the colleges get out for Summer, that's a good time to get items.

Make do with dorm-style furnishings for a while; cinder block and wood shelves, homemade nightstands, etc.

Craigslist, at least in my area, is awesome.

[Spirit Deer]

I would ask on Freecycle for TVs. A lot of times during the holidays, people get new flat screens and dump the older ones that still work fine.

Ask on Freecycle about washer/dryer and maybe a freezer, too. You never know.