furniture subsitutes and such...

[moria636]

IM moving out soon... Im trying to get ideas to decorate cheepley... im not going to be able to afford furniture.... and I don't want to just put pillows on the floor... im trying to think of all kinds of home subsitutions.... just cuz you don't have any money does'nt mean you have to have a ugly empty life sucking home....
any ideas???? I know theres way more creative ppl on here than me....

[Carickah]

IM moving out soon... Im trying to get ideas to decorate cheepley... im not going to be able to afford furniture.... and I don't want to just put pillows on the floor... im trying to think of all kinds of home subsitutions.... just cuz you don't have any money does'nt mean you have to have a ugly empty life sucking home....
any ideas???? I know theres way more creative ppl on here than me....
Many years ago, my father brought home several doors that here being removed from the building he was working in during a renovation and with a few heavy brackets, made theme into a great set of bookshelves/entertainment center. Also, check your local goodwill and thrift stores. Often some of the best ideas can be gotten just by walking around these places. And don't forget garage sales and if there is a university or college that has dorms and apartments, you might check to see what might be going out at the end of the semesters.


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[Lunacie]

You may be able to get some furniture for free. I've given away some clutter through www.freecycle.com (http://www.freecycle.com) and gotten some things that way too.

http://www.freecycle.org/display.php?region=US%20Southern
Scroll down for Georgia and the city closest to you.

[Valerie]

In my experience, Ikea is VERY cheap, and all the stuff looks great.

[MoonKnight]

You should also try yard sales and garage sales.

Don't forget if you see something with a nice shape but nasty color, such as a lamp or table, you can always paint it. And you can always cover a sofa or chair.

[kitsch]

..for the first year after we moved, we used a bbq box covered with a sheet for a coffee table, and had futons for couches.
i've found putting the word out can get you some cool free stuff...i've gotten the bookcase that houses my witchy stuff and my altar, a huge pappasan (?) chair, etc. if you get offered something, take it, even if you don't like it/need it. if people know you're open to receiving all kinds of stuff they'll offer again when something else comes their way. if you turn them down, they might not think you'll want the next thing. you can always pass it on to someone else.
valu village and the like are pretty cheap sources of used furniture, especially if you don't mind it looking a little...er..."unique". also, if you can hold out for a few more months, you might be able to score some stuff when people put out their spring cleaning.

[Gwenhwyfar]

Painting the walls and cupboards is fun, you can get some really neat paint these days, I like the chalkboard paint...and the spray on ones that have metalic and/or marbley effects. You can also make your own art. I like to go to the second hand stores and buy those really tacky, ugly paintings that are cheap, paint over them with black and voila a new canvas. Or another idea is to glue things to the canvas, I once stuffed a pair of old jeans, a long sleave shirt and staple gunned it to the canvas. Decorated the jeans and shirt, painted a head and some hands and feet. It looks really kool, its huge too...just use your imagination, itll pull you through every time :)

Revamping old furniture is fun too, alls you need is material and a staple gun...some old pillows for restuffing would be good. Good luck!

[-Ember]

Totes: Great storage, sturdier than cardboard, stackable, throw a cloth over for tables. If you invest in the REALLY sturdy ones (or crates) you can use them like a bench.

[Raidenmaru]

What a wonderful chance to get creative. Create your own decorations to spiff up your furnishings and living space... I still do it even without financial questions on furniture. Favourite things to play with are coloured plastics, polycarbonate sheeting (you can melt them very carefully to bend them), metal in various shapes, lights, lenses/mirrors, paper, and especially cloth.

I've always wanted to make a ceiling-mounted desk, but stability hasn't ever worked out.

[BlessedByTheGoddess]

I was gonig to say Ikea and Freecycle.

[Sylvan]

When I was planning on moving out on my own, I had thought to buy pool floaties for furniture. Floatie chair? Cool! Floatie killer whale? Neato! :) I was silly.

[moria636]

all really great ideas.... thanks... =) so much...

[RhiamonButterfly]

Moria....this is advice I give anyone on a tight budget just moving out....when they go on sale, buy a few of the plastic lawn chairs....you know the ones, they come in a variety of colors...and you can put chair pads or pillows on them and they are really cheap, like 3 or 4 dollars. 12 years ago when me and hubby got married, neither of us had a thing....I got a dining room table at a garage sale and put these chairs around it...in my diningroom..lol....hey, it's somewhere to sit, and believe it or not, I still have these chairs still, in my backyard...they make great extras too...plus, you can buy little tables to match that you can use for end tables, coffee tables and such :)

[wolf]

Cable spools make great tables. Telephone line size for the dining room, coax size for end tables. Oh yeah, and milk crates ... they are bookshelves, tabletops, emergency seating ... 1001 uses.

[johenn123]

you COULD just buy a mattress and normal bed stuff, its cool being close to the floor!

[MoonWolfSorceress]

Totes: Great storage, sturdier than cardboard, stackable, throw a cloth over for tables. If you invest in the REALLY sturdy ones (or crates) you can use them like a bench.

That's a really good idea! I'm glad I have the habit of reading old threads, because I never would've thought of that myself! All hail the Resurection of the Ancient Thread!!:fpraise::lol:

[mephistopheles]

If you find hideous old (and usually very cheap...) furniture, it doesn't take long to strip it down, sand it, and restain it. We have several furniture pieces that were absolutely disgusting looking and now the compliments flow freely :lol:. Old milk crates don't look half bad full of stuff, and as someone said, cable spools really do work nicely :p.

[gypsytrails]

Freecycle is a great place

Also check out Craigs list

Also put up notices in laundry mats or library and you may be surprised to find folks who have stuff to pass along your way.

If you are open to receiving than folks will donate to you, if you find you do not want or need something, just post it at the local college or on freecycle to give it away.

I often have used futons for couches, and put colored sheets on boxes for tables, have used milk crates for book shelves.

Plants of course are a great way to decorate and make it more earthy or natural decorating....

Using glass bottles or containers for indoor stone gardens are a great way to decorate.

I have also used decorated table mats that I have found at the dollar store for wall hangings...especially seasonal decorating.

Go to the dollar store, and find colored bottles and put them on a window ledge and they look beautiful.

Baskets are a great way to decorate and you can find some really cheap...

I have decorated baskets with all kinds of things, magazines, dried plants, glass stones from the dollar store...

I have made candle center pieces from supplies gathered at a dollar store.

You can create scrapbook pages and put them into a frame from the dollar store or Michaels craft store and arrange them on your wall...I have made some for my wall in previous homes and also given them to friends...what is really cool is then you can create various for the different seasons!

A really cool idea is to print off photos of various herbs that you like, and create a collage and put them in a photo frame and put them on your kitchen wall...

One place that my friend and I shared had the kitchen decorated in red and white, so we chose an apple theme and created displays for our walls from photos and clip art printed off from the computer and create scrapbook pages and collages for decorating our kitchen.

I have also found some really amazing deals at the end of the month, and gone down back alleys when folks have had to move and don't want to take all their stuff.

Hope these ideas help you a bit...if you need more just ask...I am good at decorating on the frugal side!

[gypsytrails]

Another great idea is to find a wreath at your local dollar store or craft supply store and decorate them according to your room...I have made some interesting kitchen wreaths with mini sppons, and cookie cutters.....

You could create a wreath for each room if you are interested in them...they are really easy to decorate with some ribbon that you can find inexpensively and some dried flowers or other accessories...One friend of mine made a sewing room wreath with ribbons and various large buttons and painted empty spool threads...it looked pretty cool :)

Now would be a great time to decorate an autumn wreath, with pine cones, colored leaves etc....with imagination possibilties are endless for any kind of wreath ...I am sure there are tons of other ideas for creating a wreath on the web.

[gypsytrails]

It is fairly easy to find pallets ....from moving or construction sites, or large grocery stores....

You could use these to make book shelves, tables and cover them with fabric, nail them together to make wooden stools, can build plant containers using pallets and putting plastic inside them

You could use pallets to create birdhouses or doll houses and decorate them!

Can build pallets together and create a coffee table also!

I found this on another website: it looks really cool and uses recycled parts...
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Adding_value_to_old_pallets.html

A good friend of mine doesn't use pallets, but other "junk" wood and old wood stove parts to build some fine looking furniture. And he also sometimes uses imported exotic hardwoods combined with the stove parts. Here is a picture of one of his creations. The base is from a cook stove. The door grate, I believe, was an oven rack from another cook stove as were the warming shelves. The wood was taken from an old fallen down building.
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base_images/zp/adding_value_to_old_pallets.jpg

[gypsytrails]

Fish bowls make great decorating options, not just for putting fish in them... you can use them for floating candles, colored glass stones from the dollar store, can add river rocks and candles,

You can add ribbons around them and fill them with candy or seasonal decorations like tiny bells or snowflakes or colored leaves...all which you can get at the dollar store!

You can also check out construction sites to see if they have any free pieces of wood to give away, or get some square pieces of wood from craft store...paint them various colors and add photos to them.... a friend of mine did this and created a wonderful wall display ...it was different and looked really cool!

[banondraig]

Find out when the local "big item" trash days are and pick through things people put out the night before. You should ask before you take them, or not get caught, though. I have found great stuff this way, like snazzy vintage chairs, a coffee table in reasonable condition, but with some finish issues, and a small aquarium with working lights. This works best in neighborhoods of apartments and small houses.

[CzechWoods]

never ever buy used furniture. not in garage sales, not n antique shops. just downt.

ideas to substitute.

get yourself wood from a hardware store and build your own.

a box of wood with a pillow/cushion on it makes a good stool

often at the end of a season garden furniture is on sale. go for those. they may be plastic but they last almost for ever. I am using a table on flea markets now, that had been on my childrens room balcony for well over ten years, served my wife and me as kitchen table for well over another ten years. its foldable too

simple bricks and wood shelves make beautiful shelves for books etc. if you dont like the rough look, get scraps of carpets/wall papers at your hardware/furniture store and use that for decoration

when you paint your walls all whitem, you can use cloth or wall paper scruffs that you "frame" with pieces of thin wood or branches, creating unique decoration pictures

you know those wooden stands, that are foldeble and are used by cionstruction guys ?

take 2-3 of those, lay a large wood on top and you have a good kitchen counter. another idea is to get those impregnated wood pieces that are used to bring concrete in form. they are resisting humidity and stuck together by metal pieces. those make great kitchen counters too. sually they come in yellow or green (impregnation colour)

be inventive.

if you absolutely have the urge to use second hand furniture, go to the mall and ask whether they dont have disposable shelves etc, that they have gotten from he industry as decoration for seasonal goods. This way you can get solid material as well.

you can cut empty water bottles in slisez and use them as inner filling of parevents, to cut a larger room in two optically.


eta: paper is often shunned but makes a grea material for sitting furniture. some leading german furniture designers, made very comfy chairs and sofas entirely of paper machee. Thats wall paper glue and water and scruff of ld newspapers. you can add cartons too for greater stability. as well as wire you get in any garden supply center

[banondraig]

never ever buy used furniture. not in garage sales, not n antique shops. just downt.

why not?



eta: paper is often shunned but makes a grea material for sitting furniture. some leading german furniture designers, made very comfy chairs and sofas entirely of paper machee. Thats wall paper glue and water and scruff of ld newspapers. you can add cartons too for greater stability. as well as wire you get in any garden supply center


that's good stuff.

[bellamandu]

i furnished my entire 4 bedroom house through dumpster diving and picking up stuff on the side of the road. also, those milk crates from stores that are thrown out are nice for little tables, and i made a bookshelf out of a couple of them, just add spraypaint and colored ducktape and voila!

[gypsytrails]

That is awesome!!!!

[Vampiel]

The freecycle website isnt working?

[Terra Mater]

Don't know if it has been suggested, but try driving through any large apartment complex or dorm complex in your area. Many people toss out perfectly good furniture. I have a good desk and an entertainment center that I got for free.

Also, when hitting yard sales, find out when they plan on packing things up and the last day they are having the sale. Often I have gotten large lots of items for free just by being there and being willing to haul the stuff off.

[Vampiel]

http://images.craigslist.org/1g3138145ZZZZZZZZZ8ao1dfdc4b205fb103b.jpg

Free on Craigslist but you probably dont live anywhere near here.:toofless:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/zip/891951701.html