I don't think I've ever picked up something from the curb, but I have shopped a few garage sales and gotten a good deal on furniture. Like I said, I rarely get used upholstered pieces, but wooden pieces are easily cleaned (think Clorox wipes), and usually better made than what you can find new. I had to buy some new pieces for this house, because the old ones just didn't fit right. I'm considering ditching some stuff and buying new (or used) when I feel I've decluttered sufficiently and am ready to redecorate.
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Posted 10 months ago #
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Ha - love the expression "curb-mart'
I'm easily grossed out by used furniture that came from unknown sources. However, furniture such as tables, dressers, etc can be cleaned, sanded and painted or re- stained and varnished. A sealing primer can be used in drawer interiors then painted in a glossy finish.
Posted 10 months ago # -
@mskris & JuliaJaybe - Agreed. I wouldn't be opposed to buying non-upholstered wooden pieces. Like you both said, they are easily cleaned! (And most of the time, better made). There's just something about a used couch cushion, especially from an unknown source, that makes me freak out inside!
Posted 10 months ago # -
I hear ya. All of my upholstered items were purchased new with custom fabric, except for my current sofa. It belonged to an aunt who had passed away. We were helping the family clear out her apartment, and they really wanted us to take the things they didn't want. My aunt, who kept a perfect home, down to plastic covers on the furniture back in the day when you could easily get covers, was a certifiable germaphobe. We took her sofa, which was in perfect condition. I'm sure she didn't even put a foot on that sofa.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I've picked up a few things at curb-mart in my low-income past. There is very little that a good cleaning, and maybe a paint job, can't render livable.
I thought this couple's story was very familiar. Most of the people I know furnished their first homes (whether dorm room, apartment, or marital house) through hand-me-downs and thrift shops. Who starts out able to drop $35K at Ethan Allan?
Some day I would love to get rid of our leather La-Z-Boy couch. I know we won't be able to sell it, it's too big for curb-mart ... we'll have to call a donation place to pick it up, and hope someone can deal with the claw marks (our cats don't scratch it, but they do launch from it).
Posted 10 months ago # -
Hahaha - now I have an image of ninja-cats in chacha1's home. :-)
Posted 10 months ago # -
I read the article and got almost irrationally irritated; I'll tell you why. I have nothing against hand-me-downs, or second hand furniture, or bargain hunting. If you can furnish your entire house for less than $700, congrats, more power to you. And if you manage to also make it to your taste, that's fantastic.
What gets my blood boiling, though, are people who not only bargain hunt obsessively (their business), but who also insist on telling you what a bargain they got on every. single. item.
I was helping a friend move this weekend. Lovely girl, but she does suffer from the above symptoms. I was helping her assemble her furniture (some IKEA, some not, but who wants to pay to have stuff delivered and assembled when you can rent a van and have your friends figure out where all the bolts go, with no instructions?!); every time I made a comment on any of her furniture, the very first thing that came out of her mouth was how much it cost, how much she saved, and why she got such a good deal. Our conversation went something like:
"Hey, nice couch"
"Thanks, I got it for $XXX. It was marked down from $XXX at XXX store."
...
"Does this footstool go here?"
"Yeah. I got a set of 4 of those for $12 today from some guy on Craigslist."
...
And it went on. By the time all the furniture was in place I knew where it had all come from, and its exact sale price. Finally, we're done, eating pizza and relaxing. She brings out drinks and a set of glasses. This time, no one even said anything before she went off: "I just got these glasses at Walmart yesterday. 8 for $10. It was marked wrong, and they were on the $10 shelf instead of the $15 shelf, but because of that they had to sell them for $10." I swear my head was about to explode.Posted 10 months ago # -
Parsifal, what's so irritating about this? I don't think it's any more misleading that those "I only own 25 items" people who fail to count a large number of their possessions.
My husband and I furnished our 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house this way when we first moved in. We had a lot of hand-me-downs, some curb-side gems, and a lot of yard sale purchases. I know we spent almost nothing to furnish the entire house. This is a perfectly legitimate way to go. There's another post on these boards about the glut of used home furnishings.
I'm glad I can't see the comments. Our consumer society pressures people to always have the newest, trendy, stuff. Used furniture is not "icky". A good upholstered piece can be recovered to take away any ick factor. Wood pieces can easily be cleaned. In my case, we had a used leather couch from a friend of my husband's. Nothing gross about that.
I've since passed on the pieces that don't really fit my style, or were a little too worn or just plain poorly made. So I have bought new furniture. But I've kept a lot of the nicer things I salvaged, like a 1920s secretary desk that my neighbor put at the curb for trash. It still had the key for the desk. And, when I decided the tables I bought (new) for my living room were too big for the space, I gave them away and found more appropriate tables at an estate sale. They are beautiful and unique, and were in really good condition.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Laetitia, my cats will expend a lot of energy to get around the apartment without touching the floor ... if they were martial artists, they would be Bruce Lee and Steven Seagal. Guess who wins most of their matches!
Posted 10 months ago # -
I've bought some furniture new, but the vast majority of mine has come from Craiglist and the thrift stores, and I'm not above scoring something awesome on the side of the road. It means that we can part with it when the time comes without feeling bad about the "investment".
Posted 10 months ago # -
I'm good with second hand, but when even the local hospitals are having bed-bug out breaks, anything with stuffing is off my list. Ewwww.
@Anita - I know someone like that - but it's just the prices, not even sale prices! She can (and will, whether you want to know or not!)tell you the price of every object in every inch of her house, right down to how much each roll of wallpaper cost. If you get her started on X-mas gifts, she can rattle of lists of gifts, who they were from and all the values from YEARS ago! She makes my head hurt. I'm lucky if I can remember what I got last Christmas.
Posted 10 months ago # -
This link doesnt work but $675 is too small amout for furniture. There is some way to significant reduction of kitchen furniture price. This is the way that my friend tried with good results and told me about it. It is a replacement furniture fronts. Instead of replacing the entire cabinets chamge only fronts. Kitchen will be like new because the fronts are the most visible elements. We will obtain an effect similar to that if we have changed entire furniture but the cost drops to about 30%. To save even more you can buy unfinished fronts and they finish them. Method is not complicated and I think everyone can do it alone. Amount of money that we spend on such operations decreases significantly (to around 15%) . With the current high cost of kitchen furniture I think it is worth to think about this. More detail you can find here: Unfinished Cabinet Doors
Posted 1 month ago # -
wow, lookit the spam!
Posted 1 month ago # -
NO NO! Don't look at the spam! Avert your eyes!!
Posted 1 month ago # -
One good thing is that spammers often bump interesting threads that I'd completely forgotten about!
Posted 1 month ago # -
I do love the charm of translated spam.
Regarding the actual thread, I dunno. You see something you can use at Curb-Mart, you can bring it home, clean it, try it out and if it doesn't work you can put it back out on the curb. If you have the money and want to spend it, you can treat yourself to a new piece. If you have the skills and time, you can make yourself something. In the end, furnishing your little nest is entirely up to you and your resources.
I do like new mattresses/pillows/sofas/linens. The vast majority of my furniture is "vintage" because I have discovered that solid wood furniture is sturdier and lighter weight than fiberboard/laminate. I have no idea what we'll do when we set up our new home, as we both want a modern look... but I only have old furniture.
Posted 1 month ago # -
This week I spotted a real relic in the alley. Well, there was a very tawdry single-size headboard out there that I thought a theatre company ought to have! but someone threw out an antique TV. Okay, vintage. Probably 1970s-vintage, little grayish-brown plastic box. Kept waiting for someone to scoop it up!
When this thread bumped up it reminded me I still haven't done my home inventory. That has to be part of May's estate-planning mission. I think DH and I have spent at least $30,000 furnishing our place. Yikes.
Posted 1 month ago # -
chacha1, it's amazing how it adds up. When we lost everything in a tornado in 1999 we had to list every possession we had owned for our insurance claim (we salvaged one dresser and a few keepsakes from an entire 3 bed house!) It was surprising how much it costs to replace a household.
Posted 1 month ago # -
i'm glad this thread was dug up, even if it was by a spammer. it's an interesting read (and i remember the article referenced even though the link it's working for me now).
we bought several new furniture items for our first apartment and spent about $1000. b/c our new space is half the size, most of our old furniture didn't fit so i sold/gave away all but our bed, couch, and one small table/desk. with a super tight budget i've furnished it again for under $100. it took a lot of time scouring yard sales, thrift stores, and classifieds to find the right pieces, and then more time to rehab/modify some, but it's all coming together. i honestly like our second place better. it's very wabi-sabi, but it's me.
Posted 1 month ago # -
@lifekeepshappening http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701&va=modern+look+with+vintage+furniture
I was intrigued by your wanting modern look with vintage furniture, as it's usually wanting modern furniture to look vintage. Did a little google-noodling, and found the above site for images. Some of them are pretty out there, but there's a lot of intereting ideas. Might be helpful to you.
Posted 1 month ago #
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