Taxidermy Worms: Furnishing A Home On the Cheap

Moving from a one bedroom condo that family of three barely has room to move around in, to a two-story three bedroom home, while majorly exciting is also somewhat daunting. Most of the furniture we did our best to squeeze into our old place could all just about fit in one of these rooms. Also, with the move itself and the increase in monthly costs (though little compared to the value, is still felt) we didn't/don't have much expendable money for things like furniture and decor.

So we hit the streets... and the internet to scrounge up some pretty fantastic deals. We even lucked our way into some hand-me-downs. As they say, one man's junk...

Anyway, we managed to fill this place up in lightening speed, and though we are still without some things, overall we are making use of most of our rooms. Someday we'll have a porch swing, some patio furniture and a mudroom bench to sit by our back door and give home to all our stray shoes (our many, MANY pairs... like, seriously we have more shoes than all of the Kardashian's closets combined) but for now it's a major relief to have couches to sit on, a table to eat at and dressers to hold our clothes (insert second reference to celebrity closet capacities here).

I am often amazed at how much people pay for contemporary, poorly-crafted furniture and on the flip side how little you can spend on classic pieces that are in need of some minor tlc. It sounds cliche' to say "they just don't make 'em like they used to" ...especially as a 20 something who wasn't around back when they did... but it really is true. In many cases we've spent less on something that has already proven it's ability to outlast the lifespan of the particle-board junk they charge an arm and a leg for at most retailers. And the thing is they will in most circumstances last that long again on into the future years after the "new" piece has fallen apart.

So here are some of the deals we scored:

Couch and Loveseat $300 - Craigslist