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Wednesday Website #5: Craigslist.org


This post might be obvious to some, but it definitely is worth mentioning.When it came time to furnish our apartment, we immediately went to Craigslist.org. You can find excellent pieces of furniture for very little money, if you can figure out when the most items will hit the market in your locale. For example, if you live in a city with a large university, check Craigslist frequently between the months of May and September and you'll be rewarded with people moving out, people moving in, and lots of furniture being posted.

We live in a large city, which helps provide a steady flow of Craigslist items. If you know what you are looking for, and you check frequently, you can score awesome deals. The picture above is our living room, and all of the furniture is from Craigslist or IKEA.

Here's the breakdown:
Couch - $150
Price included delivery and help getting it into the apartment. This couch is a clean dark grey material, and is as big as a twin bed if you remove the back cushions. It's great for guests to stay on, or for taking a nap (trust me - it's ridiculously comfortable and makes you never want to get up!).
Chairs - $50 each
I had been eying these cream colored TULLSTA chairs from IKEA for months. I didn't want to pay the $99 price the store asks for brand new chairs, so I kept an eye out on Craigslist. It took several months, during which I saw it in red, black, or a single cream chair, but eventually I found someone selling several of these. I snapped them up instantly! There is only a couple small smudges on the material, but they are barely noticeable. I can either try steam cleaning them, or just get a washable slipcover.
Bookcase - $40 for two
We had been in need of bookcases for about a year. Our books were sitting in white plastic milk crates since we moved here, and they were in need of a new home. I kept an eye out for nice wooden bookcases, and was rewarded with these foldable bookcases. They happen to be the same ones that Sherry and John have over at YoungHouseLove.com (although they were much more adventurous than I am and ended up painting it green). The other is located in our office/guest room, which for now is nice, but a much less inspired space.

The coffee table is the LACK coffee table from IKEA, which was about $20-$25 new. I got that because we have matching LACK side tables in the bedroom, and I liked the both the style and the potential to use them in the same room.

Curtains are from the Christmas Tree Shop (an amazing line of stores that is unfortunately only found in the Northeast). I wanted blue-grey silk curtains with a nice sheen, but could not talk myself into spending a ton on real silk. So instead I found them in faux silk at Christmas Tree Shop in Connecticut, and put them in my suitcase on my way back to Arizona! At about $15/two panels, they are much, much more affordable.

We also put the curtains in our dining room. (adjoins the living room at the point from where the pictures were taken) We have a wall with an ugly wood veneer built in cabinet, and cannot remove it since we are renting. Since I couldn't stand to look at it every single day, I had the idea to hang curtains on either side of the stainless steel shelves and cover the cabinet, while still allowing access to drawers. The other side of the metal shelving is where we store things like brooms and mop buckets, since we don't have room anywhere else in the apartment.

In this picture, the table is from Craigslist, while the metal shelves are from IKEA (about $80 for the set, but very durable - and it was the one piece of furniture my fiance really wanted in the apartment). The table cost $50 for a table and four chairs. I loved the lines on the back of the chairs, and so I'm hoping to make time in the next year to stain or paint it a darker wood color.

So there you have it. For less than $400 we added furniture and fabric to our living/dining room area and created a comfortable, inviting space. I must say, I'm addicted to Craigslist! (we got our new mattress and desk from Craigslist as well)
 
Side note: sorry about the poor picture quality and the weird lighting. I was using an unfamiliar camera but wanted to get the pictures taken!

2 comments:

Kate said...

I LOVE craigslist! If you really keep an eye out you can find some great stuff.

Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog said...

Great finds! I agree that Craigslist is an amazing source- sometimes it is tedious work waiting for the right pieces to pop up.

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