Why, yes it is! In February/March of this year, we moved into a house that was a model for a local builder. It’s a great house that came with all the window treatments, bedding and pillows. All the colors worked perfectly with everything in our previous homes, so it was a great match. But we didn’t have furniture to fill all those rooms!
In the last few weeks, my husband had been working to sell a home for this really nice couple in Herndon, Virginia. Upon finally receiving a contract, they decided to sell most of their furniture so they would not have to store it and move it to their new home when construction is complete.
As an aside, my in-law’s have also moved into a new home and they have purchased new furniture for their living room. They are giving us their old furniture we just have to haul it away. It is great furniture and will definitely come in handy.
This is where one man’s trash comes into play. And honestly, it's not so much that any of it is trash, AT ALL, it's just that they don't want the furniture or other items any longer so we are benefiting from them both!
For not a lot of money we are getting the first couple's sofa and loveseat, a great TV for the media room, some decorative accessories and a few small extra pieces of furniture. From the in-law's we are getting a sofa and 2 reclining chairs. These pieces alone will allow us to complete our family room, living room and media room.
There are of course some things that will need to be done in order for us to use this furniture. The couple who just sold their home has 2 cats. I am allergic to cats. I suspect it will be sprayed heavily with allergy reducing Fabrese and steam cleaned. My mother-in-law's furniture where it is good quality and heavy duty will need to have slipcovers placed on them. They are blue and nothing in our home is blue. It will cost a few dollars to buy some slipcovers for those pieces but compared to buying new furniture, it doesn't even come close.
So this brings up a great question, how to get great furniture at a low cost? I had come across a book I was going to recommend on this site about getting great furniture at lower costs and it was all about buying lots at storage units. Well what if you don't want a full time job looking for storage unit sales OR you work a full time job and can't get to the storage unit sales when they are happening? Why not start talking to realtors you know? Tell them when someone is selling a home and they don’t want certain pieces of furniture to keep you on the inside loop so you can look at it and buy it at a discounted price. Why not scan Craig's List in your area? Why not put ads in the local papers for people who want to get rid of their furniture? Put the word out in your community that you are looking for certain pieces and go for it.
By looking for furniture this way, you can be picky about what pieces you buy. If you don’t like the piece or it’s not in that great of shape, move on to the next one or wait it out.
Another kind of weird thing I did was simply “put it out there” to the universe. Because I am an interior designer and I set out with a plan for the house, I knew and know exactly what I want for this house and for each room. I calmly sat and visualized each room of my house seeing it completed. I saw the furniture, the artwork, the paint on the walls, the window treatments and accessories. Then I simply asked the universe for this or something better to come along.
Well tomorrow, August 15th, something better is getting delivered to my home. And for a savings of about 85%! Who can beat that?
Until next time,
Rhonda
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