Friday 9 March 2018

Furnish your home with free and second hand.

Hello. I'm whizzing this off pretty quick because I have a lot to do today. This corner of my living room used to be my fitness studio, it housed the Cross Trainer, which has been loaded into a friends car half an hour ago. I sold it, because I no longer use it, and someone else who is into fitness in a big way can make better use of it. 
So what is in it's place. More room for my arts and crafts work space. I brought a pine table down from upstairs in the storeroom, aka spare bedroom. This table was given to me, the people next door were throwing it out a few years ago, along with two bench seats. It fits in nicely in this space. I have extended the top of the table by laying three pieces of interlocking floor panels on the top, which gives an extra foot on the length. Also free I might add, out of a skip.
I found this wooden shelving in a skip a few weeks ago. It used to be a cd storage unit. Standing on it's end it had plastic inserts to house a hundred or so cd's. I removed them and turned it on it's side, and bingo, shelves. It's buffed up nicely with a rub of wax polish

This unit was given to me by a friend as she no longer had a use for it. It is the housing for a stereo player, but I am using it as a cupboard.

This got me thinking about how much of my furniture cost me nothing because it was found or given. These two bedside cabinets came from a skip. They work well in the living room, I don't need bedside cabinets.

Looking around, in this room, I have a free dining room table which came from next door. A four piece suite, sofa, two chairs, and pouffe which was £50 second hand. A sideboard bought from a friend many many years ago for a few quid. A desk bought from a second hand office shop for £30. There is a cupboard in here which the previous owners left behind. Free curtains either from a skip or given to me.

I can see no reason why anyone needs to go in a furniture shop and splash out loads of money. There is plenty of second hand stuff available. I see that one of those buy now pay later homestyle shops has closed down in the town. Their prices were extortionate, they robbed the vulnerable by advertising a low weekly repayment scheme, but over the period of the loan they ended up paying hundreds even thousands more than they needed to. Brighthouse is still trading further up the High Street in a similar way, I would like to see them close too.

My lunch and dinner are usually eaten in front of a computer screen. This is what I had yesterday. Pasta, houmous, mushrooms, tomato, lettuce, and crusty seeded bread. I don't put the pasta and houmous on the plate, they are a side dish to accompany the salad. I pick at them, stop when I am full, and the pots go back in the fridge. I like these meals, from fridge to plate, no cooking.

Anyway, must get off. Jobs to do....Tidy up spare room where I removed the table, put it all back straight. Tidy up my crafting stuff here, now I have more space. Two men in a van just delivered three pieces of wood, as big as pallets, I need to find a space for them in the garage. I like being busy.

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

19 comments:

  1. Hi Ilona, I agree thoroughly with you about furnishing ones house. I think second hand which is sometimes older means 'made better and to last'. Wandering around a second hand shop last week I spotted a modular couch whic was in perfect condition and only $300. To buy the equivalent new in would be more like $2000.00. Luckily I don't need any more furniture but if I do it will not be the huge financial outlay that some people have. Very good advice Ilona!

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  2. All our furniture in this house (and it's a BIG farmhouse) has come from auction, almost without exception. When we can afford it, we trade up and that way have found some very nice pieces over the years in the antique line. (That's what my little business sells). You have been very fortunate to have found good stuff in skips - where we are is in the middle of the countryside, so no skips put out round here!

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  3. Hey. Hope youre well. Most of if not all of my furniture is given or free, i love the ecclectic look!! I love your phone, did you paint it / sticker it or buy it like that? Xx

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    1. Hi. Yes I painted it and stuck stickers on it.

      https://meanqueen-lifeaftermoney.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/brighten-up-your-electricals-with-paint.html

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  4. Almost all my furniture came from thrift stores, curbside or friends. When I bought my home, I decided not to buy furniture sets and collect pieces a little by little. It takes time, but I've saved a lot of money.

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  5. I’ve got the same brown cd cabinet - I use mine as a cupboard too. I don’t buy new furniture. If I do need anything (rare) I always buy second hand. I never ever buy from those charity furniture shops - very expensive. I used to work in a charity shop that sold furniture - I always sold cheaply. Natalie

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  6. "I like being busy" that is an wonderful understatement!
    You are the poster gal for folks closing in on 70!
    JanF

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  7. Keeping busy and keeping active keeps you young.

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  8. We have three beds in our house that I got dirt cheap because the finishes were in such bad condition, and they were dented and scratched, and one had little kids' stickers on it. I sanded each of the beds and painted them. The transformation was tedious and a little messy, but the results are wonderful. I can't believe how much money I saved.

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  9. Looking around my home- I hardly have any new, the beds, some IKEA shelving and storage, my bedside cabinets, the kitchen stools, a Habitat nest of tables. There is quite a lot of very lovely stuff that was free. xx

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  10. Love everything you do ....... your dinner looks scrummy but I can’t see what those sticking up bits are ......looks like two half naked Barbie dolls ....... but my eyes are bad!!!!

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    1. A mushroom cut into four pieces down the centre of the stem.

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    2. Oh .......

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  11. It makes perfect sense. The dinner looks nummy too!

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  12. We furnished each of our homes with furniture from action, charity shops or the local tip.
    Even our carpets came for the Ark Royal when it had a refit. They were of a beautiful quality and saw us through 3 home moves until we could adapt them no longer!
    The latest piece I claimed was from the woodpile at the tip. Cleaned up and after a great deal of hard work it's perfect and far more appropriate than any new piece. The satisfaction we feel with our restored pieces is what I call home making rather than “shopping”.
    I feel the same about baking and making meals for pennies rather than buying the equivalent for a supermarket.
    When the children were small we made the decision that I should stay it home with them.
    It was not easy and to stretch our money I made and recycled lots.
    It was very satisfying going to jumble sales and then remodelling clothes including unraveling jerseys to red it into something else.
    Today both parents have to work in general. I am very grateful to have had the chance to be a stay at home mum though it was very hard at times and many people thought it a waste of ability.
    To me it was the most important job I could do at the time.
    Sorry this has turned into a bit of a rant but I feel sorry for mothers like my daughter in law who would love to stay at home but can't afford to.
    A change of lifestyle to enable this opens up another can of worms!
    Sue

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    1. I stayed home until my child was at school and then returned to work part-time. Only having one I didn't want to miss any of growing up and I didn't want to 'farm out' the parenting role. It was a good decision. The draw back is that we don't have much material wealth. Furniture and what not is mostly second hand bought at opportunity shops or handed down to us. A bit of all sorts that has seen us through.

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  13. Many items of furniture and clothing in my home is secondhand.I also have loads of furniture made by my own fair hands. Many year ago I signed up to a 'woodwork for women' course. It was aimed at women from one of the poorer housing estates but open to everyone. Not one person turned up from the housing estate but myself and a group of friends learned how to make some lovely pieces of furnniture.. all free and paid for by some 'Lottery pot of funding' or other..... now if only I could find a free upholstery course.

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  14. Most of our home is a mix of second hand furniture we have obtained or purchased over the years. I like the quirky look of it all....it mixes and matches really well, old, older and some newer pieces. The only exception to this is our new mattress (Dec 17) as sleeping on a decent bed is a must. Will never understand those that want thier home to look like everyone else's. Rae x

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  15. A lot of mine is second hand-either free,reclaimed,charity shop or parents-ecclectic,shabby chic I say to myself.It's comfy & the dogs love their home & do as they please x

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