5 Budget Decorating Secrets You Didn’t Already Know

We’ve all done it before. Scoured Craigslist for hours, applying various filters, trying to find the perfect furniture piece for our latest design plan. We may be on a budget, but we’re determined to find what we want, even if it takes a little time. In many cases, budget decorating can take a lot of time actually. Hours of scouring the internet, searching the same places for a hidden gem, or waiting for your favorite store to put an item you’ve been stalking on clearance. These are the conditions of budget decorating we accept in order to have exactly what we want.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of playing the waiting game with limited resources. Sometimes Craigslist and West Elm clearance just don’t cut it. To be honest, Craigslist hunting is no longer my first choice in locating my next piece of furniture or decor item. Recent events involving dishonest sellers, resulting in unfortunate and harmful experiences to buyers, have kept me away. Though many people still have great luck with it.

Moving on. As you know, budget decorating is all about discovering gems or creating gold, per se, with limited resources. Well I’d like to give you more resources to work with in order to make the search for your next decor piece quicker, and easier. Let’s take a look at 5 Budget Decorating Secrets You Didn’t Already Know.

 

Everything But the House

Estate sales can be a wonderful way to find furniture and decor for the home in great condition, for an extremely low price. What makes this estate sale different is that all bids and transactions take place online. EBTH.com is a website and app that make bidding on furniture, art, antiques, etc., super easy. Did I mention you have access to estate sales happening all over the country? Though if you are in search for a heavy piece of furniture, I would recommend sticking to sales located in your city, as the price of shipping a heavy item is quite expensive.

Simply download the app, create an account, click on “sales” and search the various estate sales available by city. If you find something you like, make a bid and sit back. Most sales occur over a 7 day period. I’d recommend waiting until the final day to make your bid in order to save time and energy, and prevent a possible bidding war.

Hotel Liquidators

Have you ever wondered what hotels do with their old furniture when they decide to renovate? Surely that furniture must go somewhere. Well it does. When a hotel decides to renovate they contact a local liquidation company to clear each room of all furniture. This liquidation company takes all the furniture obtained, places it in their warehouse, and sales the various pieces for 10-25% of the original price.

Perform a google search for hotel liquidation in your nearest city and go from there. If you’d like to view a quick example, Cash Liquidations, here in the city of Atlanta, is a great example of some of the quality, used hotel furniture sold at great prices. I’d recommend sticking to one or two hotel pieces per room. The prices can be so tempting, but you want to avoid making your entire house look like a hotel.

Facebook Yard Sales

A Facebook yard sale is a Facebook group for local individuals seeking to buy and or sale items from their home to those in the neighborhood. Simply perform a search in the Facebook search window for yard/garage sale groups in your particular city or neighborhood and go from there. Many of these are private groups that require approval for you to join. If one has not been created for your city or neighborhood, feel free to create it yourself! Then pass around fliers to neighbors letting them know about the group and watch the group requests come flying in. If you’re searching for a particular item, post a message to the group detailing what you’re looking for. Your neighbors just might know where to find it.

 

School District Furniture Sales

I know you’re thinking, why on earth would I want school furniture? But hear me out. Schools have desks, shelves, and if you’re lucky, old school library card catalogs. These card catalogs are the perfect DIY opportunity for a stylish storage option. Give your nearest school district a call and inquire about any unwanted furniture they may have in storage. In many cases, districts are eager to create space and sell or even donate to county residents that are willing to take unwanted items off of their hands. Many school district websites have a page dedicated to selling unwanted furniture as well.

 

Habitat for Humanity Restore

This is definitely one of my favorites. As you may know, the Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that builds homes for those in need, with the help of its volunteers, and helps restore communities around the world. Habitat for Humanity Restores are home improvement stores that sell new and used furniture and home decor, among many other items, using all proceeds to benefit local Habitat for Humanity organizations. Each time I walk into my local Restore, I know something will catch my eye whether I came looking for it or not. Like this dresser I couldn’t walk away from.

Also, their inventory changes each day due to the many donations received. That means something new hits the floor everyday! The Restore has anything from furniture, to marble tile, to cabinet fixtures. Depending on the most recent shipment and donation received, this place can be a one stop shop. And did I mention, your purchase benefits the Habitat for Humanity? That’s two wins in my book.

Well I hope I’ve given you enough new options to get out there and find those furniture and decor gems. Budget decorating doesn’t have to be difficult if we are equipped with the right resources.  I hope you have just as much luck as I have. When you do, don’t forget to let me know what you find!