As a life-long bargain hunter, I’ve always been one to scout near and far for furniture and decor bargains. Estate and yard sales, Goodwill and thrift stores, consignment and antique stores – there is nothing I love more than finding a unique treasure for an amazing deal.
But today, I’m asking for YOUR help. Next week I am teaching a class for Habitat for Humanity called “Making a House Your Home on a Budget.” I’ve taught this class in the past, but my presentation is in need of an update and fine-tuning. One of my main goals for this class is to compile a list of all the best places and ways to find the best deals on home furnishings and decor.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit Christian ministry that builds homes with people in need regardless of race or religion, and it depends on volunteers and supporters to build or repair homes – thus far they have built over 600,000 houses and served more than 3 million people worldwide. As part of my class, I’d like to include the best places to shop for home decor bargains in Nashville, but also online sources, DIY ideas, decor hacks, and upcycling projects for new homeowners on a budget.
Can you help me? Any and all ideas are welcome, and you’ll be helping first-time homeowners make wise decisions for making their house a home – on a budget! Nashville-based sources are particularly appreciated, but all ideas would be great. Please share your sources and ideas in the comments!
DO you have ReStore in Nashville? In Omaha, it’s owned and operated by Habitat and it’s a great way to get good quality building and remodeling materials at super prices. 🙂 I LOVE IT!
There is a ReStore in Nashville. I’ve found several pieces there. I’ve had to do a bit of cleaning/refinishing work and have been pleased with the furniture. The prices are great, especially if the furniture has been in the store for a while as the price is reduced the longer the furniture is there.
I don’t live in Nashville, but I do have family there. Whenever I get an opportunity to visit, I try to make it by Our Thrift Store in Franklin. It’s a large store with Goodwill priced items, great selection of home decor and furniture, and the owners hire the handicapped and disabled, which is an extra plus. Wish I lived closer! I would be in there every day searching for a bargain. And no doubt finding many.
Great Rae, thanks for the tip!
Kristie, check out their Facebook page. There are lots of positive comments there and photos to explore!
Craigslist is king!!! Also Etsy. 🙂
I second the Re-Store if you have one! I am in the Detroit area, and our Re-Stores are amazing! (I may be biased because my boyfriend actually works for Habitat finding items for the restores 🙂 But there really are some great deals there)
Gotta love http://www.ikeahackers.net!
I’m not a good bargain hunter. But when I was a first time homeowner, with half of my take-home pay going to house payments, I made the decision to buy as nice (good) as I could. My couch, bought is 1982 still is the cornerstone of my living room. I did without a lamp or side chairs just to get the nicest fabric I could. It has held up well – with me having cats all the time. Everything doesn’t have to be done at once. Even when shopping resale shops, the better the fabric & the less “trendy” your choice, the longer you will be able to enjoy your purchase. That would be my suggestion.
Decor Steals usually has some very well priced decorating items. It’s a flash steal site with one or two items per day. I haven’t bought anything yet but their shipping is only $5 on everything. They also have a few extended sales. At the bottom of the page is their sister site which I find a bit more expensive.
Hope this helps!
http://www.decorsteals.com/
I live very far from the Nashville area but wanted to contribute. I found this website through Pinterest: http://www.handimania.com/craftspiration/wooden-crates-furniture-design-ideas.html
Not everyone is crafty however the use of crates seems to make the process a lot easier.
I have purchased several pieces of furniture at The Nashville Flea Market. One must have a little imagination and picture the piece painted, but they have the best deals and they’ll negotiate. A great place for mirrors, rugs, and odds n ends is Southeastern Salvage on Thompson Lane. Essex Bargain Hunt is also a favorite. Hope that helps!
I love Southern Thrift on the east side, Nashville Flea Market, the 8th Ave Antique District, and Downtown Antique Mall. I love taking old antiques with great structure and making them my own!
Also check out ThriftSmart and their collaborations with sewforhope.com for Home Decor Sewing classes.
I love reStore! Habitat does lots of great things and I’m so happy to see your support!
Good luck!
Quite a few of my best furniture bargains have been from moving or garage sales. Garage sales can be hit or miss, but moving sales especially (if you get there quickly) often have a TON of furniture – particularly f you are looking for something that would be pricey to move – i.e. sofas, hutches, buffets, solid wood bookcases, bedroom sets, etc. And since the person needs to unload stuff quickly, the bargains are usually pretty great if you find what you are looking for. You do need to know someone with a truck, though, for some things – ha ha!
This might be too obvious. But…Craigslist. It makes it easy to save time by searching online until you find exactly what you are looking for. And people are often willing to negotiate on price.
I don’t know if Nashville has these stores, but I like:
Big Lots
Essex – Bargain Hunt Superstore( rugs, furniture, towels, sheets, comforters, wall art, etc…)
Burkes Outlet (they carry towels, sheets, comforters, wall art, other accessories)
One of the blogs I follow that refinishes furniture is Miss Mustard Seed. She has a lot of tutorials that would help someone just starting out refinishing furniture.
Always ask friends & family to think of you before they get rid of anything. Paint and fabric and dye can work wonders! The library has tons of resources, including magazines (Real Simple is a goodie). Window coverings can be costly. A super-cheap quick-fix is a good ironed sheet( already has a rod pocket) and lots of spray starch, and a basic rod. There’s also Freecycle, and lots of traders post sites on Facebook.
A Nashville store suggestion is the This ‘N That Thrift Shop: https://www.facebook.com/pages/This-N-That-Thrift-Shop/149863275106839.
You know how not crafty I am, but the Young House Love blog has a lot of ideas for doing projects on a tight budget: http://www.younghouselove.com/. This is another DIY on a budget blog that has really detailed instructions (for the DIY challenged like me if I were actually brave enough to do DIY projects): http://thepaintedhive.net/ While they are not always super cheap, the writers of this blog do a great job of finding less expensive versions of decorating items: http://www.copycatchic.com/
Speaking of which, I keep meaning to send you the high/low versions of the table I got from my bedroom: Arteriors Sojourn Table @ $570 on their website/$456 on others (e.g., Layla Grace, Wayfair) vs. Crate & Barrel Jules Small Accent Table @ $249. They are virtually identical.
I’m from Portland, Oregon, so can’t help with retail store ideas in Nashville. However, buying used items is extremely popular here and many people use Craigslist. It’s a great resource and easy to use now that it features images on their index pages. Buying used is considered “cool” here for people of ALL incomes. Used items are frequently of better quality than what you can find at a Pottery Barn-style store, though this approach does take some patience and planning…. not for the types who seek immediate gratification.
Habitat for Humanity is one of my favorite charities. My go to place for my clients who are on a budget is Home Goods. I know this is one of your favorite stores also.
Did you say auctions? I don’t know about Nashville, but I’ll bet you can find them. Here in San Antonio, we have at least two that I know about that get loads of antiques from England every week. Last night I won a lovely Jacobean armoire for $275 at a place called Vogt Auction. I’m going to use it for extra closet space.
Carol
My favorite is Tuesday Morning, if you have one there. Also, “Dollar General Store” has great “small” lamps for bedside or accent tables. They are about $10 and they look like they cost much more. Also Hobby Lobby has good prices on accessories and so does Steinmart. You can go to the websites and sometimes print coupons that aren’t available elsewhere.
Oh, now I need to go shopping.
Love your blog!
I forgot to add Robinson Flea Market (in Madison) and Phoenix Flea Market (in Old Hickory)!
I heart SPRAY PAINT, Craigslist and the Essex/Bargain hunt stores around Middle Tennessee. I recently moved to a house outside of Nashville where EVERYTHING is brass/gold and very orante, which is not my style. I don’t have the money to replace every light fixture, door knob, cabinet pull, faucet, and heating vent grate immediately so Oil-rubbed bronze spray paint has covered the vents, some cabinet pulls, door knobs and a couple lights. It’s not a long tern solution, but should hold us over until we recover from all the other higher priority expenses. I just rubbed them with some steel wool, gave them two coats of paint and a clear coat.
Take your phone so you can research the items at Bargain Hunt and make sure you know you are getting a good price and be preparded to dig. We have purchased high end faucets, light fixtures and even a kitchen sink for about 1/4 of their retail prices.
I was donating some items to the Habitat ReStore in Murfreesboro recently and found the perfect light for my foyer, after some TLC and spray paint, it should be a perfect fit and we spent $65 instead of $400-600 like the others I kept seeing.
I do not live in Nashville but I have family there and will let you know if I find out anything. There are 3 that I am listing here for Franklin, TN: Graceworks Thrift Store – Our Thrift Store and Southeastern Salvage. Hope this helps. When is your presentation?
big box stores like home depot and lowes usually have oops paint drastically marked down. either paint that is mixed wrong or not to the customer’s liking. if they buy several cans in the same color family then mix it in a 5 gallon bucket they get a lot of paint for a little money. church thrift stores are great. consignment stores are happy to make a phone call to the consigner if you request a better price.
The absolute best place to shop is Home Goods…Their selection and prices are excellent…I wait till they throw a couple of red clearance stickers on high end stuff then I purchase it…Most of the time it is a very nice designer item…that is still selling at some stores for much more money..
Craigslist has a “free” section- my friend picked up a white fridge that only needed cleaning. Also some stores sell hotel/office furniture secondhand- I’ve found great deals on lamps, chairs, and bed frames.
This is so good, I almost hate to share! But Nashville Hotel Liquidators, downtown. They are open Wednesday thru Saturday. They have neutral sleeper sofas, barely used $50, tables, artwork, lamps, stools, rugs, no telling! I got a 32″ flat screen TV with a beatiful picture for $80. I stalk them on FB!
Craigslist is top of my list too! Amazing the deals you can get. I love Habitiat for what they do and I try to get involved whenever I can because it really helps people. Great thing you are doing Kristie!
Love Habitat too, also good to remember if you are renovating Habitat can use kitchen and bathroom cabinetry (in good shape) to sell at their reuse stores. The money they make goes into purchasing land for homes they build. O.k. this was an aside from your request Kristie 🙂 Garage sales and repainting pieces with good bones; Ikea has some great deals (and their stuff is really not too bad to put together :); repurpose what you have or the hand me downs you receive…nothing like some fabric paint, paint, Krylon spray paints…to add new life to these pieces. Can’t wait to hear how this went, great you are doing this!
GraceWorks in Franklin- be sure to check their website for Furniture Room hours (they also have special furniture sales occasionally) and, don’t forget Norbert’s in Nashville for barstools, etc.
It appears most of my go-tos have been addressed by others. Recently, however, I discovered that Amazon’s Warehouse has great discounts on returned merchandise. I ordered most of our plumbing fixtures there and was able to acquire shower heads, valves, and towel bars at less than half price.
For books, I love Better World Books online. Not only does the company support literacy, but I can order used hardcover books for about $4 delivered to my front door.
Don’t live in Nashville but I have some suggestions. (1) canvas drop cloths are CHEAP, make fantastic neutral curtains and can be painted or stenciled. Just check to be sure there’s not a seam running down the middle. (2) Go to any craft store (Michael’s, etc.) and you can often pick up very inexpensive simple frames in clearance area. Buy a bunch with mats in them. Then get scrapbook paper sheets that match the desired decor and mount in the frames. You can paint the frames if necessary. Hang as a group. I have several displays like this and get asked ALL the time where I got them. I think I spent maybe $25 in total and I have displays in my kitchen, two hallways, and three bedrooms. This also looks good in floating frames on a wall w pretty paint color – paint acts as the mat.
Great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Hi Kristie, I love Habitat for Humanity and really love what you are doing. Here are my budget decorating tips:
1) Use pillows in your home… they are a quick easy way to turn a house into a comfy home.
2) buy pillows with removable covers so when ever you want to change/refresh the decor of your
3) Need cheap/extra seating solution buy large floor pillows
4) Larger pillows on a sofa are a great way of hiding a shabby sofa
5) Buy pillows with a cotton or polyester mix fabric for high traffic areas of your home so that they last longer
Well you probably know most of these tips Kristie 🙂
Norberts had a great selection of bar chairs at good prices when I bought mine a couple of years ago.
Oh speaking of frames. I did a cute display on my wall kind of like this one by my wall mounted tv:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/11962755231604182/
I just printed off the letters in a font I liked with mine and my husband’s . I sanded the letters a little bit so they looked rubbed like the ones in the picture, and put them in 8×10 frames that coordinated with my home. I even did a wreath (though not one like theirs.) It’s a nice inexpensive and artsy display for the wall. 🙂
If anyone you are working with can build with wood, this is a pretty mirror too. My husband made a big one for my living room. We got the mirror for free at Re-Store because it had a chip in it. He just made the frame to cover the chip. http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2012/05/diy-distressed-mirror-by-kris-kraft.html
Good luck! It really is a fun challenge to decorate on a budget.
Sorry, that was supposed to say “Mine and my husband’s initials.” It’s late here!
Obviously, you have loads of Savvy shoppers here reading your blog, Kristie!
I would also recommend Costco.com. We were able to stage a large space with a leather/tapestry couch set, came with 2 FULL sized couches, 1 leather club chair & hassock, and 1 large hassock that went perfectly between the 2 facing couches—all for $2500.!
For anyone in the Greenville/Spartenburg, SC area, I would recommend “The Bargain Shoppe”,
now renamed (I think) “The Savvy Shopper” in Greer. Website is still bargainshoppe.com.
Also, have not gotten to see it yet, but I hear great reports on the Architectural Warehouse in Landrum, SC…..supposed to be huge!
Also, in Asheville,NC—The Tobacco Barn!
Great idea you have there!!!
Best of success, Kristie—wish I could attend!
Paula
Ok, 1 more quickie–
I had to check ready made slipcovers for a REALLY limited budget single lady–
“Sure Fit” has some decent updated choices and are reasonable….
Also, in the Franklin, NC area—Nantahala Flooring has the BEST prices on hard & soft flooring.
Well just thought of another —-related to this subject, and also a great Christmas gift idea for someone who has everything. This is a funny but true story….be sure & listen to the little sample of the story when you get there….n.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_19?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+gift+of+nothing+special+edition&sprefix=The+Gift+of+Nothing%2Cstripbooks%2C936&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Athe+gift+of+nothing+special+edition
One of the best ideas I’ve come across recently is using fabric drop cloths as curtain panels. They look like heavy linen in a creamy oatmeal color. Fresh, current and only around $10 a panel for average sized windows. Much cheaper than ready made panels or buying fabric by the yard!
I like to check used clothing stores for interesting fabrics with texture that I rip apart and recover old pillows with.
Instead of buying finished draperies and curtains, people can buy fabric. Some towns have fabric stores that sell remnants and mill ends, sometimes by the pound. Hems can be glued or taped. Clip-on drapery rings are fairly inexpensive. I’ve also made draperies from cheap fleece blankets. They drape well and are already hemmed. Fold over on top to make the right length. Miniblinds from the big box stores are cheap and functional.
Target is great; but I also travel around to thrift stores or consignment stores in our area. Some sell model home furnishings at deep discounts, and the accessories are unique and at great prices too.
I know I’m late to this post but new to the blog. Have been budget designing since before it was even popular in the early nineties…. Most of my furniture, some of which I still have came from two JC Penney outlets in PA where I lived at the time… they unfortunately closed up but I purchased chairs and loveseats and sofas for $100.00 or less. Don’t know if these are still around but I think Macy’s has them, as well as some of the big box stores. We also have a local furniture store that donates their leftovers, small seconds etc. to a local thrift store. I purchased a new sofa for my daughter and her new military husband for $200.00. If all else fails the Ikea Ektorp is under $400.00 and has slip covers that you can change… most amazing and comfortable. I still decorate like a newly wed for many reasons, but largely because even if I did have money to splurge I mentally could not. There are too many good causes in the world, as one who is in volunteer Christian ministry as well. I wouldn’t sleep at night. I did save up a few years ago and bought a four seasons slip cover sofa which was about $1000.00 but is the most comfortable piece of furniture that you can reslip anytime reasonably and I think is one of the most important things to spend money on in your home…. as you need a comfortable place to sit everyday. I know your seminar is long gone but I hope it went well. I would love any tips from you – I would like to do one of these myself in our VA area. Love the idea – done many seminars but never a budget one. Lastly, Emily A. Clark is one of my favorite, budget, simple designer blogs – you may already read her blog but she is amazing with what she can do with a few bucks. Sorry for the long post, just found your blog and love it!! My bro. is a painter in E. Nashville also..