With some time and effort, a beautiful living room and dining room can be yours.
Furnishing a living room and dining room for under $1,000 may seem like a lofty goal, but by planning well and looking around for deals it is entirely possible. Yard and garage sales, as well as your local classifieds, often have quality furnishings; while they may need a little work, you can end up with a living room and dining room you love for a fraction of the cost of retail furniture.
Instructions
1. Figure out what you need and make a list. Prioritize starting with the most important, such as a table or a sofa, to the least important, such as wall decor. This will help to not only keep you on budget, but also ensure that everything you need on a day-to-day basis is taken care of.
2. Determine what you are willing to spend on each item. By breaking down the cost of furnishing your living room and dining room, it will help to make sticking to a budget easier. Planning by item will help you keep everything under $1,000. A couch for $300, $150 for two upholstered chairs, $50 for a coffee table, $50 for a TV stand and $200 for a dining room set is a good place to start. This will leave you with $250 left over for bookcases, decor or possible repairs to the purchased furniture.
3. Check out local garage and yard sales. In many cases, people planning to relocate decide to sell all their large furniture rather than move it; this works to your advantage. You may be able to find relatively new living room or dining room furniture for a couple hundred dollars rather than thousands.
4. Look at the classifieds. This can be a terrific way to find used furniture in your area. Often, you can talk the price down or get a deal from the seller by buying more than one piece. This will also give you an opportunity to figure out what kind of home the furniture comes from when you make an appointment to look at it. This can be especially important when looking for upholstered furniture such as couches and chairs.
5. Ask family and friends if they have anything they don't need. Someone you know may be planning to purchase new items or have extra furnishings that aren't needed. In some cases, you may be able to get the items free or for significantly less than a stranger would charge you.
6. Keep an open mind. There's a very good chance you will find a clean, well-maintained couch that has a pattern not exactly to your liking. A well-fitting slip cover, which can often be found for under $100 or made for even less, will give you a comfortable couch that matches your taste. tables and chairs made from wood are easy and cheap to refinish or paint.
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