I need to find some decent / cheap furniture for a family member. I need two matching small desks. A small bookshelf and a filing cabinet, if you know where I can find/ buy for cheap these items, please let me know. Oh or If you have plans for these items that are nice and simple I may build for them but it would have to be cheeeeeeeeeap!
need advice on buying
- Thread starter zekerdale
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supimeister
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- Mar 14, 2013
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I second craigslist... and definitely check out the free section - depending on the city you are in, sometimes there are actually a lot of rather nice pieces of furniture there if you are willing/able to do a little heavy lifting. You can always put up a "request" for furniture there and I have been surprised with people contacting ME on some of the items I was hoping to get (I got a 3'x7' piece of butcher block in pretty good shape for free - it was great - I will use it for a workbench of sorts here shortly)
NYC Tiny Shop
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All of the above are great ideas.
You can also build those things that you listed, relatively inexpensively.
The table in this photo was made for a friend with no furniture. It was constructed using 2x4's for legs and some pine. The little reading bed-tables (on top of table) are also all pine. One was for my daughter (she asked for one for the next time that she's sick in bed) and the other a 93 yr. old neighbor. These all cost less than $50 and some time. I got paid in spirit.
You can also build those things that you listed, relatively inexpensively.
The table in this photo was made for a friend with no furniture. It was constructed using 2x4's for legs and some pine. The little reading bed-tables (on top of table) are also all pine. One was for my daughter (she asked for one for the next time that she's sick in bed) and the other a 93 yr. old neighbor. These all cost less than $50 and some time. I got paid in spirit.
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Goodwill is another good place. But honestly, put together a list of what they need and share it with friends, family, even put up flyers in places of work or local grocery stores if that's possible. It sounds backwards in an electronic society, but it works. You're appealing to people that are local, so transportation is less of an issue. Lots of people have old furniture and stuff piled away in storage and basements. It's a pain to sift through that stuff and decide what gets tossed, donated, sold, or kept, so it just sits. I know for me, when I have seen a list provided by a family that has been displaced, I'll run through that list quickly, and anything I know I have sitting the basement unused, I'll readily give it up for a good cause!! It clears up space, avoids the contemplation (of what to otherwise do with it), and instead of filling a landfill, it's going to a good cause.