Furnishing our Master Bedroom with Craigslist



Let the furnishing of the new house begin!!!  Let me just start by saying, that from the moment I walked into the house, I knew exactly what I wanted in the way of new furniture.  I also knew that Matt and I had a budget we were determined to stick to.  We don't want to put any furniture on a credit card; we only want to use cash. 

This weekend we started furnishing our bedroom.  We were looking for furniture similar to what we like at Ikea. Ikea already has really good buys on new furniture, but I was determined to find furniture that looked as good as Ikea's, but cost less.  We were successful with that this weekend thanks to Craigslist.  On Friday, we cashed my pay check and bought five pieces of furniture.  We only used the cash, and we didn't even use the whole paycheck!  If we would have bought the five pieces of furniture new from Ikea, we would have spent $1,450 before tax.  We walked away with all five pieces for $545.  We are so thankful for great bargains! 

Below are pictures of the pieces of furniture we liked from Ikea, and pictures of the furniture we purchased from Craigslist.



 

This is the bed we were going to get from Ikea.  It is listed for $299, but it is on sale for $199.

This is the exact same bed from Ikea.  We found it on Craigslist for $150.  The picture only shows the head board and the foot board, but we purchased the entire bed frame.  It also came with the metal supports that would have cost us an additional $50 at Ikea.  We saved $100 buying this bed frame used.  There is nothing wrong with this bed, so we got a great deal.



This is a nightstand that we liked at Ikea.  It is listed for $199.



This is a similar night stand that we purchased off of Craigslist for $50.  We saved $149 buying used. 



This is a dresser we liked at Ikea.  It is listed for $299.



This is a similar dresser we found on Craigslist for $120.  We saved $179 buying used.



This is a dresser we liked from Ikea.  It is listed for $299.



We purchased this dresser from Craigslist for $150.  That is a savings of $149. 

 Both dressers and the nightstand came from the same seller on Craigslist.  She is a mom who buys old unwanted furniture, refinishes them, and turns them into beautiful pieces of furniture.  By purchasing from her I was helping a mom with her business, and I love that.  I was aslo recycling unwanted furniture, I also love that.  Lastly, I was saving myself the time of refinishing three pieces of furniture.  I have bought used furniture and refinished it myself in the past, and I could have done the same thing for all of our bedroom furniture.  Buying from her saved me the work, and her prices were still pretty good. 





This is an armoir we liked from Ikea. It is listed for $399.



This is a finished piece we found on Craigslist for $250.  The guy selling it refinished it and painted it black. It would look perfect with all of our other black furniture, but........we didn't buy it........

.....we bought this instead.  It was $75 on Craigslist.  It is the exact same one as the one above, but it needs to be refinished and painted black.  I have some experience in refinishing furniture, so it is a task I think I can handle.  Compared to the Ikea armoir, this is a savings of $324.