LOL We just had the usual back to school work shops today. Head lice was on the agenda. It is not infectious, it is not something that one reports to the health authorities. When it is found on a kid they aren't even sent home. They don't fly, they don't jump. The run fast. They cannot live more than 48 hours off a human host. If it really worries you the answer is to keep it outside for a few days.

I am in AWE of people who can upholster or paint fabric and have it turn out. Her is a pic of some stools we did for DD#2 for her new apartment. Before:

After

She just bought herself a couch off Craig's list. As a Medical Lab Scientist she is pretty aware of germs etc. She is totally happy.

Be very careful. Inspect and smell anything you are buying. Get to know the store owners, the good ones never want to sell something that may have critters. They can not afford the bad publicity from selling infested pieces.

And remember that even new furniture (even case goods) may have bug problems. Bed bugs are often found in the trucks that deliver new furniture and take away old stuff. They easily make themselves comfortable in nice new furniture.

I don't buy much used upholstered furniture, when I do I keep it out in my very hot garage for a few weeks before bringing it in. I figure any crawlies will die from the heat.

I think the potential problem could be bedbugs.

That said all of my upholstered pieces were bought used, mostly sight unseen (just lots of pictures) from eBay. They were all reupholstered eventually.

I do know someone who brought something home off the sidewalk and a bunch of dead baby mice fell out of the lining on the bottom when they tipped it sideways to get it in the house. (It didn't go in).

Cute chairs! I have made a slipcover for a sofa which turned out well. In high school I tried rehupolstering a wing back chair which did not turn out well but to be honest I did zero research, and I do think I can do it now.

That's good to know about lice. DD is in first grade, and last week I saw a kid scratching his head like crazy so yeah it's on my mind.

Oh man I forgot about bedbugs. I remember the stories of my grest grandma killing bedbugs during the dust bowl. Good old fashioned kerosine. Yuck mice. Our old farm house had lots of mice so at least I'm familiar with the signs of that infestation.

My grandma has a great divan. I think she bought it in the 60's. It's low to the ground and has very wide flat arms on top. The square arms go past the edge of the sofa and then into the side. The back is slightly tufted because it just has a couple of buttons in a straight line. My grandma had it rehupolstered several years ago in a sort of tan heavy fabric with designs that are at different levels (I can't remember what that's called).

Now that I'm thinking about it I would love to have her sofa. I really want a pair of wingback chairs in plaid or ticking and another set of chairs maybe wicker.

Quality consignment stores are a good place to look for decent furniture. The good ones are picky about what they'll consign. Estate sales are another place to look. Good luck.

I have been wanting to go to estate sales downtown 'the fancy uppercrust' part of town for a long time.

There seems to be many consignment shops with good reviews around me. I'll have to comb the reviews again to see if they mention furniture.

We have a used furniture store near us in our smallish city, and I've purchased several great deals of better quality furniture--not high-end. I believe they specialize in estates. If you have one like that near you, visit often, and develop a relationship. Ours has a Facebook page, so I can even see new acquisitions without going in. They want to move things fast, and if they know what you're looking for, they can call you. Ours doesn't have a huge markup, so I don't bother haggling, but they do often have coupons, markdowns, and free delivery. As far as bugs or vermin, word would get around quickly.

Got to thinking---ever buy a used car? Kind of the same thing?

My mother bought several pieces of used upholstered furniture when I was a child and they're now in my house! I still remember when I was 8, trying to help my mother and an elderly woman carry a huge, very heavy wing chair down the stairs from a 2nd flr apt and get it into our 1950 Mercury sedan. I bought a great upholstered club chair from a used furniture place on Western Ave in Los Angeles. It was out on the sidewalk with other "offers of the day". It's the same store where I bought my fabulous O'Keefe and Merritt stove!

I've always taken any upholstered furniture available from my parents and in-laws. It is a decision that has served me well. Other than that used chair, I've only ever bought one piece of upholstered furniture and I live in a 2800 sq ft house that is stuffed! All the other pieces have been cast-offs or inherited. They all had excellent, heavy hardwood frames and very good springs. THey've all been either slipcovered or re-upholstered over the years.

When one has the basics to sit on, it leaves one with money for nicer fabric, antiques and other accessories. My children have done the same, and there's still more left for the grandchildren!

Never had a problem. All the upholstered pieces currently in home were bought off Craig's List and all were taken directly out of a clean looking home and had been in use up to time of sale. Bought a sofa from a thrift store, was fine. A really ratty sofa at a garage sale, fine. Give a good sniff of course and no horrible neglect unless planning to completely strip down and replace all soft stuff immediately.

regarding head lice..must depend on a school policy..actually, a kid does get sent home..well not in the middle of the school day, as not to embarrass him, but with a letter to parents and instructions what to do..and gets checked upon his arrival to school the next day

(just to clarify..I had it as a kid, (was customarily then just to shave one's head but I put up such a "no mommmy mommy please I beg you!!!" that my Mom just spent hours and whatever vinegar or kerosene or whatever that liquid was..My kids had it several times. It's a PITA I can tell you. also you get this imaginary scratching in your head just thinking of it. Out of compassion lol. It's easier nowadays since they have special brushes, shampoos, whatnot. Still a PITA. It's very popular where I come from. Lots of kids. Everybody's spraying this rosemary spray preventively on theit kids' hair..each morning..sometimes helps, sometimes doesn't. Lol)

but they're not interested in upholstered furniture, I guess they won't stay there for long as long as there's no human there..bed bugs, these can be a problem

(well any bugs can be

ok I won't tell bug stories or cockroach stories or mice stories..even though I have a couple interesting ones)

I prefer to buy something that's already reupholstered by a seller. or..you know it just looks fine..:) the house looks clean..the furniture looks clean..you look at it, you somehow arrive to some sort of a conclusion that seems reasonable to you for whatever reasons including illogical ones..:)

We did reupholster our craigslisted chairs but that was because I didn't want them black.

On the other hand we also bought on Craigslist upholstered chairs for my MIL that came with the table as well, and never reupholstered them since she was okay with the color.

I am too impatient to buy from CL. When I want, I want now. Or as close to now as I can get. Currently I don't do much driving because of awful anxiety and other health issues, so online is the only way I can buy. It has worked well for me so far. When I was raising my gang, I was pretty good at finding deals, both used and new. I was way younger and had so much more energy lol.

I must add that my eldest is really good at refinishing found furniture, she even redid her entire kitchen, with painting cabinets and staining a table etc. I was very impressed.

With all the turnover in apartments, particularly among college students, this weekend in Boston is named "Allston Christmas". There are bargains to be had on the sidewalks free for those willing to try to make their way through the move in/move out madness!

Allston Christmas

And then there are the wood pieces that turn out to have termites...ask me how I know. :/

Yikes termites! We've had termites and carpenter ants. What a pain.

When I was younger I picked up a chair or two from the curb, and it seems like I got lucky since it didn't have critters. See I quickly threw it in the car because I didn't want people to see I was going through curbside stuff...trying to escape embarrassment and all. it would be different in a college town because that's how it is.

I wish our parents had nice furniture for hand me downs but they dont. I'm not sure what happened to the older, better quality furniture although I have a feeling either siblings took it, given away, or trashed.

My grandma also has the popular fiberglass molded chairs on her screened in deck. she has 8 or 10 of them. they have metal legs. Most of them are white with one or two orange ones. I can't remember the manufacturer, but I know there's a label. I'm going down to this weekend to look. I know they're a knockoff from the 60's or 70s because my great uncle and aunt had them in their laundromat and then gave them to my grandma when it closed.

So smelling and looking over very well, check. I have been searching for shops, and there are lots. Luckily I am 20 minutes from downtown where there is a plethora and then waiting for the estate sales at the big stone mansions.

I've already committed myself to doing slipcovers or recovering since I'm not sure many people share my affection for plaid, houndstooth, or men's suits.

Oh thats funny Bonnie - we call it "hippie christmas" here LOL. Actually Ive got a whole basement full of fixer upper furniture pieces that Santa left for me on the curb over the years - incl several early 1900s quartersawn oak tables, various chairs, narrow iron bed, etc, Usually theres just some minor gluing/wood refinishing. The old furniture that was glued with hide glue is the easiest thing because to reglue, you dont have to remove all the old glue, unlike the modern glues. Just get out what you can, clean it and reapply more hide glue - easy! The hardest thing is finding the time to do the work.

new one also have termites sometimes:) I told here a story of the lamp I bough for my DD..it's a reclaimed wood right? I mean the pedestal is reclaimed wood..old shoe molds..and the lampshade is big and plaid, so it looks like this weird lamp is dancing:)

so. it was new but it had termites. to our shock and disbelief.

we tried to get rid of them and nothing helped. no bleach, nothing

but then we had to tent the new house. preventively, you know. since lots of new studs and all

so we tented the house and locked the lamp in:)

no termites since then

obviously it's not often that such opportunity comes lol

We lived on the family farm in Iowa for a couple of years, and it was unbelievable the random people and companies that would come by asking to take down our old barns.

A while back I commented on the building forum to be careful of wood boring insects in reclaimed pieces and was citizen by one jerk. I hate that guy. Any who

When I was a manager at a grocery store people would be surprised at how dirty the crates, pallets, totes, and merchandise was. it is easy to forget when you go to a dimly lit showroom with new stuff that smells 'new.'

April that's awful about having to tent your house. Luckily we have never needed to do that.

DH's family is coming for Christmas so at least I have an excuse now to start looking.

Iowacommute not that awful...termites are so common here it's almost like a part of a package..the seller also tented it during the escrow(her money)..then the remodel was a gut one,and ran for too long so we were adviced to tent it again just to make sure lol

If you post where you are, we can give you a hand...

If you're skeezed out by used upholstered, use "model home", and "staged" in the search box if you're looking at Craigslist.

Study the picture (very, very telling). Look at brand names and then Google search the same item to see how old it REALLY is, and the cost when new. Email and ask if they have pets (tell them you have allergies).

Add the cost of professional cleaning in your total (not much) and leave it in your garage until it gets done.

I suggest building around the sofa in the living room....it's generally the biggest purchase.

Don't be rigid about the "look" that you want....be flexible. The odds will be in your favor and we can generally head in the same direction...the same "feel". But duplicating a look will take a lot longer. If you collect looks (doesn't matter the cost) in your ideabook here we'll know what direction you want to go in.

It's okay to say if you want to spend fifty or five thousand on a sofa (the fact is, my "shoestring" probably won't look the same as your "shoestring"....meaning that a budget is different for everyone)

Hope this helps and don't be shy... :)

Diatomaceous Earth human food grade can be bought at walmart. it is a powder and kills all things that have an exoskeleten. they put in our grains etc. sprinkle generously and since it is not instant do again and leave in garage for a few days.

oh, and about those head lice? not sure i agree, i actually had them in my 30s - ugh! buying a sweater for the holidays from tjmaxx-a good one mind you. one or more was in the sweater and then i got them. I did not know what it was, but i kept itching for a couple weeks, off and on. I shower and wash my hair at least once a day, so everyday the itch went away for awhile and then would slowly come back. finally one day i caught one in the shower - ugh! i always keep medicine in the house in case it happens again. so be careful and now you know how it feels to an adult.

as far as ordering online, i like to shop very reasonable for houzz, so i have lots of ideas. ugh, gotta go will be back.

havingfun your sweater story reminded me..I bought a sweater in some second hand shop..pure wool, 10$..great!

then I wear one of my favorite cashmere tunics to some kids' birthday party in one of these loud places that I personally hate but kids love. and it gets hot there so i take off my jacket. And my husband's like " omg, you have a huge hole in your dress!"

and I run to the restroom and my cashmere is eaten pretty much from the neckline down

my amazing find had moth

and the moth ate almost absolutely everything wool I had in my closet..)))

since then I still buy second hand clothes. with one condiition-never wool. lol.

sorry for the off topic..

PS I also had lice as an adult what do you think. Kids..:) Usually I did not but once we all got them. they themselves are kinda easy to deal with, in comparison to their eggs..you can't see that stuff on you you have someone to sit and brush and pick it out like monkeys do

in short. no, as much as I like animals and all..lice and roof rats(I love pet rats though..isn't it strange? I had one for years) and roaches and bed bugs, I think I can do so great without them. Just great.

as for the hot temperatures..nah, garage won't cut it I think. a human will get sick very soon ..these I think need boiling temperature..:)

there is this thing people say works though I don't know how true-you can try and freeze them. if your climate allows. Winter, say something like -25 Celcius, shut off the heat, open the windows, leave the house. Come back in a couple days or something..:)

oh yeah, reasonable shopping. I have not ever found complaints on home reserve, american, the cheapest around, noted for lasting over 10 years, lots of fabric, lots of awards, just not what you call high style.My concept is if you put pillows and throws on it, how much is there to see of the sofa? .I did find a designer who had used them and they did say they were good. they are also on facebook if you go there.

i have great luck with esale rugs, they have been confirmed to have great return policies. many 5x8s for way under $200. for cheap, but amazing quality pillows go to amazon, no matter how you put in what you want you will come up with more they often have great pillows for >$5. they are way better than wayfair or overstock. most of their pillows are linen and cotton highbred. They are 18x18. the lamps i put in my ideabooks normally come from pier 1 and lamps plus. tables i would generally go to craigs, charity and restore. i will be happy to help if you give me guidelines.

oh i put garage as a safe dry place where you get no bugs in the house. the diatomacious earth does work.

Lice: never had them. I was only repeating the OFFICIAL statement from our school district. Gotta say from my first year teaching '83 I have heard REAL LIFE experiences with lice and none of them made me think "its no big deal"!!!

Truth is Hippa laws are RULING US ALL and yes forcing us all to be exposed to who knows what all for the infected's privacy. Forgive me if I find that INSANE. Reading through all the posts the Big Bang episode about the chair the guys take in off the street corner comes to mind. Truth is it only takes one experience to sign you off "used" FOR LIFE. Here's hoping no one here has one!!!

I have two sisters and when we were kids we all had very long thick hair so there were many episodes of lice between us sometimes at the same time. I was sick of it by the time I hit middle school and have had my hair short ever since.

Well I would see the dirt and bugs come in on new grocery products I guess I just never thought about with new furniture.

This living room is what I like. I like cozy and collected. I worked and not the National Archives before I became and not SAHM so I had actually admired that poster before I saw this picture which is an advertisement for the winter olympics.

This is my living room although the floors are finished now. The room is about 14x16, and the corner fireplace is in the way. Although I did make a paper cut out of a sofa.

I was thinking two wingback flanking the fireplace, a sofa floating (facing the fireplace) and then instead of the sofa in front of the windows I would put two club chairs there (maybe swivel) with a table between them. My DD is really into chess, and I thought that wouls be a nice place to keep a board.

There are three of us, but my mom is convinced we have a great holiday/entertaining house so wants to have holidays here which we will need to sit twelve people.

I was thinking about putting the Christmas tree in the corner where the tall light is.

" but my mom is convinced we have a great holiday/entertaining house"-haaaa!! that reminded me..all relatives and friends were convinced we have a great entertaining house in our last place, and continue to be convinced about the current one..:) I wonder whether has to do with a house lol

I love your inspiration picture Iowacommute! very inviting indeed

so great you actually showing the plan, with mapping thngs out and all!

much easier to imagine

I'm a bit worried about the sofa..it looks totally fine when two dimensional but I wouldn't want its back to interfere with the fireplace viewing line too much, you know? like, I'd prefer something that's not too high back..smth lower..what do you think?..

actually much like on your inspiration picture

(I love that sofa btw. very good lines)

Your inspiration shows a lot of bookshelves and books. Something you need in your living as well?

Would you feel comfortable sharing your location? very roughly..will give us ideas-not only Craigslist but maybe Etsy, Chairish, eBay, Everything But The House..all the great places that you need to mind shipping though thus you go by your location

Okay, put some ideas in your ideabooks so they don't get lost...going by the picture, I see you like an eclectic, lived-in, cozy look.

I agree about the sofa when you get it in your space....it will, of course seem a lot bigger (p.s. you can use painters tape to mark out space.)

Is the yellow space on the wall where the TV is going?

We live in the Kansas City metro area.

I was planning on finding a sofa that felt a little smaller since we will use this living room for holidays, sitting and reading. There will be no tv in this room since we have one downstairs in our family room.

I had thought about tall bookcases in a past thread about this room, but if we do that (complete with library ladder) would have to be a down a the road project.

We're going to put a bigger mantel on the fp like this.

Is the paint color staying? Monitors are SO different and it reads to be a sagey greeny gray to me...?

How do you feel about something like this?:

Totally not? I think you mentioned houndstooth before...? Don't be too deceived by photos when you're looking around...People generally don't fuss over making their items look magazine-ready when they list them...

PS NONE of the pillows work for me, but pillows are a non-issue.

I would jump on this one, but it's my style:

And here's a quite normal beige one:

Penny I like all of those although I do slightly prefer the third one beause it is more open underneath.

Do you think it would be better to have the sofa in front of the windows? The windows are a little low and we do open them sometimes.

The fireplace really isn't that nice. It was builder grade 8" tile it primed white and was thinking about stenciling but haven't decided on colors.

If there is a reseller for hotel furniture near you, they are great places to get upscale stuff.

I have a table set from a trendy Taos hotel, couches from Vegas, and a chair from a SoCal hotel.

Okay, that last one is Ethan Allen. Let me know if you want the link. I think they want 400, I would offer three as it's in their garage and you know they want it gone...

If you go the route of gently loved, don't forget you need a truck and a couple of strong folks and (most importantly) you need be ready to go!

I live near upscale areas but I DO have a limit to how far I'll go, depending on what it is of course. My sofa is very decent (new about 6000) and bought for a song (300), so I drove about 45 minutes to get it.

That one is more visually compact than the other two. You would probably be able to have it in any of the two places you have indicated, and maybe even facing the window...

Is this near you?

http://www.designerconsignment.biz/

It looks like it's worth a mooch around...my eye sees some good stuff in there...

YMMV.

PS NONE of us are offended if you don't like what we find...It's all just ideas and you can bow out of this thread or go in a different direction at any time.

And PSS don't forget this is a weekend so it's kind of quiet here now.

Can you do a floorplan for us?

Shawnee is a suburb of KC just on the KS side so not very far. KC is a very spread out city so you get used to driving an hour to get to a particular place.

I will work on a floorplan this weekend. We had to buy our fall mums so there is some rearranging in the flower beds.

My sister bought a huge silver leaf mirror from an old fancy hotel downtown. she uses
it is a floor mirror but told me she'd give it to me if I hung it over the fireplace. I thought hanging seasonal wreaths in feont of it from satin ribbon wouls be nice.

I really appreciate all of the help. It seems I go down the path of one layout, and when it doesn't work I get stuck.

Bed bugs have made a huge come back in thrift stores around the country. They are found in clothing, bedding and upholstered furniture. Follow the protocol of getting rid of them before having your home infested.

As for head lice..they travel from person to person thru contact with someone having the lice. Last I heard every school sends the infected child home who than can not return until the lice and eggs are gone. When did this change?

I had to reread our schools policy on head lice. They are immediately sent home and can only go back once the school nurse inspects the scalp to make sure all of the bugs and eggs were removed.

LOVE the red sofa. I'm guessing about 100 inches though...

I would scoop these up in a heartbeat...

Sherrill tables are very well made and too expensive for me under normal circumstances....

Jumping the gun a little, but 2 available and they can be used in more than one room...

arcy-when we spoke of a variety of foul creatures, i thought instantly of big bang! lol so to be safe lets add - bring broom stick pound down all furnishings before moving. lol

mamap - at one time i would have believed you, but my experience proved that was not so. It was,as so often is, a warm florida afternoon when i was trying on the lovely cashmere sweater. I know that noone touched me, it was not 5 minutes , before the next sweater, that i was itching like mad. I thought it was because the clothes were making me hot, sweaty, and itchy. don't know why it stood out so in my brain but it does.

oh that couch reminds me of a lovely high back bench i have. it is walnut - i had never seen that wood before, and i bought for $5 straight off the neighbor's porch. with the bird poop and horse hair included. i adore it.