((bl))

Nice finds, Nicole.

I peruse FB Marketplace daily and have purchased many things that way, as well as garage sales and local boutiques that carry vintage pieces. We also visit our large antique mall regularly; I’ve found so many great finds there (especially art). Another regular destination is an old home salvage place in Fort Worth — it’s so much fun to shop there.

CL used to be my favorite, but it’s not as heavily used in my area as it used to be. Plus, I’m located quite a bit away from most of the listings.

My favorite find last year was out of a brush pile. :)

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6069052/why-did-i-want-this

Our most recent find and re-do:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6211540/project-easy-off-table-complete

Using vintage bits and pieces with new:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6177552/project-potting-bench

I’ll add to this later, great thread idea!

We buy new upholstered pieces (mostly) and pretty much the rest of our furniture are antique pieces. Some have been found in antique stores, a couple are family pieces, and lately I have found a few good buys on market place. Like Jinx, I look at it daily. Hoping to look at a set of chairs this week for our kitchen nook. I never did very well on CL, although I have bought a couple of items.

The problem is, we do not have a place for more furniture at this point. LOL!!

I like used stuff--and I have the same rules about upholstered goods.

I bought quite a few used things from Craigslist back when the offerings weren't dliuted by FB Marketplace (which I don't use). I do prefer to get a good deal on used rather than paying the high cost of new. I've mostly purchased non-upholstered items but I did buy a like new Hickory Chair sofa, chair and ottoman for $175 - probably my best CL purchase ever. Some other great finds included an electric standing desk and file cabinet and chairs for DH's company office. Also a wicker desk and file cabinet and a wicker rocker and side table for lake cabin. And a great PB buffet also at the lake place. I swing through Goodwill from time to time but usually only looking for kitchen items. I bought a coffee table and two end tables from CL that I considered to be temporary when I moved to a new house. I ended up dropping them off at Goodwill a couple years later.

We have great resale shops in the area.

Not furniture but i used to get bowls and glasses. etc.

My DD has bought quite a few things from Market Place on FB.

Yup. I certainly do. As I look around my house I see so much that I have purchased secondhand. I just don’t love a lot of furniture that is being sold as new. Here are a few

The armoire I purchased in 1990 or so.

I found two of these side tables about 20 years ago. CL

This table was also from CL, about 15 years ago

And a few more
The rug was another CL, probably around 2013. I think I paid $75 for it. Hard to see, but it has koi fish on the border.

Bought these two chairs on CL in 2014. Not my best purchase as the seats don't have great support.

This is one of two chairs I found in PA. They are beauties! I paid $80 for both.

I have a few things from auctions that I've picked up here and there.

Those posted, these are great finds!

If someone could distract jojo, please … I’m going shopping in her house. :D

Also — my area never has anything like that! I’m moving.

nicole - love that table. It's amazing what you can find when patient.

Jojoco- You have some amazing finds and I like them all.

2katz4me - I like the little vignette that you have in the alcove area.

My kids do a lot of shopping on craigs list to furnish their homes. When we move back into our house I;m going to have them do my remaining shopping for me. I hate paying the asking prices for new furniture that is basically cr@p and my kids have learned from me the same lesson.

What I like about buying used is that the furniture has stories to tell as well and so it gives them a little more personality. Oh if they could only talk.

@blfenton...I am so sorry about the fire. I am super happy you were able to find furniture tho. ♥ Boulder Colorado is facing the after math of a HUGE fire. I used to live there years ago.

@3katz4me, @Jilly, @jojoco.....YOU ROCK! Great finds! Beautiful pieces! You won't find those exact pieces new....or likely even see them in a neighbors house. Your pieces are far & few between.....to enjoy even more. ♥ ♥ ♥

My story: We purchased a home twice as large as the one we left. Went from ultra modern to rustic.

I like the "art" feel of used pieces. :0) A few weeks ago I picked this up....FREE on CL. It's by Hekman Loire Valley, made in NC. The people down sized, wouldn't fit in the new condo. It sat on the curb for 3 days before I got my husband to help me pick it up and load it. It must weigh 150lbs!

My dinning room table was new, in the box. The delivery people dropped the table, broke it, gave the set to the buyer FREE. I found it on Nextdoor....FREE. Had to glue and fix the table.

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I LOVE seeing what YOU ALL have found. Keep 'em coming......amazing finds everyone!

Another second hand aficionado here - an old friend once called me a vintage hotshot. I not only have furniture, but I have tons of vintage kitchenware - mainly Pyrex/Fire King stuff, but lots of vintage plates and bowls too.

Another old friend schooled me years ago to look for vintage linens like table cloths, napkins and bed linens in 100% cotton and linen. I have quite a collection and use them often.

I also have a nice collection of vintage vases and flowerpots.

I have the same attitude about upholstered stuff - it gives me the heebie-jeebies - unless it's a family heirloom. I won't touch second hand pillows for the same reason - thinking of fleas & lice.

Anything with upholstery stays in quarantine until it can be redone or deep cleaned.

Since the pandemic, I've done zero second hand shopping - unless you count a few books and refurbished parts from ebay. Craigslist around here sux. My sister in Santa Monica, OTOH, regularly finds great deals on theirs.

The chairs you can barely see on the end of each picture was our first purchase in an antique store in college. We needed DR chairs and couldn't afford new ones & we found 4 of these for $20 each.

The antique buffet is hard to see, it's the standard antique buffet, two drawers in the middle, doors on each side. Bought it from an antique store about 40 years ago, I think it was $50. DH stole it for his credenza. grrrrr

Mirror came from an old 1930's/40's vanity and bedroom set we got for a steal while in college.

I'd take more pictures but DH is working in the LR so I can't. grrrr.

Old picture and the picture wall is much nicer now with better frames and new pictures. lol

When I was furnishing my current house, I bought some new, some consignment and some eBay. I haven't been in the market for furniture for a while, but I still go to eBay for linens and clothing. I have no problem buying used items and washing them, but there's often new-with-tags old stock available which is perfect. Last week on eBay, I found a specific set of king pillowcases for which I had been searching. I don't shop FB Marketplace or Craig's List. The return for time invested in my area isn't worthwhile.

All second hand. 1) print from antique store 2) mirror my mom found at estate sale 3) chest from FB MP, still in the workshop (needs a little work) and 4) another MO find, armoire in our bedroom - houses tv and bedding

I was tempted by these last week, but didn't want to reupholster them. But, fabric choice aside, they are "my" style and look like a great deal.

Most of you have seen this picture already. I had a friendly fight over the antique Craftsman rocker on the right in my 20's after we moved here, with an elderly lady who had a houseful of antiques. I later got to know her. I saw it first and got it for $5.00. It's now worth a lot of money. Hmmm.

The not an antique striped chair came from an antique store for around $50. On the way home DH kept saying it was going to clash with the sofa. When we put it in place he couldn't believe how it matched. He was only there for his truck to haul it home. :)

Great post! It would be easier to list the pieces I purchased new from furniture stores than to list all the items I’ve purchased from antique stores, CL, flea markets, yard sales, inherited items, etc. I have several European pine armoires, and tansu storage pieces. This past year I’ve purchased two sofas (one, is a Jens Risom design newly made by Ralph Pucci, found on CL for a small fraction of the original $11k price), both MCM vintage, and reupholstered a few CL chairs, the one pictured here is George Smith. I recently completed a kitchen renovation and love my vintage pine table from Normandy ($175 at the Alameda Flea Market) and my new-to-me Wedgewood stove. Two of the Thonet chairs pictured around the table were $1 each at a yard sale. I love thrifting and have always preferred it to buying new. Even my cars have been used!

We have so much second-hand, mostly from my grandmother’s house (dining room table and chairs which I had reupholstered and two buffets, a couple of end/occasional tables, and benches), and my parents’ house (sofa, cocktail table, globe, a shelving and drawer unit).

I have a few thrift furniture finds. A rolling natural wood kitchen island I saw at a garage sale. I wasn’t even garage saling, just drove by and saw it. Now it is my liquor cabinet! Chrome and black swivel counter-height bar stools from the church rummage sale. Baker’s rack from my local Facebook group.

I get mostly smaller items, though, like a piece of serveware, office items, etc.

My favorite places to find things are::

estate sales, and it’s a double treat because you get to see a house, too!

charity antique shops.

local Facebook groups. Less than six degrees of separation between buyer and seller which encourages fairness, no shipping, some things are free, and don’t use the FB Sell feature. Rules are specific to the group, well moderated by someone known to the group members.

Church rummage sales.

Local resale shops.

I used to love garage saling, it was a great source for kid items when mine were young. There don’t seem to be as many around here now.

We used to cruise to ”amnesty days” in local communities. The weekend or two a year when a community could put anything at all out to the curb for trash pickup on Monday. But over the weekend, oh oh, the treasures you could find at the curb! My old neighbor fenced his entire yard from amnesty days. But nice upholstered chairs, wood furniture, bookcases, outgrown bikes, equipment of all kinds. By the time Monday rolled around, the only things left at the curbs were, in fact, junk.

I love buying local. I like to see and touch before I buy. I like the serendipity of discovery when I turn a corner, as opposed to ”I’m scouring the internet for xxx”. For my FB groups, I keep an eye out for things, but don’t search for them.

I've been a collector of vintage things since I was in college. I was fairly poor so a lot of it was from Goodwill, or finding surprisingly good free stuff left out on street corners. Nothing was off limits, not even upholstered furniture -- as long as it passed the sniff test. (Just put a thick blanket on it, LOL!)

These days I source most vintage from good stores, but I rarely look -- I'm in the process of decluttering instead. Most of the collection decorates our basement "rumpus room". Pretty much the only new furniture in that room is the sofa. That bookcase is one of our best pieces -- it's handmade! This picture really doesn't do it justice.

I absolutely love used, vintage, and/or consignment furniture items. I rarely do consignment upholstered furniture (only when my mother in law owned a consignment store in a high end resort town), but I have a lot of used wood furniture items. In fact, I think most of my wood furniture is used. I have dressers, bed frame, nightstands, antique chest, dining room table, pool table, desk, and sideboard. I find vintage / antique wood furniture to be absolutely lovely and I have no qualms about buying used.

We have a beach house, and most of the furniture there has come from consignment/thrift shops or CL. Exceptions are the beds, sofas, and upholstered chairs. In our ”real” house, I’d say that each room has at least one piece of furniture from similar sources. We have two vintage school desks being used as end tables in two different rooms, for example, and a couple of wicker chairs, work table in my home office, and our big round Stickley oak coffee table in the living room, which is probably my favorite find. With the exception of the coffee table, everything else was under $50. I don’t generally buy vintage to save money, though — I just prefer the ”feel” of a well-loved wood table.

@chinacatpeekin gorgeous kitchen!!

I don’t generally buy vintage to save money, though — I just prefer the ”feel” of a well-loved wood table.

Yes! And real wood at that! I love quality pieces and it seems like so many times, the new stuff just doesn't measure up (some does of course). My husband shares my love of antiques, thankfully!

I too love CLs, thrift stores, consignment and all kinds of old things. Here are some pictures of stuff that I have that is second-hand, either by way of me finding them or hand-me-downs from my parents.

I paid $150 for both camel chairs and they are in perfect condition. Bernhardt tables from CLs. I only wanted the end tables but the seller gave me the coffee table.

For me, this would be pages and pages. No CL or thrift stores so much... not that lucky (or persistent). Most of my furniture in Maine came with the house, some of rh furniture here in CT I bought from the PO, some from our first house, some is from my parents. It would be much quicker to list items I bought new!

My post is not showing up -trying one more time:

I LOVE all the rugs...the art work....the furniture is pure quality! This is much better than seeing magazine photos. Architectural Digest has just become too weird....nothing in there I'd copy. This is MUCH much better. ♥ ♥ ♥

Nicole, you got that gorgeous, Nain rug from Goodwill? A Nain rug from Goodwill, bestill my heart.

Rugs, wooden furniture, art, tons of what I buy is used, as well. I don't buy used upholstered furniture, though.

I cannot imagine being limited to buying new furniture. There are very few brands I like and they would have been prohibitively epensive to me a few years ago. Today, with all the supply chain problem, used furniture is the only way to go if you are in a rush, and by rush, I mean would like to receive your furniture in less than a year.

@Zalco/bring back Sophie!...We have a Boutique Goodwill in a high end area. They employ a full-time stager. I paid $50 for the 4x8 Nain....and it's not a knock-off....the knot count is incredible. When I found it, I stood guard over it until my husband could get an employee to unroll it for us. We were both in shock! It does have a flea bite, an inch of missing fringe. I actually purchased two rugs there. This one is an 8.4'x10.5' wool rug, machine made for $11.89(it had been there for 2 months, the price started out @ $100). The Bernhardt arm chairs w/ leather seats, were $14.99ea, I purchased a pair.

Well darn - we have no GW Boutiques in my area.

Just this weekend #1DD purchased a leather sectional, off FB market place for her home. Newly made furniture that is affordable--if there is such a thing is so poorly made I can't imagine buying any of it. If it is not upholstered and in my home, either DH made it, it's an inherited piece, or repurposed purchase. This is a huge industry presently. Unfortunately that has made finding wood pieces not crudded up with paint more difficult to find but my daughters have new homes so we are always on the hunt . I am not saying no piece should be painted I am saying others paint things differently than useful which makes the price silly.

@3katz4me....I'd never seen anything like it. (A boutique GW) Before covid, they served FREE coffee, cookies & danish on Sunday's. They had an employee with a silver platter walking around with cookies asking if she could get shoppers anything. The drive up donation side offers water or soda to patrons. ♥ It's filled with antiques, jewelry cases, ect.

A lot of our furniture has come from family members and antique stores and i have bought things from a hotel liquidation company.

Inwant to shop with you ladies, especially 2katz, who is a supershopper— all that HickoryChair stuff for $175?? You are a gold medalist in the vintage olympics 🥇

I’ve never sold any furniture, just passed it on to others or donated it, and may I say I am VERY glad none of it can talk!

I loved reading this post during the week. Now I'm in front of my computer and can participate!

We've spent that past four years redecorating most of our small house. Of all that, the only new things purchased were our bedroom furniture, including the bed + a side table, lamp and chair.

There are many reasons for buying used furniture, housewares, cars and clothing.

#1 I like things I can't afford new.

#2 New things are usually too big and bulky for our small bungalow

#3 I'm a hunter/scavenger

In this room, only the bar cart was new. Everything else was flea market, consignment stores, 1st dibbs and craigslist. The mirror was my grandmothers. Some of these things were definitely not cheap.

In this room, only the upholstered furniture, rug and the gold/mirror side table were new. Everything else was a gift or came from consignment stores (near & far), eBay, 1st dibbs, The RealReal and estate sales. Like the other room, not everything in here was cheap, but it was affordable for my budget.