We recently bought a house and had absolutely NOTHING to go in it on move in day. Matt wasn't settled anywhere and I sold most of my furniture when I moved to NYC. We literally only had our clothes and nursery furniture. Well being the huge fan that I am of rustic stuff, I decided I was going to fill my house with repurposed and refinished furniture from flea markets and yard sales. My dream was inspired by late night Pinterest sessions while pumping my precious liquid gold breast milk and the fact that I was watching A LOT of Nate Burkus during the day. That man is a genius.
On my first treasure hunt at the flea market, I bought two hideous chairs, a bench and small stand. As you can imagine, Matt was sooo not impressed with this idea and didn't think I'd follow through on any of it. He was also pretty irritated because I didn't haggle with the old people selling their stuff. How could I negotiate with a grandpa?!
I'll give it to him though, I was a total rookie. I had no idea if I could make this stuff pretty and the garage was quickly filling up with beat up furniture that I paid far too much for.
In a moment of hormone free clarity (I just had a baby, give me a break), I realized that I couldn't sand and paint furniture with a newborn so I enlisted the help of my parents. My mom cuddled with The King while my step-dad, Brian, and I quickly turned my "junk" into furniture I could proudly display in my home. Check out the before and after pics...
(I don't have a before of this one bc I'm an idiot. It basically was gray/white and beat all to hell. Falling apart. I sanded her down, repainted white and gave her a bit of a distressed look. I don't know why it's a "she" but it sounds good.)
Those are just a few of the projects I've completed. I have never done this before. I repeat, never, ever, ever done anything like this before. Sorta like Taylor but without the breaking up. It was beyond easy! We did all of this in one day. I could hardly believe it myself. Literally, all that we did was sand it down with a palm sander, slap on a couple coats of paint, including primer, and covered the cushion with fabric from Hobby Lobby. If I can do it, anyone can.
Below is my finished breakfast nook that cost me...wait for it... less than $300. No joke. It's fully furnished and decorated with some odds and ends from Hobby Lobby. I should also mention, Matt is totally on board with me being cheap now. This room could have easily cost me, and by me I mean him, $1000.
Moral of the story...before you spend thousands on brand spanking new furniture, try to find a few small pieces at yard sales or flea markets that you think you can fix up. It can be really be a lot of fun and old stuff is just plain cool.
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