I like nice things, shocker! I especially love nice things when it comes to my house, it's like I can sniff out expensive though...literally my latest obsession is a $40 candle...whyyyy?! Unfortunately, just because I like nice things doesn't mean I can afford nice things but just because I can't afford nice things doesn't mean I'm not going to get nice things. When I like something, like really really like something, like dream about it all the time that's how much I like it like something I have to have it because it means I really like it...got it? Here's how I do it...THRIFTING, but not in the most typical sense, when I say thrifting I simply mean paying NO WHERE near full price. While I most definitely attend giant flea market, small yard sales, antique shops, Salvation Army etc.; I love me some Home Goods, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls; but my most favorite is my love KRRB! Any who enough talking/typing (whatever) I listed some of my most favorite finds below. Side note not only to I score great deals on KRRB but I have made quite a few sales and a pretty penny on them which help me pay for new gems.
From left to right; top to bottom:
1-4: IKEA LOHALS RUG, IKEA DRACAENA MASSANGEANA PLANT (x4), IKEA SELJE SIDE TABLE, IKEA TERJE FOLDING CHAIR (x2), NOT PICTURED: PERGOLA, WOODEN CRATE (x4). The IKEA furniture and plants alone total $319 and I paid $100! Oh and guess what, BRAND NEW!! A company purchased all of that to decorate a showroom for a 3 day event and they didn't want to pack it back up and toss it so I offered my services (aka sent Jack with $100 to go pick it up). Major win!!
5: IKEA LEIRVIK BED & MATTRESS. Retails for $478 and I paid $0, no that is not a typo I got all of that for free! Here's the deal; a very nice lady purchased all of this when she moved to NYC and 2 days after the purchase she got a call that she was excepted to a masters program in Ireland. She was trying to sell it and I actually emailed her to purchase it for our guest bedroom but after thinking about all the expenses that go into moving we opted out of it since the guest bed was not a priority. After letting her know I was no longer interested she sent me a message letting me that she had to catch her flight at 1pm and still had not found anyone to purchase it and would hate for it to just go into the dumpster so she said I could have it for free since I was nice! I felt weird about it even though it was only about a week old but then I realized I sleep on hotel and AIRBNB mattresses all the time.
6: IKEA STENSTORP KITCHEN ISLAND. This was a MUST for our new place so I invested a lot of time trying to find a good deal, this was actually one of the harder finds. A ton of folks had this product listed for resale but were asking for crazy amounts, I'm taking full price for resale...CRAZY, even $100 off wasn't enough for me so I stalked the web until I found something reasonable. In the end I found a nice family who was using the island as a desk and was willing to sell it to me for $130 which was amazing since it was in excellent condition and retailing for $400!
7: JONATHAN ADLER SETTEE. This is my first true love, my first really good find! Per usual I had a vision; I wanted a farmhouse table with a settee on one side and mismatched chairs to finish it off. Remember how I said I just sniff out expensive, this is a prime example...I essentially wanted to buy a mini sofa for HALF of my dining sitting...sofas are damn expensive, hell I could barely afford ONE sofa! I obsessed until I finally found THE ONE a peach Jonathan Adler BRAND NEW settee; the original price was $1800 they were asking $800 and I got it for $200! I did some research and realized the couple selling the settee had several very expensive pieces listed that were sitting in storage; all sold except the darling settee I wanted...so what did that mean to me?! It meant that it was going to cost them more in storage (they were storing it in the Chelsea area of NYC $$) then to sell it to me and I was right so they bit and HAPPILY sold it to me for $200. This thing was in PRISTINE condition brand new and even fully wrapped in plastic...my baby!!!
8: SERENA AND LILY HANGING CHAIR. While browsing the gram I saw Apartment Therapy post a picture with a hanging chair and immediately began obsessing; then, I saw the price tag and almost passed out...$600 for a damn adult swing wth!? But obviously that didn't lessen my obsession, in fact my obsession only grew and it turned into a game trying to hunt that damn chair down for a reasonable price. The outcome is obvious I found my Serena and Lily Hanging Chair and for only $100! This awesome chick purchased a home but was getting it completely gutted and renovated; during the gutting process she bought a ton of furniture she loved but unfortunately for her after the renovation not all of it worked...luckily for me the hanging chair was one of them and I scored big time...BRAND NEW IN BOX for $100!
You'll see pictures of all those beauties in my apartment over on my IG, I haven't taken many pictures of the new place I'll try getting to that at some point. The moral of this story is it's okay to want nice things but you don't have to pay full price for them, it's so much sweeter when you get a deal. Happy Thrifting!!