If you are currently living on quite a tight budget, finding the money to keep your home up to date can be tricky. Most people can just about afford the smaller items like soft furnishings and ornaments and are able to re-paint every couple of years. Fortunately, you can do a lot by changing these items regularly. However, at some point, you will need to re-furnish, which is when it gets difficult because furniture costs a lot of money. Luckily, there are ways to keep that cost down. Here are my favourites.

Buy from home staging and rental firms

Firms like Emblem Furniture who rent out furniture, regularly sell off items they no longer need. The nice thing about this type of company is that their furniture is very modern and, often, has hardly been used. A lot of the suites of the items they sell off have been used by property developers in their show homes. So, their sofas and chairs may never have even been sat on.

Naturally, this type of client wants the houses and flats they are trying to sell or rent out to look on trend. Therefore, if you want furniture that reflects the latest trends, rental firms are a particularly good place to shop.

Buy replica furniture

There are some very clever furniture manufacturers out there. Some are able to make great copies of items for a relatively low cost. You can find them online. However, a lot of them are based abroad, in places like Portugal, so before ordering remember to factor in the cost of shipping.

Usually, all you need to do to place your order is to send them several high-resolution images of the item of furniture you want to be replicated. With this type of firm, it is always wise to make your first order a small one. That way you can check how good they are without spending a huge amount of money. When you are happy you have found a good furniture replication firm you can go ahead and place orders for bigger items.

This way of shopping is by far the best way to get your hands on new, high-end, items that you would not otherwise able to afford to own. However, if you just want ordinary furniture, buying in this way does not make sense because it will work out more expensive than shopping at the mall.

Get into furniture restoring

If you like older furniture, buying second-hand items and restoring them is a good way to decorate your home. However, you need to be cautious with this approach. It is important to factor in the cost of materials. You also need to factor in the cost of materials and realise that your first efforts may not be that good. Plus, restoring a piece of furniture is rarely something you can do in just one morning. So, you will need to set aside a few days to do it.

A good approach is to get your hands on some modern pieces of furniture to practice on. This will allow you to learn the basics like how to rub down wood, restore leather and re-upholster items. Potentially, you can find relatively cheap items of furniture on sites like Craigslist and local Facebook buy-and-sell groups.

If you live in an area with a re-cycling co-operative you may even be able to get your hands on items of furniture for no cost. You can find ones that are local to you on websites like this one.                          

Restoring furniture image by Shutterstock. 

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Home Reviews,

Last Update: Thursday, 21st September 2017