Furnishing a House on a Budget

I'm in the process of bringing my house out of 'dump' mode by doing things like oh ... putting in door knobs in our doors. A friend of ours who stopped by commented on the eerie sensation of using our bathroom knowing that any passerby could take a gander at him through the large peephole where a door knob should have been.

Installing fixtures is hard work, which is why I've left that task to my husband. My contribution to the house is purely decorative. Not that what I do isn't hard work, it's actually extremely difficult to find good deals on nice furniture pieces. However, I've managed to find some that I'm willing to share:

Wall Frames

I scoured SlickDeals for 40%-50% off coupons from Aaron Brothers and bought myself some nice wall frames. Classic black frames will easily do the trick and have your house looking like a pottery barn catalog ad in no time.


Bookcases

I've always liked the concept of leaning bookcases. I avoid clunky, unwieldy furniture pieces like the plague out of fear that they will tie me down and make moving that much more difficult. I really appreciate the mobility and sleekness of leaning bookcases. At $129 a pop from crate and barrel, they're not unreasonable.


Sectionals

A natural extension of my love for mobile furniture pieces is my love for modular furniture. Rather than making my poor husband lift a heavy sofa into our house, I'll let him get away with moving smaller pieces at a time. The greenwich sectional set from Pottery Barn is a nice blend of clean modern lines and style. However, just because I like the design doesn't mean I have to buy the sectional from Pottery Barn. I plan on visiting a copycat furniture shop and getting a replica for 1/3 of the price.


Maybe when my friend visits me next time, he'll be so impressed with the mobility of all my furniture, he'll forget about the gaping hole in the bathroom door.