Continuing with our Fabulous Free Stuff posts, I've found a few more things on my local Craigslist that would be totally worth grabbing for your home. We all want to have beautiful and functional homes, but furnishing and decorating a home is expensive. Here are some fun ideas for using free stuff to transform your home.
The desk shown below is huge and solid and made by Hooker, but most importantly -- it's FREE! Personally, I think it's beautiful as it is, but if were painted in a chippy farmhouse finish it would look amazing.
Check out those TWO huge framed mirrors! Someone put these items in their driveway for folks to take for free.
A similarly sized
mirror from Restoration Hardware would cost over one thousand dollars!
Leaning against the wall in your entry or bedroom, a gorgeous standing mirror would be functional and have great visual impact.
Never underestimate the power of paint! The FREE bed shown above looks a little dated and tired, but a couple of coats of light blue paint,
like on the Maine Cottage bed below, will make you think you're sleeping at the beach.
I'm not usually a fan of free sofas, because they are often dirty or broken, but every now and then, you find a sofa that is clean and in perfect condition. This sofa is a nice neutral color, so it will work in just about any decor.
I love trays! They are great for corralling books and remote controls and newspapers, etc. Use them on coffee tables or ottomans, hang them on the wall, or keep toiletries organized with them.
The inlaid bone tray shown below is gorgeous, but it's also
$598 from Serena and Lily. The red tray, show above, is free. A stencil and some craft paint applied to the free tray could yield the same effect as the Serena and Lily tray, and you would still be able to pay the rent afterward.
Authentic mid century furniture is usually very well made, from good quality woods. Can you believe someone was giving this piece away?
This old teacher's desk has already been given a set a sturdy industrial wheels.
A good cleaning and some paint is all it needs to be converted into a beautiful and functional kitchen island, like
this one from This Old House.
The wing chair below is tired and looking a little ragged, but the lines are amazing.
Betty, over at
Oh Everything Handmade, shares how she transformed a dated, but classic, wing chair into a modern farmhouse focal point.
Good dressers are some of the most functional storage pieces you can own. Vintage dressers are almost always better made than newer ones. Check for signs of a quality piece by looking for dovetailed drawers and dust panels between the drawers. The piece should not "wobble" at all, and the drawers should close nicely (unless you are handy, and comfortable making repairs). Avoid anything made from particle board. The waterfall style dresser below has great lines, and lovely hardware.
Use your dresser to create a welcoming entry, or at the end of a hallway, to create a moment of beauty in your home. I use dressers to store everything from vintage silverware to extra sheets. The dresser below was found online for free, and given a quick coat of paint. After some light distressing, it was ready to display a painting found at a German flea market, a woven ball my father-in-law picked up when he was in Vietnam, a carved Polish trinket box, a Polish pottery bowl, and a carved box from Thailand. Dressers are a great way to display family mementos.
This wood filing cabinet only needs a coat of chippy farmhouse paint to give you extra storage in a bathroom or kitchen (they're not just for files, anymore). Use one next to a pedestal sink to store extra toiletries.
I hope this post inspires you to look a little more closely at the "free" stuff being offered up online. Most of this stuff is headed for the landfill, if no one claims it, so it's great it we can divert it by giving it a new lease on life.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to House Revivals in the sidebar, so you won't miss the fun projects we have planned. Find us on Facebook, too, so you can catch all the "in between" stuff, and see what I'm working on throughout week on Instagram. Feel free to link today's project to your favorite social media sites.
For another FREE template, click here.Thanks so much for stopping by!Amanda
