Black Friday Shopping for FREE stuff!

Skip the crowds this Black Friday, and shop from the comfort of your home -- without spending a dime!  I have scoured our local Free listings on Craigslist to find all sorts of great stuff.

If you find something as amazing as this mirrored armoire, grab the truck and go get it! It's stunning, just as it is.

This white painted armoire, from Restoration Hardware, costs $1800!

I am in love with this french provincial dresser!

It is missing veneer in a couple of places, so it's a perfect candidate for a little wood putty and paint, like this dresser, from This and That Life.

This leather sofa is in good condition, structurally, and just needs to have the leather reconditioned to be beautiful, once again.

These channel back chairs look like they've spent the last sixty years in an unused living room. I might pull the skirts off, to update them, but the off white upholstery is in great shape, and off-white is always classic.

People are often giving away faded or dated framed art. These make great "canvases" to create new art pieces for your walls.

Here's an easy example of how to create your own wall decor. If you are doing this over an old piece of art, give it a good base coat of paint, first, and let that dry completely before taping a pattern off with painter's tape or masking tape.

Two things, in the picture below, caught my attention. First, the vintage metal doll crib is just darling. I might use it like a basket, and store extra lap blankets in it, keeping it under an end table.

Second, that ornate frame is gorgeous! I would clean it up and put a thin piece of plywood in it, painted with chalkboard paint, like this one.

If you have someone strong in your life, you might grab this vintage safe. It has a working combination!

So much great patina! I would clean it and seal it and put it in my living room.

I've seen these converted to occasional table and dry bars. Here is one I found on Apartment Therapy.

While a stack of old magazines might seem like a strange thing to get on Craigslist, collage artists, and papier mache artists and crafters can find all sorts of things to do with them.

This starburst mirror was made from magazine pages!

And then there are the ubiquitous paint listings. You can paint your house, paint your armoire, paint your mirror, and still have paint left over!

I love wheeled carts. They are great for craft supplies, sewing supplies, party drink stations, etc.

I love this pretty rolling cart that's been converted to a coffee station.

These beige sofas are clean and in good repair, with classic lines.

Add some pretty pillows, like these, from Pottery Barn, and your living room will be a show stopper!

You might also enjoy this post on how to weave a rush seat.



Or you might like this post on mixing paneling styles.



If you enjoyed this tutorial, please subscribe to House Revivals in the sidebar, so you won't miss the fun projects we have scheduled. Find us on Facebook, too, so you can catch all the "in between" stuff, and see what I'm working on daily on Instagram. Feel free to link today's post to your favorite social media sites.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Amanda

Get Your House Holiday Ready -- For FREE!

The holidays are upon us, and if you are like me, you are looking around your house and starting to freak out just a little bit.

If your household decorating needs are bigger than your budget, here a a few items I've found recently for FREE on Craigslist, along with some inspiration to help you see how an ugly duckling can be transform into a beautiful swan.

Free Furniture and Decor for Holiday Entertaining

It's November, and you know what that means. It's the time of year, when we look around our house and panic, because are house isn't ready for holiday entertaining.

We're counting our chairs, and making sure we have enough tables. This beautiful drop leaf table, as well as everything else in this post, is offered up for free on our local Craigslist.

Fabulous Free Stuff for Your Home (REALLY)!

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?

Mid century shelf and desk units are all the rage right now. West Elm makes a retro version that sells for over a thousand dollars.

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.

You may also enjoy this painted bed makeover post. 

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

Cassette Tape Shelf to Gorgeous Tray!

When I brought an old cassette storage shelf home from the Goodwill Outlet, I think my husband thought I'd lost my mind. What in the world did we need that for?

Well, I love trays, and I was pretty sure this little shelf could be transformed into a unique and useful decor piece.

Annie Sloan Toy Chest Makeover

Today, I am sharing a toy chest makeover using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. This project was done by my dear friend, Jami, for her granddaughters to use when they come for visits.

Jami started with a nice, but dated, oak cedar chest.

How to Decorate With Free Stuff From Craigslist

I love Craigslist. Especially the free stuff. I am forever amazed at what you can get, simply by going to get it!

I've seen good quality paint, gardening supplies, furniture, sports equipment, and toys. Recently, these were a few of the items I found listed on Craigslist one Saturday morning.

How to Weave a Pretty Seat

I popped into a Goodwill the other day and found the cutest little bench -- that is, it could have been cute. If it had a seat.

My husband has a running joke about my love affair with "broken chairs". We've moved broken chairs half-way across the country and back again.

How to Get Organized in the New Year!

It's that time of year again! Isn't it amazing how quickly the years fly by? If you are like me, at the start of a new year, you look for ways to organize your life. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

With a little bit of paint and some Craigslist or thrift store filing cabinets, you can organize your life with style!

Ideas for Pretty Painted Beds

This post originally appeared on House Revivals in October of 2013.

In a couple of days I'm heading back to the beach house -- hopefully to paint some bedroom furniture! For inspiration I've been scouring catalogs, websites, and furniture stores. I don't know about you, but I love color. I have these conflicting voices in my head, saying "paint your bed a cheerful pretty color" and "paint your bed a safe color"....  Guess which voice is winning?

I know, I know, it's been two years since the major part of our remodel, and I am still working on finishes and furnishings......  

Decorate and Organize With Repurposed Trunks

This post first appeared on House Revivals in January of 2014.

I think I will never get tired of dusty old trunks and chests. They all have stories hidden away inside. As a kid, I loved looking at the old newspapers that had been used to line some old trunks that my mother had. I used to have a hump-backed trunk that was lined with lovely old wallpaper.  I used it to store vintage linens. Another trunk was used as a bedside table. We no longer have the hump-backed trunk -- it was a victim of a cross-country move years ago, but the other trunk still serves as storage. These days we use it to store Christmas ornaments.

That's the wonderful thing about trunks. They can live so many lives.  They start out going on grand adventures, and later retire to life as an end table or are tucked away in an attic, storing treasured items.