What do you do for furniture?

[seanconn256]

I think furniture is an interesting problem that may seem simple, but gets complicated when you have to accommodate others in your living space.

Right now I'm trying to get things that will last a long time, so that I can avoid buying new stuff and throwing it out, or potentially "renting" it from the market and selling it later. I have some interest in woodworking, but I'm not sure where to actually practice it as I live in an apartment.

Does anyone make their own furniture? Maintain their own furniture? Re-upholster any couches? Sit on the floor?

[2Birds1Stone]

Where I live, people put perfectly good furniture to the curb. We just moved back to the USA and had to refurnish a 2 bedroom apartment from scratch. Scored everything from dinning table and chairs, to end tables, dressers, desks, office chairs, toaster oven, etc for free. The only items we purchased new was a mattress and bed frame (the later really being optional but for $150 it was well worth it.)

A few items were from a local "Buy Nothing" group, but most of it was found driving somewhere and spotting on the side of the road.

[unemployable]

I've seen "FREE!" signs on couches outside in the densest neighborhoods in Chicago, as well as in my mom's über-suburban HOA conformist hell, so doubt it's an "in my neighborhood" thing.

The value of used furniture is effectively the cost to remove it. This includes having the right vehicle to transport it in and the right number of people to help you carry it.

Social capital helps you find people who are trying to get rid of furniture as well as people to help you with the other stuff.

I'm not sure why renting furnished isn't more common. I sorta get the scare with bedbugs, but why deal with moving couches, tables, chairs and the like between leases? It's common in vacationey areas so owners can switch between living, renting long term and renting short term (AirBnBing), and because no one wants to deal with getting furniture out of a second home when they sell.

[Salathor]

I bought a ruined card table from the goodwill for $1, and then I found some really nice felt at a garage sale for $3. I stripped the table, painted it black, and refinished the hideous top with the felt and I've not got an incredible card table (that is currently serving as a prep table in our kitchen, since our 1940s house has LITERALLY six linear feet of counter space with no outlets to plug in appliances.

When we move, I'm going to cut the legs off the table so that it's a Japanese-style seating table, and I'll replace the top with a piece of nicely finished sheet wood, and we'll use it for our dining/work table.

In the past (before we found ERE) I overspent on a mattress ($1000!), but it's lasted us about 10 years. I would like to get into floor sleeping, but we (my wife) aren't quite there yet. We may end up doing it in our new place though.

We do already sit on the floor a majority of the time. Our only other pieces of furniture (other than shelving) is an ikea couch that is 10 years old that we paid $500 for, and a dining room table set that we bought for $60 on craigslist, also 10 years ago. I'm looking forward to selling the table and chair set, and I'm pretty sure we'll be able to turn around and make a few bucks off of it.

[Ego]

We buy everything second-hand and refinish whatever needs to be finished. I have a basement where I can make a mess and a lot of noise without issue. Most regular tools (drills, sanders, grinders, saws) have a battery powered version which would allow you to drive to some out of the way place and work on the furniture without messing up your place or disturbing the neighbors. Large items like a dining table could be taken in pieces.

[basuragomi]

I'm pretty sure you could lath+plaster a whole house with the quantity of IKEA bed slats thrown out here at the end of the school year.

- Cobbled my table together from an old drafting desktop and trash-picked IKEA adjustable steel legs. It is just the right size, I couldn't find an equivalent table on the market that wasn't $500+, and this took less than an hour and $0 to put together.
- Desk was homemade and transforms from a bookcase to PC workstation/desk to save space - I couldn't find anything remotely like it so had to DIY. I love it.
- I used to have a homemade kitchen island that doubled as a dish drying rack - you lifted the countertop bit up on hinges and there was a dishrack underneath draining into a bucket/storage area. Incredibly useful in a cramped kitchen.
- Trash picked a huge leather beanbag, that thing has been passed down through 5 or 6 generations of students by now. Guess it just needed the right niche.
- Everything else was gifted/offcasts.

[jacob]

We have paid for exactly two pieces of furniture in our house. $150 for a couch that turned out to be a $1500 crate and barrel piece. And a mattress (got the bed for free).

I made a few pieces with handtools when we lived in the apartment. I had reserved every day from 2000-2030 for mortising (hammering) hoping that the neighbors wouldn't complain if the noise was predictable and limited.

Started out with dreams to make all our furniture getting fancier and fancier but eventually got bored with that and now I make clocks instead.

If you're willing to accept a "bohemian" style, all furniture can eventually be gifted/found for free. Doesn't work if you somehow need it now of for everything to be "the same style". That is BY FAR the easiest way to do it. It is slow though. E.g. we started using a baby-station (or whatever it's called) to hold canned goods; then upgraded to office shelves a couple of years later once those were offered.

I still make some furniture but have gravitated to "simple" rather fancy. Screws instead of dovetailing and mortising. I use framing lumber (2x2, 2x4, 1x4, etc...) and handplane it down. This has the benefit that things like side-tables and desks are made to fit both the persons using it and the room it's in. However, I just can't be bothered to put much effort into it. For example, my desk is a laminated board (free) on top of two folding end-tables(free) that has been lifted to the right height with me building two plywood boxes.

TL;DR - I prefer to get furniture for free, but I will make it myself when the situation calls for it.

[7Wannabe5]

I currently live in a tiny 3rd floor attic apartment, so the only furniture I have is a mattress, a floor/lap desk, a low slung folding beach chair, and two bar stools which belong to the apartment. In my tiny 2nd floor office, all I have is banker boxes and a bulletin board. I was down to all my belongings fitting in my Smart car prior to April of this year, and I think I spent about $300 to get back up to functional solo apartment/office level including kitchen stuff, modem, fans (I’m just far enough North to do without AC), curtains, etc. (I am spending much more on my rehab/permaculture project!!!)

[Sclass]

I moved six years ago and discarded all of my tables, couches, bookshelves and chairs.

I walked into a Walmart and bought a few folding chairs and tables. Our new friends subtly protested that we didn’t have chairs and a couch. I noticed they didn’t stay around too long to chit chat over coffee and tea if they didn’t have a comfortable place to sit. They keep their visits nice and short. Given the remote location I live at they really need a good reason to come by so it cuts out a lot of time wasting gossip sessions.

I don’t think I’d have figured this out if I hadn’t changed my furnishings this way. I heard Steve Jobs kept certain types out of his Woodside home by not having chairs. If you didn’t like sitting on the floor with cushions you didn’t stay long. It weeded out certain types.

I grew up in a family where having sit downs in the living room with friends was a weekly thing. My dad’s social capital was reinforced by these talks over pistachio nuts and coffee. He still does this. He has this layout in his living room with two opposing couches with a coffee table in between. He likes to talk with family and friends for hours there between meals. He stocks all kinds of snacks and drinks. I find the activity pretty useless. But that’s me.

I found that most people who want to sit on that couch and talk need something. Loneliness abatement. Entertainment. A favor or two. Advice on leveling up. Time wasters. Or verbal jacking off at my expense - you know people who like being listened to. After sitting on my dad’s couches many decades I kind of came to the realization that I was wasting my time. It was like going in circles. Same politics, ideas, plans and dreams.

Just saying since the op mentioned they wanted to “accommodate others”. I realized I had more productive stuff to do.

[theanimal]

My fiancee and I built essentially all of our furniture. I really like it as we were able to customize it for our use.

We have this couch. The only thing we bought is the plywood that the cushions rest on and the covers for the cushions. About $55. The backing is a pallet we scavenged outside some store and the framing is leftover scrap material. The seats lift up and underneath we store some of our outdoor gear and winter jackets. The openings will be covered up front with leftover plywood, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.


This is our bed, most of the wood for this was bought new and it cost us somewhere around $150 if I remember correctly. I bought the mattress new 3 years ago. Underneath we have our battery bank/electrical system and all of our clothes. Please excuse the mess


Our kitchen counter, the most expensive piece of furniture in the house...this was probably about $300, most of it for the butcher block. almost all new wood. My fiancée got the island to the left off of Craigslist for $200 a few years ago.


The last piece is my desk. Designed so that I could stand, with plenty of space below for chargers, papers, miscellaneous items. About $125 in materials iirc.

[Sclass]

Thanks for sharing. Those legs look like their built for heavy loads.

[horsewoman]

Our style is definitely "Bohemian" since 90% all our furniture is cast-offs from other people. The trick is that *nothing* matches, this is the overarching theme. I do the same with dishes, which are cobbled together with single pieces from the thrift store, or free stuff. Works for us, and is a lot less stressful with kids and pets.