I’ve been redecorating my bedroom this past week and in the process I have been hunting for rugs, bookshelves, paint, and much more. Here are 10 places to look for frugal or free items.
1. Your garage. Chances are you have a few half-full cans of paint or a funky old lamp that would add personality to your room. Perhaps you can transform a boring old piece into something new and exciting with a coat of paint.
2. Join your local Freecycle Network to get rid of your trash and collect other people’s treasure. Plus, you’ll feel good keeping items out of landfills.
3. Craigslist free pages. It’s amazing what people will give away. Their for-sale prices can be great, too!
4. Home Depot. I spent $9 building a bookshelf out of cinderblocks, above. Now to secure it to my wall. UPDATE: A friend helped me drill two brackets into each shelf, making the bookshelf much more sturdy.
5. IKEA. Some of the best deals at IKEA are on the ground floor and not heavily advertised. They sell sturdy planks of wood for $15 each and the wall mounts are a few bucks each (about $3). This allows you to customize storage space for very cheap!
6. Borrow or rent tools. Surely you know another home owner who’s itching to loan their tile saw in hopes they’ll never see it again!
7. Garage sales. Head to sales in upscale neighborhoods and the hipster parts of town for the best and most unique selection.
8. Thrift shops like Goodwill, Out of the Closet, and Salvation Army do not lack for furniture and furnishings. Just make sure to thoroughly check out the items as they are not usually returnable.
9. eBay. Review seller ratings and return policies carefully.
10. Recycling centers/reuse groups. These can be harder to find, but major metro areas usually have a handful of organizations that re-sell used windows, doors, and other building materials.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
don’t forget to swap with friends! I have a dear friend who goes through my things before I take to Salvation Army, and she lets me go through hers… and I always stop by peoples’ “free” piles on their curbs. I’ve gotten some really great finds there (birdcages! footstools that just needed some paint!)… I take the “reuse, recycle” part of being green seriously!
I don’t know if it is still operating, but Habitat for Humanity has a home improvement store where all kinds of fixtures and building supplies can be purchased inexpensively. Address listed is 17700 S. Figueroa St., Gardena, 90248. Store hours are Tue-Sat, 9am-6pm
The ‘home’ St Vincent de Paul store just off the 5 &110 fws is huge and has a great stock of used furniture, etc. for good prices (some thrift stores get carried away and have inflated prices (NOT Out of the Closet-love them!).
http://www.svdpla.org for address, phone.
Deseret Industries (one store only)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/deseret-industries-los-angeles
is fairly large and most stuff is well worth the asking price, clean and well organized. Near Soto & Olympic, clothing is upstairs, furniture, books, toys, kitchen stuff downstairs.
The LDS (who runs Deseret) has stores in most major cities and they’re always well run.
Closeout wallpaper (thrift stores or at building supply/paint places), especially if it’s plastic coated makes excellent shelf liners, etc. Apply to foam-core posterboard for small pictures (by themselves or to co-ordinate with the shelf liner), also stretch fabric over the board (just tape to the back) for another great decorating item. Fabric boards also make great ‘cork’ boards…
Thanks for this article — it reminds me of when I first moved to California from Ohio w/o any of my furniture. I made a small coffee table using cinder blocks and a glass top that I found on the curb. I bought a table cloth from a yard sale and covered my make shift coffee table and it was beautiful (at least, I thought so). I am also redecorating my bedroom. I am in the last stretch of removing this horrible 1950s wallpaper and will soon paint. I have a headboard (very old) on the bed in this bedroom and I am going to paint it white. Hopefully, I will be able to find a cheap rug from a thrift store or a yard sale. I must be more creative and tackle some things all by myself since money is really low for me now. But it’s kind of fun (except for wallpaper removal). I always knew I could do lots of stuff, but just never really put my mind to. I have the tools in my garage. Hmm! What should I tackle next. Thanks again for the article.
As an interior designer and organizer, I can tell you that the number one way to update a space inexpensively is through the use of paint.
You can go to home improvement stores and paint stores to find paint that has been custom colored and returned for a fraction of the normal price.
Another designer trick is to paint one wall in a great color. It adds impact without the cost of painting the entire room.
Another great resource for ideas is the HGTV show Design Remix. They do amazing makeovers with $50 and paint.
They redo unused items from the homeowners garage and other rooms to create some really wonderful and unique spaces.
Love this post! We are trying to redo our kitchen on a tight budget. We are repainting our cabinets black and a family member had some white porcelain tiles they no longer had any use for that will now be our backsplash. Our kitchen will take on a whole new look for the cost of paint.
Rethink old items. An item that may be outdated now, but with a fresh coat of paint or new fabric can completely revive a piece.
Also, don’t overlook items on the side of the road. We found an old desk on the side of the road. It didn’t look like much, but once my husband got done with it it was gorgeous. You can find some of my redo’s on my blog.
I hope that bookcase in the picture is securely fastened to the wall — particularly if the house has small children. Otherwise, someone could be seriously hurt by it in the next earthquake.
First thing I thought of…
I came to your post when I was searching for details on kitchen gadgets. While it isn’t really what I was looking for, I enjoyed reading through your article. Will bookmark to come back and read at a later date. Interesting how Msn works…