7 Ways to Find Hidden Gems for Close to Nothing

It's not hard to find furniture to refinish, you just have to know where to look to get a good deal. Most of the places below may seem like common sense but that's because they work! We have had a lot of luck with each of these that we wanted to pass along to you.

1. Garage / Estate Sales  

This is the best time of the year to hit up the garage and estate sales. There are some really great websites including GSALR,  Garage Sales Tracker, Garage Sale Finder, YardSales.net and Yard Sale Search to name a few.  You can try setting up alerts in your area so you don't miss any!

2. Craigslist

Craigslist is typically a popular platform for people to buy and sell furniture because you are able to search based on what is local to you - saving any shipping costs, which can rack up with heavy items. You can think of Craigslist as a virtual garage sale. Just be careful, use good judgement and meet in public locations.

3. Facebook  

We probably use Facebook more than any other platform for furniture. You are able to join multiple groups in your area, get alerts on new items posted and work with people on pricing.

Similar to Craigslist, watch out for scammers and be safe when you are navigating a transaction. Try meeting in a busy parking lot. If that isn't possible (e.g. the item is too heavy or too hard to move) make sure you you arrive with someone when picking up or have someone with you when the buyer comes to your house.

4. Thrift Store / Charity Shop

Try searching in your area for store fronts, or organizations, that receive items as donations, resell them and then give the profit to a charity. There are a few search engines, similar to the garage sales, that you can use - The Thrift Shopper, Thrift Stores.net and Thrift Store Listings.  By the way, doesn't this photo make you think of Macklemore dancing through a thrift shop with a mink coat! "I'm gonna pop some tags, only got $20 in my pocket"

5. Church / School / Organization Fundraisers

Quite often various organizations will host fundraisers where the members of that organization will bring in items to see and all of the proceeds go back to the organization. Keep an eye out for what events are taking place in your neighborhood - a lot of the time these events will be promoted on Facebook, in community newspapers and, of course, within the organization itself. 

6. Friends, Family and Neighbors

Whenever someone is moving or spring cleaning we make sure to ask them if they plan on getting rid of any furniture. You can usually score some great pieces for close to nothing!

7. Your Own Home

Look around your home and instead of throwing out that old cabinet in the garage put your imagination to the test! You will be surprised at your hidden talent and how easily you can make something you were going to toss look great again. Most old furniture

French Provencial Table Rennovation

My close friend had recently bought a new home and we had been talking about all of the furniture she needed to buy since they were upgrading from a two bedroom apartment in the city to a four bedroom house in the suburbs. 

Luckily, our local Boys and Girls Club was having a rummage sale and had a lot of great furniture that I would have loved to refinish. These are the moments where I really wish we had a pick up truck. They were selling a beautiful french provincial table that I thought would be perfect for her kitchen table. So, I brought it home without consulting her and hoping that she would trust my judgement. 

Since I decided to use Annie Sloan chalk paint, it took me two nights to paint the legs - one coat per night. Before I moved onto painting the table skirt I sanded the top of the table. This was quite a labor of love, let me tell you! There was a thick and stubborn coat of poly protecting this ugly stain and beautiful wood, that just didn't want to come off. 

Once the top was completely sanded I moved onto the table skirt, which again, took another two days and another two coats. You can see from the picture below the difference one extra coat of paint makes. 

 

The top required a lot of sanding to remove the varnish and stain but the wood underneath was beautiful. We applied a wood conditioner before using Minwax Provincial stain. Make sure to have a tack cloth to clean away all of the fine dust and a staining pad to apply the conditioner and stain evenly. The last step in the process was to polyurethane the top to create a hard shell for protection and to antique the bottom (we used Annie Sloan Soft Dark Wax). Below are the progression pictures. It was a tedious and lengthy process but the end result was well worth it! 

Original finish

Conditioned

Finished Table Top