Craigslist is my friend...

Lately we have been on a furniture replacing spree. We are finding fantastic deals on our local craigslist. We definitely live on a budget. Some of these pieces were more money than I would have been comfortable spending on anything, but I was ganged up on, and told we needed them. My mom graciously bought them so that we would be more comfortable.

The following are all things we have recently acquired. I love all of them.
First up we have the cabinet that we are using as the entertainment center in the living room. It houses the VCR, DVD player, Wii, and most of our DVDs. I had fallen in love with a bookcase almost exactly like this online a couple of years ago. Being $900, I knew it would be out of our price range for a very long time.

About three months ago, my mom was looking at craigslist and saw this cabinet. They were asking $150 for it. They originally paid $279 for it 2 years ago, but it had been marked down from $1400 because it was closeout display. They still had the original tag! I had to drill a new hole for all of the wires and I made a cotter type pin to go in the top of the doors. It's just a dowel with a scrapbook embellishment gorilla glued to it. It keeps Dubs out and looks nice. We are obviously looking at cable management to make it not look so blech!

This is the piece that made me completely rethink the living room decorating. I had started out wanting a very modern looking living room, but owning this piece has made me do a 180.

This next picture is of the dining room table. Our old table was lovely, just not wide enough, and the chairs were completely useless. The table and chairs need to be refinished and repainted, but I am willing to go through that trouble. When we repaint, I think it will end up the same color as the cabinet in the living room. I also have new fabric to cover the chair seats. They are currently covered in a really lightweight striped cotton that has not held up well. It will be lovely. We got this for $175.

This is the armoire that I received as a Mother's Day present from my mom. I use it to store some books and miscellaneous stuff that I have collected over the years. It lives in the study.  Part of me knows that I should refinish this, but I love the aging of the finish that is on there, so I don't think I am going to. I love the feel of this piece, which is funny since I am not usually a huge fan of large unpainted wooden pieces. This piece just feels right exactly as it is. Mom got it for a song at $40.

This is the toybox we bought for Dubs. I had been looking everywhere for one like this, but they were running $200. This isn't really the color I want this. The red is very pink, but I can repaint it later. He loves it, and is so good about putting his toys in it (and himself). This was also $40.

These have all been difficult purchases for me. I get weird about money and always stress that we won't have enough, even when we are perfectly fine. I have been happy with all of these things and am so happy that the family convinced me they were worth it. They will require a little work to get them exactly how I want them, but I am willing to put the work in. Now, I just need to find the time =)