There comes a time in a man's life: furniture

Munro

I am pretty close to finally moving out of my mother's pad, which is exhilarating, and I need to start picking up furniture here and there. The first, most immediate need that I have is a sofa. I have around $450 available, right now, but I'd like to spend less if at all possible. While price-checking online it kind of looks like that if I want a quality piece of furniture I'm going to have to wait for a few paychecks down the line and just splurge a bit. As a college student, this isn't the most attractive option... So, my question, then, is where could I find a cheap, clean, nice sofa? I'd actually prefer something I could just get re-upholstered, but my roomates are pushing for leather. As of now, they're both options, but since they're not chipping in on the sofa I'd still prefer the first option. Thanks for your help.

tl;dr: I'm buying a sofa. I have $450. I will have more later but I'd like to buy a nice, cheap sturdy sofa sooner than later. Leather is an option, but I'd prefer a fabric I could re-upholster.

Dread Pirate Arbuthnot

The Salvation Army can have great deals and sturdy furniture. Not the most fashionable but it'll get the job done for cheap, just browse once in a while.

ViolentChemistry

The Good Captain Cass wrote:

The Salvation Army can have great deals and sturdy furniture. Not the most fashionable but it'll get the job done for cheap, just browse once in a while.

Thrift-stores in general tend to have a lot of sweet furniture.

stigweard

Save your money and go to anti-poverty or the salvation army. You can get a couch for ~$50. If you go to anti-poverty everyday, you'll notice that the sofas move fast and occasionally good ones will pass through. Pleather and leather are more rare, but they are less likely to smell of mold and wet dog. Even though the places thoroughly clean the couches, it is really hard to get rid of mold once it is in the cushions.

edit: Also, re-upholstering, even if you do it yourself, is ridiculously expensive. We looked into doing it ourselves and it would only save ~400$ over having it done professionally (which came in around $1400 on average of the 8 or so places we asked). People generally only re-upholster valuable antiques.

Munro

Well, I definitely don't want a smelly couch... would taking off the fabric and buying all-new cushions have much of an impact in that department?

stigweard

Well, not every couch that goes through a thrift store is going to be nasty. You just need a little bit of patience and you'll be able to get something good on the cheap. If you did get one home to find it smelled a bit funky and you are lucky, you can remove the slip covers, wash them, and just replace the foam.

Golden God

Flea Markets FTW. Also check your local paper or just drive around suburbia on any given Saturday and search for a yard sale.

Disco11

Ikea has some good couches for cheap. Bit more expensive than trift stores but at least it's new.

Dread Pirate Arbuthnot

Disco11 wrote:

Ikea has some good couches for cheap. Bit more expensive than trift stores but at least it's new.

Word of advice: Ikea has some really good stuff, but some pretty fragile stuff as well. My brother and his fiancee bought a three-seat couch from them, it was supported with three wooden beams and a frame. It broke within two months - the middle beam snapped.

Thanatos

Craigslist has furniture for hella cheap, or even free sometimes.

unilateral

On thrift store furniture:

Both of the couches in my living room at school are from thrift stores. One is a two person love seat that cost $15 and the other is a full size pleather (sp?) couch that cost $10 (half-priced furniture day). Neither of them smell like anything...well they didn't BEFORE they were slept on by numerous drunk kids over the years.

Both of them came from a Goodwill and not a Salvation Army. At Salvation Army, the furniture is damn expensive compared to good will. The most I've ever seen a couch for at Goodwill was like $100, and it was a sectional. The most I've seen a couch tagged for a Salvation Army was something like $450.

The one thing I can suggest is to check the stores every day or every other day if that is feasible to your location, because, as stated above, some shit moves fast through these stores, and you can miss out if you only go every few weeks.

Also, start looking now despite when you plan to move out if you take this route. It took me all summer and 2 different Goodwills to find the pleather couch, but I did, and it was a great deal.

Good luck!

tsmvengy

Thanatos wrote:

Craigslist has furniture for hella cheap, or even free sometimes.

Seconded. If you're going to be living in a city, then check out craigslist - there's always tons of stuff.

bsjezz

Disco11 wrote:

Ikea

Seconded. I've pretty much fully furnished three houses in three continents with Ikea stuff - it's always a good deal. The quality of the product can vary, but the designs are great and the prices are right.

I recommend the Klippan sofa, and it comes in leather at around your price range. I've got one at the moment and it's a damn sturdy unit.

I personally wouldn't buy thrift stuff because I like the choice involved in buying new, and it makes it a lot harder to give your home a cohesive look. But maybe I'm just spoilt.

EggyToast

craigslist ftw. Barring that, Ikea. All else fails, thrift stores/goodwill. Or petition friends/family.

If you've got little money yet need furniture, try your hardest to NOT break the bank on something. It's far easier to simply toss a shitty sofa if it breaks or gets wrecked while you're in college, than deal with losing 3-400 dollars if it gets wrecked.

While you scope, borrow some folding chairs. It'll also get your ass away from the TV more frequently, so you keep looking for a cheap good couch.

supabeast

Like some others have said, your best options are Craigslist, followed by Ikea. You'd be amazed what people give away or sell cheap on Craigslist—between myself and my boyfriend we've given away or sold a matress/springs, a bedroom set, a dresser, a couch, a futon, and other such stuff. For a lot of people, getting rid of old furniture ourselves is more bother than it's worth—even selling it means bargaining and other such bullshit, so it's easiest and fastest to just give it away or dump it for next to nothing.

Lukin

I got a good living room set at Big Lots for $600.