| You've probably never thought about recycled | | | | at all. At the next garage sale, you find a great |
| furniture as home decor. In fact, you might be | | | | storage ottoman, but it is olive green, which not only |
| disgusted by the thought of someone picking up | | | | clashes with your current living room décor but |
| your old furniture when you set it out on the curb | | | | also with the couch you just bought. You can go to a |
| for trash pickup. However, if you think about it, | | | | fabric store and purchase enough fabric in the color |
| furniture is recycled all the time, with pieces being | | | | of your choice to recover both items or to even |
| sold in garage sales or sent to Goodwill and other | | | | create simple slip covers that can be removed and |
| charity services for those who are less fortunate. If | | | | washed for both items. Overall, with the cost of the |
| you are working with a small budget, a garage sale or | | | | two pieces used and the material, you've probably |
| a second hand store can actually be a great place to | | | | spent less than you would have on just the ottoman |
| find your newest bedroom furniture item or | | | | had you bought it brand new. |
| decorative piece for the foyer. | | | | The same is true of wood furnishings. Perhaps you |
| Actually, if you think about it, all antiques are | | | | need to get an additional nightstand for your |
| technically recycled, but because they often have a | | | | bedroom, and everything you have so far is |
| ridiculously high value attached to them, people don't | | | | cherrywood. Yet, at a second hand store, you find a |
| see them as used. The same can be said of some | | | | piece that is the same style as your current shelving |
| second hand furniture, which you can even update | | | | for a very low price that has an oak finish. It is quite |
| yourself if you want to make it "like new", still | | | | easy to buy some sandpaper and apply a coat or |
| costing much less than a new wrought iron bed or | | | | two of cherrywood finish to a sanded unit, and the |
| wood dresser. If you spend a Saturday or Sunday | | | | cost difference from buying a new unit is definitely |
| shopping garage sales and yard sales in your area, | | | | worth the time. |
| you could probably furnish an entire house for the | | | | So, next time you start thinking about how crazy |
| cost of one or two new pieces, and just because | | | | some people are for buying used bedoom furniture, |
| the units you buy don't match doesn't mean you | | | | think twice about how crazy you may be for turning |
| can't work with them. | | | | down the opportunity to purchase something that |
| For example, maybe you buy a TV armoire that is in | | | | you can update yourself and save an outrageous |
| nearly perfect condition at one yard sale, but it is a | | | | amount of money. As the old adage says, one man's |
| shade of brown that doesn't match your living room | | | | trash really is another man's treasure. |