I’ve written before about how to Save Money with Yard Sales. I decided it’s about time to put my money with my fingers were typing (“money where you mouth is” doesn’t translate nearly as well as in blogging). With few exceptions most of the following things in the two pictures below were bought second-hand. Other major savings were due to Amazon Friday Sales
The room I’m going to show off is our living room. When we moved a few months ago, my wife saw this area and thought it would be an ideal place to entertain a few guests while enjoying a nice bottle of wine. That’s exactly what we set out to do.
Let’s start with the first picture:
[When looking at these pictures, it is worth noting that things could be more tidy. (Note to my wife: Honey, I tried to make things look as presentable as possible.)]
- Wine Cage/Rack – We found this in Craiglist for $300. Usually, you can bargain someone down on Craigslist, but in this case we didn’t even try. We considered to instantly be the center of this living area. After we agreed to buy it, we found out it was handmade as a wedding gift, but the couple just moved into a home with a whole wine cellar. Some have said that such a cage would normally cost over $1000.
- Grape Pictures on the Wall – These were $2 each at a yard sale. They are fill the wall space well and keep with the wine theme.
- Shelving of Spirits – A lot of the liquor here was brought home from vacations at duty-free shops. For instance, bringing rum back from Barbados is fairly cheap for the quality. Much of the glassware is from the aforementioned Amazon Friday Sale.
- Rice Paper Floor Lamp – That’s a Target Special
- Chair and Ottoman – We got two of these (see other picture) for $80 in cash at an estate sale. They don’t match the modern look of the sofa that you see in the foreground, but they are quite possibly the most comfortable chairs in the world. You can see how the legs are ornately carved in this picture (it’s more obvious in the second picture).
Now, we’ll go into the second picture:
- Glass Coffee Table – This was a Craigslist find. It’s from Pottery Barn originally. At $200 it was half-price of what it cost in the store. Later, we found a nearly identical looking table at Ikea for less money, which kind of hurt. However, ours has tempered glass, which made us feel better after seeing a report that dozens (or hundreds or thousands, I can’t remember) of people are injured falling through glass coffee tables. The tempered glass is much, much safer.
- Mirror Above the Fireplace – I bought a nearly identical mirror to this for a friend’s wedding gift. That was $200 at Pottery Barn, this was $40 at the same yard sale as the Grape Pictures above.
- Wedding Photo Book – This is a book designed by Snapfish. Our wedding photographer gave us a $1500 flat-rate for just the digital pictures. So while some people pay $5000 for wedding photographers and packages, we were able to print out a decent quality book for around $75. Plus if there’s ever a fire in our home, we can have a copy sent to us on the cheap.
- Candle Holder/Stand – I picked these up for $4 each at a yard sale about 6 years ago. My mother actually suggested I get them, and went as far as painting them to make them look nice and new. For 5 years, I heard my wife complain about where to put them in our previous places, but they finally a home here.
- Small Champagne Candles on the Fireplace – We got a pack of 12 of these at the same yard sale as the mirror and the grape pictures for about $3.
- Puppy – It’s worth mentioning that we specifically chose not to invest a lot of money into something that he can destroy. He’s pretty strong, but nothing he can do is going to dent the wine cage. As a side note, puppy the priciest thing in the picture (given the on-going maintenance costs like food, etc), but he’s also the most priceless. That makes him by far the best value of anything in either picture.
There are a few things in the second photo that I didn’t address. Many of them are things that my wife had for a long time (the tea set, the curtains, the painting reprint, the stand with the lamp). The things on the stand are wedding gifts with the exception of the lamp which was also a cheap Target purchase (I’d estimate at under $15).
I suppose it’s not one of those lavish rooms that you on the HGTV, but we think it gets the job done at a price that doesn’t break the bank.
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