How I Got Four ‘New’ Accent Tables for $39

Remember when it was THE thing to have your furniture match perfectly? (Totally not dissing those who love matching furniture by the way, simply stating that it’s not the only way to go now, and a lot of people like the eclectic, collected over time look. Got nothin’ but love for all y’all. The End).

I do, and I did. All my tables were the EXACT shade of medium wood – end tables, coffee table, console table, TV armoire. That was how you rolled.

Fast forward some years, and I’m left with a Matchy-Matchy Wonderland in my family room. And in perfect Liz fashion, I tired of it.

What’s a girl to do when you don’t have endless cash to buy new furniture but you want new furniture? Let me share with you how I did it. I got FOUR ‘new’ tables – and spent $39. Actually, I probably made money now that I think about it.

First things first:

1. Craigslist. Although, I don’t even make it to Craigslist most of the time because our area has a local Facebook Yard Sale page. You post a photo of what you’re selling, and people in your area see it, contact you if they want it, they come get it and you get cash-o-la. It’s a beautiful thing. So I sold the old furniture and had cash for some new goodies.

2. YARD SALES. Goodness I love yard sales. A little TLC and you can have a great table, like this one for $30.

Totally did NOT look like this when I bought it, but a little paint and sanding, and voila! Check out the before in this post.

3. Think outside the accent table box. This also goes in the previous category of yard sales. I found three suitcases in different sizes while I was hittin’ the yard sales one Saturday, and got all three for $9!! What the what?!!! And ladies and gentlemen, I give you table number 2…

4. Use what you got. Keep one of your existing tables, and if you’re not wild about it, do something funky, or just paint it, restain it, whatever your little heart desires. I took this table from drab to fab with some paint, distressing, and using Mod Podge to attach a cool piece of scrapbook paper to the cabinet door. You can go see what it looked like here in this post.

5. Swap it out.  Ask if any of your neighbors, friends, or family want to do a furniture swap. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right? You might be super bored with the same accent table you’ve been staring at for 15 years, but your friend might be all about it. Or, there’s always Mom and Dad’s attic;). That’s what happened with this guy…

This needed a little sanding, painting, and restaining, but heck, it was F-R-E-E. Collecting dust at my parents’ house and just taking up space. I think they were thrilled I was taking it off their hands, and I got a ‘new to me’ table!

So there you have it. $39 later in yard sale finds, but like I said, once you factor in the money made from selling my old stuff, I actually made a little cash! Who says you have to spend a fortune to decorate?! Not me!

Four mismatched tables, but when they come together…

…harmony.