Why Are You Buying Brand New Furniture?
I really love upcycling old furniture and giving it new life. There's so much of it, after all - it's easy to transform someone's kerbside trash into something unique and fresh. With settlement of our new house at the beginning of next month, we're thinking of how to furnish it so that it's a unique space with practical solutions that look good.
And there's no way I'm ordering crap online.
Fast furniture might seem cheap and tempting, but we really have to weigh that against the real cost. Did you know that every year Australians through out 30,000 tons of commercial and office furniture, the majority of it going to landfill? In places like Sydney, households throw out 24kg of wooden furniture every year. In Tassie, the tip at South Hobart sees 50,000 tonnes of low quality, flat pack furniture - laminate and chipboard that's hard to recycle. It's not just about landfill either - the very production of this shit fuels greenhouse emissions and depletes forests, let alone the toxic chemicals from glues and other chemicals.
It's not just Australian - the US is worse - over 12 million tons of furniture are thrown out every year - a 450% increase since 1960. Have a look at anything online about 'fast furniture' and you'll find the figures for yourself - they always freak me out, and no one seems to talk about it. We buy chipboard side tables from KMart, MDF and chipboard chests of drawers from Temple and Webster or Ikea, because we want our houses to look Instagrammable for cheap.
I'm talking about this mainly because I feel victorious for buying a vintage or antique (the lines blur) via Facebook Marketplace for $75 AUD. It came from a really cool double story gothic house in Geelong, where two old people wrangled it into the van for me when I couldn't lift it myself with my back. They said they had two hundred people message, but I was able to pick up first and fast. The trick is, you have to say you want it and will pick it up immediately when you get the alert, even if you change your mind. Marketplace can be an artform.
This same chest of drawers has appeared before, but for between $200 and $500 dollars. That's not something I can afford or want to pay, so I thought even if it's not quite what we want, I can probably sell it on and make a profit.
But it was exactly what we wanted, having two more drawers than our cheap pine chest of drawers, plus, I love the little drawers so I can have one drawer only for my bras. That seems like luxury to me - I couldnt be happier. This morning I got up, showered, and exclaimed: 'I have a BRA drawer!'. Now that's worth $75 in itself.
Of course, after bringing it home, I gave it a good vaccuum, wiped out the cupboards with orange oil, sprayed some lemon essential oil in, allowed it to dry, and then got to work putting some lovely peel and stick wallpaper in each drawer. I mean you won't see it under the clothes, but it makes for a smooth, clean surface that covers up the old plywood. Plus, little glimpses of hyacinths and birds and butterflies are quite delightful, don't you think?
With space in our new home being a premium, I'm thrilled to have picked up this dresser, giving us more storage space in a warm, unique piece of furniture that won't ever go to landfill. Cared for and loved by us, I'm sure it'll end up in some one else's bedroom on day, for them to caretake for the next generation.
The delight in slow furniture has no price, in my opinion.
Now to find one for the spare room..
With Love,
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Cheap new furniture, especially made of chipboard, emits many toxic elements. Often this smell can be felt in the room for many months. Only for this reason I will give preference to old furniture, sometimes you can buy very old and beautiful furniture at a good price.
Oh yeah the chemicals alone are worth leaving it well alone!!!
Yuppppp this is a total puzzle to me as well. I have a friend who changes his furniture like every 2 years 'because it needs a different look' . Sure that ends up on the second hand market, but come on...that is consumerism on the dot and utterly crazy.
I have this little wooden cabinet here in the hallway. In the old house it was a TV stand and before that a generation earlier in the family from hubby it was a centerpiece in the living room. Going steady for 30 years now and there is zero reason to throw these kinds of things out.
Feels some much more reasonable that the ikea closet I bought in switserland because I needed a fast whole house hahah. That things lasted one session and MDF and moving??? Nope that just doesnt work at all. Never again
Good on you... I think once you do one cheap shit furniture you don't again. I mean changing every two years? That's insane ... Unless he's getting second hand and being part of the second hand economy but it doesn't sound like it! Madness.
The only new furniture I've bought is the couch in 1999. Everything else in this house came from tag sales or family.
I know you're a tag sale queen! 👑👑
Well, I used to be, not much since my husband died...
That is a gorgeous piece of furniture. You can't get that from ikea. I'm a big fan of thrift stores and market sites as well.
We get a lot of kids clothes form these places and the odd time you can pick up some great furniture as well. I really like the idea of a large drinks cabinet but don't have the space for it right now. It's on the list though for down the road and i've seen some nice ones along the way.
Nice old solid timber units. Just like what you have found here and for a great price at 75.
Oh and kids grow out of stuff so fast, so much better to do second hand! I mean the odd new outfit has to be done, but slow fashion is so much more economical as well.
I have to admit a lot of the old furniture does look really classy, and you need a good eye to make it blend in with the rest of the home decor. I tried when I moved in my place, but the dark wood didn't fit with my modern look. And the 60s dining chair I bought ended up too low for my dining table. I spent hours cleaning and polishing them and then had to return them to the second hand store, they got a good deal out of me!
I love your chair though! It's beautiful, I'll have it in my house anytime
Yeah I think I gave a reasonable eye, or an learning! The new place will be all neutrals and textured neutrals with the odd splash of colour from blankets etc, so I think it'll work nicely. If it was all dark it wouldn't work for me, but I think this will contrast nicely and provide interest.
I am way too slow for market place but I have picked a couple of nice things, just on the side of the road in our neighbour hood for free. Last time I pulled over to grab this good Bali looking teak coffee table but somebody had written sold on the free sign. As well as there name and address and that they would pick it up in the afternoon. I thought it was just first in wins. I was tempted just to take it but I could not really think of a use for it and did not want any bad karma.
That's cheeky, to place a hold on something that's on the kerb! Good on em. That's some scavenging skills.
The trick with marketplace is to set an alert for what you're looking for, and message them immediately to say you'll take it EVEN if you might change your mind. That way you get ahead of the queue, and if you change your mind they'll just go to the next in line, no drama.
Alerts, might help me set up a side hustle.
Speaking of "cheap" new furniture, I wouldn't agree that it is "that cheap" at all... I mean, it is compared to the price of furniture in the past, but compared with some old furniture, and its QUALITY, the new one isn't cheap at all!
When we bought our apartment, it came with some old furniture inside, and the first thought that came to my wife and me was... "We won't sell this!" Maybe some of them were ugly, but the quality was way better than the new furniture... My wife even gave a completely new look to some of them, and we got "new modern" furniture, with the good-old quality!
Second-hand furniture shops are full of great quality for a great price, and I would not go for the new ones! Maybe for some office drawers or such...
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Yeah the trick is to keep an eye out for what you want, even if it takes a while. I've been looking for drawers like this for months and keep seeing them for 500 - 600 bucks!
It's definitely not cheap in materials or style hey, just the cash I paid. Stoked.
Upcycling is where it's at.
And your wife's idea was great, if it suits you guys it's perfect! And I you get sick of it, you can always sand it back or change the colour. I'll have a few other upcycled pieces to show off next week so keep n eye out if you're interested!
I wonder how much of that furniture has been tossed due to the fact of flood. The irony that the flood then create demand for more /fast/ furniture, to fill people's homes, until the next flood.
I made the benches that go around the dining table. They double as storage. I made them out of engineered timber, but I made it in such a way that it should outlast me. It better!
Our dining table is a gateleg thingo from Ikea, but it is real wood. I want to replace it with a proper REAL timber dining table, so I can move it to my office to have extra desk space as needed when I work on various bits and pieces in there.
Building furniture is such a cheap endeavour too (or at least it used to be) - you can probably fuck it up three or four times (including buying the tools) and still come out in front compared to the incredible expense of some of the fast furniture that is out there.
I have a coffee table that was my grandparents. It will need a sanding and new varnish soon; but I know that it was around before I was, and it probably will be around after me, too.
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A sand and varnish work wonders!
You also end up with really unique furniture that tells a story instead of vanilla mass produced shit. Making it yourself is next level ... My husband made a great wooden dining table but I don't think it'll fit in the new place!
That is a beautiful piece of furniture! And having a bra drawer is awesome! Otherwise, those straps wrap around everything! 😂
I have big boobs so I need the space!🤣
That chest of drawers is a gem! Way better than fast furniture and full of character. Love the bra drawer win 😄
It's an unexpected bonus! 🍈🍈
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You have a good eye, and do a brilliant job and repurposing and refurbishing them.
Good quality ('vintage or antique') furniture enhances the simplest of rooms.
I shall make a note of this!
🙌 Lovely post!
Thanks so much!!! And thanks for the tip! It feels so fresh when you add the oil and wallpaper. Like brand new, but prettier and smells good ❤️
This image belongs to millycf1976 and was manipulated using Canva.
At 75 bucks that's a steal. I like the soft rustic look with the vintage yet modern design. I got a $1500 desk for $150 because it had a scratch on it, so the vendor couldn't sell it. I couldn't even see the scratch.
It's insane what devalues things. I'm happy with a scratch if it's a tenth of the price!