Price My Space with the Nester

I love the Nester! Her mantra, "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful," is super reassuring for those of us with quirky houses and hand-me-down furniture. Last week, she announced a new link party, Price My Space.




The idea is to take a wall, room, or whatever and talk about where your decor came from and whether it was a bargain or a splurge.



As sort of newlyweds with our minds set on paying off all debt and saving for a down payment on a house, Brad and I have been blessed to have been given quite a bit of furniture by our friends and family. We have also picked up some pieces at thrift stores. In our living room, only two pieces of furniture were purchased new. I hope my post will show that even if new furniture isn't in your budget, it's still possible to create a warm and inviting room with the help of generous family members and a few trips to Goodwill and IKEA.



Welcome to our living room!




This is the view as you come down the steps. Our sofa was graciously given to up by Brad's parents. The colors work fairly well in the room, but I would really love to find a simple, white slipcover. I'm discovering that there are very few slipcovers available for large sofas with t-cushions on the seat and back. We might just save the money for a new sofa when we move in a few years. In the corner, behind the sofa, is a typewriter table given to us by my Grandma. The basket, box, and frame were all gifts as well. The large paint-by-number was a $15 junk hole find. I painted the ugly frame white with paint I already had on hand.




I love paint-by-numbers and coastal scenes! The top painting was found at the same junk shop for $5. I added a $9 IKEA frame. The little light and easel are also from IKEA. The light was around $15 and the easel was $2 or so. The boat oil painting was a gift from my parents.




This shelf was once a window valance. We found it at my favorite junk shop, Class and Trash, for $15. The other nautical scenes were all picked up at thrift shops by my parents. A $5 IKEA glass jar filled with shells adds a little more beachiness.




My mom made these two throw pillows from yard sale hankies and $1.99 IKEA pillow forms. The bookshelves originally lived in my grad school house in College Park. My roomie and I used one in the kitchen as a pantry, and the other lived in my teeny tiny bedroom. I think they were around $40.00 each from an office store and Wal-Mart. All vintage luggage on top of the bookshelves were gifts.




I don't remember where I found the vintage suitcase that holds our CDs. I made the newspaper baskets that hold our DVDs. They were basically free, but I have many hot glue gun battle scars.




I made the coffee table arrangement from stuff we had around the house. The Edward Hopper coffee table book was a gift from Brad the first Christmas we were dating. I found the Paris print for $3 at the Green Valley Book Fair. I have no idea where the hobnail vase came from, but I'm pretty sure my mom found it at some thrift store. The ivy is from our yard.




The coffee table is one of my favorite Class and Trash finds. I think it was $30. The top was badly scratched and needed a new piece of glass. A little paint and a new pane later, and I love it!



The winged back chair was a gift from my Grandma. Brad's Maw-Maw crocheted the red throw for me, and my mom made the hankie pillow.

The card catalogue (soooo perfect for a librarian's house!) was salvaged from a school that was being torn down. We bought the little bench underneath for about $25 at IKEA.

We found this vintage typewriter table at the Family Thrift for about $20. On the same day we also found our pumpkin colored filing cabinet and Brad's dresser. It was a really good thrifting day! My parents found the milk glass lamp somewhere, and bought the shade at Lowe's. I have no idea how much it was, probably under $20. The frames are either gifts or Dollar Tree finds.

This HEMNES Shelf unit from IKEA is our big splurge purchase at $109. Our old particle board bookshelf was literally crumbling. We were trying to spend as little as possible for the look we wanted and actually ended up finding this shelf in the children's area. the frames were wedding gifts and the milk glass vase came from Goodwill. The flowers are artificial, but they looked so real that I couldn't help the $15 splurge. They came from this great shop in Lexington, VA called pumpkin seeds.

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Looking around our living room makes me realize that God has blessed us with so much for so little money! I'm very thankful to have a comfy living room in our little roost that didn't set us back from saving for our dream house. It's true that the room may not be perfect, but you know what the Nester says!

Be sure to check out all the other Price My Space posts!

<3

Hattie