Inexpensive furniture sources?

[jellyben]

I am looking for a cheap piece for my dining room to store extra dishes/linens. We aren't ready to make a big investment, just looking to spend a couple hundred dollars on something to ge tus through the next few years.

Any websites/stores you can recommend? I found something on Target's website but it doesn't have a lot of storage. Thanks!

[tbb113]

Have you checked out Ikea?

[cangoss]

I got a china cabinet that I use for the same items you're talking about at Big Daddy's Auction House in Detroit for $40:p
They have non-auction items, and I found this cabinet and talked the price down. It was a horrible mustard yellow color but I painted it off-white and it's great now.
You might want to check the yellow pages for re-sale shops or "antiques" dealers.

[jellyben]

I checked out Ikea but their stuff is a little too modern for my taste. I have checked out a couple of used furniture shops, but the pieces were still pretty pricey, and they were not even in great shape. Yard sale season should be starting up soon, but when I get something in my head, I need it yesterday!!

[ajowen]

Have you checked out Pier One? I've been buying cheep furniture too and was successful there for some hall organizer stuff (in the 100 dollar range). It may be too expensive for major pieces of furniture though. I also looked at pottery barn, ikea, lowe's, and walmart/kmart/target.

Lowe's worked for dining room chairs and some bookshelves, but you have to self stain/assemble - the advantage is when you're done it looks like quality furniture but doesn't cost like it.

Both Pier One and Lowe's have more stuff than is on the floor so ask to look at their catalog.

[Robyn1007]

Lowes and Home Depot have a number of unfinished pieces that might work too.

[zwieback]

If you are a member, check out Costco. Our Costco has some really nice furniture they just got in and it is very reasonably priced. The only thing is that you'd have to haul it yourself.

I'd suggest going to your department stores that have furniture departments or to the furniture stores. A lot of times they have floor models they want to get rid of because they have new stuff coming in or they just couldn't sell the piece. Case in point (although it isn't furniture), DH and I went to Sears yesterday looking for a 2nd fridge/freezer. They had a floor model in the warehouse, side by side, originally priced at $1100. We got it for $360!! Mainly, we got it at that price because it was a floor model (it has never been used)and it was an off-white color. The fridge was half the cost of the smaller fridge/freezers we were looking at!

So, you might just get lucky if you look around a bit at the stores. You could also call around to some stores and see when they change their floor-rooms -- that's the time they're sure to have floor models on sale solely because they want to get rid of them to make space for new inventory.

[jellyben]

Thanks for more good ideas. I hadn't thought about staining and unfinished piece. I love projects like that!