Where can I get reasonably priced bedroom furniture?
Asked by
jordym84 (
4752)
April 26th, 2013
I recently moved into my own apartment and so I’m still pretty new to furniture shopping. A friend of mine let me borrow her bed since she lives with her boyfriend and they use his, but they’re moving to a new apartment and she’s asked for it back. I’m in need of a mattress/box spring, a bed frame, a nightstand, and (possibly) a dresser. I’m on a tight budget (I have about $300 to work with) so I’m not looking for top of the line stuff. Where would you suggest I go for the best prices? Also, is it essential to have both a bed frame and a box spring or can I make do with just one of the two?
Thank you!!
P.s. For reference, I live in the US.
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15 Answers
I would go and look at Ikea. I don’t know what the pricing is like there but in Oz, their stuff is usually pretty cheap. You do need to look at the quality. Some things are really good quality, others not so much. So spend some time looking the bed over to make sure you feel it has good construction.
If you can, save up and replace the cheap bed with a really good bed. It’s an investment. A good bed is worth the money you pay.
Part of the answer to this question depends on where you are (assuming you’re in the USA). If you live in the North Carolina area, you can pretty much take your pick of furniture outlets from all of the manufacturers located in that part of the country. (The High Point Furniture Show is one of the major furniture expositions in the country every year, and it’s held at High Point, NC because that’s one of the premier furniture manufacturing regions in the USA.)
In New England, there’s always Bob’s Discount Furniture, too. They do a lot of advertising on NESN, if you like watching the Red Sox games…
I personally would save up money and sleep on the floor in the meantime. I don’t think you can even find a good matress brand new for $300. Though you can buy a futon for about $150 at Walmart I think, but it sucks. You will wake up feeling like sh!t and better off sleeping on the floor. If you must have a matress I would look up craigslist or penny saver.
You can always buy from a motel or hotel that is remodeling near you. Most of them replace their mattresses on a regular basis. If you do this you will want to fumigate the mattress to make sure you don’t have any uninvited guests.
Apart from buying the bed new, what about looking at second-hand for dressers and night stands.
Adding to my earlier post and building on @Adagio‘s comment. Check out ebay, garage sales and local second hand stores. Some things you might want to buy new but everything doesn’t need to be new. You could buy a bed frame and then buy a good, new mattress.
I don’t know if they do this in the US, but we have a ‘kerbside collection’ every now and then. This is where people put out things they don’t want, mostly rubbish, and the council come and take it away. The thing is people put out furniture and all manner of things they don’t plan to use again. You can pick up some great stuff. I picked up wicker chairs that just needed a freshen up with some paint. I’ve picked up bookcases, there was a glass outdoor table sitting on the grass verge the other day. Well worth keeping your eyes open for things like that.
I agree with @Luke86—you cannot furnish an apartment for $300 if you are shopping at a store. Bouncing off what @Bellatrix posted: if you don’t have a curbside collection day, do you have a local college or university? Students throw out all kinds of stuff that is not trash and usually just put it by the dumpster come move out day (which is getting really close). I wouldn’t get a bed there (eek!), but anything that can be lysol-ed would be fair game!
Thank you all for the feedback and suggestions thus far!! I’ve been browsing different websites for mattresses and I found this one from Walmart. It’s the cheapest I’ve found and it has a lot of good customer reviews, so I think I’ll go with this one. The main reason I don’t want to invest too much money on furniture is that, if all goes according to plan, I may be moving overseas within the next 12 months for my job and so I don’t want to get too much stuff and then have trouble reselling it when the time comes. I mainly need a bed and I can always get one of these guys and call it a day; I’m not really high maintenance lol.
No idea for a box spring, everything else can be found a flea market. Yes, it might need a little touching up, but it’s cheep and you would be surprised at what you can find.
Five cinder blocks and a large piece of thick plywood do very nicely as a support for a mattress. Foam rubber is cheaper than other kinds of mattresses if you don’t mind a firm support.
Did no one mention Craig’s list or a freecycle.com in your city?
Try your supermarket for orange crates. They do fine for night tables and clothes storage.
For upholstered pieces or a bed, I prefer new. But for just about everything else, I look at garage sales, second hand stores or build it myself. I love to find an old piece and refinish and make it like new again.
I guess it all depends on what you like to do and how much time you have. If I were you though, I wouldn’t ever buy cheap new. Save your money and buy one piece at a time and buy good quality, real wood. I hate the stuff that is made of particle board with contact paper stuck on top to make it look like wood!
The craigslist free section and thrift stores are what I used to furnish my first five apartments. The mattress is obviously the most difficult, if you insist on brand new. I would spend my whole budget on that and put it on the floor until you can pick up the other stuff for free. You can make do without the box spring, but they’re like free craigslist popcorn, just grab one. Have a friend who knows how to look for bedbug leavings (bits of red and brown spots on the corners) come along on the pickup, or pickup from swanky neighborhoods only, and you’ll be fine.
I personally am a fan of @gailcalled 5 cinder blocks and plywood idea. Though really those metal frames that you get I have never paid for them, see family friends and recycling transit sites. Plywood is more expensive then it should be but fairly adequate for box spring spring alternative. But to refer back to metal frame: also imagine you can get cheap through yard sales and craigslist.
The bed in a box idea that you posted reminded me of one I bought for a cabin 6 or 7 yrs ago. It was comfortable but very heavy. Also it couldn’t be supported by metal frame w/o box springs. It was fine at first but I got tired of having my bed on the floor. Felt like a kid, difficult for bed making and romantic pleasure. And a pain in the butt to move once out of the box, no handles and floppy plus heavy….
Better yet is camping alternatives. They are getting more comfortable these days. Double usage will get a good resale, or can be brought with. As they are made to be compact. Also air mattresses again they are improving. Fairly cheap and are always good for visitors even after you have a real bed. (As long as you don’t have an animal with sharp and pointies.)
Night stand try milk crates if you really want to save. You can use a piece of cardboard on top to create a flat surface and cover with fabric stackable to the desired height and width, also works for dresser in a pinch, but those rubbermaid drawers are a step up and serve for good storage for a more permanent domacile. But I generally was always a hanger over a folder on any day. Craigslist is a nice alternative as well and no worries about the yuck germ factor.
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