Finding great deals on furniture

We love modern/Scandinavian design and thank goodness someone told us about the Room and Board Outlet when we moved into our house a few years ago. Many a weekend has included a trip. The outlet is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. People arrive up to an hour before it opens and line up around the building. We did that once, but have found that it's better to go about an hour or two after it opens, that way the crowds have thinned out and you don't have the herd/scarcity mentality that can cause you to buy just because so many other people are there and buying.

Photo from http://www.roomandboard.com/

Looking at our living room/kitchen area, it's amazing how much has come from the outlet. Our kitchen table top and base, kitchen chairs, dining room hutch, and sofa were all purchased from there. Of course, it probably took a total of over 15 visits to find and buy everything. You never know what will be there, as new items are unpacked throughout the weekend. Most of the time you walk out with empty hands, and that's OK. We bought the tabletop a couple months before the table base we wanted showed up. The kitchen chairs were bought one or two at a time, and we saved over 50% on each. Our best find so far was a Linear Cabinet (similar to the one linked), it would have retailed for over $3,000 and we got it for under $1,000.

Craigslist is another thrifty source for furniture. If there is a certain brand or piece of furniture you are looking for, you can set up an RSS feed search to email you every time one is posted. That's how we found a Room and Board armchair a few years ago which was a perfect match with our other decor.

The Wall Street Journal published an article about finding good deals on designer furniture today, which inspired me to write this post: Never Pay Retail Decorating: A Bargain Huntress Reveals her Secrets. The article covers other ways to find thrifty, but well-designed furniture.