This past week, my husband and three kids and I drove across the country to visit family, which was very fun despite a few National Lampoon Vacation moments, like my GPS non-skills resulting in us cruising a downtown Memphis neighborhood in our out-of-gas minivan at midnight, wondering why a Comfort Suites would be located next to so many liquor stores with bars on the windows.
Mishaps aside, four days in the car also meant that I had ample time to search Craigslist for this roundup. So there’s quite a haul this week! And after a while they started to group themselves into rooms, which was kind of fun.
When I first saw this sign, my heart skipped a beat because I thought it was huge, like 5 feet across, and I love oversized graphic art. But alas, it’s only 2 feet across, which is not quite as heart stopping, but I love it nonetheless.
Hang it off-center in an asymmetrical arrangement of art above your couch, especially if your couch looks like this one . . .
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, because the price tag on that couch blows my $100 budget wide open, but I saw it by mistake, and then I couldn’t un-see it. And it’s so amazingly awesome that I couldn’t not include it. I think $825 for a couch is just crazy-talk prices, but then I thought to myself that maybe couches in the real world cost thousands of dollars. I wouldn’t know. :) But while we’re dreaming of this couch, with its asymmetrical PEACE sign gallery wall above it, let’s mentally throw this baby on the floor in front of it . . .
You might not be a cowhide type of person, but you’ve got to admit it would look great, right? I’m definitely not a gun and war type of person, but I still can’t help but see this as a coffee table, on the cowhide rug, in front of the velvet tufted couch . . .
And since this happy scenario includes a fat wallet in our back pocket, we can also pick up this unique table by a local artisan to sit off to the side somewhere. Coolest living room ever!
All this dreaming of velvet couches (I’ve always wanted a green one), got me thinking, what sort of spectacular couches could you buy on Craigslist if you had a bit of a bigger budget? So, here, I have a couple more scenarios for you.
Oh man, giant and glorious.
And to go with it, another cowhide, this one even tougher looking (which is good, because the couch is even girlier looking). (You’ll need a larger sisal rug under this to make the scale big enough. IKEA might have an inexpensive one.)
Which lets you add a super feminine lamp . . .
Finally, add a masculine coffee table. (Sigh)
And now for the most tufting of all. But don’t do tufting on the seats if you have kids and let them eat a snack in the living room, ever. (Or if you eat snacks in the living room!) Dozens of button holes on the seat = dozens of holes filled with crumbs.
Here’s a cute chevron rug to go with it . . .
And stick this as a side table in there somewhere because you spent all your money on your sofa, the legs are pretty, and no one will see that messed up top if you place your books/plant/lamp strategically.
OK, on to your bedroom. This scenario is pretty feminine, so make sure to bring in masculine elements (wood, metal, straight lines and hard surfaces) to the other pieces like your bed and dressers. First, put this nice rug somewhere, perhaps to set off a small seating area.
Here’s a chair to go with the rug.
And now this table can go next to the chair . . .
And this very cute lamp can sit atop it.
If you liked that color scheme, I’m guessing you’ll like this for your entryway. First, a vintage light fixture . . .
And a cute rug to define the space. (If I were the designers at Dwell Studio, I would have made this round. But they obviously know what they’re doing, so who am I to say?)
And here’s a bench you can sit on while you’re putting your boots on (vintage cowboy? Doc Martens?).
That’s the end of the imaginary room section of the roundup. Now I just have a few more things to show you that I think are really good values.
First, some leather bar stools with a little bit of that industrial edge. (Note the bad picture. Bad pictures on Craigslist always make me a little excited because they often mean a good value. Just inspect them carefully when you get there to make sure that “perfect condition” doesn’t mean “only slightly ripped.”) Also, make sure these are the right height for your bar—bar stools come in two heights.
Here’s a small couch—nothing fancy, but it folds out into a bed if you need that functionality for an office/guest room. (I’d stick a Union Jack throw pillow on it, or one with that popular LOVE graphic.)
And finally, this may not be the trendiest patio set on the block, but it looks nice, you can sit at it and drink your beer, and it’s only $50, which is about as cheap as this sort of thing gets.
Whew, that was a long one! I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again for reading and for telling your friends! Have a great week, and happy hunting!
© Amy Daniewicz
Amy Daniewicz 