I Tried Furnishing My Empty Living Room For $500

This is all the name of the game , right ?

Buying things second hand , $30 .

I'm a haggler .

I may have forgotten to measure .

I'm so close , which is what makes this so frustrating .

Hello .

My name is Rachel and I just moved into my own one bedroom apartment .

One thing I have come to realize is that I really don't have a lot of furniture , like pretty much no furniture .

So I've never really been that big into decorating .

I've actually had the same tattered map of the world on my wall since like 2014 , but since I'm older now and this is the first place that's just mine .

I really want to put some effort into it to make it feel like my home .

But I also don't want to spend a lot of money .

So I thought it could be fun to challenge myself to furnish my living room for only $500 .

So the only other rule is that any item that I acquire for this apartment to be second hand , which is also probably the only way I can do this since second hand furniture is way more affordable .

Not only does new furniture cost a lot .

It's also really not great for the environment .

In fact , the EPA reported that in 2017 , about 12.2 million tons of furniture waste was generated in the US .

And in 2015 US homes were estimated to spend about one 121.7 billion dollars on new furniture .

So right now , here are the items I currently have for my apartment , a lamp , a rug , this chair I got from merle , a coffee table .

No , wait , that's a laundry basket .

So here are the items I need to find for my apartment , a couch , a coffee table , a TV , stand a T VA bookcase .

And then I also want to get some plants and decorations with any leftover money that I have .

Is this going to be possible ?

Who knows ?

I am very afraid we're going to do it anyway .

I'm getting a little nervous now because I'm remembering how indecisive I am and how picky I can be going into Goodwill .

And we'll see if I find anything here .

I'm not seeing a ton of furniture here , but there is something that wasn't on my list , which is just this a little adorable side table .

And I think it could actually be really cute if I spray painted it , I think I'm gonna get it .

It's like $20 .

Not only did I just get that little side table , which I didn't need , but I also got adorable wicker basket for $8 that I can put my yoga mat in .

Goodwill coming through .

I have now spent $27 and I haven't even gotten anything on the list yet .

Now I'm gonna try looking for some used items online , which is where I think I'm going to have the most success first .

I'm gonna try offer up .

So , let's see if I can find a couch .

This is the piece of furniture .

I think I'm the most nervous about finding couches tend to be expensive .

And I really want one that I actually like .

I think as far as color goes , ideally , I'd want like a neutral .

Let's start with zero and we'll go up to $200 just for the heck of it .

This is a sectional sofa for $60 .

I wonder if there's something I could do to kind of like patch up this damage on the corner of the couch .

This is actually a beautiful couch .

I do like the olive green color .

This is a pretty nice couch for $90 .

Would this even fit though ?

Ok .

I think I'm going to ask what the measurements are for this couch .

Wow .

This person is saying they originally got this couch for $3000 and they're selling it now for 50 .

See , you can get really nice stuff secondhand .

Oh , I have an inbox .

They said 100 and 19 inches by 98 inches and that it still still available So let's go measure .

Ok .

So I just measured and unfortunately , that really big sectional couch doesn't look like it's going to fit .

I just got back on here and I was looking around and I found this other couch .

It's only $25 .

I just reached out to this woman to see if it was available and she said it is .

So I'm gonna see if I can come pick it up this weekend .

But I think this might be the couch .

So while I'm waiting for her to respond , I think I'm going to go check out Facebook marketplace now and I need a coffee table .

This is a coffee table slash storage chest .

You can put stuff in there .

What is this rustic coffee table for $60.19 hours ago ?

And it's really close to me too , selling very cheap because it has a slight wobble .

If you push it easily can be fixed with the right screws .

I'm gonna see if he would sell it to me for $50 .

There is this group that I think Ari Jackson told me about .

It's called a Buy Nothing Group .

It's basically a group in your local community that offers items that they no longer need .

And then if you need something , you can go into the group and ask to see if anyone has it .

I don't know if asking for a TV is like too much .

I do need some potted plants for this living room .

So maybe I'll see if anyone has any extra .

In the meantime , I think I'm gonna check out an G which is Craigslist .

Maybe Craigslist will have a TV .

This is a 52 inch sharp liquid crystal TV .

No remote , no power cord , no stand .

I don't know if I want to do that 10 , ok .

Sharp Roku TV .

50 inches in excellent condition selling , because they just purchased a bigger TV .

They're selling it for 100 and $20 .

I wonder if I can talk them down .

This is the idea TV , that I want .

So I think I'm just gonna see if he'll take $100 for it .

The guy got back to me about the coffee table .

$50 would be all right , you're beautiful .

The woman from o up with the $25 couch just got back to me and she said she's free tomorrow afternoon .

I think I can start making moves then to get the pick up truck for tomorrow .

So I'm gonna go grab the coffee table now .

Hopefully I can arrange some other things to pick up tomorrow so I can rent a truck .

I have a table .

I really like it .

The only thing I have to say is it does wobble a bit when you get there in person .

Don't be afraid to be like , hey , this is more wobbly than I was expecting it to be .

Can we actually do $35 when I got there in person .

I was too nervous to say that to his face .

So I just said it's fine and I paid $50 for it .

So don't do what I did .

This is all the name of the game , right ?

Like buying things second hand .

So I'm definitely learning along the way .

I'm heading to , it's called restore and it's part of habitat for humanity .

People donate their furniture and other used items .

So I'm gonna go check it out .

Maybe they have like a cheaper TV here .

Ok .

So it looks like they have some tvs here , but they're a little bit smaller than I would like for $100 .

I can get like a much bigger TV .

That's a lot nicer and newer after going to the store and seeing they don't really have a big TV selection .

I think I do want to go with the one from Craigslist and it's great because she just got back to me and told me that it's available and she will do it for $100 .

So I'm gonna try to look for a TV stand now and see if I can find anything .

Oh , this is nice .

Ok .

It's 100 and 20 .

So that's more money than I want to spend .

But I also haven't spent as much on other items as I was expecting to at this point .

So I have a little bit more wiggle room here .

But let me see if she would take 100 for this , this woman already just got back to me and she said she can do it for 100 but she can only do next Wednesday .

This is probably the trickiest part of this whole thing is coordinating this pickup .

So hopefully we can make this work .

It's a new day and I'm going to check and see if anybody got back to me from the Buy Nothing Group .

Oh my gosh .

Somebody messaged me back and she said , hey , Rachel , I have some plants that need a little TLC and I will be happy to give them to you .

Amazing .

So far I have spent $303 .

I really still just need a bookcase and I'd also really like to get a second couch , which I think now I'm going to be able to afford .

So I want to see if I can find a couch that fits within my budget .

And then I can also pick up around that same time on Wednesday couch for $25 .

0 , but it was posted two months ago .

The cushion looks a little like it's seen better days .

Here's a round a love seat , but it was from five months ago .

Definitely has moved by now .

Oh , I kind of like this one .

It's gray slash green .

I'm gonna see if this is still available .

And in the meantime , I think I'm just gonna ask on Instagram if any of my friends happen to have furniture that they're trying to get rid of .

All right .

So , while I was just posting that , it looks like somebody responded , one of the green couches , he said yes , it's available .

Oh my gosh .

Ask me 100 and 20 for the couch .

Should I ask if he will take 100 for it ?

He's been trying to sell this for five weeks .

So maybe he will take $100 .

I just got back from picking up the TV .

I somehow just managed to carry it up these stairs and I didn't drop it in the pool .

So that's success .

I mean , that's part of this , you know , buying things second hand and picking them up yourself .

It's gonna be more work than say , like getting it shipped to your door .

But I got this thing for $100 .

And when I look at the price online , it looks like it's on sale , but even on sale , it's still like $400 .

I mean , this is the way to go .

What ?

So the guy just got back to me and not only did he say yes to the $100 say yes to the Wednesday pick up .

But he specifically can only do Wednesday night , which is the only time I can do because I'll have the truck that serendipity .

He got a green , a green .

So one of my friends responded to my Instagram story and they have a bookcase .

It's not the kind of bookcase I would normally jump off and I didn't really want a white one .

But I was thinking that since I'm going to go get spray paint to spray paint the side table , anyway , why didn't I just spray paint this bookcase ?

So I'm heading to Home Depot right now to see what my options are .

He's gonna mix my own paint color for me .

I am leaving Home Depot didn't have enough of the spray paint in the color I wanted .

And then the guy was like , why don't you just get some regular paint and use a roller ?

And I was like , yeah , obviously .

So now I'm going to go paint this tomorrow and I'm very excited .

All right , it's Wednesday morning and my friend just dropped off the bookcase .

So , you know what that means ?

Let's paint .

It took a really long time , but I'm finally done with both coats and I'm so happy with how these came out .

This is like a really affordable way to take some old furniture you have lying around instead of getting rid of it to give it a new life .

I'm here with Jo Jo .

We're on our way to get the furniture .

It is time .

This is not a drill people .

I'm so excited .

We just got the first couch and the TV stand , we're gonna drop them off and then go get the second couch and Johanna kindly pointed out to me that may not be room for a second couch in this apartment .

Did I measure ahead of time ?

No .

All right .

We're gonna have one couch .

We're gonna be a one couch households .

I'm really disappointed that I didn't end up getting the other couch , but I feel like it's gonna be too tight of a squeeze .

Should I measure that better ?

It's ok .

Tomorrow's a new day not giving up .

I still want to find something that's gonna fit in that space .

So I'm thinking like a big oversized chair since I didn't end up getting the beige couch .

And then I also am going to need some throw pillows to go on the green colored couch .

I found a beige oversized chair that I really liked and I also found some throw pillows that I really liked .

So I reached out to both of those people .

Hopefully , I will hear back .

The lady just got back to me about the chair and it's still available .

She's asking 125 for the chair , just asked if she'd accept 85 .

We will see what she says .

One of them got back to me about throw pillows .

She wants $35 for two throw pillows .

I can go buy new throw pillows for $35 .

I'm getting a little spicy with this woman .

I said the most I can go is $30 because for any more , I might as well just buy new ones A O but an exciting update is that the person got back to me about the chair and she accepted $85 for this chair .

I'm getting really nervous about the budget .

Now , of everything , if I spend $30 on these throw pillows , I'm gonna be over $500 .

0 , my gosh .

She responded .

She said that's fine .

$30 .

I'm a haggler but I'm still over now .

I still feel like I have done very well in this challenge so far .

I think I'm just gonna be ok with that .

So luckily my friend has a truck and he was able to help me pick up this chair .

I didn't know if we could do it , but we did it .

We got this thing inside .

I'm very happy with this purchase for $85 .

I just picked up my free plants that I got from the buy nothing group .

They look great .

I also have some other plants too , so I'm gonna mix them all together .

I mean , hey , I got them for free .

So that was awesome .

All right .

So I just got home from picking up the pillows and I love the pillows .

I think they're so cute .

And the girl actually gave me $5 off because she realized there was a water stain on the back of one of them .

And then the girl also happened to be getting rid of this gold lamp that I thought was so perfect and would match everything so well .

And she sold to me for $10 .

So I was like , I can't say no to that .

So now I have everything and it's just time for me to put the whole room together .

Ok .

Now it's time for the big reveal .

I am so happy with how this living room came out .

I had no idea how I was going to pull this off and I really exceeded my expectations .

It's crazy to think I got everything here second hand and for $100 or less , I love how the painted bookcase came out , especially once I added in my books and my plants .

I love how the pillows match the couch and the rug .

I think they're so cute and I'm really happy .

I ended up not getting a second couch because I , I really like how the big oversized chair fits into this room .

I think one of my favorite transformations is really the little side table because that looks like a completely different item .

Now , I can't believe I got it for $20 at goodwill , but I love how everything here really feels like it's my style and matches the theme I was going for and that I was able to achieve that without buying anything new .

So overall between the couch chair , coffee table TV , stand TV , side table lamp pillows , basket paint , and the roller brush bookcase and the plants which I got for free .

It all came out to $523 .

So I was $23 over budget , but I think it's fine because I ended up getting more things than I originally had set out to get .

So I think I still did a pretty good job and I didn't add this into the total price .

But I also want to point out that I spent about $85 on the truck that I rented to pick up all the furniture .

So that is going to be an added expense unless you already have a truck or you have a friend who will let you borrow theirs .

So even though this was a little stressful at times , it was way better for the environment and it saved me a ton of money , plus it was fun and it let me be creative and think outside the box .

So I hope I inspired you to try this yourself and see what you can find .

Second hand we did it .

Can I watch my TV ?

Now ?