If you are like me and love modern or contemporary design, but don’t have the budget for a $4,000 Eames Lounge Chair, you may be surprised to hear you can find some amazing and affordable furniture and home décor items with a modern flair at our local discount stores in Lexington—that’s right, discount stores. I’m talking about Big Lots and Burlington Coat Factory and even Kroger Marketplace!
Don’t get me wrong. Lexington has a great variety of antique and vintage stores like Scout or Street Scene, both known for having a continual selection of mid-century modern furniture items, and I definitely agree supporting our local businesses is important. But I’m here to tell you that you can satisfy your modern hankering without breaking the bank. I just bought a sofa and loveseat for a tenth of the price of an Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman.
On the quest to “stage” my formal--aka unused--living room for a potential home sale, I’ve scored some really great pieces in Lexington stores over the last few months, all which culminated with a sofa and loveseat this week from none other than BIG LOTS. It’s the sofa set of my dreams!
Take a look.
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| Big Lots: Loveseat came with pillows for $199, plus 10 percent off. |
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| Decorative pillow for $12.99 at Burlington Coat Factory. |
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| IKEA finds - Lamp base: $14.99. Shade: $6.99. |
Usually people buy a sofa then buy the accessories, but in my situation, I bought the curtains, throw pillows and lamps before I found the perfect couch—it was just meant to be!
The brown curtains with overlapping green and blue circles came from Burlington Coat Factory for $19.99 a panel—not too shabby!
Now, to the throw pillows. For months I admired these pillows with blue, green, and grey circles, at Target, but I never had a true “need” for them. However, when I found the curtains at Burlington Coat Factory, I discovered the same exact pillows from Target there—for more than 50 percent less! Target’s price: $27.99, BCF price: $12.99. They coordinated so well with the curtains I had just had to get them.
So, a few weekends later my husband and I were in Cincinnati for the 20th Century Cincinnati Show and we stopped by IKEA Westchester for some lighting needs. We found these lamps that would match the new silver curtain rods (Did I mention I also found curtain rods at BCF?) and picked circular shades that would mimic the circles in the curtains and pillows. Lamp base $14.99. Plastic white shade: $6.99. We got two to flank the couch of my dreams that I had not even found yet.
So…drum roll….here’s the complete look for my newly staged living room!
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| My husband made this coffee table from scrap trim. |
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| Sofa, pillow, curtain, lamp = $284! |
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| I love this curve! It reminds me of an Arne Jacobsen egg chair. |
Take it from me, there is a lot to be found at your local retail discount stores. (We scored some majorly discounted furniture items a few years ago at Sears--$50 parson dinning table, $20 molded plywood dinning chairs, $70 full-length dresser, $15 end tables with aluminum legs. )
Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking for new furniture on a very limited budget:
1. People don’t think about buying furniture, especially modern designs, at Sears or Big Lots so there is often a surplus of discounted furniture items just waiting for someone to come along and discover them. You can be that person, but it takes some time and many repeat visits before you may actually find something amazing that you just have to have.
2. Another thing to remember is once you find an item that excites you (and is also well-made), to scoop it up as soon as possible. If you love it, chances are someone else will love it too. And if it’s cheap, they’ll love it even more. When I arrived at Big Lots Sunday morning, after discovering the sofa and loveseat the night before, another person was there loading the same set into his truck. Having gone through this same scenario too many times before, I was mortified thinking it I was too late. Lucky for me, there was still another sofa available in the backroom and the loveseat left was the floor display, on which I got a 10 percent discount….which leads me to my next tip.
3. Buy display items if they are available and look good. Sometimes you have no choice in the matter. But either way, you should always get a discount of at least 10 percent. Look for small marks or other small imperfections that you can live with—that little scuff mark on the bottom of a chair leg can save you money! If the store doesn’t offer, then ask for the discount!
4. And lastly, when you find an unbelievable deal, pass it on. The most fun part about bargain hunting is telling others about your amazing finds in hopes they can get the same joy...even if it does create a little more competition in the bargain bin.
Happy hunting!
copyright: Amy Whitfield Richardson
