Dressing your house in resale is a delightful experience that grows with you as you take on your domain. For the college grad to the young married couple, resale shopping, which also includes yard and garage sales, makes sense when it comes to brightening up your home and finding your style.

Here are six easy steps for buying resale to decorate your home.

– Once you move in to your apartment, take a look around. How have the previous owners left it? Is the paint fresh? Did they just redo the kitchen? What color is the carpet?

– Access what you can and can\’t do in your new home. Do you own your home or are you renting? How long do you plan on living there? What are the terms of the lease as far as how many nails can be pounded into the walls; types of window dressings used; and can you repaint the walls? Make sure that you read the fine print of your lease and ask your landlord questions before you invest in your homemaking projects.

– Go to your local library, used bookstore, or favorite thrift shop, and troll for books that speak to your home decor style. And search the web for budget decorating. There are many books and web sites out there focused on flea market finds, vintage treasures, budget decorating, and handmade goods. Study the pictures, read about the ideas, and brainstorm how you\’ll decorate your adobe.

– Now, it\’s time to start looking. Go through your yellow pages and look under used furnishings, thrift stores, and consignment shops for furniture. Check out the back pages of your local weekly paper to find out when yard sales will be happening in your area. Worthwhile yard sales include moving sales and community/neighborhood yard sales. Plan on taking the time to look around.

When I moved into my first apartment, I went to area yard sales to find dishes, furniture, and cookery. I bought a brand new hand mixer that lasted for over 10 years; two apartments; and one home. Without a doubt, there are great household items to be found in the resale market.

– Figure out what you can make on your own. Again, your local thrift and resale stores, as well as garage sales will help you find books, thread, needles, patterns, embroidery, and sewing machines at reasonable prices. Consider taking a home decorating class to learn ideas for decorating your home on a budget. If you can save money by putting together basic sewing techniques with the treasures that you find at resale shops and garage sales, you can decorate (and redecorate) your home many times over for a tenth of what it would cost to pay someone to do it for you or to buy pieces new in the retail sector.

– Finally, know what you\’re doing before you take free or resold furniture. I have a friend who was given a free chair-only to find out that it was filled with fleas. She had to flea bomb her house as well as get the entire chair redone to get rid of the fleas.

This lesson illustrates that you need to take the time to inspect used furniture before taking and/or paying for it. Make sure the fabric is clean, smells fresh, and doesn\’t have holes, tears, or missing legs. Turn the furniture around and look underneath for hidden stains, rips, or missing pieces. And sometimes, it\’s better to buy sofas, chairs, and tables at reputable resale furniture stores rather than trusting a friend of a friend\’s piece of furniture that\’s laying on the side of the road with a free sign on the seat.

You can decorate your home from top to bottom for pennies through resale shops and garage sales. Research your subject by reading through books and web sites. Look at pictures to get ideas. Then go shopping for the treasures that invite your friends and loved ones to want to hang out at your place rather than going out for the evening.

Anna Noto loves consignment, ever since 1995, when she bought her first pair of designer jeans from a consignment shop.

I can tell you of a few places located in the Chicago area that gets much of their furniture from estates of Chicago\’s north shore and the northwest suburbs of Chicago. The nicest one is Treasure Hunt in Schaumburg, IL 847-843-2002 and another really nice one is in Arlington Heights or Arlington Hts., IL called Arlington Resale 847-378-8467. The links to both are attached to this article.

Author Bio: Treasure Hunt Fine Resale Furniture at the Lowest Prices Resale Review Blog Suburban Chicago Resale Review Blog

Category: Home Management
Keywords: resale furniture, used furniture, consignment, resale, fine furniture, resale shop