Best Places to Get Good Furniture for Cheap

Since 2014, I’ve been on the constant hunt for cheap, good quality furniture. So, here are the best places to get good furniture for cheap! These are the first places that you should start looking at to score awesome deals AND where you should stop wasting your time. Not all places or pieces are worth it!

We are constantly asked where we find all that we use for our furniture makeover ideas. Keep reading to know our secrets!

Since I started painting and selling furniture back in 2014, we’ve found our fair share of old cheap pieces to update for resell. We started back in Tucson Arizona, where painting and selling furniture was a huge thing. Everyone and their dog was making a quick buck by updating all of these cheap pieces.

A lot of people started catching on, and the prices of used furniture went up. But, some were still clueless about the worth of their old good quality furniture! With so many other painters scouring the city for them, we had to get creative to find cheap ones.

And then, in 2017, we moved to Duluth MN for my husband’s job. The market is about the same there. It’s saturated. With no contacts and no furniture stash to start with, we had to put our finding skills to the test.

How to Find Cheap Furniture

I’m not going to lie. It took us a bit to figure out the best places in this city. Eventually, we started to learn where these are, and we certainly learned where we needed to stop wasting our time. We also learned what is the best furniture to flip for profit.

The biggest thing we do, across all of these places, is that we are constantly on the search. We have notifications turned on, and we are always on the lookout.

Sometimes, there will be a huge influx of pieces available (spring cleaning and getting ready for the winter are some good times), and other times, there will literally be only a few pieces available in the area.

In times when there isn’t much, you may have to look a little bit out of the area or just wait until more people are selling their furniture again.

Where to Buy Cheap Furniture

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*Please note* Use caution when meeting anyone to buy or sell furniture. If you have a weird feeling about it, it’s not worth it.

Always meet in a public place where there are people around, and let someone know where you’re going, who you’re meeting with, and any other information that would be important. 

Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is still pretty new to the game, but it’s a great place to find used things. Instead of the old “yard sale” groups on Facebook, I just do a quick search in Facebook Marketplace.

But in 2014, we were constantly on yard sale groups on Facebook, trying to beat others to the latest piece that someone just posted. Those same groups have clothes, toys, cars, and so many other household items listed. So, we would try to search them for the specific item we were looking for. Like a dresser.

It takes a lot of time to scour through all those groups and posts. And I really don’t recommend doing that anymore unless you’re hard up for some furniture. Like bad. Or if you have a lot of time on your hands.

Facebook has gotten a bit smarter, and if someone posts in a group that you’re in, they can opt to list it on Marketplace, too. Making it easier for everyone to see. Marketplace will also show you some of the listings from your groups. So it’s a great idea to be in those yard sale groups, even if you aren’t actively looking in them.

If you’re looking for some yard sale groups in your area, search Facebook for things like “(your area name) yard sale”,  “(your area name) rummage sale”, “buy and sale in (your area name)”,  “(your area name) garage sale”, “(your area name) buy sell trade” or a combination of those. It also sorts things and shows you things based on an algorithm.

So, if you’re looking for something one day, or if you click on something, Facebook Marketplace will try to show you more items that are like that.

(So don’t go clicking around on baby clothes if you don’t want to see baby clothes all the time.)

You can also turn notifications on to let you know when something is posted for sale. Just look for the notifications icon under the search bar after you make your search.

Craigslist

Next up is the tried and true Craigslist. It has always been a go-to for me. I actually bought some of our very first pieces there from a company that bought and sold hotel furniture. So we ended up buying about 7 of the same exact coffee tables from this person, and we sold all of them pretty quickly!

Craigslist is pretty straightforward. Just type the name of the item you’re searching for, and it will pull up anything that has been listed with that name. 

Some people will list multiple things together, so sometimes, it’s best to click on the ads to look through what they are selling. Because sometimes, the really good quality pieces won’t be pictured or mentioned in the first picture.

Also, search all of the names that people call that type of item. A dresser can also be found under chest of drawers, chest, bedroom furniture, highboy, nightstand, etc.

You can even search for misspellings because people type fast and accidentally spell things wrong. (Yes, I just spelled accidentally wrong and had to have spell checker fix it for me. haha) Chester Drawers is a popular misspelling for a dresser.

You can also turn on notifications through Craigslist. They will send out emails throughout the day as things are posted under the exact search that you save. To get notifications, just click on “save search” next to the search bar. And then, click the box under alert to turn it on.

Friends and Family

It’s always great to enlist the help of family and friends, too! Let them know that you are looking for furniture, and they will probably come to you when they are trying to get rid of theirs.

Check out this easy way to paint furniture in one day: from trash to $300, where I got a dresser from a friend for free!

Just be careful not to hurt feelings or burn bridges with this. Not everyone wants to just get rid of it. Make sure to offer to pay them what you usually would for it. If you plan on painting it, let them know. Some people are very, very protective of their old, used pieces and don’t want them to get painted.

Estate Sales

And then there are estate sales. These are a little bit more complicated, but totally worth it if you find the right ones!

If you’ve never been to one, here’s a little run down. They usually take place in a person’s home when that person or family members are trying to sell all of their stuff.

Before they open the doors to the home, they usually start handing out numbers on a first come, first served basis (they start doing this at a specific time before the sale starts. Read the ad information to know what that company does).

And then once the doors open, they let people into the home in the order of what number they have.

In my experience, most estate sales are on the more expensive side, but a lot of times they have a certain time that most of the leftover items are half off.

So those are the best times to go if you’re looking for a deal. If you know that an estate sale company has good prices, then it’s best to go early and get the first pick!

They usually have the best quality around, so for those who want pieces on a budget, estate sales are where to go. Find the local ones each week at estatesales.net.

Thrift Stores

And, of course, thrift stores can be amazing, too! I have found a lot of really amazing pieces at Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity Restore, and Salvation Army. As well as locally owned thrift shops.

If I have a second when I’m driving past one, I usually stop in to see what they have. But their selection is always changing, and it’s kind of a game of chance.

Some stores will have days where everything is half off! And some stores will discount as they sit for a while. Others will have days where certain tags are half off. 

I really like the ones where I can buy it and pick it up within 24 hours because I’m not always in a vehicle big enough to pick furniture up. Hello, 2 kids in car seats and a small car. You can read on why I still paint thrifted furniture after all these years here.

Online Auctions

And then there is my favorite. The one that a lot of people don’t know about.

When we lived in Tucson, there was an amazing online auction! It was run by the same company that would do estate sales, so they had a ton of stuff every week.

Usually, they would sell one household of items per week, but sometimes they would have a “warehouse sale” where random things would be listed that week.

They would post pictures of everything, with a little bit of detail, and then the bidding would start at $1.00.

The auction would go for at least a week, and the highest bidder, when the auction was over, was the winner. Because it was a hidden gem, this was the best place to buy cheap furniture!

The one downside to it, though, is that we couldn’t see the pieces in person first.

(Actually, I think they would allow you to set up a time to see things during the week, but we lived clear across town so that never worked for us.)

So we would look really hard at the pictures and hope that they weren’t in bad condition where we couldn’t see. That company was called Caring Transitions.

Where to Stop Wasting your Time

Again, not all places or pieces are worth it!

Yard Sale Apps

Now, depending on your area, the best places may vary. I know there are also apps like Varage Sale and Letgo. But in the areas where I’ve lived, I’ve never had luck.

Yard Sales

And then, of course, there are actual yard sales. These can be fun, but they certainly don’t have the best quality pieces, and furniture itself is usually hard to find.

We used to go to them all the time, but once I really stepped up my game to only offer quality items, we stopped going. Though the thrill of the hunt is something that I absolutely loved.

On the Side of the Road

I have never actually found anything decent on the side of the road. I guess I’m not that lucky, or I don’t drive around enough.

But I wouldn’t waste your time looking on the side of the road for a good piece. For the most part. Usually, they are broken, bad quality, in terrible shape, or all of the above. 

If you do happen to be in the right place at the right time, and you spot an amazing quality piece, I would snatch it up. But I wouldn’t be counting on this method.

Now you know all of the best places to get good furniture for cheap. If you have heard of online auctions, let me know! I’m super curious to see if you have!

Can you Paint Cheap Furniture?

Yep! You sure can! Wood is the best to paint, but you can also paint laminate (the plastic feeling type)! Learn how to paint laminate furniture here. You can also learn how to choose the right furniture for painting in this guide!

Where to Get Cheap Paint

You don’t have to buy fancy name brand paint! You can actually use latex if you want. Learn what paint to use on a dresser here!

But, you have to prep by cleaning, scuff sanding, and priming with a good primer that will stick well. Get all the tips and tricks on how to prepare furniture for painting here and how to clean furniture before painting here.

Latex on its own can’t stick to furniture very well, and it will just be a mess if you try to. My favorite, affordable way is to turn latex into chalk paint! Get my homemade chalk paint recipe here.

This Rustoleum chalk paint is a budget friendly option as well! It usually has better adhesion than the homemade version, making it frustration free!

How to Paint Cheap Furniture

This post on how to paint furniture with chalk paint is a great tutorial that shows you exactly how I transform all of my inexpensive finds! Get more tips on how to paint furniture on a budget in this post.

If you’re interested, here’s all about how to make money painting furniture as well! And if your cheap piece has some damage, learn how to repair damaged furniture here. Happy hunting!!

Get Our Secrets!

Grab this super convenient How to Repair Furniture Ebook with all of our secrets on how to repair furniture for only $14.
You can print it out and have instant access whenever you come across damaged furniture, and know exactly how to fix it!
Click on the picture of the book to purchase!

More Painting Furniture Resources

• Best Painted Furniture Ideas
• Furniture Painting Tools And Supplies
• Painting Techniques for Furniture
• Heirloom Traditions All In One Paint Review
• How To Paint Furniture For Beginners

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