The $800 Furniture Project

Inspired by Guinevere, we have been wanting an ottoman that we can tuck into a corner that will serve a dual purpose... mainly more seating, but also a family reading corner. (And of course, cute!) We decided that with the time that we had today, and with our limited budget, we would see what we couldn't do to solve our "problem." Guinevere acquired an adorable naked but still cute ottoman from IKEA that she upholstered and painted. It looks like a million bucks! We got intimidated by the upholstering factor of things, but still wanted something cute that fit within our limited budget.

We stopped by the local clearance furniture store, mainly to browse around and price things out. (Interpret as, how many weeks would we be eating top ramen to have the project that we wanted.) Sadly, everything cute was priced higher than we could really afford, and we obviously didn't want something ugly... There were a LOT of ugly things.


Then as we walked back by the ottoman that we really did like, but couldn't afford, we saw the sheet of computer paper taped to the wall, stating, "Ottoman Blowout! Leather - $100, Upholstered - $50." We couldn't believe our luck! The $550 giant ottoman that we loved now cost us a steep $50! We obviously collared the first salesman we could find to make certain that our eyes weren't deceiving us and whisked it off to the checkout.

Although upholstering may be a talent that we haven't quite mastered as of yet, accessorizing happens to be Hannah's specialty. We proceeded to a couple different stores, ultimately dropping in at the Pier One store. We also managed to steal bargains there too, picking up six cushions (about as many as Hannah could possibly carry) for a total of $65. They were all on clearance too.

Here is the finished product:



If we had have purchased everything full price, we would have easily spent over $800.

We're pretty happy that we can buy normal groceries next week.