Moving can be stressful! And moving into a new space that needs to be completely furnished can be crazy making! But you don’t have to bust your pocketbook or get lost in the IKEA maze just to make your new digs presentable. Here’s how you can furnish your entire living room secondhand with a little DIY love:

The first step is to scour Craigslist, Goodwill, local second hand stores, trading sites like Yerdle or Lista, and neighborhood yard sales for secondhand items that might fit the bill, or shop your own home for old items that can be tweaked to suit your needs. If you’re game, you can even go dumpster diving for some real unique (albeit likely dirty) finds! Try to be creative and look for good solid structure over aesthetics. And keep an open mind and a creative eye!

Seating

It’s very important to look for secondhand seating with good bones. As long as a couch or loveseat has a good frame, it can easily be reupholstered (yes, even if you don’t sew!) if you don’t like the fabric, or the covering is damaged in some way. If the padding and upholstery are still good, but you’d like to change up the color, you can easily paint upholstered furniture with a few supplies from the craft store.

If you’re feeling especially crafty, you can build your own seating structures out of secondhand finds, like this bench made out of two broken dining chairs! Got a sweet tooth? Put those old candy wrappers to good use by recycling them into a chair! Or how about building a cushioned bench from an old coffee table? Got some old suitcases looking for a new life? Re-purpose them into kitschy luggage chairs! Make a new chair out of your old skateboards. Or swing by your grocery store for leftover pallets and make some amazing pallet furniture!

Tables and Consoles

Pallets aren’t limited to re-purposing into seating, though! You can make coffee tables out of these versatile pieces of wood too.  Keep your eyes open for old windows left from a home renovation to make this cool window coffee table. Or re-purpose an old door into a great new side table. Why not take a walk out in nature to find the perfect tree stump to make a table? Or up-cycle broken chairs into side tables.

Decor

Decorating your home with secondhand items is truly only limited to your imagination! Search for stunning images to print and then hang them in dollar store picture frames spray painted to suit your style. Go on a nature hike and gather grapevines to make a grapevine wreath to hang on your wall. Scavenge the recycling bin for glossy magazines to turn into this lovely scrolled clock. Make this amazing terrarium with old picture frames! Or raid your office supplies to up cycle your hanging lamps with manila envelopes and chopsticks. Secondhand costume jewelry is cheap and easy to find. You can use them to create something stunning, like this beaded chandelier. Add color to your decor by painting old glass vases.

Rugs

Gather some smooth rocks on that nature walk and make yourself a pebble mat! Or cover your floors for free (or cheap) with leftover carpet samples from your local home improvement store. Why not buy a bunch of cheap, ratty t-shirts from your local Goodwill and recycle them into this beautiful braided rug?

Shelves

An old vintage television becomes a cool bookshelf with a little DIY touches. You don’t even need to buy shelves when you use the books to support themselves, like with this Invisible Book Shelf.

Remember, with a little creativity and some DIY mojo, you can up-cycle and re-purpose just about anything! What great up-cycling ideas do you have to furnish a living room secondhand?

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