SOFA WE LOVE

If you're like us, you've collected various pieces of furniture through the years. A stinky recliner you graciously took from Grandpa (but desperately needed for your college apartment), a garage sale find you spray painted, a store-bought dining room table you struggled to build and refused to return, lamps that showed up on your tables from God knows where with nasty shades and barely-legal wiring. And, if you're like us, you're looking around your house thinking, "where the heck did all of this crap come from?" Furnishing a home can be incredibly expensive but, with a little creative digging it doesn't have to be! My first "real" sofa came from a great place in LA called "Sofa U Love" where you walk into a glamour-less, 200,000 square foot warehouse, point to what you want and have it delivered the next day. 2,900 miles away in our 3,000 square foot, empty, glamour-less home it isn't as easy. The resources we had steps from our front door in Los Angeles are a world away here in the Hudson Valley. So, to furnish our home we have to get creative. In the last month we've furnished (almost entirely) our first floor for well under $500. Nasty old lamps got a facelift by purchasing clean, new lamp shades at Target, we took advantage of a great sale at Pier 1 and purchased two wicker/rattan chairs and cushions, Ikea had a sale on rugs for $19.99 and our favorite find...and clearly Bones favorite piece...a sad, old, moldy sofa we found abandoned. I mentioned last week Ikea sells fabric for as low as $1/yard so I picked up five yards to cover this little sofa (factoring in enough for pillows) and with a staple gun and little patience we transformed a sad sofa into the sofa we love.

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: recovering sofa: One hour

COST: Fabric from Ikea: $5.00. Staple gun at the Home Depot: $15

STRESS LEVEL: Making our house a home: LOW