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13 Furniture and Home Decorations to Buy Secondhand
If you’re planning to update your home decor and furniture, buying secondhand is much more feasible than it’s ever been. The popularity of trusted online marketplaces like LookingFour has made it much easier for buyers based in the Philippines to find the right furniture pieces at the right prices.
Choosing second hand furniture isn’t just great for your bank account either. It’s also good for our planet. Buying secondhand maximizes our use of existing resources, thus reducing the need to extract lumber, metal ore, petroleum, and other raw natural resources from the environment. This makes secondhand furniture an environmentally and ethically sound choice.
Another benefit to consider is style. Using well-selected preloved pieces gives you the means to create a stylistically interesting and deeply personal home, something that usually isn’t possible when you decorate with all-matching, store-bought furniture. Going secondhand also makes it possible to find rare or luxury pieces at prices much lower than you could expect brand new.
While some items like mattresses and pillows should always be bought new for hygienic reasons, you can save on everything else by buying used instead. Here are the types of furniture and home decorations you should consider buying secondhand.
1. Sofa Beds
A lot of people who live in small homes will buy a sofa bed to save space. However, many of them will choose to buy a new bed and sofa once they move to a bigger home. As a result, you’ll usually find dozens of sofa beds in good condition on the local used market. If you’re going to buy a preloved sofa bed, make sure to leave some cash in your budget to have the furniture professionally cleaned after you purchase it.
2. Upholstered Chairs and Couches
A lot of people discard expensive upholstered furniture once they develop holes or get stains that are impossible to clean. Fortunately, their loss can be your gain. Quality pieces can be reupholstered and repainted to make them as good as new, usually for far less than the original cost.
3. Coffee Tables
The secondhand market is the best place to find unique coffee tables to liven up your living room. The best thing about buying coffee tables secondhand is, because they already have some wear and tear, you won’t mind spilling a few drinks or leaving coffee rings on them.
4. Area Rugs
Good area rugs can be incredibly expensive when bought brand new. Secondhand rugs tend to be much cheaper, even when you include professional cleaning services as part of your budget.
5. Curtains
The right curtains can really complete the look of any room. And because curtains don’t receive a lot of wear and tear, the secondhand market is a great place to buy them. Consider buying both sheer and blackout variants for different applications in your home.
6. Wall Art
The secondhand market is full of fine posters, paintings, textile art, decorative boards, ornaments, and other wall decorations—usually at very reasonable prices. Best of all, the artworks you’ll find are often unique and couldn’t be found anywhere else.
7. Vanity Mirrors
Nice vanity mirrors can be quite expensive. Fortunately, most vanity mirrors don’t receive a lot of wear and tear, which means they tend to show up in online marketplaces in fairly good condition, usually at a fraction of their original prices.
8. Light Fixtures
Lamps and other light fixtures can greatly influence the overall mood of a space. The great thing about buying lamps secondhand is that you’ll usually find a lot of excellent vintage pieces that are often made to better standards than most fixtures that you can buy new today. Just make sure that you have a professional electrician check or repair your vintage lamps to ensure their safe operation.
9. Pottery
If you’re into pottery, the secondhand market is the place for you. Not only is preloved pottery cheaper, older earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain usually have wear marks and patina that add to their organic character. You just don’t find that on newer pottery, even if you spend more for it.
10. Decorated Frames
Fancy frames can be impractically expensive when bought new. However, when available in online marketplaces, they’re usually sold at fire sale prices. What’s more, you’re likely to find a lot of funky one-of-a-kind frame designs that you will never be able to find in a department store.
11. Bed Frames
While you should never buy secondhand mattresses, secondhand bed frames can be a pretty safe bet, provided that they’re made out of good materials. Quality bed frames made of solid wood or metal are of especially great value and are good candidates for refinishing and upcycling.
12. Utility Stools
A good stool that you can safely stand on is a handy thing to have in your home. However, good-quality metal or wood stools can be surprisingly expensive when new. Fortunately, these home essentials can usually be had for a good price on the secondhand market.
13. Storage
Armoires, wardrobes, bauls, and other kinds of storage furniture can be found all day long on the LookingFour online marketplace and at most local secondhand furniture shops. Quite often, you’ll find high-quality antiques made of solid wood being sold at very reasonable prices. With care, these pieces are likely to outlast their modern equivalents, making them unbeatable in terms of style, character, and value.
The next time you need furniture or decor for your home, consider buying secondhand. In an increasingly consumeristic world that encourages needless waste and wanton disposal, secondhand furniture is often the most economical, ethical, and sustainable choice. If you take some time to learn the ins and outs of furniture shopping, it can also be the most stylish way to decorate your home.
Finding the right pieces for your home takes patience, an intimate understanding of what your home needs, and a bit of luck. Using LookingFour will make things simpler by widening your search and putting you in contact with verified Sigurado sellers, ensuring a hassle-free and truly enjoyable furniture-hunting experience.
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