Shade that lamp: The Entire House Furnished for $1000! Here's the Budget Breakdown :-)

Okay, So it is done. Well, not really. I have A TON of work to do, painting furniture, sewing, cleaning, packing. You know the 1,000 things that come with moving. Well, I have been sewing my guts out and really stressing about the fact that there is NO WAY I will be able to finish making 10 couch cushion covers, pillows, bedding, curtains, etc. by Aug 1st! Then I remembered the other day that none of these things matter for eternity :-) I took a deep breath, cried, prayed and I am now okay with this reality. I wish we could move in and just get settled, but it is a blessing that we have a garage I can put all my little projects in.

My 4, 3, and 1 year old have been keeping me very busy as always :-) I have also started my first 2 clients for decorating here in NC. That has been a blast! So, I have been up daily until midnight or longer, sewing. You will soon see why I am sewing. First let me tell you all that God has provided for our new home here in NC. So fun! Yes, it was all under $1000. I even had "extra" for some very yummy fabric.
My daughter's dresser came from Craigslist. It was hand painted, I loved it, very shabby chic. The girl wanted $175, I new I couldn't do that when I had to furnish and entire house, so I got it for $130 and she made me a matching one for my 3 year old daughter for $100. Can't wait to show you pictures, sorry, they are buried in the garage right now.

Then I got the girls each a full size bed, box spring and mattress, for a total of $60. CRAZY!!! So my girls room was furnished for a total of $290.

My dining room, (really an eat in kitchen), table and chairs is by far my FAVORITE find. I got the entire set for $265. Again, buried in the garage, so sorry I didn't take pictures before. I never thought I would really have time to blog in the middle of all this chaos :-) You will see them, I promise.

Another favorite is my roll top desk. This is one I really had to wait for. They are expensive, even on Craigslist :-) I finally found one that a lady was willing to go down to $30, WHAT?, I couldn't believe she took my offer, so fantastic. I do need to paint it, but it is going to be so great to get organized again. I have been going nutty here in this rental with no place for all stuff. My chair for my desk was FREE! A friend had it in her attic, very cute and perfect.

Our bed is a queen bed, mattress, box spring and frame for $160. This was really a scary asking. The girl wanted $200, but I only had $40 to give her at the time. I got to tell her about Dave Ramsey and all that God is teaching us and told her I can't borrow the money to pay her in full but that I could give her a deposit if she could hold it. This alone is a miracle :-) Most people on Craigslist do not do that. She was very sweet and it is was an extra bonus that we are getting together for a play date soon. New friend and a new bed. A friend was not on my list :-), God is so good! Our bedding is already paid for because I actually brought our guest bedding from FL for my girls room here. I do feel bad for my husband, it is pretty feminine, but I can't justify new bedding when we already have it. He said he doesn't mind.

Our dressers, FREE! Told a friend about my little plan and her parents had 2 dressers they were wanting to get rid of. I need to sand and paint them, but they are in great shape. I also got a great bed side table for $40 from the flea market, and another one for FREE, from a friend.

My son's room only needs a dresser, he is in a crib, which we brought from FL. His dresser, FREE! The same lady that sold me the desk, also gave me a dresser and mirror. Not sure if I will use that exact one in his room, but he has a dresser out of 1 of the 3 we got for free. Again, I will be sanding and painting. It is kind of funny to imagine almost an entire house of painted furniture.

I was also able to get a desk for my girls for FREE from a friend, my girls have informed me that they would like me to paint it pink :-). I also got a couch and love seat for the playroom from a friend, FREE. My girls will sleep on the couches when we have a guest. Their room will serve as a great guest room with 2 full beds.

I save the living room for last because it is for sure the biggest decorating challenge of my life :-) My first challenge is that the carpet in this rental house is BLUE :-) Oh, yes, the exact color blue you are picturing.

Our love seat and couch were FREE. I told my parents about my crazy $1000 budget and they had a friend needing to get rid of the furniture we now have. It is one of those 80's style curvy wooden, wicker tied together couch and love seat. Don't worry, you will see before and after pictures for sure. I am going to paint it a very dark chocolate brown and I am in the process of re-covering each cushion. The floral on the cushions was also not really us. Please hear my heart in this, I really am thankful, I just never imagined it would be SO hard to recover these cushions. My dear friend has taught me how to do this and I am almost done with the love seat, Yeah! I have also made 13 pillows, so fun, and crazy!

My FREE chair for the living room was my entire inspiration. Apricot Orange with every flower, fruit and bird possible on a chair :-) The 3 cushions above are the chair cushions that will be in the living room. I was looking at a house to rent, and the lady was having a garage sale while I was there. I saw the chair and LOVED IT! She said, you want it, take it! FREE! Then she gave me another chair that will go in our bedroom and a FREE antique side table for the living room. I also got another side table out of my neighbors trash :-) I made sure they wanted it in the trash, it looked great, the top is broken , but my husband can fix it. Then the last chair in our living room was $50, talked down from $100. It is very cozy. I really wanted at least 1 cozy chair in there. We also have another chair here that we brought from FL., pretty, but not cozy :-)

So the entire living room was done for $50. Well, I did have $165 left of my $1000 so I put all that money towards fabric for the living room. Here they are. Can't wait to show you the finished product of my 13 fabulous fabrics all in one room!