I second the unfinished furniture store suggestion. If you have the place, time, patience to finish your own pieces it's a great way to get good quality furniture. I did that and finished 3 dressers 2 end tables on my own. I bought my dining room table and chairs that way but had them finished for me as I did not have the time (in the middle of moving). It is all very good quality and looks great so far (10+ years).

Restoration Hardware has great sales and a variety of products that may serve your needs.

Go to local auctions to pick up real deals on non cookie cutter furniture.

Furniture sales are generally in January and July as new models come in. But keep an eye on local flyers and check online before going to the stores. Good luck!

Craigslist and estate sales. You can search major brands through craigslist. Your timing is probably good because a lot of college students sell all their things before they move. Sometimes you can find a good deal through ebay. I've seen good stuff go cheap because the buyer requests local pick ups only.

How about West Elm? Wait for the deals.

You can get new mover coupons from a number of stores for 10-25% off depending on the strode. I know that Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and some others have them. So does Home Depot and Lowes. HD and Lowes will match the other's discounts, which is helpful if you have work to do on the house. Also, the Pottery Barn credit card is great if you pay it off every month... It returns lots of points and discounts.

Also, you can sometimes find great deals at Home Goods. It is totally hit or miss but I've found some decent items in the past.

craigslist or kijiji (I think that's just in Canada). I've bought excellent furniture on kijiji.

Garage sales, consignment, neighbors, curb, charity shops, asking around, sales. IKEA can be great for case goods, tables, desks, chairs, and certain housewares (dishes, placemats, mirrors). I'd be selective and avoid their lamps, textiles, upholstery, and rugs.

As we say in project management: GOOD, FAST, and CHEAP. Pick any two. You can't do it all in a weekend....prioritize.

Estate sales, furniture is a slow mover so you can get some great deals. Where do you live?

I've never heard of unfinished furniture store in Toronto. if any of you knows of any store like this, can you let me know? Thank you!

Different strokes for different folks, but I just bought my first house 9 months ago (I'm 23, partner is 22). The urge to buy all these great new things for our great new house sounded like a solid idea, but we resisted and bought quite a bit of used furniture from various sources (mostly friends and family), so we could save our cash to build up a Rainy Day fund and also make other improvements around the home. Nothing gawdy or beyond our style, but far from expensive.

Worked out great for us because we have changed the style of two rooms entirely since we moved in, and quite a few pieces and fixtures no longer match old design schemes we onced liked, or the colors/fixtures/floors the new house has. On top of that, one of the bedroom's use was changed entirely from what we "thought" we'd use it for. Since we had all used furniture, we haven't lost a single dollar on the items we decided not to keep. We've actually made about a $200 profit from various things. Plus, it's pretty tricky to decorate a home that you currently don't live in (does this fit in this room? what about this color? will this piece restrict me from ever having a different layout? will that piece never "fit" into my layout?).

I plan to eventually upgrade everything in the next few years, but long story later...I definitely suggest spending MINIMAL on furniture until you decide on exactly what you want, and wait until after all your housewarming gifts show up. Then, check out craigslist, freecycle, facebook yard sale sites, ask coworkers and friends..etc..

Happy moving :)

I have a malm dresser that has been great. In fact, i'm planning on getting a second one to make it a double. Not sure what happened to yours?

The hemnes series at ikea i think is one of their best made products. I have seen the white dresser in high end homes selling for over a million dollars. I would not hesitate to buy one, if that was the style i liked.

@cluedin - the IKEA Malm dressers I bought didn't fare too well when I moved them. The backing came off and the entire dresser became wobbly. Luckily I was able to nail the backing back in but I didn't think that thin piece of – whatever it is – was the one thing holding the dresser together.

@favoritegram - South Florida.

Joe, in south Florida, there are consignment furniture stores, Habitat Re-store and Craigslist where you should be able to find the basics. But I agree that adding more than the basic necessities should wait until you live in your surroundings a few months. Wants and needs may change.

What is an "unfinished furniture store" (and how would one find one)?

Try CB2 and West Elm.

Whatever you do, please take your time and go slow. Large pieces first followed by occasional pieces. Lots of dilemmas here are due to overcrowding with too much stuff. You don't have to fill space, rather, you should create comfortable space within the confines of your four walls. I am a huge user of Craigslist--with tremendous success. As soon as you find something else you like, you can easily swap the old for new, by becoming a Craigslist seller! Take your time, be thoughtful, and have fun:)

Marshall's and TJ Maxx have lighting and some great furniture at reasonable prices. Craigslist does have some great buys but stay away from buying upholstered pieces that are used, you just do not know where it has been. If you find a can't live without piece you could have it reupholstered at an upholstery school.

Craiglist is great way to get almost new furniture.

The unfinished furniture stores are pretty expensive. There was one in the Bay Area and the prices were unbelievable. We have one were we live, but all they have is very rustic and still expensive.
If you like modern, try ebay, etsy,,I got some nice mid-century restored chairs at a good price. It came from LA, but the shipping to the East Coast wasn't too bad.

shop consignment stores in high end areas. also look at newspaper ads. It may not be ideal , but you can find some good deals.

Here is a sample of a local unpainted furniture store in MN. High quality furniture....not cheap stuff like Ikea. This may not be every one's style.....to each his own. http://www.bucksunpainted.com/Product_Index/product_index.htm

You mentioned C&B. They have great sales, especially floor samples. If there's one near you it's worth watching. They turn over their merch regularly. I have a relative with three upscale homes, all substantially furnished from consignment stores. It makes reupholstery and quality repairs worth the time to search.

This makes me smile. We have bought a lot of furniture over the years. We have had new, antiques, used, freebies from relatives, and IKEA furniture. IKEA is affordable and designed for small spaces, but you have to choose carefully like any other store. We love our Ektorp sofa and Poang chairs with leather seats. Now that we are empty-nesters, it suits our current lifestyle and smaller space.

Cost plus world market, pier one, pottery barn, jc penny's, sears

@ joe. The hemnes furniture is solid pine. It is amazing value for the money. I saw it again today in a house listed at 1.4 million. Here is a picture.

I agree with you that the quality of the malm is nowhere near solid wood like the hemnes. When all the screws and joinery go into solid wood, it makes a huge difference.

I spent a lot of money over the years replacing furniture.

My advice. Save your money. Get only those things that you have to have for your home to function. Hand me down is fine. Make them work until you can get what you really want.

When you have figured out your style and your colors set a budget for new furniture.
Buy only high quality furniture that will last a lifetime. When buying upholstered furniture look for things that can be easily reupholstered. Fabric wares and will need replaced. But if you have a wood framed couch it does not cost a bloody fortune to recover the cushions or to replace the foam. If you get natural latex foam, it will last 20-30 years.
Solid wood furniture can last over 100 years. You can buy it at estate sales or used and it is just as good as the day it was built.

In a few years time you will own all the furniture you need and never have to buy it again.

I agree with almost all of the comments ( except about reupholstery - i have always found it cheaper to buy new). My bedroom ( after downsizing) consists of : leaning shelves crate and barrel, bed base west elm, head board free from friend and just recovered with ikea linen drape fabric - same as drapes in room, lustig bench new from ikea, malm dresser 7 yrs old from ikea, rug ikea $15, chair pottery barn clearance $80 marked down from $285. Most of the bedroom storage is custom builtins ( last photo).

Mix it up. Wait for sales, scour Craigslist, check out estate sales and used furniture stores. Overstock.com is also a good place to look. Decide which pieces you want to invest in. Don't completely eliminate IKEA from the mix. We did fine with Billy book cases and outdoor furniture from IKEA, but bought the major living room pieces from Room and Board. We have a cheap IKEA floor lamp in our living room, but it gets a lot of compliments. Go figure. Maybe you invest in a higher-end couch, but get the lighting at IKEA or online.

P.S. If you ever need to return something to IKEA, the trick is to be first or second on line when they open in the morning.

This couch is an example of a couch that does costs less to reupholster than repurchase. It really is just covering the 2 cushions 2 small side cushions and 2 pillows. Have owned it 18 years, have not needed to do anything with it yet. I will most likely reupholster it myself in the next year or 2 as it is simple and I know how to sew. I also own a cedar chest with a cushioned bench. Remove 4 screws to remove the cushion and you have a rectangle to cover. Many dining room chairs are the same - just have to remove the cushions and cover and reattach. If you have to cover the arms and the back and the lower casings, add a skirt etc the price soars.

In my opinion IKEA makes very good products at fantastic prices. The final product is a direct reflection of the time and talent used in the assembly.

Take your time and assemble the furniture correctly. If the assembly is out of your comfort zone, then hire a professional to do it for you.

The furniture is built similarly to pre-assembled furniture, which is more expensive due to assembly, shipping and warehousing costs. You save by assembling it yourself or hiring the job out. IKEA is quality furniture when assembled correctly.

I consider myself an "IKEA Assembly Pro". I'm sorry but the assembly is not the reason the cheaper IKEA stuff falls apart.

The cheaper IKEA stuff falls apart, like all cheap stuff, because it is of very low quality.
I've said it before: IKEA does have rather good furniture, but don't buy the cheap pieces!

We went with the IKEA Hemnes Wall unit. Honestly, part of me regrets the decision because I see areas of it that are made pretty cheap (the bookshelves in particular) but at the same time, we love how it looks. Get what you pay for I suppose. It's a good starter piece for our home and much better than what we had before.

For lamps, check out Overstock and Lamps Plus Open Box (same stuff as Lamps Plus but discounted because the box was opened, i.e., after a return). I agree with living in the space for a while before furnishing the whole house, but I know how it is to just need to get some of it done, too!