Free Furniture

There are multiple resources of getting free furniture. This page includes all the information available on AF.c related to getting furniture and it will be updated as additional ways are discovered. Since furniture can be large, it would help to have a truck. If you don’t have access to your own truck, you can usually rent one for as little as $20 if you’re not driving it farther than a limited distance. You could also hire someone with a truck from Craigslist, or trade for moving services.

Possible Commercial Resources For Free Furniture

The following pages on AF.c include various commercial freebies. Usually, commercial freebies are for hand-held items, not items as large as furniture. However, furniture may also be possible. Read more about Commercial Freebies.

You could possibly win furniture in a sweepstakes or contest. Read Sweepstakes, Contests & Prizes to improve your chances of winning.

You might be surprised what you can find on Black Friday. Even if it’s as small as a camping chair, that’s technically furniture.

It is theoretically possible to get furniture from trade shows. If it’s a trade show that focuses on home or home furnishings, you could possibly offer value to the vendors presenting at the show by offering free haul away services. Read Trade Show Freebies. You could do the same for a retailer who is ready to clear the space on their show floor with other furniture items that might sell more. See Local Retail Leftovers.

You could potentially blog for furniture by writing reviews of furniture pieces, or do product testing for furniture companies. See Blogging For Free Stuff and Product Testing For Free Stuff.

Community Resources For Free Furniture

If you can find free furniture using one of the resources above, then it will likely be brand new furniture. If you use community strategies then the furniture you receive will likely be used. However, it could still be in very good condition. Yet, if you’re willing to acquire some cleaning, repair or craft skills, then you’re options open up considerably. Read more about Community Freebies.

One of the best resources to get free furniture is through Craigslist. There are multiple reasons why people give away furniture. See the related pages: Craigslist Freebies, The Magic Website, Reasons Why People Give Stuff Away. Craigslist is not only used by individuals, but also businesses. I’ve seen businesses that have to clear out entire warehouses of office furniture because they were restocking or they were going out of business.

You could possibly trade your way to free furniture in a process called “arbitrage”. Most people don’t know what arbitrage is, but they may readily recognize the game “bigger or better” which could possibly result in trading a paperclip for furniture. Read Trade & Barter for more information.

Another excellent way to get free furniture is by dumpster diving or curb shopping, which are both forms of urban foraging. The key is not to dismiss the item simply because someone threw it away. Again, there are multiple reasons why people discard items even when they’re in excellent condition. One of the best opportunities to curb shop for free furniture is when a house has been foreclosed. It’s sad that such a thing happened to the home owner who was kicked out, but there’s no reason why the items left behind should go to waste. Read Dumpster Diving & Curb Shopping for tips. You could potentially get raw materials from nature or leftover wood scraps from lumber yards and construction sites which can be used to build your own furniture if you have the skills and tools.

You could get free furniture from local yard sale leftovers. This strategy involves offering a free haul away service at the end of a yard sale. See Yard Sale Leftovers for more details.

You might be able to inherit furniture from family or friends, especially when they’re upgrading. If you really need it, then use social media to let them know or mention it whenever you’re chatting with them.

Repair & Cleaning Tips For Used Furniture

Since many of the pieces of furniture that are given away are used, there are some that may have minor or even major defects. The ones with simple cosmetic defects are easier to fix. Yet, the more cleaning, repair and craft skills you have, the more free furniture will be available to you. Here are some simple tips to get started:

There might be certain tools that you could use for free from tool libraries that can serve to repair or clean furniture. For any home project you can go to a tool or home store, like Home Depot, Lowe’s or Ace Hardware, to get free advice from sales clerks. They are often knowledgeable about paints, sealants, wood working, and industrial-level cleaning. These same stores may also have free workshops to help you improve your skills. See Free Classes From Local Businesses.

If you have a hyper-sensitive sense of smell or sensitive skin, some pieces of furniture will simply be unacceptable to you. If the furniture comes from a smoker’s residence and you’re a non-smoker, you probably won’t be able to get the smell out it completely. However, those who have tried will claim that an ozone machine does the best job.

There are multiple surfaces and materials to consider with furniture. Furniture that is made entirely of plastic, such as lawn furniture or pieces from IKEA, can be easily cleaned or painted.

If the furniture is made of a fabric material then odorous molecules, microbes and insects can reside inside the fibers. Some odors can also reside in wooden furniture, especially if every inch of the wood was not treated with a sealant at the initial time of use. For example, a hope chest might be properly sealed on the outside, but not the inside where the closed space would even contribute to the retention of odor molecules.

Furniture with fabric that is lightly used can be cleaned with the hand attachment of a carpet cleaner. Carpet cleaners can be rented at most local grocery or department stores.

Some leather-like materials can be cleaned and re-finished with shoe polish.

If it’s a wooden piece of furniture that has been painted, then you can use a paint remover solvent to remove the bulk of the paint. Use a sander to re-smooth the surface. Then re-seal or re-paint the piece.

If the furniture has mechanical workings, like a recliner, it might be possible to remove the mechanism and convert it to a stationary piece instead of trying to repair it.

Sometimes two pieces of furniture can be combined. I was once able to combine the bottom of one office chair with the top of another office chair.

Some pieces of metal furniture, such as shelving, could require welding for repair.

Regular household chemicals, such as baking soda or vinegar are among the best solvents for cleaning.

These are just some ideas to get the creative juices flowing and to supplement the point that repair and cleaning skills will increase your opportunities for free furniture. More DIY resources can be found under Web Freebies: Free Education: DIY. See also 30 Ways To Repair, Restore or Redo Any Piece of Furniture.