Buying furniture for new listing?

[Patricia844]

I'll begin renting my two bedroom home through Airbnb. The house is unfurnished.

Any suggestions on where to buy furniture?

Thanks so much! Patricia

[Von3]

craigslist (especially free section under sale), freecycle, marshalls/TJs, reStore, consigment shops, goodwill, salvation army.

[Huma0]

@Patricia844I think it depends on what look you are after, what type of guest you are targetting and what your budget is.

@Jann3clearly knows what he is doing and his place looks great. Also, if you are in a hurry, a one-stop shop could be perfect for you.

I live in my Airbnb so I have decorated it to my own tastes, but the 'look' of the place is the main attraction for most of the guests that book it.

I have managed to do it on a budget because I love vintage furniture and have found that I can find things really cheap on Ebay. You do need a bit of time for this, but the vintage furniture is often so much cheaper than mass produced modern stuff, full of character and just better made.

However, a lot of the stuff didn't look that great until I painted it (with chalk paint). If you like that sort of look, it is not difficult or that time consuming to do (you don't need to strip or sand) and you can find lots of tutorials and advice online. The important thing when choosing the furniture is to look at the 'bones' of the piece, e.g. the shape and the details. Does it have nicely shaped legs? Does it have nice details on the drawer fronts? Ignore the finish of the piece. It doesn't matter if it's an ugly colour or wood with yellowing varnish and marks as you'll be painting it anyway.

I started this thread on renovating, where you might find some inspiration: there: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Before-and-after-pics/m-p/486728#M110692

Even if my style is not to your liking, there are photos from other hosts, with many different types of properties and decorating styles.

[Jann3]

Dear @Huma0,

I'm blushing!

All my love,

Jann

ps: This month's bribery check is in the mail! 🙂 <jk>

[Patricia844]

 Thanks, Huma, this is great information.

[Ben780]

I have purchased stuff from www.dealgiant.com

They bascially are the best place for deals. All furniture. Most of it is new or new open box. Same stuff from amazon, wayfair, target, walmart 

And its sooo cheap!! no tax! 

[Linda108]

@Patricia844  Is your intent to rent the entire home or as a private room?  You have gotten some great ideas from the community.  Some of my thoughts about furnishing a new place for guests to use without supervision are: 

Even great guests can have accidents so be sure that your furnishings are durable and cleanable.  Probably you will not recoup your original costs when damaged. 

If some item is precious to you, do not keep it in the house.

Linens and towels will get stained and so get the best quality you can but do it cheaply.  Many hosts want to offer a high end experience, but guests are hard on these items.

Strike a balance between being functional and being comfortable.  The more you have, the more that can be ruined, but you do not want to look like a Motel 6 either.

I have a private suite in my home so like some others the furnishings reflect my taste and my guests are very complimentary.  I also am available to supervise the space and select guests that are a good fit with my life style.  Hosting an entire house is a different animal, so if that is your intent, find the many discussion threads about the good and bad of that and educate yourself.

Good luck in your new adventure and kudos to you for using the host community in such an effective way 😄 

[Patricia844]

Thanks, Linda for your thoughtful information. I will rent the whole home. We own a duplex. We live in one unit and will rent the second unit.

[Michelle-and-Ray0]

I furnished both my apartments from a hotel that redecorated and wanted to offload everything because it was taking up space where they were storing it. First, they had a sale and my husband and I bought some solid wood dressers for $50 each for our own personal use. This was last summer, before we ever thought of doing airBnB. How I wish I had bought several more because they all sold out pretty quickly! Then, in October, we decided to turn two of our apartments in to an ABB when the tenants moved out. We went back to the hotel and did some shopping We got 3 pull out couches, 12 solid wood end tables,2 wooden headboards (we only needed 2) 3 solid wood desks, 10 bedside lamps(they have built in electrical receptical in the bases, perfect for phone chargers!), 2 living room table lamps, 2 floor lamps, a kitchen table with 12 cushioned chairs, and matching artwork to go on all the walls. All the furniture is very high quality sold wood and matching.  Most of the artwork had never even been placed on walls or even taken out of the packaging! When we asked how much, we got told to just take it home! FREE!!! I don't even want to know how much I would ave had to pay for all that great stuff had it been anywhere else. I'm guessing thousands, for sure.
It definitely pays to check your local hotels to see if they have recently renovated or are planning to do so in the near future. The only thing we didn't get were the dressers as they were previously sold out and the mattress sets because they also sold off very quickly. I wish we would have known then, because I would have bought 4 sets for the apartments instead of paying full price like I ended up having to do.

[April3]

@Patricia0 I second the thrift store/vintage/craigslist route, IF you have the time. Its the best way to furnish a place while adding character and visual appeal. I used to live in my Airbnb, so like others, it was decorated in my taste, which for me means lots of stuff I've picked up on my travels. My personal taste has changed over the years, so its not how I would decorate now, but guests still seem to like it. If you don't have time, or don't enjoy the thrill of the bargain hunt 😉 I would use some of the discount retail routes that were sugested above

[Susie5]

well, no one has mentioned Ikea so I will.... if you're handy with an Allen wrench, you can get a lot of colorful and cheery stuff for cheap.  

[Sarah977]

@Michelle1465  Advertising for your personal business is not allowed on these forums. Please stop.

[Ben780]

www.dealgiant.com 

[Amanda1895]

Hey guys, 

I'm located in Los Angeles and plan to start Airbnbing my place soon. Any suggestions for places to get cheap furniture? 

Thanks in advance. 

Amanda