Photo credit: Sustainablog

The beginning of September always seems like a time for change.  Cooler weather arrives, students go back to school, and many apartment dwellers find themselves moving into new residences.  This time of moving is always a little hectic.  Between securing a new lease and battling to get a Uhaul at the end of the month, by the time the moving is all finished, new tenants usually find that they are needing a few furniture pieces to complete their space.  Too tired to figure out where to hunt for these pieces on a budget?  Not to worry, I have a few suggestions up my sleeve!

Read on to learn where to buy affordable items after the jump.

Antique Stores on 50th and Xerxes- The shops at the street corner of 50th and Xerxes have always been a favorite of mine.  Antique stores Hunt and Gather, Loft Antiques, and the newly opened home consignment store, Bella Galleria are within feet of one another.  The visual people at all stores do an excellent job of grouping items together in themed rooms.  Clean spaces, eclectic merchandise and affordable prices are always the big factor in why I come back to these shops.

Curbside Pickup- Usually the best time to do this is at the end and beginning of each month.  People who are moving usually hit a point where they don’t want to deal with waste removal companies.  The result?  A lot of nice items get left to the curb.  The trick is to get there not long after the item has been put out.   Each city usually has a curbside pick up day, where waste removal companies will pick up items for free.  This is a perfect time to drive around these areas and stake out your treasure.  Just make sure to do a thorough examination of the piece.  The last thing you want to end up in a situation like the guys from the 1998 Volkswagen commercial:

Twin Cities Free Market- Put on by Eureka Recycling, Twin Cities Free Market is a website where individuals can post items they no longer want and gladly want to give away for free.  It is more gas and time efficient than driving around the cities hunting for items placed on the curb.  Plus, this way, you are less likely to pick up a soggy, rained upon sofa.  Eww!

Ikea and Target- If the thought of buying used is not for you, Ikea and Target are always safe bets.  Target constantly changes their selection and you can usually find affordable options in fun prints and colors.  As far as Ikea furniture goes, I have two words for you: Malm & Lack.

Garage Sales-Whether you search and hunt down the ideal garage sale in the Kenwood/Lowry hill neighborhood, or you happen to be driving by one,  garage sales are a great way to find treasures to complete your space.  If you are shopping a garage sale in your neighborhood, it is also a great excuse to meet your neighbors!

St. Paul Retro Loop- Everywhere you look, retro is all the rage.  Some of the best places to shop in town for retro are the shops in the St. Paul Retro Loop.  These stores include  Lula, Swank, Succotash, Up Six and Classic Retro @ Pete’s.

So there’s my list.  I am sure all you lovely readers have other places you like to hunt for affordable furnishings.  Leave a comment below and let us in on your secrets to find steals in the Twin Cities!

Photographs by Noelle Bakken

I always have been drawn to bold, bright colors, but like so many of us, I too have shied away from putting saturated color on my walls (cut me some slack, I’m a renter!)  Meet Annie.  She is not afraid of color.  Instead, she embraces bright colors and fills her home with cheerful, fun hues.  Check out her home for inspiration of how to have fun with color in your own space.

Read on after the jump to see all the pictures of Annie’s home.

Before picking out her color schemes, Annie studied color inspiration books, seeking out bold, happy colors.  The most amazing thing about her home is the amount of work she put into transforming her townhome into a place she loves to live.  She added a bit of her own personal craftiness into all the rooms.  For example, she sewed all the colorful slipcovers, made many of her own accessories, or altered them to make them a different color, and made her own curtains!

Name: Annie Angerhofer
Location: Eagan
Size: 1,300 sq ft
Years lived in: owned for 1 year but didn’t move in for about 5 months until upstairs painting/re-flooring was done

My Style: mod, bright, bold in-your-face color

Inspiration: Color! I got ideas from a couple books on paint color and design (I loved one featured room so much I turned my previously unfinished basement into almost an exact replica of it, colors, furniture, construction and all) but most of it just came from picking out all the paint colors I wanted and going from there.

Favorite Element: not to sound like a broken record, but I’d probably have to say the color–it makes me happy

Biggest Challenge: 2 things: the tight staircase and the ridiculously high ceilings. The tight space on the stairs made it really difficult to get a lot of my furniture into the house. And the high ceilings/really weird cubby thing above the coat closet made it really hard to paint and change out the 2 hanging lights. My parents helped with almost everything I did to the house, especially that.

What Friends Say: The colors make them happy, too. My favorite/proudest comment was from a friend who thinks my place should be in a magazine.

Biggest Embarrassment: The spiders. I don’t understand where all these spiders and other assorted bugs come from–I do not exaggerate when I say I kill 3-5 a day. I swear, I get rid of 1 and 5 more show up in its place. They’re pretty much part of the decor at this point.

Proudest Do it yourself project: I put 9 months of hard work into this house–painting, sewing, making most of the accent pieces, etc–and I’m very proud of how it turned out.  I’m proudest of the couch and chair covers. I couldn’t find slipcovers in the colors I wanted so I had to make them all myself (with my mom’s help for the couches).

Biggest Indulgence: New flooring upstairs and the built-in bookcases downstairs (which cost almost more than the entire downstairs construction). I didn’t have to have either one, I could have left everything as it was…but then I’d be miserable and living in a hideous house, and who wants that?

Best Advice: Don’t be afraid of color! Don’t worry about what other people will think of your design choices. If you like something, go for it–you’re the one who has to live with it.

Resources: mostly Ikea, Target and TJ Maxx
Kitchen/Dining room: all appliances: Best Buy; piano, table and bookshelf: my parents’ house; chairs: Ikea
Living Room: all furniture: Ikea
Basement: couches and scrapbook chair: Ikea; desk and chair: Target; scrapbook storage: Michael’s; side table: TJ Maxx (repainted); fabric storage cubes: Target
Bedrooms: all furniture but papasan chair: Ikea (chair from friend); bedding: Company Store, Ikea and Herbergers
Accessories: mostly ideas I got from craft books; fabric for curtains and slipcovers: JoAnn
Lighting: Ikea, Target and TJ Maxx–some lamps repainted to match rooms
Rugs: Target and TJ Maxx
Artwork: repainted frames: GoodWill and other thrift shops; vintage posters: art.com; ‘paint drip’ art in dining room; idea stolen from Top Design; guestroom art: my photography put on canvas by Kinko’s; downstairs poppy painting: Jeff Boutin

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Thanks so much Annie for letting me feature your house!  It is so beautiful! Thank you again to Noelle Bakken for her fantastic photography work!

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