Last "room" !!! I've actually furnished my entire house for under $1,000!!!

Phew I've had a very very busy day today and I'm so glad to be finally sitting down to blog!

Last night and this morning, I went to the Handmade markets and bought a TON of goodies (actually nowhere near a ton - that's me dreaming). This is my second time at the markets and I am once again blown away by the talent of so many ONC'ers* (and surrounds). The next market is on 20-21 November. For those who are thinking of a holiday - that would be a great time to come!!

Anyway, after the markets, I got cracking on my deck and its FINALLY finished! Here are the results:



The table and chairs were all from Freecycle - accumulated this over a long period of time. I painted the table white and decoupaged the top using old recipes from Campbell's Soups (the book was unintentionaly hilarious and while I don't ever see myself using the recipes, I wanted to keep them for posterity.)

Here's a close-up:



I'm thinking of maybe adding a laquer over the top...but I don't like the thought of working with fumes. Perhaps at a later date I'll put glass over the top but will have to save for that. There are already about 5 coats of mod podge on the top so maybe that is enough? What do you think?

On the other side of the deck, is this:


The rocking chair and stool I already owned and I just painted it white and put slip covers over the top using scrap fabrics.

The chest/side table is actually a wooden filing cabinet that I got from Salvos for $20. I covered it using fabric given to me a long time ago from a friend. The wooden filing cabinet is really solid (and heavy!) and can also be used as a bench seat. The cool thing about having it out there is that I now have storage for my garden tools!



The cabinet also opens out and turns into a proper table as well but its a bit ugly (plus parts are missing) but once I do it up and find suitable replacement parts I'll show that off.

Total cost for furnishing the deck = $20

SO THAT'S IT!! I have successfully furnished my entire house for under $1,000!!!

So here's a round-up of the rooms and total costs.

Living room = $75 - this includes artwork and my shabby chic cupboard, not mentioned in the original post. It does not include the books inside the bookcase.

Dining room = $11 - this does not include the actual dining suite which I had from before.

Craft Room = $65

Kitchen = $255 - includes fridge, cutlery, pots and pans. I did buy an extra pot, an extra saucepan and a frying pan after the original post - hence the different amount.

My bedroom = $150 - this includes an extra doona set that I bought after the original post.

Children's bedroom = $40

Music room = $165 - which doesn't include the piano...because that was my early "reward" present for achieving this challenge.

Deck (this post) = $20

Laundry (didn't blog about it) = $80 - that's how much my second hand front-loader cost me.

Garden and household tools (also didn't blog about it) = $40 - some I got from freecycle and the rest was second-hand.

Grand total = $901

Aside from the piano and one canvas (for the music room), everything was sourced second-hand. Crafting materials used to re-finish bits and pieces (eg fabrics, threads, bean bag beans, etc) were also sourced second-hand with the exception of the contact paper in the dining room and the mod podge.

So there you go - it IS possible to furnish an entire house with a very very little carbon footprint and HUGE savings for me (hence me being able to buy a piano).

Thank you everyone for encouraging me along the way and sharing this part of my journey with me.