Is this taking being thrifty too far

[larkrising]

Not long before I moved 16 months ago my old bedroom furniture ie wardrobecombination died a death (well it was very old) Hubby will not pay ridiculous amount of money on wardrobes that have what he calls paper thin backs to them which inevitably dont last. We have not seen any second hand solid wood furniture which is suitable. One day we heard that a local Owen Owens was closing down and that everything was going to be sold off. Off he trots with my words ringing in his ears 'Look out for a wardrobe'
What does he come back with.........................

A solid wood filing cabinet of proportions I have never seen before. He and my neighbour who must have thought us mad, made the comment 'that will end up in the garden' They both lug this thing upstairs with me grumbling what am I supposed to do with that.

However, this 6ft cabinet solidly built with double opening doors and 6 shelves has become so useful for storing folded shirts, jumpers, towels etc that I am loathe to give it up. Admittedly I am still using a rail for hanging coats trousers etc. but I find myself trying to now find furniture that will match this confounded thing. It has white melamie front opening doors so the likelihood of finding anything remotely the same is zilch.
All for the grand price of 30 pounds. What I like about it is that it is not too tall and I can store things on top. Am I the only one who has found such an unlikley use for a filing cabinet. Sorry for the long post but it makes me giggle every time I look at it. Being won over by a filing cabinet

[Russian Doll]

oh wow i want one..that sounds ideal for my kids clothes

my filing cabinet houses a very large collection of cats

[larkrising]

I know I cant believe how useful it is. I have always disliked very tall bedroom furniture and would prefer to source low level but can find none anywere on the net. I may look into having something built in. I am now desperate for deep drawer chest of drawers but the budget is tight at present and they all go for lots of money ever ebay finds.

[circlecross]

have you found freecycle yet? Often furntiure is posted, or you could put a request out there. Google freecycle and find your nearest one.

[the.fee.fairy]

i used to have rats (pet ones) and there was someone on the forum that i frequented who used a bookshelf, put a chickenwire door on it and made a gorgeous rat mansion!! Mine were squeaking with jealousy!

[contadina]

Why not run some curtains over the clothes that are hanging; that way you won't need to find furniture to match. You can pick up funky old curtains or bedding to make them with from charity shops.

Contadino's currently knocking up some big cupboards to house all our bedding and out of season clothes that will run along the top of one wall in the spare room. Below that in a corner is my lovely new desk (two legs and and a bit of ply wood covered in a flowery sticky vinyl). Underneath the rest will be rails for clothes with some curtains covering them.

[mrsflibble]

Tea is the mad cat lady of essex.


the bit of free furniture I am most proud of is our dining table. seats 4 when the leaves are under, but with both leaves out we've had 10 people round it with elbow room. it's kind of tatty looking; but it's from around 1930 or so. it was my father in law's mum's wedding gift from her parents.
the chairs were given to us by one of my fil's neighbours 'cos he'd seen the table and had very similar style chairs in storage. once I recovered and re-foamed the seats they became so lovely. an no longer smelled of rat tinkle.

As for fugly but cheap and second hand, thet prize for me has to go to our 2 drawer filing cabinet. lockable, one big file drawer and a top small one for paper and sucklike it cost us £30 and gets used daily. it's also become a bit of a desk extension for me and supports the shredder, printer and half od my collection of photoshop tutorial magazines.

[Thomzo]

You might find a kitchen cupboard (one of the tall larder type ones) that would be similar. Otherwise, could you buy any old wooden wardrobe and paint both to match? Melamine can be painted if you prime it first.

Zoe

[snapdragon]

I have an old wooden cupboard of what sounds like similar proportions - it was a school art cupboard - and took many hours with pliers and fingertip touch to remove all the staples where art work had been pinned up,
but it's a magnificently useful piece.

am still looking for another one -

post and twixt war 'utility' furniture is good - proper native woods, strongly constructed but much lighter than modern melamine/chipboard and no waste of space or added bling for fashion's sake

[Millymollymandy]

I have a lovely dirty grey metal filing cabinet that came from a 2nd hand office furniture supplier in Wimbledon. Sounds like yours, about 6ft high with double doors and several metal shelves. I still remember us carrying it down the road back home, which wasn't easy!

I call it my Self Suffish cupboard! It houses all my jam jars, plastic pots for freezing things, the preserving pan and a couple of enormous cast iron casseroles that won't fit in regular kitchen cupboards. It's brilliant! In the past it has doubled as a larder when I didn't have enough kitchen cupboard space. It has now moved 6 times and lived in 3 countries!

It also houses my husband's collection of tea bags (has to bring back thousands of them from England )

Oh and my onion sets are in there at the moment (nice and dark).

[Stonehead]

We have a lot of salvaged furniture, but I sometimes feel we needn't have bothered where the boys are concerned. They always seem to store their clothes on the floor...

[Roxy1973]

we have some gorgeous 50's style bedroom furniture (a large wardrobe and huge dressing table) that we got from Freecycle...we were supposed to be having the "ladies" wardrobe that matched the "gents" one as well but it was too big for our bedroom lol!

[larkrising]

I am so pleased you are all out there recycling furniture and using it in different ways. Thanks for all the ideas. What I have thought of doing is attaching a working top lower down and running a rail under it for hanging clothes and maybe the curtain ideas to hide. Then I will be able to use the working top for storage. I am so glad I started this thread, and yes I am a member of our local freecycle so I will add a request.

[the.fee.fairy]

I have a bit of a thing about my bedroom furniture - none of it matches, but its all made of real wood.

I have that chipboard stuff!

I have a pine bed (that was new!!), a 1930s Oak wardrobe - its ace. it takes up most of one wall, but it fits in all my hanging clothes, my shoes, bags and jumpers, a 1970s chest of drawers. Its ugly, and will be staying when i move! And a 1960s chest of drawers.

I also have two bedside tables. both rescued and a bookshelf, also rescued.

I love 'rehomed' furniture. Its always better when its been bedded in a bit!

Oh and Stoney...i keep my clothes on the floor too...