I am obsessed.

I’ve got a bookmark folder filled with links to couches, tables, lamps, curtains, paint colors, and so much more. I’ve been scouring Craigslist and getting annoyed when I find a great table, and realize I have no where to put it. Why am I doing this to myself? Well, because before I started this decorating safari, I was on a house hunt. I think I’ve found my house — but it happens to be under renovation by some family friends and is months away from being habitable. So, I wait…and torture myself.

Something I took away from my trip to Tennessee was that I knew I wanted a used table for my dining room. One of the things Tennessee has plenty of — besides churches and gun stores — are “antique malls.” I saw a table in one of them that I absolutely loved. If I could have gotten it on the plane, I would have bought it and brought it back. The truth was, though, it was just a plain old table that had been painted, with some cool chairs that had been painted a different color, and reupholstered. Maybe it’s because I was a teenager in the 1990s, when Friends was all the rage, but I have a thing for mismatched chairs. Frankly, I’m not a fan of “matchy-matchy” in general so this really works for me.

As I troll through the listings on Craigslist, and look at used furniture stores, I am amazed by the stuff people are getting rid of. The really expensive stuff isn’t generally my taste anyway — too stuffy — but there are perfectly lovely tables, chairs, couches, even beds that people are getting rid of by the truckload. One of the reasons I’m not a fan of paying a ton of money for decorative items is that I like change. I could see myself being one of these people trying to sell an absurdly expensive dining set on Craigslist just because I’m bored with it. So it makes more sense to me to recycle other people’s nice stuff — and it’s the green thing to do. If you’re trying to redecorate on a budget, I urge you to troll Craigslist vigilantly. If you’re a little patient, you could furnish your home from tip to tail.