Second hand furniture is furniture which has been previously owned and usually previously used. Many people choose to buy secondhand furniture for their homes for a number of different reasons. There are many benefits to buying secondhand furniture over new furniture, including price, variety, style and uniqueness. Regardless of the reason for purchasing secondhand furniture, there are many places in the UK where you can find great pieces and great deals.

But first, let’s look at the reasons that you might want to buy secondhand furniture.

Price

You may wish to buy secondhand furniture because you have a modest or limited income, but still require (or want) certain pieces for furniture for your home. Secondhand furniture can often be found with a great discount and often very limited drawback when it comes to quality. Experienced secondhand furniture shoppers often report finding secondhand furniture in almost new condition for half, or more, the retail price of the same furniture in new condition!

Furniture, especially good quality furniture, is notoriously expensive. However, we require furniture to store items in our home, to give us a place to sleep and sit, and so much more—this is why secondhand furniture is such a great choice, because you can purchase the furniture that you want without emptying your bank account. Let’s look at a few important furniture pieces and compare their prices new and used.

Blanket boxes are large boxes or chests which are primarily used for the storage of blankets, comforters and other bed linens. Blanket boxes are great ways to attractively store essential blankets and linens, but a sturdy good quality blanket box can be quite expensive. Although you can find cheap blanket boxes for around £70-80, these boxes are often made of inferior wood, particle board blends, and are not likely to withstand heavy usage or the test of time. A good quality blanket box will cost you around £400-500, without taxes. Unfortunately, this price is simply out of the range of many people’s budgets. Thankfully, blanket boxes of quality can be purchased secondhand for much more reasonable prices. Blanket boxes which cost about £400 new can be found for £100 – 200 used at online secondhand shops and marketplaces like Ebay and Vivastreet—if you’re an experienced secondhand bargain hunter, you can probably find an even better deal than this!

Variety, Style and Uniqueness

Another reason many people choose to purchase furniture secondhand is because there is a better chance of finding a wider variety and styles of items. Furniture stores which sell new furniture often sell the same types of pieces, sometimes factory made, over and over again. While these pieces may be of a good quality, they are often generic, boring, and overdone. Secondhand furniture can often be found in a much wider variety of styles because secondhand furniture comes from all over, not just one specific store.

Lounge furniture, primarily sofas, couches, chairs and other seating furniture often suffers from the aforementioned generic appearance. Many companies have one or two different styles of lounge and living room furniture, which may or may not be available in a few different colors, but that’s about it as far as style is concerned. Secondhand lounge furniture runs the style range from crazy retro 60s chairs to classy elegant modern tables, and there’s no limit to the amount of styles that secondhand lounge furniture comes in. This range of styles also applies to material and color. Secondhand furniture allows you to seek out truly interesting pieces which really suit your style, whether that piece is a secondhand blanket box or a secondhand lounge chair.

Who doesn’t love it when friends walk into your home, take a look at your furniture and say: “Wow!”? Secondhand furniture has the unique benefit of being able to be—well, unique! Because secondhand furniture can come from a wide variety of places, there’s no telling what you might be able to find. While your local furniture stores might sell the same-old same-old when it comes to home furniture, secondhand furniture you purchase might be from a store miles away, or even another country! You might find a homemade piece which no one else in the world has, or unique pieces which were locally made for only a few people.

For example, let’s talk about lamp tables. Lamp tables are tables which are primarily meant to sit in lounge rooms, dining rooms and offices and hold up table lamps. Lamp tables, at first thought ,may sound boring. In fact, the type of table that comes to mind is probably the generic four-legged wooden table which adds nothing to the décor of the room and is very easy to overlook. Secondhand lamp tables, however, can be found in such an amazing and unique range of styles that people won’t just be admiring your lamp—they’ll be admiring the table!

For example, you could just go to the local furniture shop and buy a generic lamp table for oh, £100 or so. The quality won’t be too bad, but nothing special either, and it is basically just a piece to rest your lamp on and forget about. Or, you could browse through a secondhand shop (online or not!) and find yourself unique retro bright orange velvet lamp tables from the 1970s which will pop in any lounge room or office space! And If bright orange candy retro velvet isn’t your style, you could always go for a secondhand Georgian style lamp tables, which add an impeccable touch of class to any room.

Buying secondhand furniture is a great choice, no matter your income. Whether you’re looking for a great deal on price or just something truly unique and fun to add to your home, don’t be afraid to pop into your local secondhand shop and take a look around.