agevans's Profile

All of equal importance:
-Price
-Easy to clean/maintain
-Quality/hardiness
-Style/aesthetics
-Potential (especially in used pieces)
-Ease of moving/transport (not just getting it to our place, but when we move...we've moved 9 times in 10 years)

Patience is the key. We've been living with free hand-me-down furniture for years, so if we can't find something that meets all the criteria, we simply live with what we have or live without. For example, just last week, we finally moved our clothes out of plastic Walmart dressers into a "real" dresser. Solid wood, Drexel Toulaine, $50 off Craigslist, and I plan on re-staining it in the future. When our dining room set broke during our cross country move, we just never replaced it (haven't needed it and we've been here over 7 months). I'm sure our criteria will change with time and circumstance, though.

I ordered one from Sweet Musings Paperie on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/80438831/2012-calendar-featuring-coco-and-louie. Michelle even lets you choose which prints to include! Love it.

Depending on where you're moving, you may want to find a realtor. We just moved from CA to FL and were not able to afford an exploratory trip. The city we moved to is one of the most dngerous, so we were really unsure about going with craigslist, and husband started work 2 weeks in and we wanted to be well settled by then. Apparently in Florida (and Texas and probably others) the realtor fee is paid for by the landlord or leasing agent, not the renter. So we found a guy that was super helpful and found us a great place from across the country. He also had some good local insight (you can offer lower than the asking rent, for example) that we would never have been able to find or take advantage of otherwise. If your destination state handles realtor fees the same, I'd highly recommend this for out of state moves.

our bedroom isn't off limits per se--it's the only room aside from the bathroom with a door, so our friends will sometimes use it to breastfeed their babies--but people rarely go in even though we leave the door somewhat open. I have, on occasion, let my friends' kids jump on my bed, though (shoes off). It's just too cute.

anamimi - well said. Even though we haven't taken kid-proofing efforts, none of our belongings are as valuable as time with good friends, hence our open door, bring your whole family policy. :)

I don't remember much of the 80s (was only 6 when they ended), but red/black/white has long been one of my favorite color combos. It's my kitchen color scheme.

If it is brand new construction or you know they like to garden, a plant that they can incorporate into their landscape is another idea...my husband favors fruit trees to give (limes for coronas and margaritas in the future).

Another idea, similar to some of the ones posted, is a membership to a local Community Supported Agriculture program...they get fruit/veggie/flower boxes regularly for whatever time period you purchase a membership for. A great way to get familiar with a new area, too.

I never even considered attaching legs to a box spring--this is great! We're in a tiny apt, and are holding off on buying any large furniture (trying to make it an easy move out in a few years), but are sick of our metal frame w/ wheels sliding all over the hardwood. Most useful post I've seen :)