I am remodeling my house and have run short on cash. We have everything done, but the painting and the flooring. Where can I find inexpensive carpet for a living room and two small bedrooms? We have two small bathrooms that need flooring as well.
Felisha from Fayetteville, AR
If you have a Dollar Tree Store near you, they have 12 inch self adhesive vinyl floor tiles. They are not the best quality, but in pinch they are not bad. I have purchased remnant carpeting at a carpet warehouse. It was Berber and I got a huge piece for $100.00. That might be the way to go. Also Freecycle, people are always giving rugs away. Craigslist has a Free list also. (03/06/2008)
By
You can get creative and buy sample pieces and make a quilt work carpet. You can use Pergo (at Costco) instead and then throw rugs. (03/06/2008)
By Michawn
Dear husband and I are in our 70s and he has almost finished the flooring project he started 5 years ago. He had his heart set on ceramic for the living room. The cost of that wasn't too bad. Then he decided during the time he was recuperating from surgery that the master bedroom needed to be done so we went to Home Depot and picked carpet and they sent a contractor to do it. That was the most expensive room in the house and neither of us is pleased with it.
He then went to the kitchen. He wanted to put ceramic in there and that's when I told him I hate ceramic so we went to Home Depot again. We found a brand of wood grain laminate which I love. Installation is very easy and it's very inexpensive. We put a wood floor similar to Pergo in the second bedroom and it is gorgeous. It snaps together, tongue and groove, I think it's called. The brand for that as well as the laminate is Traffic Master. It's at Home Depot.
Measure your rooms and figure square footage and take that with you. The most important thing to remember is that remodel projects don't have to be completed today. Watch for sales and look for something that might be discontinued. If the rooms are small sometimes you can do with less material. We had enough left over from the kitchen to do the WC area in the master bath. The ceramic in the living room was a discontinued pattern and very cheap. We are now waiting for just the right floor for our second bathroom. Very small so it won't cost much. (03/07/2008)
By Marty Dick
I see that craigslist and freecycle were mentioned already, but look up Habitat For Humanity in your area and see if they have a "RESTORE". This is a store where discontinued/used/new home items are donated from contractors, large home stores, and everyday people like ourselves to be sold at a fraction of the cost to folks that are trying to improve their home on a tight budget.
The money collected is than used to build new homes for families that could otherwise not own. The prospective homeowner has to participate in the building of their home with "sweat equity". I have donated/collected and volunteered to help build homes, so everyone can contribute in some manner to a great cause. Hope this helps. (03/07/2008)
Yes. As far as that "Dollar Tree flooring", I've used it and it seems to hold up well. I've had it for 2 years now. I really like it. I bought a pattern that has a beautiful "multi-colored inlayed woodgrain" pattern on it. I bought a lovely golden-brown "peanut butter" colored paint to match for my walls (sounds ugly, but it's not). If you find a tile you like at Dollar Tree, they'll order you more from their warehouse if you need more. You get 3 self adhesive floor tiles for one dollar. (They also come 30 to a box for $10). Have a heat-gun or blow dryer and a hot pad or washcloth with you when you stick them to your floor, this way you can blow-dry the front of the tile after you've stuck it on, this heat, will heat the glue up, then press on them hard while rubbing the hot pad back and forth. They will adhere nicely.
Since mine were a "mixed inlayed wood-grain" diamond pattern, I also cut some in half (with a metal ruler and a box knife, then "snapped" them) and stuck these around the bottom of my wall under my picture windows. It looks like I have beautiful inlayed woodgrain on my walls. But, I must warn you, these tiles don't stick well to semi-gloss paint. You'll need extra adhesive and some "tooth". You can always lay a higher quality flooring over it later when you have more cash.
For free carpeting, you can sometimes go to an office building (that has high-end industrial carpeting) when they are remodeling and ask them for a large roll or 2 of their old carpet. This way it saves them from paying to take it to the dump. It's usually in very good shape. Sometimes this carpeting came from rooms that were barely used.
For new carpet and "Pergo" type floors, go to a "Big Lots" liquidation store or any liquidation store (or look on Craig's List). Each Big Lots has different carpets. These are bBound remnants" and they have the absolute best prices I've ever seen. I carpeted my whole craft room with a new Big Lot "bound remnant" 8 x 12 rug for only $90. These rugs can always be cut smaller. They sell a rug pack of 3 sizes (5x7, 3x5 and 18x24) for $29 - $39, which is about $20 less than Fred Meyers.
For super deals on paint (inside or outside) read my post:
thriftyfun.com
And if you don't find a color you like at one store, go to another store. They all have different colors.
I'm an artist, so mixing paint is no big deal for me, so I'll buy several shades of one color and one or 2 of another and mix these together in a large 5 gallon bucket to get a color I like (or I'll do a multi-shade 'Painting Technique". Read the link above. This is the best and cheapest way to paint your walls. Besides the link above, Liquidation Stores have paint in many colors (especially white) for only $5 a gallon. Just look under "Liquidation" in your local yellow pages.
Some towns have a place where people can bring their old unwanted latex paint once a month. They then mix all these colors together and usually get a beige. They then sell this "mixed" paint back to the community.
(03/07/2008)
By Cyinda
I have used press and stick flooring in my hallway and bathroom. Three for a dollar 12x12s are actually more expensive at 30 cents a square foot than some of the press and sticks at Lowes and Home Depot. I have seen them for as low as 13 cents a square foot. Also some do cost more there, but I have thought about using a few of the more detailed ones to make a border around the room and using the plainer (and usually cheaper) ones for the center of the room. (03/20/2008)
By Monique
I came up with a really cool idea and tried it out. Rather than covering with cheap, unattractive, carpet or tile you don't really like, paint it, using a rubber raised decorative doormat. First you'll need to prep the flooring by cleaning it, removing all oils, glues, etc. paint base color, this will appear as your grout. Then take the doormat paint each section a color, place it carefully is desired spot then press, you can use a paint roller or your hands. It works just like a giant rubber stamp. I suggest you measure and plan your design. You can seal it or allow it to wear naturally. You can embellish it just like a scrap book page. It is cheap and lots of fun. Check out your local landfill or recycling center for free paint. Good luck and let your imagination take over. (03/21/2008)
By Gigi
I managed to get just over 1000 square feet of laminate flooring for $1200 including underlay, looks terrific, but a pain to install. I found it on craigslist. (11/13/2008)
By Ben
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