I saved thousands of dollars by furnishing my first home with upcycled pieces. Here are the mistakes I made and lessons I learned.

After living in New York City-sized apartments that average somewhere between 500-700 square feet for all of my adult life, when it came time to furnish my first house — a three-bedroom, three-bath in coastal South Carolina — I knew I had to get creative.

If you've ever moved or bought a home in your life, you know how much of a toll the entire process can take both financially and emotionally.

According to the home-improvement website Home Arise, the average cost of furnishing a 2,000-square foot home starts at around $16,200 and upward.

You can expect that amount to triple when working with an interior designer.

In addition to being far more cost-effective, upcycling furniture is way more sustainable than buying all new pieces. The rub is that it does take a lot of patience, a fair amount of persistence, and the willingness to make mistakes.

But with shipping times taking longer than ever as a result of the pandemic, repurposing secondhand furniture felt like a worthwhile option to explore.

I started by taking a MasterClass called How To Upcycle Furniture by one of my design icons Kelly Wearstler, who provided amazing tips — from how to incorporate color into your living space to the importance of balancing comfort and texture with high design.

While the process has been incredibly rewarding and has saved my partner and I thousands of dollars along the way, it hasn't gone without its own unique set of challenges.

Here are some of the mistakes I made, as well as my biggest takeaways on how to save, source, and negotiate on secondhand furniture, and when to splurge on the things that matter most.

Thrift stores like The Salvation Army and Goodwill are relative treasure troves, but the bulk of the items I found were from places like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Nextdoor, and other buying and selling groups online.

One of the most important benchmarks you can set for yourself when furnishing a new house is coming up with a budget.

I didn't do this right away. In fact, I got so excited about the prospect of sourcing secondhand furniture and restoring old pieces I found online that I just kind of blew right past it.

It wasn't until the living room of our apartment was packed to the brim with furniture that I realized I needed to slow my roll.

My partner and I sat down and started a spreadsheet where we outlined our priorities and what we deemed as non-negotiables when it came to buying new, not used.

For us, a new mattress was at the top of the list, followed by couches and cutlery. Buying everything else secondhand was fair game.

The first upcycling project I took on also happened to be the most challenging. While I didn't have a table to match them, when I found eight beautiful but worn wooden chairs on Craigslist for $25 — at just under $3 per chair — I took a calculated risk.

Chairs, as it turns out, are tricky to work with. That's because there's not a lot of surface area compared to a table or cabinet, and they have lots of angles and details.

In total, after testing out a sander that I got on Amazon, along with applying some furniture primer, fresh paint, and using way too much polyurethane (which acts as a sealant that protects wood furniture from scratches and water damage), the chairs took around two weeks to complete from start to finish.

Looking back, one could argue that starting with a challenging project like this is a great way to learn some valuable lessons — but my biggest piece of advice is to start small. It will be way less stressful and better for your mental well-being in the end.

One of the first pieces I found when starting this process was a gorgeous dining room table for $75 on Facebook Marketplace. The seller described the table as vintage, but in great condition.

She said she bought it at a flea market in Brooklyn three years ago for over $500, but when I went to pick it up, I realized that its excessive scuffs, marks, and chipping would require a lot of work.

Still, I loved the table and saw its potential.

There are a couple of things you can do if you find yourself in the same situation. You can just cut your losses and walk away, or if the condition isn't what you expected or wasn't disclosed, you can ask the seller if they'd be willing to negotiate. Of course, they can always say no. But if you think you can salvage it, you might be able to walk away with a better deal.

In this case, the table needed a little TLC. After a fresh coat of primer, new paint, and a little gold appliqué on the details, I gave this vintage beauty queen a new life in my dining room, and I couldn't be happier with it.

Before I started upcycling, I watched my fair share of tutorials on YouTube. There are endless opinions and options when it comes to how wood needs to be treated: Should you sand or strip furniture, or just skip the sanding and go straight into priming and paint?

You catch my drift.

After a lot of YouTube and Reddit scrolling, two tools I decided to invest in early on were a Black + Decker Mouse Sander and a Flexio 3000 Wagner Paint Sprayer. You don't have to get these exact tools — this is just what worked for me.

I wouldn't advise getting a paint sprayer unless you know you have a lot of upcycling projects to do, because spray paint cans can be just as efficient and a lot cheaper.

Having a sander handy is a great way to make sure your wood surfaces are even. I ended up using my sander way more than I had originally intended and found it was one of the best investments I made early on.

Those tools helped me renovate this desk I found on Facebook Marketplace for $15. I used white chalk paint and accessorized with a Safavieh lamp (originally $170) that I bought from another seller on Facebook Marketplace for $40.

Early on in my furniture repurposing journey, I'd often stand in the paint aisles at Home Depot or Lowes and type into Google: "What's the difference between semi-gloss and satin?" and "What's flat versus matte versus eggshell?"

One day, I stood silently struggling for way too long when deciding what type of paint to buy for a kitchen hutch and cabinet (pictured) that I rescued for a total of $100 from a family who no longer needed them.

"What's the difference between oil-based versus latex or water-based paint?" I grumbled to myself.

Before I knew it, a Home Depot employee swooped in and offered a lesson in everything I'd ever need to know about paint. Oil-based paint takes longer to dry but is far more durable when it comes to working with wood furniture. Just make sure you use mineral spirits for the clean-up and brushes, they told me.

The experts at these stores can also tell you when paints are going on sale and, at Lowes and Home Depot, you can also get an 8-ounce sample of any paint color for a nominal fee.

Unless someone explicitly states that their price is "firm," it's fair game to assume that the price is negotiable.

If you're unsure of how much you want to offer, you can always say you'd like to take a look at the item first. Of course, there's a risk involved here. If the item is popular, you might risk losing it to someone else who wants to buy it sight unseen. I found it's much easier to make a deal in person as opposed to over email or direct messages.

When I found a matching Ethan Allen coffee table and end table on Craigslist that retail for over $1,200, I knew it would be high-quality furniture. After some negotiating, I walked away with both pieces for $100 after seeing them in person and noticing some scratching and wear and tear on the veneer.

If you're using cash, make sure you bring exact change. In my experience, I found that most people buy and sell using Venmo or Zelle, but if you negotiate the price down on something, make sure you bring that amount.

On Facebook Marketplace, you can filter your searches based on how new an item is, and when we found a matching couch and love seat that were listed as "like new," we made an inquiry.

In this case, the seller had bought both items — which were brand-new at the time — at a local furniture store for $1,200, but they didn't fit in her living space.

After settling on $550 for both the couch and love seat, the seller even offered to have them professionally cleaned, which was a huge bonus.

When I found a wicker dresser that fit perfectly in our guest bedroom, it was in pretty rough shape.

After going back and forth with the seller of the item, she told me it would take some work and imagination to cover the nail polish, ink stains, and permanent marker on the top and sides.

We agreed on $20 for this fixer-upper, and the seller even threw in a can of primer along with a note that said: "You can do anything you put your mind to."

I took her can-do attitude to heart and accepted the challenge head-on.

After three shades of paint, I finally landed on one that worked perfectly in our guest bedroom.

Remember that budget and list of priorities and non-negotiables I mentioned?

While I ended up finding amazing deals at consignment stores on plates and glassware including mason jars, wine glasses, and champagne flutes, my partner and I decided to buy new cutlery.

Our ultimate splurge and one of the only pieces of furniture we ended up buying brand new was our bedroom mattress.

After doing some research, my partner and I landed on a new organic mattress by Avocado Green, which retailed at $999 at the time of writing. We paired it with an all-natural wood platform we found on Amazon for $180.

For the cherry on top, we sprung for a mural by Hovia, which ran us just over $4o0.

At the end of the day, our bedroom décor dominated the bulk of our budget. It's up to you to prioritize what matters most to you. For me, my bedroom is like my sanctuary, and we didn't want to compromise on comfort.

I'd be lying if I said upcycling my first home was easy. It took literal blood, sweat, and bee stings before it started to look and feel like home.

Every time I look at that gold-and-cream wicker dresser, the wooden desk that I revitalized, and all the other furniture pieces I refreshed, I feel proud of the work that I did.

These pieces all have a history and a story to tell — and good stories are the foundation of a happy home.