The Best Places to Buy Budget Furniture in 2020

This Wayfair-owned online retailer focuses on, you guessed it, contemporary-looking furniture (as well as textiles, lighting and more), and shopping here means you'll get perks like free shipping when you spend $49 or more and easy returns if you're within the 30-day window. And if you've suddenly gotten a hankering to redo your living room, many of the items can arrive within two days.

The "Room Ideas" section is an especially procrastination activity: You choose an image that inspires you, and the site will generate a Pinterest-esque page with products from the photo, noting whether they're exact matches or "something similar." It can be especially helpful to choose a photo with a piece (like a couch) that resembles something you already own and love. At press time, sofas started at $205 (the regular price for a modern-looking sleeper sofa), and a midcentury-inspired solid wood dining set (four chairs and a table) was $560. Each furniture category also has a sale section, where you'll find even deeper discounts, like a 7-foot velvet convertible couch for $237.

There are two ways to get into furniture shopping on Etsy: One is through the Home Decor section (from here you can drill down into categories like furniture, rugs and lighting) and the other is through the Vintage area, so everything you're looking at will also be flagged as vintage. If you've ever shopped on Etsy, you know that it can be an incredible black hole: The general furniture category alone has more than a quarter million items. Etsy is best saved for times when you have a very specific idea of what you're looking for, such as "Series 7 chair." Then you can use the handy filters to refine for price, shipping time, style, and seller location.

When making a list of affordable furniture companies, it would be impossible to omit the beloved Swedish retailer, which has been selling good-looking, nicely priced products since the 1940s. Whether you choose to shop online or in one of the massive warehouse stores, you'll be guaranteed to find a huge selection of items like furniture, lighting fixtures, and textiles. There are a few ways IKEA passes the savings onto you: Nearly everything comes flat-packed and must be assembled, and if you're not especially handy with an Allen wrench, you may need to add hiring a handyperson to your bottom line. 

A few of our favorite products include the Karlstad and Landskrona sofas, the beloved and infinitely customizable Billy bookcases, the Kallax shelving system and kids' beds like the cozy Sundvik. One of the biggest bummers about IKEA is showing up with a product in mind and finding it out of stock (sometimes everyone gets the same good idea). Check the stock online before you go: You can find out how many are available, what warehouse aisle to visit and even use the "Click and Collect" option to order ahead so it's ready to load into your car.

If you tend to associate this massive home improvement store with things like tools and appliances, make sure to nose around the furniture aisles the next time you're there in person or shopping online. (Depending on the product, you can opt to either have it delivered to your home or arrange to pick it up at your local Home Depot.)

The home decor section is packed with products like sofas, accent tables, bed frames (and even mattresses), dressers, armoires, and more. Don't forget to check the "Special Buys" section for each category—you'll find staggering good deals on thousands of products.

This brick-and-mortar–only retailer, which has 35 locations nationwide, has been featured on shows like Property Brothers and HGTV's The High/Low Project. You can get a sense for their aesthetic and prices on their Instagram account, and some stores have their own individual Facebook pages as well, where they post photos of new products as they arrive.

Nadeau's tagline is "furniture with a soul," and according to their mission statement, they're focused on offering "solid wood furniture from around the globe at affordable prices." Nadeau certainly doesn't have the lowest price points out there, but the tradeoff is the chance to get distinctive pieces that everyone else won't have, like a solid mahogany wood wardrobe from India or a pair of funky, crescent-shaped barstools for cheaper than you would expect.

This brick-and-mortar company has more than 500 locations around the country, and claims to offer brand-name items for up to 60 percent less than its competitors. Although they don't post products online, you can download their app, called The Goods, to get daily sneak peeks of new deliveries, save photos of your favorites and earn TJX rewards (Home Goods has the same parent company as TJ Maxx and Marshalls, among others).

As you shop in the store, keep an eye out for items with red tags, as those are most deeply discounted. If you see an item with damage you can live with, don't be shy about seeking out a manager and asking for an extra reduction (shoppers have been known to save 5 to 10 percent for things like small dings).

To see more of what Home Goods has stocked in the past, search the hashtag #homegoodsfind on Instagram to check out items like a velvet-upholstered stool trimmed with pom-poms or an elegant tufted-back side chair.

On its home page, Overstock makes it clear that price reductions are part of its mission, with a "spin to win" widget (click it, and you'll be offered an incentive like free shipping or 15 percent off) and flashing signs like "living room furniture from $149." Each day at 12pm ET, the Flash Deals page gets updated with new, very steep discounts.

Some of the most distinctive finds are in the Worldstock Furniture sale section; these pieces are all handmade and recent items included a kids' midcentury-inspired chair, a Pervian hand-tooled leather-and-wood stool and a Thai wooden twist stool that could also double as a side table, all for under $150 each!

This nationwide retailer, which sells both online and in stores, has a mix of ways to get its furniture into your home, although availability will vary by product. Besides the obvious store pickup option, you can also order either white glove or threshold delivery service, or shop the Direct Ship section; enter your zip code, and the site will only display products that can be sent to you from the manufacturer.

Style-wise, some of the pieces lean a bit traditional, and others are just odd (a three-seat black leather sofa that lets each person fully recline?). But the site makes it easy to scour for finds like a slate-gray tufted back seven-foot sofa or a modern-looking dresser with five felt-lined drawers and "lift-top" accessory storage with a mirror.