Megan & Josh’s Thrifty Family Home

Name: Megan and Josh Miller
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Size: 2,000 square feet
Years lived in: 5 1/2 years

Megan is a stay-at-home mom with two girls and a baby on the way. Stretching a dollar is sometimes a necessity, but it’s also fun. Scouring Craigslist, flea markets, discount stores, and garage sales are a way of life for her. In fact, she’s gotten so good at finding Craigslist deals she started Curating Craigslist to share her finds with people in the Nashville area.

Megan and Josh’s home is comfortable, stylish, and kid friendly. Cool tones of blue and green give you a sense of serenity while original hardwood floors give warmth. Personal touches like a coat rack from Megan’s grandfather and a wood mantle found on a farm near Josh’s family blend together with garage sale and estate sale finds to create rooms that don’t look at all discount.

It’s a curated home of beautiful objects and well decorated children’s spaces, a place of classic furniture with elegant touches. This is a home where you can easily enjoy a glass of wine or a sippy cup depending on your age (or taste). And a wonderful home for a growing family.

My Style: I design from a traditional base layered with several different styles. Above all, a room should have personality. We collect old and unique pieces from Craigslist and garage/estate sales. If I like something, I’ll give it a try. A little imagination and a little work can go a long way.

Inspiration: I love to shop – I could spend hours just looking around boutiques and picking up fun ideas here and there. I also look through quite a few magazines and design blogs. Anything by Emily Henderson, Lauren Liess and Jenny Komenda (little green notebook) is usually a perfect mix of styles with a healthy dose of delightful little second-hand finds.

Favorite Element: If you made me pick a favorite, I would go with the living room. It came together pretty easily and represents my style well. A close second is the coat rack in the dining room. It is from my great grandfather’s barber shop in downtown Chicago.

Biggest Challenge: Hands down the family room. We’ve spent more time changing out furniture in that room than I care to remember. Everything changed when Josh found some old saw milled wood from a farm close to his family in Kentucky. Josh and his dad used the wood to create the new mantle and that helped to define the space. It’s amazing how something like a new mantle can get you through designer’s block for a whole room. Now it’s one of our favorite rooms in the house.

What Friends Say: I’m looking for __________, let me know if you see it anywhere. I love to help people find pieces for their home which is part of the reason why I started Curating Craigslist.

Biggest Embarrassment: My daughter shared her room with Craigslist. We don’t have a garage and during a particular bountiful season on CL I ran out of storage. It started with an extra lamp in her room and before I knew it, there was just a small path to her crib. When we cleaned it up she said, “My room clean!”

Proudest DIY: One Spring Saturday I scored six antique dining chairs for $40! I dramatically raised the back door of the car to reveal my deal of the year when Josh pointed out they were all broken. The back of each chair was missing either the right or left top. Whoops. After a quiet lunch we decided to cut the tops off all of them. It was a risky move, but we loved the new modern vibe they had. We refinished them from there and they’ve been in our dining room ever since.

Biggest Indulgence: I’m a bargain hunter at heart when it comes to the home. However, I am kind of a foodie and really enjoy a great meal. Josh and I hit up one of Nashville’s many fabulous restaurants at least once a month. 404 Kitchen is the current favorite and if you’re in Nashville you should check it out.

Best Advice: Don’t be afraid to buy something second hand. If you’re looking for a piece for your home give Craigslist a try. What you buy doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to have potential.

Dream Sources: I would love spend a day shopping at the Brooklyn Flea or the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market.

– Couch – Sprintz Furniture

– Marble Lamps – Craigslist

– Accent Chairs – Estate Sale

– Brass Trunk – Craigslist

– Vintage Typewriter Table – Estate Sale

– Bookshelf – World Market

– Accessories and Art – most are garage/estate sale finds

– Rug – West Elm

– Dining Table – PD’s (Franklin, TN)

– Dining Chairs – garage sale find that we refinished and reupholstered

– Dining Head Chairs – Craigslist

– Buffet – Craigslist – we refinished with chalk paint

– Lamps – PD’s (Franklin, TN)

– Antique Coat Rack – family hand me down (this was in my great grandfather’s barber shop in downtown Chicago)

– Couch – Craigslist

– Ottoman/Coffee Table – This was originally World Market but it had a drastic makeover – I reupholstered and tufted it, and we stripped the legs and white-washed them

– Side Table – Family hand me down that I painted

– Linen Parsons Chairs – Craigslist

– Entertainment Unit – Josh made this from barnwood and metal pipe

– Mantle – Josh made the mantle with some old wood from a farm in Kentucky(this mantle hands down transformed our room)

– Antique Oil Painting on the Mantle – Gaslamp Antique Mall

– Mirror – PD’s (Franklin, TN)

– Rug – Overstock.com

– Table – Garage Sale find

– Chairs – Craigslist – these were a dark stain and we stripped them and white-washed them

– Light fixture – Old lamp shade I found at a garage sale that we stripped the fabric off and Josh turned into a hanging light.

– Bed – Linens and Things

– Dressers – Sprintz Furniture

– Pair of Gold Mirrors – Estate Sale

– Bedside Tables – Garage Sale finds that I painted

– Bench – Garage Sale find that I painted and reupholstered

– Desk/Chair – family hand me down, this was my great grandfather’s desk

– Antique Twin Bed – Family hand me down (this was my bed growing up)

– Dresser – Family hand me down that we painted white

– Chair – Garage Sale find that we painted and dyed the cushion

– Rocking Horse – My dad made this for me when I was little

– Crib – JC Penney

– Changing Table – Garage Sale find – this was a old record player cabinet that we painted and repurposed

– Armoire – Antique piece that was given to us by family

– Chair – Walmart

– Storage Shelf – IKEA Expedit

– Rug – Rugs USA

– Table and Chairs – garage sale

Thanks, Megan and Josh!

• HOUSE TOUR ARCHIVE: Check out past house tours here.
• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour Submission Form.
• Are you a designer/architect/decorator interested in sharing a residential project with Apartment Therapy readers? Contact the editors through our Professional Submission Form.

Follow Apartment Therapy’s board House Tours Apartment Therapy on Pinterest.

Updated daily with fresh tours full of photos for you to pin & enjoy!