This is Glen. He came from the 14th Street Goodwill (between Fifth and Sixth Ave.). I think they still do periodic window auctions (you can only buy stuff in the window on auction days), but don’t quote me on that.
We made this bookshelf from a piano bench and weird light fixture thing we bought at Junk (on Driggs between 6th and 7th). They have a bunch of cool stuff, but be ready to have to fight a hipster to get it.
This coffee table used to be a bowling lane and sad office table. We got the pieces at the now-closed Big Reuse in Queens, but they live on in Gowanus.
We painted this treasure chest from Housing Works (we went to the one on 17th Street between Sixth and Seventh Ave.) with paint leftover from another project. Housing Works consistently has high-end stuff at great prices. Shop different neighborhoods for good variety.
We always hit up the St. Francis Thrift Store when we stop at the Housing Works on 96th Street. You can’t go right now, but hopefully they reopen soon because everything is super cheap.
I decoupage with Mod Podge (I think literally everyone does, and if there’s a competing product, I’ve never heard of it). It literally changed my DIY game. Just follow the instructions on the bottle. I like the matte finish (I was using furniture satin finish, but I haven’t been able to find that in a while, so it may have been discontinued), but there are a bunch of different options depending on your project.
This headboard was almost a disaster because I didn’t take into account the thickness of my foam and batting when having my pegboard cut to size by Lumber Boys (who I may have called Lumber Bros on the podcast, so maybe they should consider rebranding). So if you’re buying fabric online, be sure to consider the width before buying everything else for your project. The foam and batting are from AK Fabrics, which is on 39th Street between Seventh and Eighth Ave. If you can find either literally anywhere else, let me know!
This is what the bed frame looked like before the headboard was attached. I was really excited to find this pegboard/zip tie idea. Most headboard DIYs recommend attaching your headboard to the wall, but this made it easy to cover the existing headboard.
Here I am wearing the headlamp, in case anyone needed a visual.
These are a few different flea markets around the NYC area that we like:
- Brooklyn Flea (The summer flea is pretty good. The winter flea used to be in this awesome warehouse off Franklin, but now it’s by Barclays and honestly a pain in the ass. If you’re going, be prepared to have to elbow someone.)
- Annex Markets
- Grand Bazaar NYC (the one in the school parking lot)
Apartment 26 Podcast 