I’ve been on a crazy furniture shopping kick lately, pledging to once and for all buy a coffee table and a new papasan chair cushion (I gave the old one away via Freecycle. It was faded and didn’t match anything anymore) and maybe a stool or pedestal table for the hallway to throw my keys on when I come in the door. The thing about furniture though is it’s expeennnnnnsiiive. Even the cheap stuff that tends to fall apart after a few years seems to cost more than it should.

Now is a good time to furniture shop if you’re in the market because there’s still some amazing end-of-season clearance sales going on right now. But I have better advice than that: flea markets, furniture clearance centers and floor samples. Antique stores can be good too, but I’d recommend hitting up the not-quite-as-classy ones to avoid sticker shock.

In my town, we have a locally owned furniture store with a “red-tag clearance center.” I visited it on Saturday and found a beautiful Broyhill coffee table that perfectly suit my style — regular price $650 on sale for $175. Modern Friends, that’s a 73% discount. Sadly, I did not buy it since it was just a smidge too big to fit in with the rest of my stuff. I don’t know how many national chain stores have rooms like this, but I imagine many stores have some sort of clearance selection. They have to push the merch just like ever other retailer.

I know that “flea market,” “clearance” and “floor sample” are code words for “scratch,” “chip” and “knick,” but unless you’re shopping for a formal parlor admit to yourself that whatever you want to buy is going to get knicked and scratched at some point in its life and chalk it up to character. Then ask for a discount if the piece isn’t already sporting one.

That’s what I did for this snappy console table from World Market that’s now sitting in my hallway:

It was the laaaast one, and I got 10% off because it had been sitting out as a display. I didn’t even find any scratches. Sure, it cost a wee bit more than the stool I was previously considering, but I think I can get a bit more mileage out of this.