Create a Chic First Apartment on a Dorm Room Budget
Show your first solo place off with pride by incorporating these tips for budget-friendly artwork, furniture and accessories
Houzz Contributor. You can also find me on Lolalina (http://www.lolalina.com/), my blog devoted to all of the things that make a house a home - decorating from the heart, living with intention, and savoring life's simple pleasures.
Houzz Contributor. You can also find me on Lolalina (http://www.lolalina.com/),... More »
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So, you have your first place. After the initial excitement fades, the enormity of furnishing an entire apartment on a next-to-nothing budget can seem pretty intimidating. Luckily, we are here to help. Read on for 19 ways to stretch your dollars and create a cute and cozy pad you can be proud of.
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Teach yourself about making vignettes. The best way to learn about what works in your space is simply to spend some time experimenting. Move furniture, rearrange stuff, edit and just have fun playing around. Often, I find that the most ingenious space solutions and display ideas come only after months of living in a space, so try to be patient.
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by Jennifer Young
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| Mix and match your bedding. Rather than buy a complete set, keep your eye out for sales on solid-color sheets, printed duvet cover, and pairs of cool shams. A good rule of thumb when mixing prints is to use one large scale (such as the leafy print on the duvet cover here), one small scale (like the pattern on the pillowcases), and one solid (as on the round cushion). See more about how to mix patterns |
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| Keep it sweet and simple. Focus on keeping rooms uncluttered and centered around a clear purpose. Don't fret about not having exactly the pieces you want right away. In the breakfast nook shown here, for example, a simple table and set of chairs looks cozy and inviting when centered on a soft rug, and accented with a tin of flowers and a display of thrifted dishes on the wall. |
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Learn to love the vintage hunt. If you want to save money and still create a unique look, there is no substitute for spending some time on the vintage trail. By choosing to spend a little of your free time hunting at yard sales (or on Craigslist), you can be rewarded with quirky finds like the vintage yellow school chairs shown here.
Tips for your vintage treasure hunt:
Tips for your vintage treasure hunt:
- Authentic midcentury sideboards and coffee tables with great, clean lines can be found at reasonable prices at vintage shops — often for around the same price as a new piece made from particleboard.
- No cool midcentury pieces to be found? Paint any funky old garage sale dresser with high-gloss white paint for a thrifty chic look.
- Think (and inspect) carefully before picking up an upholstered piece from the sidewalk or a yard sale — bedbugs and pet stains could be an issue.
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Upgrade your dorm room bulletin board. Use burlap, linen or canvas to cover your basic dorm room bulletin board. If you have a local coffee shop that roasts its own beans, you could ask to have (or buy) one of their old burlap sacks — or pick up a cheap canvas drop cloth at the hardware store. Use a staple gun or finishing nails to affix the fabric to your board.
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Don't scrimp on hooks! It can be tempting to pick up those stick-on plastic doohickeys from the drugstore, but please don't. Go for a more permanent solution — it's nothing a little spackle and touch-up paint can't cover when you move out.
by Kasey Buick
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Personalize the bathroom. Rather than heading right for the "bath" section of Bed Bath & Beyond, search your own apartment for items to repurpose as quirky bathroom accessories.
Glass jelly jars, teacups, dessert plates and decorative trays all make excellent containers for toiletries. Mismatched mirrors can be scooped up anytime you see one on sale and clustered on a blank wall for a cool effect.
Glass jelly jars, teacups, dessert plates and decorative trays all make excellent containers for toiletries. Mismatched mirrors can be scooped up anytime you see one on sale and clustered on a blank wall for a cool effect.
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Make use of those candid snapshots. What's the use of taking all of those digital photos and using Instagram if they never leave your computer? Print some out and tape them in a grid with colored masking tape to make personalized wall art.
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| Use old things in fresh ways. Vintage suitcases, for instance, can be stacked and used as a side table, and filled with off-season clothing to boot. Trunks make great coffee tables, and a spare chair can stand in for a bedside table. Look around at what you already own and see if you can't think of a new way to spin some of your old stuff. |
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| Shop Ikea ... but know where to draw the line. We all know Ikea is a wonderland of budget-friendly finds, but if you don't want your home to look indistinguishable from a page in the catalog, you will want to have a plan. If you're going to move again in the near future, you may want to avoid some of the larger, more complicated shelving units, for instance. While they are sturdy enough when left alone, they don't tend to last through multiple moves. Solid one-piece items like chairs, lamps, rugs and smaller tables are safe bets and can easily be mixed in with more "permanent" pieces down the road. |
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Keep things neat with white. Budget finds like paper storage boxes and simple lamps almost always look better in white. Plus, there is something really neat and orderly about having a whole stack of all-white anything.
You can always add in more color with your artwork and accessories, but it's harder to go back once your flat is a jumbled mess of prints and hues. Start safe and small, and build it out from there.
You can always add in more color with your artwork and accessories, but it's harder to go back once your flat is a jumbled mess of prints and hues. Start safe and small, and build it out from there.
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| Learn a few space-saving tricks. Solid upholstered cube stools are a fabulous pick for a first apartment because they can be used in so many ways — paired up as a coffee table, tucked away as extra seating, or within reach of your favorite chair to put your feet up on. If space is really tight, consider hanging your TV on the wall above your computer, letting your desk do double duty as an entertainment center. Whether your TV is up on the wall or set on a console, hanging art above and around your TV will help it blend in. |
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Fill an art wall for less. Mix a jumble of different-size art prints, photos and printed quotes, all in black and white, on a single gallery wall. Cut-up art books, postcards and snapshots are all very affordable ways to build this look, and the simplest frames will look cohesive in black and white.
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by Emily McCall
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| Learn to say "yes" to hand-me-downs. Grandma's piano? Aunt Samantha's cane armchair? Yes, please! It can't be overstated how much having one or two nicer, older pieces mixed in will elevate everything around them. |
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| Know what to look for in budget furniture. If you are looking for a sofa and can't find a hand-me-down, keep in mind that choosing a smaller-scale piece will be easier to reuse down the road than an oversize version. Also note that budget sofas with tight backs and seats (like the Urban Outfitters couch in the space shown here) will stand up better over time than similarly priced sofas with soft, squashy cushions. |
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Consider swapping out a light fixture. Do look up proper instructions and do not attempt this unless you can confidently shut off the electricity while you are working, but those caveats aside, you would be amazed at the difference ousting an ugly light can make for your whole apartment. Plus, these days there are so many chic options for well under $100 that replacing a light is certainly within reason. I love this cool brass number from Urban Outfitters — it's a steal at $64, and you can take it with you to your next place when you move.
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Cover up icky carpeting. If you have ugly wall-to-wall carpeting in your rental apartment, it can work wonders to layer fun area rugs on top. A solid natural-fiber rug or a crisp geometric print like this charcoal-gray and white version are foolproof choices.
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Upgrade one thing. Choose a detail that matters to you to upgrade — bath and hand towels, for instance, or coffee cups, or salt and pepper shakers. It doesn't really matter what it is, just that you love it and it makes you feel good when you look at and use this special item.
Shopping tip: Anthropologie, while not known for being easy on the wallet, is actually filled with a surprising number of stylish finds for the budget decorator. Colorful bowls, stemless glassware and towels are just a few of the things I have scooped up for under ten bucks at my local Anthro store.
Shopping tip: Anthropologie, while not known for being easy on the wallet, is actually filled with a surprising number of stylish finds for the budget decorator. Colorful bowls, stemless glassware and towels are just a few of the things I have scooped up for under ten bucks at my local Anthro store.
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| Don't forget the houseplants. If you could buy just one thing for your new apartment, it should be a plant. Fresh, green houseplants make a place feel more like home. If a room in your apartment seems like it's lacking something, try adding a green plant or a potted orchid and see the difference it makes. Tell us: Do you have any first-apartment decorating stories to share? Share your tales and tips in the Comments below! |
Ideabook published on July 9, 2012.
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This is a fabulous article Laura and one I wish I had had years ago!
Just a few suggestions for the new decorator on a tight budget.
Or said another way - what is step two after the budget first apartment? What 's your next article in the series? =) Really enjoy your writings!
Also I love my cheap boxy bookcases but I wanted to do something different so I bought some mdf and built a box around them and gave it 12 new legs or so. As you can see in the picture they all look different but are actually a chair and a set of tablelegs I found on the street on trash day. I cut out differnt sections of the legs to get a mismatched look and then randomly strew them across the base of the box although making sure the weight would distibute evenly. If you think this is maybe to big a project you can just change out the existing legs on you sidebord. They usually have legs that needs to be screwed in as well so you can just buy a doublescrew to mount on what ever you dicided on and swap them. For a more comprehensive illustrated tutorial see:http://ploefff.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/skaenk-en-forvandling-part-1/
Oh and the wooden boxes infront of the sideboard is actually cardboardboxes coved in contactpaper also super cheap :)
@kimber11 - In my own first apartment I also used some wicker porch furniture indoors & loved it! It's cheaper & smaller scale than other options, and whenever you are able to replace it, it can move outside, so it's a win-win. So glad you mentioned that. :)
@ltwolff - lol! I'll see what I can do!
@ploefff - love your idea for swapping out the legs on thrifted furniture!
A set of chairs at an "antique"/junk store with nasty seat bottoms for example - those bottoms will unscrew off, you can measure the old fabric and with a small piece of fabric laid over it, hit the underneath with a staple gun and then screw the seat bottom back on. all of a sudden it looks new and vintage. Many fabric stores have remnants that can be purchsed very inexpensively.
The minwax at home depot has stain and sealer in it and if it is on a rag and you rub it on an old table top that has chips in it the stain will cover the chips and add shine to the whole table in one step. Just do it evenly over the whole top moving from one side to the other -like left to right and left to right again moving down each time to cover it evenly - not randomly rubbing it in any direction. And you want to match the existing color as close as possible. Then just let it dry and it will look great.
One super cheap fix: if you are faced with a chipped ugly brown or black table, dresser, stand etc touching up the bad spots with a perm magic marker that is the same color is an instant fix.
To fix an old ugly pillow. There is a fabric tape that holds like you sewed it. Cut fabric into two squares one for the front and one for the back bigger than the pillow you want to cover, use the fabric tape to fold the edges over and finish the edge like you sewed it so you have two finished squares. Then attach a ribbon to each of the corners for each square. Put your ugly pillow in the middle and tie each of the corners and you have a pretty pillow. If you are not sure how big to cut your squares lay them over the pillow first. Too big is always better. Once you cut the squares lay them as if you are going to tie and make sure how much fabric to turn under for your seams with the fabric tape. If you want it tighter around the pillow you can take a needle and thread and just stitch a small place on each side to tighten it up
At flea markets and junk/antique stores you can find old pieces of lace. They can cover a pillow or be placed on a table for a vintage look.
Any Glass Jar can be a canister even a mason jar sold new in the canning section at wall mart. . They can be painted with a square of blackboard paint and written on with chauk. They can have ribbons tied around them. They can be covered with fabric, They can be painted bright colors. They can be left plain and you can enjoy seeing the beans or rice etc through the jar. I like plain glass that I can see whats in it. The coffee beans in the glass jar look nice beside the coffee pot. I don't need it to tell me it is coffee. But everyone has different tastes.
If you are at a thrift store look at pictures. Think of them as "frames". If they are $1 or so what can you put in the frame? Did you take a great picture of family, friends, the beach, your dog that you can put in the frame? If it is a beach picture did you pick up some shells? Can you glue a couple in the corner of the frame to make it special?
At the thrift store is there a cheap vase? How would it look on your table? Maybe it was someone's grandmothers vase. I believe all the grandmothers that have gone before us smile when we put a flower in an old vase.
Dishes don't have to match. Example any white dish matches another - any single color will mix and match with white - thrift stores are great for that!