How to Decorate Your First Real Apartment
Update: We still stand by this advice on how to decorate your first real apartment — links have also been updated below.
Reader R wonders about how to decorate her first apartment after grad school…
I'm about to graduate law school and will be moving into my first “grown up” apartment soon. I've never really had to buy furniture, decorate, or do any of that kind of stuff before, so I would love to see a post on the basics of how to go about it. I'm not ready to invest in serious re-modeling or fancy antiques or anything like that, but I'd like to create a nice environment for myself and get some furniture that I can keep for at least a few years. Thanks!
Congratulations! I'm curious to hear what readers say. My own experience with interior decoration has been somewhat surprising.
You see, I've always considered myself fairly fashionable and style savvy — so it kind of blew me away how much my first apartment (between college and law school) really looked horrible. My roommate and I decided to paint the living room a horrid shade of yellow… and then complement that with a pink rug. (I'm pretty sure this was all her idea.)
My bedroom was even worse, if that's possible. I had my posters from college, a really cheap rug, a huge folding table (which I thought would be a great idea to use as a really big desk… guess what was just a huge eyesore in my room?) and … wait for it … a huge La-Z-Boy reclining armchair, borrowed from my parents. It was like I forgot the “chic” part of “shabby chic.” In addition to looking absolutely horrible, I hated spending time there — but didn't know how to make it better.
I was determined to not let the same horrible decorating happen again after law school, so I read a bunch of design magazines, such as Elle Decor, and ripped a ton of pages out that inspired me. (These days I would probably spend a lot of time on Pinterest instead!)
Because I was going to be in a studio — and expected to be home only late at night, after a long day of work — I decided that I wanted one color scheme throughout the space, and that I wanted a happy, bright color scheme. So I chose one of my grandmother's old scarves from the '60s, with shades of navy, white, hot pink, and yellow, and based the entire “design” around that.
(I had planned to hang the scarf as a piece of art on the wall, but at the last minute an ironing disaster happened and the scarf was ruined — you can see the tip of the iron in the upper left-hand corner.)
But here's the crazy thing: the apartment still looked great! Well, it was still filled with Ikea “placeholders” (until I found great furniture I actually loved, I said — it's amazing how much of it I still have now, even if it's just in my son's nursery), and it had a lot of hot pink and yellow, but I quite liked it.
My apartment now is still a work in progress, but the other main thing I've learned is that if you buy pieces that you love, they'll all work together in a weird way. For example, in our bedroom we have the strangest mixture of really modern things (such as our lamps, a bright blue wall, and large canvas prints of photos from our wedding) mixed with really traditional things (such as dark cherry furniture we had custom made for us from Amish Country in Ohio, a pinkey/green rug my mother-in-law bought for us as a gift during her travels in Turkey, and my wedding bouquet, dried and framed, hanging on the wall)… and the room totally, completely works.
My Best Tips on How to Decorate Your First Real Apartment
So here are my tips:
– Decorate your apartment with an eye towards your lifestyle. If you won't be home except at night, either try to avoid dark, somber colors or splurge for lamps you really love.
– Find something that inspires you for your color scheme. If you're in a studio, consider keeping this color scheme consistent throughout; if you're not you might want to consider a color scheme for each room. It can be anything.
– Figure out how much you can afford to spend on furniture right out of the gate. This is kind of a delicate balance in that a) you don't want to just buy a ton of stuff right now as your tastes might change and mature, and your odds of actually “loving” everything from the few stores you can go to right now are pretty slim, but — that said — b) you should probably face the fact that you're likely to have these pieces for at least the next 10 years, so you should purchase the best quality you can. With my couch, I remember thinking that I wanted a modern-looking couch, that was comfortable, that had a full-size sleeper bed in it, that was available in navy (to fit the color scheme), and wasn't too huge. There were very few couches that fit that description at the time I was looking, and I wound up having to decide between a leather Ikea couch, a custom couch, or just punting and using arm chairs until I found one that fit exactly what I wanted. I got the Ikea couch, and while I don't regret it, it's something I've been meaning to replace for about 5 years now.
– Make your apartment as “complete” as you can before you start work. This was part of my thinking with the couch (as mentioned above) — when I started work in BigLaw, I expected my life to be very, very busy, without a lot of leisurely time for wandering around New York or its suburbs to look for furniture pieces. If I hadn't purchased everything in the months before I started, I probably would have had a half-empty apartment with folding chairs until I was a third- or fourth-year associate.
Readers, what are your tips for interior decor — particularly for decorating your first apartment?
(Psst: don't forget we've talked about how much to spend on rent, as well as how (and when) to buy your first home…)
Picture below via Stencil.
I had kind of the opposite problem, in that I have several large pieces of furniture that belonged to grandparents, great grandparents and great great grandparents. I have 3 buffet tables, 2 dining room tables, and one set of dining room chairs. I have a large cedar chest, a china cabinet and a massive wardrobe. There’s a random-looking 3-tiered end table made by my great uncle. None of it really goes together, there are some overlaps, it’s all a little too big for my city apartment, and yet I can’t imagine selling any of it. “goodbye, pretty buffet table that belonged to my great great grandmother and which my great grandmother adored”. I don’t know that there’s any solution to the problem. Being the youngest, I have somehow ended up being the Goodwill storage facility for the rest of my family. I have made it work best I can and have 2 dining room sets and many, many boxes full of random cut glass and crystal dishes and bowls and tiny pitchers and whatnot in storage. sigh.
Looks like you need to spread the love among your siblings :)
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/
Design blog devoted to apartments
2nd this.
As an undergrad, and now as a law student, I’ve been able to do some neat things on a budget. I like to focus on decorating, rather than simply furnishing…
1) Go to Big Lots, or other discount stores. You can find some GREAT decor for a few bucks. Mirrors, shadow boxes, paintings/pictures, etc.
2) Find an assortment of frames that catch your eye (all the same, very different, gilded, mirrored, etc.) (since framed art can be waaaay too expensive, and sometimes #1 yields nothing) and find patterned fabric or decorative paper (art supply stores like Blick sell great sets) and frame it!
3) Throw pillows
4) Area rugs
When I have free time, I walk around Homegoods, Tj Maxx, the clearance section in Anthropologie, and other similar stores and pick up interesting things.
Also, watch Designed to Sell on HGTV! They have really good ideas on how to furnish and decorate on a budget. Not everything is layman friendly (new countertops/floors?), but that’s where I got the frames idea.
Think of it as a work in process. Get what you must have first, then slowly add pieces that you like as you can afford or find at good price.
Color is important to me. A lot of rentals are horribly ugly beige (to hide stains, dirt and wear). I always tried to add ‘pops of color’.
Check out Home Goods if you have one nearby. They have great housewares for cheap. I rarely visit without seeing something I want. Their selection rotates, so check back.
Cost Plus Imports, Target, and Pier 1 Imports often have cute stuff relatively inexpensive.
Every apartment is different. It helps to have an idea of the shell (colors, layout, measurements) before you buy. That way you can picture the way it will look in your head before you buy.
Ikea can be great. But, if you don’t like their look, then stay away. Very nice as placeholders until you can afford to replace with expensive stuff. But if you plan to buy a house eventually, then maybe wait for the permanent stuff to fit that house? I think of renting as temporary, and moving is a pain. Every time I’ve moved, I’ve had to get rid of stuff that didn’t ‘fit’ the next place. If that is in your future, save up and buy for your ‘permanent’ or semi-permanent home.
You can find nice art on Etsy.
Don’t leave the walls bare. That really screams rental.
Only buy things that are a) useful, b) make you happy, c) both.
Oh, if you want to use Kat’s idea of planning your color scheme around a favorite item (i.e. her grandmother’s scarf), this looks like a great app to try. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/create-an-instant-color-palette-with-chip-it-166011
Who knew I had so much to say about this topic? Sorry for the multiple posts.
If you paint, save your paint chips from the paint store. Or if custom, keep a small swatch. Very handy to pull out the ‘exact’ shade when shopping for furnishings since it is hard for us to keep exact shades in our memory.
Libraries often have decor mags. Which are expensive to buy unless you know what you like. It’s very easy to check out a bunch of different titles and develop your eye. The more you look at, the more you start to narrow down what you like, what styles, what colors, what shapes, etc. Really helps to figure out what you want and what your goal is.
So I’ve seen a couple people mention the Apartment Therapy website, but I would skip that and get the book. You can order it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It is GREAT!
He talks about all sorts of things and he makes them make sense, like the ration of carbohydrate (cheap) vs. protein (expensive) furniture; flow in a room; how to pick colors; how to make a place warm or cool. And it’s all based on your likes / dislikes / needs / wants. He doesn’t insist you spend a lot of money or be modern or anything. It’s a decorating book that will teach you about the basic goals of decorating and attach those to techniques rather than starting with trends.
I’ve seen a lot of people get a professional decorator to come into their place and it almost never seems to fit the person, but his book is absolutely about fitting the person!
Second this completely. I scan the AT blog from time to time, but I love the book so much that I re-read the whole thing, cover to cover, about once a year.
In particular, many of the Hours Tours and other posts on the Apartment Therapy blog are focused on midcentury modern. Which is great, if that’s what you like best, but if you don’t — or don’t know what you like — read the book. It will help you figure out which styles *you* like best.
One of the simplest, cheapest and yet most attention-grabbing things I did was to frame postcards from every country I ever visited – it’s now a huge 10*4 display on a large wall in our walkway and NEVER fails to get admiring comments.
I also buy vintage postcards when I travel and use it for cheap but eye-catching bathroom decor!
Rule 1: Don’t BUY anything you don’t love.
That sounds obvious but it’s not. You’ll want to buy things because they’re cheap and they’ll do. Accept gifts you don’t love because they’ll do but spend every dollar wisely. If you love it, you’ll still have it in 30 years. If it’ll do, you’ll have to buy it again in 3 years. And after 30 years of buying what you like, your stuff will all belong together. (Sooner really)
Rule 2: Go to auction houses.
Victorian furniture is now available at auction cheaper than Ikea. An 1880 dining suite will cost peanuts and look like a million dollars and be worth a lot more than you paid for it when you send it back to the auction. (or other furniture, if you don’t want a dining table).
Rule 3: Don’t sneer at Ikea.
As others have noticed, they do useful stuff. They do versatile stuff. Cubes on wheels that can be bedside tables, then tv tables, then bookshelves. They’ll accommodate your life as it changes.
Rule 4: Buy what your gut tells you.
You are buying for a future you can’t see. It’s odd to think about it, but you’re buying stuff now that your kids will take when they move out to college and your grandchildren will fight over.
I actually just “finished” furnishing my first house (I say finished in quotes because its never actually finished). Here’s what I did. I bought Domino’s decorating book and the Novogratz’s Bohemian Chic, and subscribed to Elle Decor. That gave me my inspiration and taught me about all the different ways you can configure a room, recover furniture, etc. Any decent piece of furniture my family offered me (regardless of ugly upholstery, I took). I stalked upholstery fabrics online at http://www.fabric.com, and ended up getting Dwell Studio fabric for $7 a yard. The prisons in my area teach inmates to do framing and upholstery, so I took art and furniture there, because its really inexpensive and they do a fantastic job (especially if they know its for a lawyer). For art I didn’t already have (my aunt is an artist) I shopped on Etsy.com and made sure I was looking at prints that were 8×10 so that I could use Pottery Barn frames and not pay for framing. Couch was on sale from West Elm. Coffee table was on sale from Crate and Barrel. Bedroom dressers are from Ikea. As far as Ikea goes, do your research. I read the description of every piece of furniture I looked at and made sure the dressers I bought were made of solid wood. Pillows, accessories, etc., I looked at West Elm, Etsy, Gilt.com, Onekingslane.com, Target, World Market, random flea markets, etc.
Really my best advice is by the Domino book so that you know/understand what you are doing and how to go about it. And don’t underestimate the power of reupholstering furniture. You can get an ugly chair with great lines and good stuffing from the Salvation Army, and reupholster it to make a gorgeous chair that your friends will want. I hope that helps!
Invest in a good bed (and mattress) and soundproofing, and ask yourself about the rest: when you’re home and not asleep: where are you most of the time? That’s where your money should be going towards.
I would say to try out affordable stuff from places like Ikea and Target. They have lots of different styles to choose from. Ive lived in four different places since I graduated 6 years ago, and each time my style has evolved. WHen you’re young and trying out different things you like, worrying about getting things that will last forever isnt necessary. Plus if youre renting, youre likely to move more over the years, so it’s tougher to buy furniture that will definitely fit in each place you may live, so to spend less is less risky.
get rid of as much junk as you can before you move into your first real place. Also put things in storage….just because you own something and like it, doesn’t mean you have to put it on display all the time! I have a ton of artwork, and some is on my walls right now and some is in storage. Over time when my tastes and decorating change or we move, it’s likely some of that will come out of storage and some will go into storage. Keeping things simple and uncluttered is the bext way to make things look nice, even if yyou dont have a keen eye for decorating.
I read a book when I first moved out that I thought was such a great help in figuring out the basics. It was called Going Solo and can be found here: http://www.goingsoloonline.com
When I was furnishing my apartment on a serious budget, I went with a mixture of Ikea and thrifting/Craigslist. In retrospect I could have been a little more finicky about sterility, but I got a cheap loveseat from a family on Craigslist, got a slipcover and some throw pillows, and now am totally unconcerned when my cat crawls under it and claws it up. You might not want to buy something like that used, but Craigslist and thrift stores can be great for stuff like bookshelves or tables.
Since my place is very small, I got a nice wooden card table as my kitchen table (I can fold it up and put it away when I want more than 4 people in my apartment at once) for $25 on Craigslist and picked up a pair of vintage chairs I love for $10 at Goodwill. If you have the time, look around for pieces you love that aren’t expensive. Reupholstering is also an option for stuff like that.
As some one moving into my first apartment, I have found some of these comments to be a tad out of sync with the article. There is nothing wrong with handy-me-downs. In fact, some of those pieces have a great deal of character. While a place filled entirely of hand-me-downs will seem outdated, having some of these pieces will a homey touch to a new place. As far as the Target v. Walmart v. Ikea debate: all of those places have a price range just like any other store. I like Home Depot or Lowes as well because the pieces there are pretty good quality and while bare- it allows for customization and pieces are sure to match. Bottom line is, for those of us with out the ability to buy a whole new set or purchase high quality, large ticket items look for pieces that fit with those pieces you have and acquired and you can see yourself holding on to for a while. Look to spruce up items and reinforce items that look less sturdy so that your purchase will have a long life.
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and
now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment.
Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Thanks a lot!