apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I also think you need to borrow from you mattress/bedding budget to augment your sofa/loveseat budgets. I think you are being really optimistic about those two price ranges.

My other advice would be to NOT try to do living room and den at once, but to focus on one room.

And buy with the future in mind if at all possible. Perhaps get some great better quality armchairs now while you wait for a loveseat; get your den loveseat now but use it in the living room, with the ultimate goal to move it in to the den when you find a sofa, etc...

If you have immediate need to fill the space, maybe consider renting your larger upholstered pieces?

And make sure to consider floor samples.

first, congrats on your new place, many of us have been in this situation where we feel a need to fill new found space, myself included.

so here's my personal advice which you don't have to take :) Take a deep breath and step away from the problem. The first gut reaction is to attempt to fill all the spaces with the limited budget you have, and in the end this is not the best strategy. With the exception of those with designer budgets most of us build our rooms one piece at a time over a long period of time. And if this is your first place then you're most likely still developing your style so how can you dress three rooms at once?

Obviously try to have an idea of what you want the room to look like in the end but buying quality pieces slowly will allow you to keep things. If you buy cheap now just to fill the room i can guarantee that you'll throw things away which in the end will be more expensive. This is mostly applicable to the larger pieces (like the couch, bed etc), those are the things you'll keep the longest so you want them to be high quality.

Your budget is optimistic even for IKEA, if you were to do thrift store i think it's doable but you'd need to be very flexibile and willing to do some work to remix the furniture. If i were to prioritize the bed is obviously the first choice followed by the living room. Forget about the den for now and focus on these two rooms.

Just take things slow, you just bought a new place so you'll be there for a few years so that's plenty of time to develop your style and plug-in new pieces.

And if you have not done so, try paint--it's the cheapest most dramatic thing you can do.

Good points, Patrick. If I were to pick anything, I'd say my focus is on my den. I just painted an accent wall in clover green that I'm going to decorate with white bird graphics from Blik (http://www.whatisblik.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=B&Product_Code=BL-110FLY)

Now I want to round out the room with some furniture. Any recommendations for specific companies to buy from?

I'm also in search of a stylish and affordable drop-leaf table for my living room/dining room/kitchen.

I agree with the previous comments. I was in your shoes about 4 months ago when I moved to a larger place in the graduate hospital area and wanted to decorate the place with many modern pieces. I wanted to get everything done within my budget and as soon as possible, but that never happened. My suggestion would be to buy your major pieces first, but at the budget that you set that may be difficult. I would rather spend slightly more to get better quality items since they will save in the long run.

If you don't mind driving I would suggest looking at craigslist in New York or New Jersey and getting some furniture there.

Alex,

In addition to West Elm, I'd also recommend looking at Hold Everything, Chiasso and CB2, although your best bet would be to wait for the items you want to be on sale. Another option would be heading to the Crate and Barrel Outlet in Cranbury, NJ. It's about 40 miles away from Philly. I stopped there on a recent visit to NYC from Philly and saw some heavily discounted furniture that looked in perfect condition. Good luck.

Reef

Having just recently moved in to a new apt., I'm going through the same process as well...

For simple bedding at an exceptional quality, try Overstock.com. I was looking for plain white, egyptian cotton sheets, shams and duvet cover with a ridiculously high thread count. I looked at all your usual suspects, Pratesi (to tease me!), ABC, Bloomie's, Century 21 (which has great sheets, but even better selection at their Brooklyn location) and finally after reaching a total frustration moment and debating on whether or not I could justify $1000 on nice bedding (eek!), I stumbled upon overstock.com. What a find! Many of the luxury brands I was salivating over at ABC were avail. at overstock for next to nothing. I scored the plain white, simple, queen sized duvet, 900 thread count for $75!!! Was so thrilled with my savings, decided to purchase a hungarian silk down comforter for a bargain price of $280!!! Both arrived at lightning speed and I must say, having sleeping soundly ever since...

The Crate & Barrel outlet in Cranbury is a great option. I picked up a mini-bookcase there for only $60 (hardwood!) In my experience, it's very hit or miss. Either the furniture is in great shape but still out of my price range or it's cheap by ravaged by some angry customer.

Let me put it to the wise commentators this way: imagine you had $1500-$2000 to decorate your new apartment. You have no nice furniture and are hoping to invest in quality pieces. Three rooms are screaming for some decoration. What do you buy now and what do you buy later to make the place feel like a home?

I moved into my new place at the beginning of the year and went through exactly what you're going through now.

I advise you to start with the most visible/used room first. For me this was the living room, since I was either entertaining friends, watching tv or napping in it half the time. I started out with a decent couch and then coffee table then entertainment unit.

The priority I apply to any room's furniture investment is to get people-bearing furniture (couch, bed, chairs) first, surface-bearing furniture (tables, nightstands) second and storage (bookshelves, chest of drawers) third.

Alex, for that price range, I would haunt craigs list and thrift stores, and would spend my money on good quality second-hand stuff. i would buy a new mattress, though, and I would put more money into that. I've seen Mitchell Gold sofas (that look pretty good in the pics) for $500.

I would also visit someplace like Ikea for organization needs that may not be long-term, but will hold me over til I could afford what I'd really like.

I agree with Patrick the other one, except for the rented furniture -- eww. Don't be in a rush to get everything at the same time. I used to live in New Orleans, and I've evacuated to Ohio since the hurricane. All my furniture is still in my house (which is on the market) in New Orleans, since I'm willing to sell it to whoever buys my house. My furniture here now consists of a bed, cheap sofa, and TV, and I've been doing fine for 2 1/2 months now.

if you can wait, westelm is opening on walnut street soon. i've bought some stuff from westelm, but you'd probably want to check it out at the store first.

alex,

one thing we're saying is be flexible. you have $2000 and you'd like to furnish three rooms but you realize that's going to be difficult so settle on things be either sparse for awhile or ecletic.

So let's try to come up with a game plan. I'd say 1/3 of your budget is going towards a new mattress, don't skimp on sleep!

leaves you with $1400. If you're creative and willing to do some work (like reupholstering a chair or sofa) i think you can find some interesting things at the thrift stores for that kind of money that would fill your bigger rooms. I think $600 spent on an electic second hand couch is much better then $600 on an ikea one. That's just me.

And always stay creative, instead of a headboard try using art or a rug. For end tables buy beatup ones and repaint them. Or find a neat looking box, lacquer it up and make something interesting. when you're poor you get creative, don't give up!

I think it's possible to furnish three rooms, it's just you have to be flexible since you won't have the luxury of buying perfectly matched pieces. But it's more fun to mix and match things sometimes.

Also, ebay is a great resource for just about any location. Keep a look out for things in your area, you can save extra money on shipping by renting a uhaul and picking things up yourself

Another strategy would be to set your long-term sights on a great sectional, but start with the armless section and use that temporarily as your primary couch until you can add the corner/chaise units, etc.

And my own philospohy is: Buy the best you can afford. Spend the most money (of your budget) on your largest piece of upholstery. And the bigger the piece, the more neutral the fabric.

You'll get the most out of your money-- and the most out of your furniture-- by following that formula. Otherwise, you end up in a recurring cycle of replacing "temporary" furniture with more "temporary" furniture, and never be able to save up to upgrade.

But in the meantime, enjoy the minimalism that "too much space" affords!

Dan do you know when West Elm will be opening up in Philly? I've been driving to NYC or NJ to buy my furniture. Patience is the definitely the key.

You may check http://www.laflat.com or http://www.modernoonline.com. There are some very popular europian models for reasonable price.

Two words; trash picking!
Ive gotten amazing stuff and the price is right...
once I refinish them I am the envy of my pals.
I would personally invest in some nice RUGS first
A chic rug, like a great pair of shoes, has a way of really holding a room together and making all the rest of the stuff work. If you choose nice base colors in the rug, you can be eclectic in the furnture choice because the rug ties it al together. I like real Orientals- for some reason not many young people I know ( by young I mean under 45!) have them so they tend to look fresh, chic and fun as opposed to the cookie cutter "IKEA/ mid century modern" look that people end up . Also dont forget to paint your walls delicious colors. it hardly costs a thing compated to furniture and it makes everything else look SO much better!
With my real oriental rugs ( one from the sale, one from the trash) cool desinger-ey wall colors and uncluttered but funky vibe my ikea stuff blends with my vintage stuff in a way that ends up looking much nicer than one would expect...
Good luck and enjoy yourself!