headboard

Love the room in the picture. Amazing.
We have lived without a real sofa for many years. We have a very comfy and fairly classy looking futon. It is great for guests. We don't also have room for a sofa. I haven't yet seen a sofabed that I like enough to replace the futon with.

Ditto headboard. Also, last year i redid my closet to add more shelves and got rid of my dresser and chest of drawers. Haven't missed them.

A dining table - because I eat out frequently and often sit on the floor in front of the coffee table to eat...

My husband and I are currently going sans-bed frame (we bought an Ikea bed frame on Craigslist and that the sideboards snapped like a twig under our combined 200-some pounds; worst. purchase.ever).

Although I'd like to have the ability to stow the console-thinger (it's an early model of a sleep number bed) underneath so it doesn't get underfoot, it basically comes down to being budget conscious.

We'll buy a beautiful, sturdy bed frame that will last us for years when we're good and ready...and when the bank account says that that purchase is responsible. :)

I could do without a dining table now given how much I use mine. Too many other places to eat.

I did without a couch for a few months while I was saving and trying to find a comfortable one I could afford (eventually got one at Restoration Hardware outlet in Dahlonega, GA, great store). Instead, I used an inflatable mattress. It was pretty comfy if it was just me lounging around, but not so good for entertaining.

i can do without everything that isnt my bed, couch, and dining table/chairs

we are without headboard. Someday I'd like to splurge when we have the $$ but fine without it.

Another one going without a Headboard (although I would LOVE one). Since it's not a necessity I refuse to settle for something that isn't perfect. Also I have been dresser free for a few years now. I could never keep them organized and my current apartment has a great little nook where I mounted shelves that are much easier to keep organized, plus I love that once I pull back the curtain it looks like I'm in my favorite store :)

Not really furniture per se, but I've ditched the TV. I can get all my shows and movies online, so I feel like it's just financial and electronic clutter. I'm 25 years old and sometimes wonder how many others of my generation have done the same thing.

I also am sans headboard. Primarily because I thought my bf was anti-headboard, but in a recent conversation, it turns out that he's not. So now I am keeping my eyes open.

The piece I've often gone without by choice is a coffee table. I just preferred a more open floor plan. Have one now because we inherited an MCM coffee/occasional table set from the in-laws

Bedroom furniture
All I have is a matress & bedspring
I am slowly going crazy, but I am magaging. Hopefully I will buy a dresser this year, or at least end tables/

you can buy a metal frame for inexpensive. You won't have head board...but this will get the bed off the floor to give you storage underneath..just put a bed skirt on:)

Earlier in the year I moved all of my clothing out of my dresser, and into my closet, so I have more room in my room. I also got rid of my bed frame, so my box-spring is sitting directly on the floor -- no change in usable space, but it's much easier to clean my room now that dust and dog hair doesn't collect under the bed. The only other things in my room are a small shelf holding books, vinyl records and photographs, and my writing desk with my grandfather's vintage wooden office chair (I think he made it himself, but I'm not sure).

Because I am living with my parents, there's a lot of furniture in the house that I don't like, but they do. There's also furniture that none of us like, but we don't have the money to replace them.

Not so much a piece of furniture, but I could do without the bank of upper cabinets on the back wall of my kitchen. I'm not a fan of all the looming, oppressive upper cabinets. It's on my list of things to do as we work on our new house.

I happily did without a dining table for a couple of years since i just ate on the couch. I used to have a table and chairs for 4 people but I gave it away since it just sat there taking up space but since my boyfriend came into the picture it's starting to annoy me that we can't sit and eat dinner across from each other so now I'm on the lookout for the right dinning table.

i don't have a coffee table, dining table or a single non sofa related chair in my apt...it's amazing how handy a chair would come in so that's the thing i miss the most.

Any table but dining, so that includes console, coffee, side, bedside and whatever else.

Never had a headboard (waiting for the right one)

Got rid of the dresser, "proper" bedside tables (one is a crate on it's end, other is a wood chair, a "proper" desk (using a small garden like table), a sideboard and a large patio set.

We found this great little antique coffee table, which is almost tv tray height but it has 3 small end tables that fold and slide into the underside of the main table. For $10.00, one of best yard sale finds ever!

Couldn't live without the dining table as we have a large family.

I really don't unstand why a person would go without a bed frame because it is too expensive. You can find or make some really cool beds fairly inexpensively. I did however live without a dining table in my last aparment because I didn't have the room and usually eat on the couch anyway.

i go without a head board... i have framed pictures above in stead. i don't mind it, but would love to have both head and foot board when i can afford a nice one. even though i hardly ever use my dining room table, i dont know how i would go without it! just an empty room? weird...can't image it

We had the brown IKEA Hemnes bed for the past three years. I recently just got really sick of cleaning under it. Dog hair, dust, socks, etc. Gross. So I took it apart and now just have our box spring and mattress on the floor. I'm looking for a storage bed that sits directly on the floor so I don't have to clean under it.

When I first moved into my flat I didn't have a dinning table and use to eat on the coffee table... When husband moved in we got rid of the coffee table and a sofa to buy a dinning table and chairs... so now I've been without a coffee table for a few years.

We also up graded from a double to a king bed and now we only have a mattress and bedspring

Oh yeah, we have an enormous concrete patio, we've lived in southern California for just over a year now, and still haven't been able to afford patio furniture I like. And craigslist patio furniture is always ridiculously ugly where I am. I look all the time and can never find anything within a reasonable distance.

I don't like dressers. I always end up in places with small bedrooms, so it makes more sense to keep all my clothing in a closet. (Yes, I put t-shirts on hangers!)

apparently a dresser. I hang everything and have a plastic rubbermaid drawer thingie in my closet. it is so annoying its not even funny. but I just cant bring myself to figure out what I want my bedroom to look like to invest in a dresser or a 5 drawer system etc. (last place had built ins so it wasn't an issue)

oh and a TV console. more because I haven't found anything I love yet that's in my price range.

I am willing to wait as long as it takes to find the perfect thing I love at a price I'm willing to pay. My husband, however, is a want-it-right-now kind of person. It makes it difficult to agree on things! After 6 years of marriage and some compromises I seriously regretted (insert: HUGE, puffy sectional ugly tan monstrosity)... we've kind of found a middle ground. And yes, that HUGE couch is long gone. Thank you, Craigslist!

My husband would say he'd gladly go without a desk - back problems and a lap top render the desk and chair obsolete in his world. Large drawings mean I need a desk - or at least a dining table to work at.

I could go without a headboard or TV.

My daughter refused to use a dresser (it was in her room empty for years), I gave in and installed an extra shelf in her closet (she was spoiled with 12 linear feet of closet - the largest in the house - anyway) and donated the dresser when she was about 15.

I often daydream about downsizing and pairing everything down to the bare essentials. With a few multi=purpose pieces and spaces, you could live well in very little space.

Cassielynn - Storage bed sitting directly on the floor - I had one built!

I lived happily in a Queens studio without couch or bed; slept on a chaise (or, on the floor when guest stayed). I did, however, want a table that sat six, cases for thousands of books and cabinets for hundreds of LPs in that studio. Also, a console with a high mirror and a dressing screen to hide the 'kitchen.' But, like many of your readers, I did without a coffee table. I own a modest house now and
I still dispense with the coffee table with no sense of deprivation.

dressers and maybe a dining table..we dont have anyone coming over but mine is a vintage mcm..so finidng it tough to let it go

For me, coffee table. I never use it and it's always on my way. only things that ever get on it are my daughter's toys. lol I simply use a small foldable side table for everything.

I'm also contemplating doing without a coffee table. I've been pushing it to the side of the room to make more space for my son and I to play, and the room is so much bigger without it!

My bed has sat on the floor for going on four years now. When my boyfriend and I finally find a job in the same place we'll get a queen, and I can't be bothered to invest in a full bed frame I won't keep.

I moved from my nice little house to this 600 sq foot apart just about 14 months ago. I did away with my entertainment center and re-purposed the coffee table. Changed out my kitchen table to an Ikea model with a hinged top. So if I do need a table that seats 4 I have it. My seats fold up and slide into the center. My living space is more about what I refuse to give up. My grandmother's ancient Hammond organ, and the doll house my grandfather gave me when I was 3. I use my also grandfather made toy box in place of a coffee table.

I'm not postponing buying any furniture pieces because, being a boomer, I already have what I want. I'm in the opposite situation. I'm willing to do without a hutch, sideboard, and console--without replacing them--that I already have. (My husband likes them and helped me to free enough space for them, so they'll stay.)

It's usually smart not to bring in more furniture than is needed. Consider never buying the furniture that you're willing to do without, or practice the one in, one out rule. Many boomers have found that not having brought in unnecessary furniture would have been easier than editing the surplus later.

Sofa in the living room. Have not had one in there for years. No one ever comes over so it doesn't matter. We use the second bdrm as a family room so that works out just fine

I have a lovely Evan bed from Pottery Barn. It has been in storage for the last 4 years because it would not clear the staircase in either of my last 2 homes. I am doing without it but not by choice. I'm not happy about the mattress and split box spring on the floor.

We are getting ready to redo the first floor of our 1906 house and convert the dining room into a den/living room. Dinner parties are casual and spread over the house anyway and this way we get more permanent seating. A large gateleg table in our 8x10 foyer will provide an actual dining table if/when needed.

Most everything (I LOVE sleeping on a straw mat on the floor, believe it or not; had to for a few weeks last time I moved, then the movers put the bed in my bedroom and I've been considering dismantling it ever since) except my Ikea desk chair and a decent desk. I'm not too much into furniture and ideally would only have mats and floor cushions (and built-in closets). I like things quite radically uncluttered.

I went deliberately dresser-less for many years, but in my current NYC apartment I found it hard to squeeze everything into the bedroom closets, and I also lacked a decent surface on which to put my jewelry boxes (I hang necklaces on the wall, but earrings and smaller stuff are too cluttery to put out). So I got a Hemnes 4-drawer dresser, which is perfect for my "smalls" and athletic and sleep clothes, plus nicer scarves and sweaters. I also got a cheap but nice-looking large mirror at HomeGoods to hang over it. I can't believe how much easier my dressing/undressing routine is now.

Once I figured out what I needed and what I didn't, the real problem became finding bargains and treasures I just HAD to buy! So now I have a small assortment of chairs (including two rather cool Danish Modern side chairs with carved basket weave pattern backs) that were too cheap to pass up but which I don't really have a place for. (Rehab and then consignment, maybe...)

I did without lots of essentials for much of my younger life, though, and found that if you can sleep, see, and sit in relative comfort, most everything else can wait.

ELFay - I'm completely with you. I'm 23 and have never owned a TV. Hulu is good enough for me!

I agree with Fire Wife Katie: would love to do without upper kitchen cabinets, especially if they block an otherwise good view.

I don't like the whole box-spring or storage-bed sitting on the ground for two reasons: (1) your toes hit when you stand close to the bed while making it, and (2) on carpet it's difficult to vacuum all the stuff that accumulates where the bed makes contact with the floor (and the vacuum also tends to scratch and dent the bed frame). I really love our new platform bed, set 4" above the ground, so that our vacuum can easily get under there. And no more stubbed toes!

My mom doesn't have bedside tables in any of her guest rooms. It is maddening. I'm always on the look out for cheapies on CL so I can drag them home on my next visit. I need a place to set my glasses and phone when I go to sleep!

Dining table, as I generally eat on the sofa. However, I've recently regretted the lack as I'd like to be able to invite friends over for dinner and have somewhere to sit down.

We're holding off on buying a comfortable, quality dining table until we move to somewhere where we'll be for longer than our current apartment. The table we want wouldn't fit in our current place very well so we make do with a hand-me-down table from friends that's not nice to your knees.

i live without a desk. i usually end up sitting on the sofa and working anyway. the last desk i had just served as unused office items. i got rid of it and do not regret it.
I also do not have a dining table, though i've been fine without it for years, i miss the idea of sitting at a table and eating with freinds.

for the last few years, bedframe, headboard and box springs.
we've been rocking the floor mattress for a few years. hasn't been an issue, but i'm talking my dad into building us a frame with some drawers underneath, as it would be a great way for me to ditch this huge dresser in our small apartment.

I currently don't have:
-a coffee table or end tables next to the couch (I use trays, either on top of the couch, on my lap or on the ottoman)
-a dining table (all dining is done at the kitchen island in my open space, I have entry way parsons table that can be used if a guest isn't comfortable with counter seating)
-an oven (yup, you heard me, I just use a convection/microwave)
-file cabinet (files get stored in banker boxes in a closet, try to do as much electronic as possible)

In the past, I've done without a couch or a real bed (used a futon for years). For 2 years in college I slept on a Japanes folding cushion thing on the floor. I've also lived without a tv.

It's cool that some commenters don't care for coffee tables. Mine seems an unnecessary obstacle, and I prefer a side table or perhaps a tray. But it's pretty, unusual, and my husband likes it, so the knee-bruiser stays.

I would rather not have any lighting and save up for the Artemide lamps I hunger for.

@El Fay: I'm twice your age (exactly) and I got rid of my TV ten years ago. Not everything is generational.

I've been married for eight years and we've been looking for a headboard we both like the whole time. We really do want one, though.

I doubt we'll ever get a coffee table, at least in this house. The room is small and we use an ottoman instead. I assumed a coffee table was more vital if you had a TV (we don't), but it sounds like other people (with TVs?) are happy without one, too.

No dresser here. When we were engaged, I kept a close eye on my beloved's bachelor pad, and recognized his "clean" and "dirty" piles for what it was- a man who would never use a dresser drawer. We set up cubbies in our closet. Mine are neatly folded, his are heaps of mess, and we are both happy campers.

I would LOVE to get rid of the TV... I've been trying to get my boyfriend to get rid of it. At least we got rid of cable... that's a step, right?

I have a walk-in closet and a pre-culled wardrobe (and a couple of these), so no dressers. Still need to get rid of things (sigh, CL buyers, STOP FLAKING OUT) but while it will be a bit minimal when I'm done (if I can keep it that way—fat chance), I wouldn't consider it spectacularly so, to the extent that there are any glaring omissions.

We nixed the coffee table when our little one was starting to walk because of all the sharp corners and edges. We replaced it with two more mobile "Dave" laptop tables from Ikea and haven't missed the big coffee table one bit. We pack the Daves away in the basement when company comes and our family room looks more open than it did before.

I could never give up my bed frame - at 8.5 months pregnant, I think that I'd be stuck there for good if my bed weren't elevated. This would become a problem for late night bathroom trips.

@MadeItToTheMoon, I dropped cable and then added Netflix and Hulu...One step forward and two steps back.

I also ditched my dresser, which I had gotten free from an old roommate in about 1980 :-) Ugliest thing ever. I have a relatively big closet and I got some of those sweater-holding hanging thingies from Ikea to hang from the rod in the closet, and two hanging shoe thingies for each of the doors. The sweater cubes hold shirts, shorts, pajamas, etc and the shoe holders hold -- shoes!! -- but also miscellaneous stuff that typically gets shoved into a drawer. Works great!

Also: we got rid of our TV when our daughter was about 4. She was starting to get addicted. We watch stuff (Glee, Fringe, a few other things) on the computers. No complaints. Love Hulu!

Been TV less for a year now and it was the best choice I ever made! I feel so much less driven by consumerism and I do healthier, more productive things with my time! And, the longer i go without watching TV, the more I lose interest in all kinds of media entertainment. I used to watch Netflix all the time to supplement the loss of cable and now I find I watch maybe one movie a month!

Another one here with no TV. Less cords and electronic clutter to look at. I'm also on the hunt for great bedside tables, for now I have two cardboard boxes turned over and lamps on top. Not ideal but I'm willing to wait to find something I love that is made well with a good story.

Nothing. We would rather put up with ugly furniture (white plastic garden table and recliners for a while) than sit/sleep/eat on the floor.

Miami'sElaine - I actually love a great coffee table but just haven't had the room in my last two places.

Also wanted to mention I used an air mattress on two separate occassions. My last rental for a month (just got divorced was waiting for my new bed to be delivered) and again last year for 4 months (staying in an extra room at my family's until my new construction was done).

we could live without our tv

It's beautiful!

Bar stool at the breakfast nook no one eats breakfast at..

we went sans bed frame and dresser and drawers for about two years. Finally gave in when we had a baby.. needed more storage..

coffee table

I can do without any tables... I have a desk that my boyfriend uses, but as long as I have a bed, I can work, eat, etc and never miss a table. My "night stand"is a dresser and my "coffee table" is a storage ottoman. Everything in a small apartment needs to have multiple functions and tables just don't do enough.