A Colorful & Thrifty First Apartment

We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
(Image credit: Submitted by Suzanne)

Name: Suzanne
Location: San Diego, California

This is my first apartment, a 500 square foot, one bedroom! I moved to San Diego for medical school, and then moved out of student housing my 2nd year. My style involves new and thrift/antique store finds. I love colors and I like mid-century modern.

(Image credit: Submitted by Suzanne)

The tire in my bedroom was the tire from my very first car that I spray painted white and turned into a hanging flowerpot; the four walnut dinning chairs are from a local antique shop in San Diego ( I got a deal by purchasing those plus the two other dark finish antique chairs for $150) that I paired with a simple IKEA dinning table; I love plants, but pots can get expensive so I bought plastic cups (6 for $1) from the $1 store, poked some holes on the bottom and placed them on the window pane; the wool rug is from Overtstock- I waited till they had their 30% coupons so it only came out to $49, same for the queen size 16inch extra-plush memory foam mattress I bought from linenspa when they offered discounts and I received extra discounts for signing up for their email list- I received 40% off total and it came out to $380 plus free shipping; and my favorite is the sectional- I waited for a holiday sale and bought it from a local furniture store for $750!

(Image credit: Submitted by Suzanne)

However, I had to do all of this on a medical student budget of almost nothing. To save money I built my bed out of plywood, I made a side table out of books from a thrift store, and I printed out my favorite Dali pieces and framed them with IKEA frames. I found the Herman Miller original coffee table for $200 on Craigslist. The cowhide is from an antique store from Albuquerque, New Mexico for $100.

(Image credit: Submitted by Suzanne)

The bathroom had really gross old tiles, so I just bought some mats from IKEA and crisscrossed them on the floor.

(Image credit: Submitted by Suzanne)

I wanted to make this space mine, and I enjoyed taking a year to create it!

Thanks, Suzanne!

• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour & House Call Submission Form.