So, you finally have your first space; your very own space! Congrats! Now, you have an entire apartment to furnish and here’s where the difficult part begins. With, usually, a next-to-nothing budget, your options are limited. Or, are they not? Here are some incredibly handy tips to show off your dorm room with pride and budget-friendly furniture, accessories, and artwork while creating super cozy, adorable pad.

1. Experiment

There is no better time to learn about what works in your own space than now. It’s play time so experiment on lots of different things. Move furniture around, edit, and rearrange stuff. And, don’t be surprised if a brilliant space solution comes after months of living in the apartment. That’s the way it usually works!

2. Bedding options

Instead of going for the cliché complete set for your bedroom, try mixing and matching your bedding. There are amazing sales all year round on pairs of cool shams, printed duvet covers, and solid-color sheets so keep an eye out for them.

When you do find the pieces that you fancy use a single small scale print (i.e. a small pattern on the pillowcases), a large scale print (i.e. a floral print on a duvet cover), and a sold one (i.e. on a cushion).

3. Keep it simple

The point is to keep the rooms uncluttered. At this point, don’t worry if you don’t have the pieces you wanted. For example, a simple table and a set of chairs are enough on a soft rug to make a kitchen feel inviting and cozy. How? Keep them in the center of the room and build around them (i.e. accented with, say, a thrift-dishes wall display or a tin of flowers).

4. Go for vintage

Vintage hunt is a great money saver. So, spend some time going through Craigslist of yard sales and you’ll definitely find fab pieces to create the unique look you want. Now, if you want to find authentic midcentury coffee tables and sideboards, try vintage shops. You will certainly come across some with clean lines and reasonable prices. If your search turns out fruitless, you can always use high-gloss white paint and turn a funky old garage sale dresser into a chic piece. Note: Always inspect an upholstered piece very carefully. You don’t want to mess with bedbugs or have to clean pet stains, do you?

5. The Bulletin Board

You can easily upgrade it if you cover it with canvas or linen and use burlap. You can get your supplies from a hardware store (the canvas drop cloth) or a coffee shop nearby (ask for their old burlap sacks). Use either fixing nails or a staple gun to find your way around the fabric and fix it to the board.

6. Bathroom

Think smart on his one, too. Instead of darting to the nearest Bed & Bath to get your bathrooms supplies, keep an eye around the apartment. Could it be you already have items that you could use as quirky accessories? Teacups, glass jelly jars, decorative trays, and dessert plates are some of the things that you could use to place your toiletries in. Want to create a cool effect? Use mismatched mirrors and place in the bathroom or any other blank and dull wall in the apartment.

7. Repurpose things

Print some of your favorite photos and make your own wall art (tape them in a colored grid). Use your vintage suitcases as side tables. If you want, fill them with off-season clothing to save room in the closet, too. Trunks, on the other hand, make fantastic coffee tables. Again, have a look around and see if and how you can repurpose the old stuff you have and not use anymore.

8. Shop IKEA

BUT, set limits. YES, you will find budget-friendly items there, but you need to bring your own touch to your apartment and not make it look like a replica of a page in the IKEA catalog. So, have a plan. Do you really need large, complicated shelving units? What happens if you need to move? Although they will be trustworthy when you install them, they won’t be able to endure the strains of many moves. Instead, chose solid one-piece items, such as small tables, rugs, lamps, and chairs as they are an easy mix with your future more permanent stuff.

9. Choose colors

Admittedly, having a stack of all-white anything. You can find white simple lamps and paper storage boxes in white. Remember that if you have jumbled your flat with lots of hues and prints, it will be difficult to go back into white. So, start small and then take it from there.

10. Art Wall

Print your favorite quotes and mix with art prints of various sizes in black and white (all of them). This should be enough to create a gallery wall. You can also do this if you use cut-up snapshots, postcards, and books that you could frame, if you want, without straying from the black/white splendor!

Space-Saving Tricks

1. Use Cube Stools

There is nothing more room saving than solid upholstered cube stools. They come so versatile that you can use them in lots of different ways. For example, they make perfect coffee tables. You also fit your bill if you need an extra seating or a small stool to put your feet up on while watching your favorite TV show.

2. Hang the TV

If there is not enough room for your TV or if the space you are left with after placing your TV on the console is pretty tight, you can hang it on the wall. And, to make even more room, hang it over your computer. This means that your desk is both the place where you work on your assignments and your entertainment center. But, no matter where you decide to place your TV, you can certainly try hanging art around it to help it blend with the rest of the décor in the room.

Final Tips:

• Do you have an older piece or two? Mixing them in is a great idea that will give everything around them a very interesting touch.
• Always go for the smaller-scale pieces, keeping in mind it’ll be easier to reuse down the road.
• Budget sofas with tight seats and backs are more long-lasting compared to their soft cushioned counterparts.
• Layer fun rugs on top of icky carpeting. Foolproof options are area rugs with geometric prints or solid natural-fiber area rugs.
• Get a plant for the new apartment. It gives a homey feeling to every place. Fresh, green houseplants will instantly upgrade your space.

Have a small bedroom or dining room and want to make it look bigger or want to renew your home? We got you covered!