How did you furnish your first place?

[disykat]

I saw an ad for a show "my first place" - a home decorating show. I thought it would be all about budget, but I caught the end of it and LOL when they said something to the effect of "we did the living room for only $5K". I admit I was channel flipping - maybe I misheard.

My first apartment, I moved all my earthly possesions to an apartment in my used 76 toyota coralla (this was in 1984). I lived there for nine months and amassed a huge amount of furniture. A folding table, a folding chair, a rocking chair borrowed from a friend, some pillows for the floor, a tv stand I bought for $3 at a garage sale to go with my 13 in b/w tv. My bed was a pad of old comforters on the floor and I used sturdy cardboard boxes for bedroom storage.

After that I moved in with friends and we pooled furniture. So while I did buy myself a bed and a dresser, it was quite a while before I accumulated any more.

This really didn't seem weird to me or my friends - although most of them had some furniture that they had handed down to them from family. Cheap furniture like Target and Ikea didn't exist. Is this my "I walked 5 miles in the snow story" or did other people have similar experiences with their first place?

 

[Blondie]

We were lucky. My DH's cousin worked for Levitz at the time and got us all our furniture for half price using his employee discount!

The only thing we have left of that first furnishing is our bedroom set. Everything else has been long replaced (we've been married since 1980, I would hope so!)

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Well, I dated the owner of a major furniture store.

He did my apartment for me.

 

[froglady]

My first apartments were "furnished." (Use your imagination. ) My first "unfurnished" (that I shared with DH) 1 BR apt contained my bed and dressers from home, my bookshelves from home, a small loveseat that DH & I purchased, a dropleaf table and chairs I picked up at a second hand store (I still have the table) and some wicker baskets. The kitchen had a built-in table; I bought a couple of chairs. I also purchased some lamps. That was it.

We added a Mission rocker and antique cobbler's bench, which we still have.

We purchased a ton of MIL's family furniture at auction...it's a long story. We've added, replaced, etc over 30 years of marriage.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

When we started out, everything was a hand me down! In fact, we're still replacing some of that stuff.

 

[becjlek]

don't forget the bricks and boards book shelves and milk crates for storage

 

[RitaZ.]

I can still see it... It was a one bedroom apartment... We had a new bedroom set, which we purchased on layaway. My MIL was throwing away a dinette set, I re-finished it and re-upholstered the cushions. We didn't have a sofa or any chairs. Our tv set was on the floor in the empty living room and we used boxes from our move to support our backs. About a year later, we were able to purchase a sofa and wing chair. We were thrilled! This was in 1988! We've come a long way!

 

[EthansMom]

My bedroom dresser is an IKEA one I bought in 1997 or 1998. Our bed tables are also IKEA (c. 2000). We bought our dining set, entertainment unit, end table and two sofas for $4000 direct from NC in 2000.

I am currently saving for a nicer diningroom set. I have no idea what I would do if it cost $5000 to decorate each room in the house -- probably wouldn't be able to afford the house.

 

[Stacerita]

Geez, compared to some of you my first place was a dump! I had an apartment in college that I shared with two roommates. When we moved in we had no furniture. Well, I had brought my bedroom set from home and they shared a room but only had two twin box springs and mattresses. We had nothing else in that place for a while. It was so sad. We had a house warming party/halloween party a few days after we moved in there was no where for anyone to sit. They all had to sort of lean against the wall or sit on the coolers they brought. We had these crappy posters on the wall in the living room, wall papered the hall way with concert flyers, and slowly got the hand me downs from various people. Wobbly chairs, mismatched lamps, stained couch, and a few things that we were even embarrased to take. Within a month or so our place was no where near the Laura Ashley thoughts we had once had, but it now looked more like early Salvation Army. We loved it though. Became quite the party palace. Oh, we did decorate the celings nicely though. Strung up white Christmas lights aroung the edges of the celing and the rest was a mass of bottle caps from all the beer we all drank. We had that cottage cheese looking celing. It was quite a collection too. Had an area of the celing that was just for foriegn beer. I had the best memories while I was removing all those bottle caps just before we moved out. Yep, the place was a dump, but it was my dump.

 

[makinorlando]

Ikea - my first apartment in 1985 was totally IKEA. Some of those pieces of furniture are still in various other family and friends homes 20 years later!!!

 

[malibuconlee]

Well, let's see. My kitchen table was one my great-uncle had given my mom back in the 70's. I had no chairs, so my in-laws gave us the folding chairs that went with their card table that had to be 25 years + old.

The couch came from my friend who was moving and didn't want it. It came complete with the green ghost blanket from her childhood. It had holes in it for eyes from when they played ghost when they were kids she had gotten it from her parents.

I had a recliner I had bought used from my aunt to give DH while he was in college one Christmas.

Our bed was a full sized one DH had bought at the sale his grandmother had after his grandfather died. Mattress was ANCIENT and he had slept int he middle so long, we rolled toward each other.

Our 'guest bed" was a cheap futon I had bought DH as a birthday gift with my Wal-Mart discount.

We did have plenty of nice kitchen things as I had bought those and towels over many months via lay away.

 

[Chris2597]

My first apt. was furnished with mostly hand me downs from my moms house....and my bedroom furniture that I got when I was 7. We finally bought a new diningroom table that we are still using....

 

[Disney Doll]

Used bedroom set, used dining room set (which we still have!), new livingroom couch and loveseat, liviingroom coffe table and two end tables which we bought at a local discount store similar to a Wal-Mart for $79 for all three pieces, new kitchen table and chairs.

I wanted the "public" areas of the house to be a little nicer, hence the new livingroom furniture and kitchen table. The DR set, even though it was used, was nice. The BR set was ugly...good quality, but ugly.

 

[NMAmy]

My first apartment--where I wasn't rooming with someone who already had furniture--was a furnished apartment in Germany. My ex was in the Army and we lived on the economy in a gorgeous old house that was converted into three apts. Huge ceilings, big windows with window seats, a funky bed that was really two twin beds hooked together (great for newlyweds )and a schrunk and dresser in the bedroom, a nice leather sofa and dining room table, chairs, and a bookcase in the living room. It was kind of an odd setup with a tiny little kitchen and bathroom and the other two rooms were huge but I really loved that apt.

Now when we moved back to the States and lived in military housing, then we had some funky, cheapy furniture. I still have the little end tables we bought then--they've been painted and they're in my sunroom now.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Our first place was decorated in Cheap Early Marriage. Seriously, nothing went together and it all looked like we'd been scavaging in the 'free' bin at the local charity resale place.

The thing I hated the most though, was the furniture. My mother had bought us this incredibly ugly navy blue/yellow/forest green plaid couch/loveseat set complete with tacky coffee table and end tables. When we got rid of it, she threw a fit because 'she bought it for US'. I told he we HAD to get rid of it. It was not only ugly, but because it was ugly we let the cats shred it, so it just HAD to go when we found the great couch/loveseat set we have now.

TOV

 

[princess pooh]

Almost everything came from Ikea or from my parents and I still have a lot of it. We bought a new dining room and living room set when we moved to our new place, and we're slowly upgrading . I still kind of miss my first place...it was so bright and fun!

 

[kydisneyfans]

A lawn chair and black and white TV with tin foil extending the antenna-this was the mid 90s. Found a few shelves in trash stacks along the road. Used mattess-that set on the bedroom floor. A dryer that was found in the dump that a family member repaired.

The good ole days.

 

[Michie]

S&h green stamps.

 

[Philadisney]

i've been on my own for about five years, and still have a 1970's couch that my parents got for THEIR first apartment in my living room. i'll be replacing it with another sofa of theirs when my mother retires and they get rid of their city apartment. thank goodness i'm an only child and don't have to fight for the hand me downs!
other than my desk, bookcase & kitchen table, which were gifts, all my other furniture is also hand me downs from my aunt & grandmother. my dressers in my bedroom are from when i was in grade school! they were white plastic that i sanded and painted bright blue, and added shiny chrome handles to ($3 at home depot!) they look totally different!

 

[minniecarousel]

Well - let's see if I can think back that far! Our big purchase was a floor sample sofa from JCPenney. DH had lived with his brother, so we got a kitchenette from when they lived together. We had the particle board/decorative bricks for the stereo and bookcases. When we bought our bed, it came with a headboard. Pretty simple purchases.