How did you furnish your first place?

[LoveWDW]

We lived in my husband's apartment after we got married. He had gone to a furniture rental place and bought a sofa cheap- it had bricks under one corner since the leg was broken. For a bed he had a twin size box springs that had legs that screwed in, and a mattress. Dresser and kitchen table and the two chairs for the table were hand me downs. He had a rug but no vacuum, so he swept his rug with a broom. His 15 inch black and white tv hung from a cheap stand. We bought a sleep sofa and used that for a bed- Owie- my back!

We moved into a bigger place a few months later and bought a bedroom suite that we still use and a dinette that we still use as a dining room table. Our sleep sofa is still with us and has been recovered.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Our first apartment came with a bed and a dresser (it was broken & ugly). We did not have a TV and they only thing we "furnished" was a used couch from my parents that needed to be burned.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

My first apartment, in grad school, looked like a total dump on the outside, but the inside had been partially remodeled. My room was long, but had a low celing and the back door and hideous bright pink shag carpet. My roomie's bedroom was super small, with no closet. Her closet was in the bathroom, and was HUGE! The living room was smaller than some walk-in closets, and the kitchen was barely larger. Our furniture? All hand-me-downs, Goodwill finds, and even a tv cart found on the curb on garbage day! I had my childhood bed, my dad's childhood dresser, my high school desk, and the papasan chair I'd saved and saved for in Jr. High. Oh, and my grandmother's table and two wobbly old bookcases we scavenged from a thrift store.

We used a couple cans of spray paint and some old sheets we got at Goodwill to make our living room furniture "match", but we did end up with a pretty slick looking room - all light blue, brown, and black. Of course, it was barely large enough for a super small loveseat, TV, low bookcase, and my papasan chair. Once you added people into the space, it was rather difficult to move around.

The funny thing is, I'm 30-something now and I still have never bought any sort of "matching" furniture set! I'm still shopping at thrift stores, garage sales, and relatives' basements... maybe I'll grow up someday, but in the meantime I'm saving money for Disney trips!

 

[MerryPoppins]

We got our bed as a wedding gift from our parents. Our dressers were antiques we bought at auction.

Our spare bedroom had a twin metal bed, also from auction and a dresser and chest of drawers I had growing up.

Our living room had a new couch and coffee table. Our tv was a hand-me-down and our end table was a wooden file cabinet.

Our dining room was an antique table from an auction and new oak chairs we bought to match it.

We also had a computer desk that we probably bought at Wal-mart.

 

[barkley]

my first place was an apartment in an old victorian house. i had a love seat, small coffee table, and an oak wall unit all purchased on an employee discount at a furniture store i used to work at (but was still friendly with the assistant manager) that along with an OLD tv and the requisite brass and glass small plant tray made up the living room

in the kitchen i had a small table a friends father had made 40 years earlier in shop class (i used it as a chopping block), and a wooden 3 leveled display unit that a local craft store was tossing out (i put my appliances and microwave on it).

the bedroom held my old white brass day bed (single style) which my boyfriend (later to become dh) always complained about cuz his feet hit the brass on the one end and his head hit the brass on the other (he was none to pleased when he discovered the trundle bed underneath it that once popped up converted to single to a king ). the room was competed with a dresser and night stand of my parent's (circa 1930's) that they had planned on trashing but i held onto. a freind did a great job refinishing it and then we found some great brass handles to dress them up.

during that time i added such STUNNING designer touches as HUMONGOUS PILLOWS to serve as chairs for those guests to inebriated to return to a standing position , a lopsided (well warped realy) small end table that held one ashtray at best, and my one grand purchase-a wicker chair in shades of green from peir one imports (dh always asks when we will toss it-NEVER i say, it has sentimental value ).

one good friends entire design theme was "what can be taken without risk of legal prosecution"-therefore all of his dresser drawers were plastic milk boxes, his book shelves more milk cartons with boards, his chairs...you guessed it milk cartons with seat cushions, he also decorated his walls with jigsaw puzzles. each week he would buy a several hundred pc one. put it together and then glue it into a frame. since he was paid weekly there was always something new up on the wall.

i wish i knew some first timer's i have so much furniture that could be used, lots of housewears as well.

 

[delilah]

Our first place was an expensive, furnished apartment. We lived there the first three months we were married, my first summer term of graduate school. Turned out, it was a three month lease, and rent is much higher during the academic year. So, we had to scramble for some furniture. We bought a used dining room set for about $100, and a used bedroom set for also a small amount of money. We paid a fellow for a bed, but, he was affiliated with the university somehow, and didn't want to let us have it until he moved out at the end of the term. So, we slept on the floor for a few weeks. When he finally gave us the bed, he also gave us a large wing chair, which we still have. It was very high quality, and we have had it reupholstered. It alone was probably worth all the money we spent on furniture. Unfortunately, the bed frame and box spring were not high quality, and broke within a year or so, so we ended up actually just buying a new bed.

We used cinderblocks and boards for our books, which were the majority of our possessions. We used this as book cases until we moved here, when I started my medical practice, and could actually afford the cheap bookcases from Target or Kmart.

 

[Sleepy]

I already had the major kitchen necessities like pots, glasses and dishes and then some towels, but that was about all I had. Hubby had nothing. We got a mattress from someone and that sat on the floor. The couch was a few pillows on the floor. Oh and we got a tv from his parents....a really ancient set, but it worked for almost 2 years.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

My guest bedroom is my bedroom set from my when I lived at home w/ my parents. I've had it since I was probably 6 years old. It's still really pretty and saw no need to buy all new furniture for that room.

My master bedroom furniture is new. The bed, dresser, and nightstand cost (if I remember correctly) about $500-600. We got it at Rooms to Go.

Our living room furniture is a story. I wanted to decorate the living room in Country French. I couldn't find ANYTHING. So I have up on that and just looked for a suit that I liked. Our floors and all our wood is a light oak, so I wanted light wood furniture (tables and such). I searched and searched and was about to give up. All I could find was dark oak and CHERRY (which I love, but would have looked really odd in our house).

I finally found a suit I adored, again, at Rooms to Go. I think we spent about $1500 on it.

We both had a buttload in savings so that's how we could afford it.

 

[Kaycee]

DH and I had no furniture when we first got married. Here's an inventory of the furniture from our first apartment:

A waterbed mattress in a homemade frame that was DH's when he was in high school.

A black-and-white TV with tin foil on the antenna.

A stereo. It wasn't that expensive, but it was the nicest thing we owned.

A papasan chair that DH's parents gave us and that we shared.

A beanbag chair for guests.

Lots of milk crates. DH's mother worked at a restaurant, and she collected a ton of them for us. We used them as an entertainment center to hold our TV, stereo, and CD's. We used them as a coffee table, and as a nightstand. We even stacked them to use as a dresser.

We had an odd collection of dishes, cookware, and linens that were hand-me-downs from MIL. I don't think we had two pieces of anything that matched.

That was it.

Ah, those were the days.

 

[L107ANGEL]

S&h green stamps.

anybody know what this woman is talking about

 

[Feralpeg]

A year after my mom died, my dad decided to get remarried. The lady he married had a full house of furniture. Since my dad was selling our house to move to a new house with his new wife, he didn't want any of the furniture. My two brother, my sister and I divided up all of the furniture in our house and we all moved to our separate places.

 

[disykat]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with fond memories of decorating on a $0 budget. I didn't know anyone (we were all single - I think married people decorated more) who actually spent money on furnishings.

 

[golfgal]

Our first apartment was furnished with a table and chair set from DH's parents when they got something new, our "furniture" was wooden patio furniture with cushions that SIL made when SHE had this furniture for her apartment. My grandpa made us a beautiful oak bed and nightstands for a wedding present and my mom gave us a mattress set so we were ok with that. We had DH's old bunkbeds in our spare room for guests.

 

[Chicago526]

My first place was a condo that I purchased, so I knew I was going to buy a place about 6 months before it happened, and since I lived with my parents I had a place to store everything as I aquired it.

So I was able to keep an eye out for deals. I bought my dishes including glasses and silverware for $75 for 12 place settings, and my mom gave me an old fine china set she had since she never used it. My parents gave me a cookware set for Christmas, and I bought kitchen gadgets here and there as I thought of them. My next door neighbors new I'd be moving so they let me buy an old sofa, coffee table, and end tables from them for $50 bucks. I bought an antique side board off my brother (who had gotten it dirt cheap and refinnished it).

I already owned a bed, dresser, night stand and desk so the bedroom was taken care of.

I only bought two new pieces of furniture. My brother built me an entertainment center, so I spent $300 on that (would have cost me $2000 had I bought something similar at a store!) and I bought a kitchen table and chairs (seats 6) for $250 (solid oak).

After I moved in, and money wasn't as tight, I worked on upgrading some of my stuff. The old sofa was on it's last legs, so after two years I bout a new sofa and love seat (still have the coffee and end tables though, since they still look nice). And I won $300 at a casino, so I bought a new and bigger tv with that. I was always on the look out for things to decorate my apartment with, so I picked up various knick-knacks and framed art, and eventually got curtains (the condo came with really nice shades for all the windows, so I was able to do without for a while).

 

[froglady]

anybody know what this woman is talking about

You got them in grocery stores, so many stamps/amount spent. Then you could take the filled booklets to the S&H center, and trade them for household items. I got my lamps that way.

Did anyone else use empty wooden telephone wire spools for furniture, or am I really dating myself? My roomate and I had one that we covered in fabric and used as an end table. I knew someone who had all sizes, so used the largest as a dining table, and smaller ones as stools around it. Also had some as end tables, bedside tables, etc. He either knew someone who worked for the phone company, or was very good at finding and "lifting" them.