This post gives you 10 thrifty secrets to furnish your studio apartment for unbelievably cheap.
After moving apartments over half a dozen times in my twenties, I’ve finally gotten furnishing apartments on a tight budget down to science.
Believe it or not, I recently moved across the country from New York to California with just 3 suitcases. I furnished my new junior 1 bedroom apartment from scratch for less than $1000 total.
Yes, you read that right. 1000 bucks for an entire furnished apartment.
Not to brag, but I didn’t steal (lol). I also didn’t compromise on comfort and livability. I have everything I need and my space is functional, yet cute and cozy (although it’s still a work in progress and I plan to add more decor as I go!)
If you want to replicate the formula I used to furnish my apartment for cheap, keep reading to discover my 10 best thrifty secrets. Of course, your results may vary depending on factors like your geographic location, and willingness to put in time and effort. But it’s not rocket science. If you really want to furnish your apartment in a cute and stylish way for under $1000, you can definitely do it!
10 tips to furnish a stylish apartment for cheap:
- Buy things secondhand on online marketplaces.
- Buy things secondhand in real life.
- If you must buy something new, look it up on dupe.com first.
- Don’t buy a couch.
- Don’t buy a bed frame. Double up on mattresses instead.
- Buy electronics new online from Walmart, or secondhand from your co-workers.
- Coupon like a maniac and get your cleaning and household supplies from CVS.
- Decorate slooowwly. Good things take time.
- Get things for free from friends and strangers.
- DIY furniture and decor. Especially art.
1. Buy things secondhand on online marketplaces.
The biggest secret to getting cute home decor for less is buying secondhand. A lot of the times, you can get higher quality furniture that has aged beautifully for up to 90% off sticker price. Leather, wood and metal based furniture are particularly good when purchased secondhand because they get better with age.
If you want to know why buying secondhand can be even better than buying new (and not just on the money front), check out this video from home decor creator Chelsy Christina:
The best places to shop secondhand online are Offer Up (an app you can download) and Facebook Marketplace (tied to your facebook account).
Here are my tips to help you shop successfully on these platforms:
- Search for particular furniture brands that you like. For example, I love Article and Castlery furniture. This can surface some gems that you wouldn’t otherwise think to look for.
- Use key words like “vintage”, “mid century modern” and other style adjectives to find furniture that matches your aesthetic.
- Always send an offer below their asking price first. It doesn’t hurt to try, and you’ll find there’s often a lot of wiggle room with sellers who are trying to get rid of stuff fast!
- DON’T GET SCAMMED. Don’t pay them beforehand – only pay after you’ve met up and inspected the item.
- Wait it out! If at first you don’t find what you’re looking for, give it some more time. Inventory is always changing on these dynamic marketplaces, and chances are, someone WILL be selling something that’s a close match to what you want.
2. Buy things secondhand in real life.
perfect for breakfast in bed.
One of my favorite things to do on the weekends is to peruse thrift stores, flea markets and estate sales. You can find some real gems in the home decor area at these secondhand marketplaces. They can be great places to buy picture frames, decorative trays, pots and planters, art work, glassware, mirrors, and other small household goods.
It was a steal at under $10.
Pro tip: try to go to the Goodwills in more “fancy” neighborhoods, and look at Google reviews to see what other thrifters are saying about the quality of their inventory.
3. If you must buy something new, look it up on dupe.com first.
In recent years, inflation has gotten out of control, and it seems to have hit the home decor industry particularly hard. Because what do you mean a couch can now run you up $10,000? (And isn’t even real leather?? 😱💀).
Enter the solution we’ve all been looking for: dupe.com. This site allows you to enter a URL to the product you want to buy, and it searches all over the web for the CHEAPEST dupe. You can save crazy amounts of money – sometimes 90% or more, just check out this example below:
A lot of furniture is manufactured in the same factories, but just marked up differently by different brands depending on their business costs on advertising, branding, etc. Don’t overpay for furniture by finding the cheapest version of what you’re looking for on dupe.
4. Don’t buy a couch.
This might be a hot take, but I find couches to be extremely overrated. They’re usually very expensive, extremely difficult to transport (and get rid of), and take up a LOT of space in an apartment. Don’t get me wrong – couches can be perfect for houses and cavernous living rooms where you need to fill up a lot of space. But if you just need a seating area in a corner your apartment, by all means you have options beyond a couch!
I arranged 3 chairs around a coffee table, and accessorized with throw blankets, a lamp, and lots of plants. I’m biased, but I find the look of this setup to be far more visually interesting than a couch. This setup is also more conducive to group conversations when you’re hosting friends than just a singular couch where you can’t face each other.
The best part? I only spent $310 total for the entire setup. I got everything secondhand for a fraction of the original price: the two leather Article Lento chairs were $100 each, the Article Amoeba coffee table was $50, the lamp was $30, and the Ikea Poang chair was $30.
5. Don’t buy a bed frame. Double up on mattresses instead.
The low-rise, close to the floor style of decorating has become incredibly trendy recently. It can make your space look larger by increasing the distance between your furniture and the ceiling. This style can also give your space a zen, effortlessly cool vibe.
The best part of all: you don’t need a bedframe at all to achieve this look! Just buy two mattresses and stack them on top of each other, and pile on tons of cozy, colorful bedding. When you have guests over, you can simply drag the top mattress off onto the floor and boom, you have a second bed that is much more comfortable than any sofa bed.
I bought my two mattresses from Amazon for $417 total. By skipping the bed frame, I was able to spend more on high quality mattresses.
6. Buy electronics new online from Walmart, or secondhand from your co-workers.
In my opinion, electronics are one of the few home items worth buying completely brand new. Electronics get rapidly better and cheaper with time. It’s not worth gambling on buying something secondhand, that might be outdated, clunky, and in the worst case, not even work at all.
The one exception to this is buying lightly used electronics from your co-workers. If you work at a large corporation, there is likely to be some kind of internal buy / sell group. You can often find good deals here for new-ish electronics at a highly discounted price. And if there are any issues, just work out a return with your co-worker (they aren’t going anywhere!).
My preferred place for buying cheap electronics however is Walmart. I find Walmart tends to have the best deals on electronics. I believe I got my 43 inch Roku TV for under $200 at Walmart when they had a sale last year.
You can save even more money when you buy them online by using the Rakuten chrome extension. This extension allows you to get cash back at a bunch of online stores, including 3% at Walmart. If you shop online a lot, this is definitely a must have because those $ add up!
7. Coupon like a maniac and get your cleaning and household supplies from CVS.
The one place I will always click “Print Receipt” at while checking out is CVS. Ever since I discovered that you can get a laundry list of coupons on your receipt every time you check out, I’ve saved hundreds of dollars from couponing effectively there.
Sometimes, you can even combine coupons to reduce your total cost down even more. I try to buy most of my cleaning supplies and bathroom stuff from CVS to take advantage of these deals. Pro-tip: buy items individually from CVS instead of altogether so you can print out more receipts and maximize your chances of getting coupons that you’ll actually use!
8. Decorate slooowwly. Good things take time ✨🌱.
Time is money as they say, so if you want to save on actual money, be ready to spend more time. Buy smaller plants for cheaper and allow them the time to grow and bloom to fill up your space (get great plants from Trader Joe’s for 5 to 15$, or plant seeds from your fruits like lemon). Be patient when thrifting to find the best deals. Keep an eye out when you travel for new thrift stores and flea markets to discover cute, portable decor.
Constraints can be a gift – a forcing function to nurture creative and good design. Slowing down will help you only buy what you really love. By taking your time and not rushing the process, you leave room for serendipity and discovery.
9. Get things for free from friends and strangers.
If you are patient, you can get the opportunity to pick up things for free from both friends and strangers. Keep an eye out for when your friends are moving out of town. Chances are, they’ll have a bunch of stuff they’re trying to get rid of. You can score some free stuff while helping a friend out!
When it comes to scoring stuff for free from strangers, filter for free items on online marketplaces. I managed to score this awesome media console and TV stand for free off of Facebook Marketplace. This is why tip number 8 is so important: if you’re not in a rush to fill your apartment ASAP, you can discover incredibly deals that will make you thankful you waited.
10. DIY furniture and decor. Especially art.
An underrated alternative to buying furniture and decor is to just DIY it yourself. These projects don’t have to be complicated. Even small DIY projects can add a lot of character to your space. For example, check out this cool hanging bookshelf I DIY’d for less than $20 for the wall next to my bed:
DIYing your own artwork can also be a great way to add color and personality to your home (while saving $!). If you’re a bit of an artist, experiment and treat your walls like your personal art gallery to display your evolving body of work. If not, check out these 12 easy abstract art ideas that literally ANYONE with hands can successfully DIY themselves at home!
I hope these tips have given you the information and inspiration needed to furnish your own apartment in a stylish yet ultra affordable way. And if you manage to furnish your apartment for even cheaper than $1000, please share how you did it in the comments! 😜 Photos and tips appreciated. Good luck!
