Decorating Your New Apartment!

   This blog is an extension of the one written by the charming Gabby Cruz called "Apartment Hunting"!

In my experiences, the hardest part of moving actually isn’t moving … it’s getting settled into the apartment. To me, the idea of chairs, tables, furniture, dishes and curtains are perplexing. Not because I don’t understand I need these things, but rather because I have no idea where to begin! What do I need? How much does it cost?

   Questions like these cause me to loose sleep, sometimes anyway!

   I recently moved and found myself with the following furniture: a bed and two bookshelves. That was it. Nothing else! No dishes, no tables or chairs, nothing. I also owned a LOT of books and believed I needed to have bookshelves, however I soon found an alternative + answers to a lot of my other problems.

   THE NO BOOK-SHELF BOOKSHELF – Windowsills. The bar that sits outside the kitchen. The upper sections of closets. All these places can be sued to arrange books for easy access.

This is the kind of bar I mean

   THE NO COFFEETABLE TABLE – We lovingly call this a “hobo” table because of the simplicity. I took four fedex boxes and, after having centered them together, I used two shelves that I didn’t need from my bookshelves as the “surface” of the table.

   I was able to find a “dining room” table from Wal-Mart for about 20 dollars, as well as a rather decent Futon where the ends of the “couch” click up to form arms if you need them. It cost less than 170 dollars, a bargain when you consider how UTTERLY expensive couches are.

This is what I bought!

   While I know the idea is iffy, try Craigslist. As long as you *ALWAYS CALL THE PERSON WITH FURNITURE AND NEVER GO ALONE TO A STRANGERS HOME* you can find some great bargains, however (possibly) be prepared to drive a little bit. I found many, many great couch/bed options that were less than 100-75 bucks, however the trick was just getting to the locations.

   As my friend Kat and I learned, U-Haul does NOT provide the hitch attachments for cars if you plan on using a trailer that is pulled by your vehicle. We wound up having to pay almost 200 dollars for the Hitch, Ball, and electrical installation necessary to get her car up and ready for pulling the trailer. We THOUGHT we’d only be spending 20 bucks, but it almost cost 100X that amount. Be careful!

My cat, Bella, approves of the new futon