Just Starting Out: A Smart, Stylish $1200 Living Room

Furnishing an apartment from scratch is daunting, especially when you’re just starting out and there’s little left over in your paycheck after rent and food. One of our5 Strategies for Outfitting Your First Apartmentis savvy shopping so here’s an example of the basics of a whole living room for a little more than a thousand dollars. It’s still a lot when you’re on a tight budget, but perhaps seeing a smartly shopped room broken down will make the effort seem more do-able.

There are no rules about what pieces of furniture a room does or doesn’t have to have, but for this fictional living room I chose what I consider to be the basics of a living room: sofa, arm chair, rug, curtains, coffee table, lamp, bookshelf and some storage.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how much the items above cost:

1. CURTAINS = $28.49 per panel =$56.98 (Nate Berkus™ Metallic Curtain Panelat Target)
2. CHAIR = $179 (RÅDVIKEN chairat IKEA)
3. COFFEE TABLE = $42 (Marshall 2-Shelf Rolling Coffee Table Cartat Amazon)
4. FLOOR LAMP = $82.98 (Chrome 3-legged Floor Lampat Overstock)
5. SOFA = $399 (9 By Novogratz Vintage Linen Mix Futonat Walmart)
6. STORAGE = $17.95 lg + $12.95 sm = $30.90 (Storage baskets at H&M Home)
7. BOOKCASE = $194.99 (Mid Century Modern Horizontal Bookshelfat Target)
8. RUG = $229.99 (绿色和白色条纹Dhurrie地毯at World Market)