How to best Furnish and Decorate your College Apartment

Your college apartment is the perfect time to experiment with furnishing and decorating. It is the first time that you are living a space without your parents, and you and your roommates are able to curate a space exactly to your liking. The process can be both fun and stressful. Here are some tips and tricks that I have learned over the years as a now senior in college who has moved and redecorated each school year.

Step 1: Establish Your Vibe

First thing is first, what are you trying to accomplish int he space you are furnishing and decorating? Are you looking to make your apartment a fun place to entertain at? Or a cozy study spot? Or maybe a peaceful sanctuary used to destress at the end of a long day. A piece of advice is that you are young, and pretty much anything goes so take advantage of that! You want a street sign in your living room fine. What about a bright orange couch? Done.

Whatever vibe it may be, it is important to establish it with whoever you are living with. A great way to do this is make a Pinterest board filled with colors, styles, and decor ideas to help bring your thoughts and visions to reality. This is especially great to show roommates and used as a visual example. 

Step 2: Evaluate Your Space

After you have come to the conclusion of what vibe you and your roommates are going for, it is essential that you evaluate the space that you are working with. Do you have a lot of room to work with, or is your space minimal and requiring specific techniques to open it up? Are your ceilings high and require tall furniture and finishings, or are they short requiring smaller furniture? Before you shop around for furniture and decor it is important that you know how to best optimize your space to determine what it is you are shopping for. 

Step 3: Shop

Now this is where it starts to get fun! Time to shop for furniture and decor. From past expierence of furnishing several apartments in Chicago, look on Facebook Marketplace. I have found the most unique and affordable pieces on Marketplace, and being able to go get items within days makes furnishing much easier. Filter the search to your city and give a limit of how many miles away the items can be. Then make sure to click the button “local”. This will give you results in the targeted area you put in. The more you use marketplace, the more the algorithm works to show results and filter to what you like based on previous searching and shopping habits. This makes it even easier to shop on Marketplace.But if you are really not having luck on Facebook Marketplace, shop the thrift stores. A huge advantage to buying second hand is that the pieces are already assembled. No need to stress about reading directions and taking time out of your day to assemble tedious furniture from Amazon or Ikea, it is already ready to go! The only essential home items to buy first hand are pillows and blankets. Mostly everything else can be found second hand effectually and affordably. 

Shopping is the most fun, but can also be the most stressful step. Assuming that as a college student you are living with roommates, it can cause tension while figuring out who pays for what, and what should be split and what should not. It is important that everyone contributes in some way to furnishing and decorating the apartment. I have found that it works best if everyone is assigned an item such as couch, rug, chair, and light, instead of spitting each item bought between all of you. This makes move out easier and less stressful. If you split items, then who gets to take them when you move out? At that point you either have to flip a coin or one has to buy the other out. Awkward! To avoid this, everyone has got to contribute individually. 

Step 4: Move in

If you are lucky enough to have a car in Chicago, you may be able to do much of the moving of furniture and decor yourself. But if you are car-less living in a big city like me, transporting the items found on Facebook Marketplace or thrift stores may be a challenge. There are great apps that I have used over the years such as Dolly and Lugg. These apps let you manually put in and take photographs of what you need moved. They will ask a series of questions such as how many flights of stairs are required and how many movers you are looking for. Each experience that I have had while using these apps for moving has been great! So great in fact, that my roommate and I made friends with a couple of guys that helped us move in from Lugg and now we just call them up whenever we need help. It’s all about who you know!

See Also

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Step 5: Assemble

Now it is time to put it all together! This last step is so much fun. You get to bring your visions to life and start making your college apartment a home. Find your Feng Shui, and do not be afraid to try tons of things out before you get it right! Move the furniture all around, rehang the paintings a million times if you have to. Trail and error is essential. Now a common misconception of this step is that it happens in a day or even a week. No! Just as all good things do, it takes time to create a well curated vision. Especially if you are shopping second hand, it Amy take weeks or months to find every piece you need or want for your apartment. Patience is the key. Everything eventually will fall into place… until next year when you do it all over again!

college apartment

college apartment

college apartment