Furnish an Apartment Inexpensively with Adorable Secondhand Items

Have a plan when furnishing an apartment on a budget. A disciplined, step-by-step approach works best. Make up your mind that some of your furnishings will be compromises for a while. Set priorities – at the top of the list most likely will be a bed, living-room seating, a breakfast table and chairs, and entertainment appliances, pieces such as a coffee table, china cabinet and entertainment armoire are probably marginal. Be creative. Camouflage flaws in secondhand goods (put a pretty quilt, bedspread or tablecloth over a worn but clean and comfortable easy chair; paint a wooden kitchen chair whose varnish is scratched); hang textiles (a scarf or vintage tablecloth) and museum posters for inexpensive, high-impact wall art.