Moving into a new apartment or room is hard, especially if it is your first time living somewhere where the furniture is not provided. Figuring out how to design your room with different colors, furniture and décor can be hard, but I am here to help you design your new room one article at a time. In this weeks ‘Spend Save Splurge,’ I am going to show you how I designed my new room before moving in and how you can, too. Before you move into your new room, you want to figure out what you need: necessities that you will have to spend money on, what you want to splurge on and how you can save money so that you have extra money to actually splurge. Here’s everything I did before moving into my new room:
Necessities
First, figure out what you need (or want really badly) to be in your new room. This list should be relatively short. For example: a bed, nightstand, dresser and desk. Bam. Done. These are the items you are going to have to spend money on because they are pretty much necessities. But, there are ways that you will be able to save loads of money on these necessities.
Before moving into my first apartment, I knew I was going to need a bed for starters. Instead of buying a new bed frame, I searched around on eBay and Craigslist. I know buying a used bed frame may sound gross to some, but it’s just a bed frame and not a mattress that someone actually sleeps on, so I was okay with the idea. After many failed days and weeks of searching, I finally found a bed frame that was perfect. It was white with a quilted headboard. So that day, I messaged the seller, went over and bought the used bed frame for $145.
By buying a used bed frame instead of a brand new one I saved around $500. Bed frames can be expensive so buying a nice used bed frame sounded better to me than buying a cheap new bed frame.
Along with a bed frame, I also found a sweet deal on a wooden desk for $25. It can be tough to find exactly what style and look you may be going for on Craigslist or eBay, but a lot of furniture pieces can be refinished or painted. So even if you see a desk or nightstand that wouldn’t necessarily fit the aesthetic of your room, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it work.
Aesthetic
Colors, patterns and bears! Oh my! Before or after you get your necessities, it’s important you figure out what aesthetic you want your room to have. What colors do you want to surround you? Do you want any patterns present?
Before moving into my new room I knew I wanted a few colors to be present in my room: light pink, cream and gray. I liked all those colors and felt they all went well together. Another color I unintentionally brought into my room was green because of all my plants. Figuring out what colors you want in your room will help to tie your room together.
Once I picked the colors I wanted for my room I could begin shopping for curtains, a bed spread, sheets, etc. Knowing what colors you want makes it easier to pick out décor that will match your room. For example, I found some curtains from Home Goods that were light pink and gray, two colors that were in my aesthetic. Because I had already picked out colors that I wanted my room to be, it made it much easier to find décor for my room, rather than just picking random items and throwing them all together.
Next week’s ‘Spend Splurge Save’ will focus on on how I moved in and put everything together to make a beautiful bedroom all while saving money. Stay tuned!