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22 August 2007

I need cheap decorating tips for a small apartment. And by cheap, I mean almost free.[More:]Especially because I only have one not too big closet, and almost no furniture to speak of. Help me make my place look nice!
THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICS.
posted by kyleg 23 August | 00:06
SRY, I HAZ NO CAMERA.
posted by SassHat 23 August | 00:15
I wish I could help you, sass! My friends & I redid another friend's apartment over the weekend for $750, but um, that is not free. We did some rearranging of knick knacks and brought pictures out from other rooms to display in the main room, though. That helped. I'll be watchin' to see what other peeps may suggest.
posted by viachicago 23 August | 00:44
Get paint from the local recycling center and improvise.
Get wood or old shelving as well, go dumpster diving as it is move season. Get hammer, nails and glue and construct wall hanging sculptural shelving for more storage and a focal point.
Stencil a simple graphic on some large swath of fabric and hang from a dowel and cup hooks for a blind or a divider or a decorative element.
i got tons of ideas. Hell, i got all kinds of crap and i'm thinking of dumping stuff and running.
Want some big canvases?
i'd say more but i need to make a vain attempt at sleep.
posted by ethylene 23 August | 00:58
It's a common refrain these days, but hopefully it's true where you live too: craigslist. I furnished my apt. pretty nicely and cheaply so far with it and in the instance of my heaviest item got it delivered by people who just really wanted to make room in their home for their new furniture. A local second hand furniture store also helped me.
posted by PY 23 August | 03:14
I just found Teeny Tiny Living a day or two ago and I love looking at the photos of how other people decorated and furnished their small spaces.
posted by PY 23 August | 03:17
do you have Freecycle where you are? Sign up to receive every email, be quick about replying and you could soon have a pile of stuff. Helps if you have a way to transport it.
posted by altolinguistic 23 August | 04:57
altolinguistic is correct, and you can also get a daily digest email if you'd rather. You might miss out, though.
posted by chuckdarwin 23 August | 07:20
Go to your local Goodwill on Wednesdays. Lotsa times you can find things for your walls, etc for pretty darn cheap and I find that Wednesday is the best day selectionwise.

And don't be afraid to take your time.
posted by bunnyfire 23 August | 08:30
Where are you again? The vast majority of my furniture came off the street in New York or Baltimore. Just keep your eyes peeled - it also helps to have muscular friends with you, granted. Most people will help you carry furniture a couple of blocks if there's a free beer at the end of it. Be careful about upholstered stuff, though, as it may already be inhabited. But cheap bookcases, tables, desks, etc can all be painted up and/or decoupaged quite cheaply and they look awesome. Or you can do what I did one time and buy a couple of cans of that stone look spray paint and spray everything granite so it looks like you live in a weird fake castle. Actually, don't do that. But you can get shiny silver chrome spray paint and use that, or shiny black. My current off the street bookcases are done in a combination of the two and look quite smart.

Decorating: may I present The Rasterbator. This is how it made my office better and I just printed it out on cardstock. Failing the Rasterbator, I for one have always wanted to buy some bee-yoo-tee-ful paintings at the Goodwill and improve them with cheap and easy collage effects. I haven't done this though because I have no wall space left. If all else fails, hang Indian bedspreads everywhere and pull out the hookah.
posted by mygothlaundry 23 August | 08:55
Freecycle. You can ask for paint, even specify color. If you get 3 shades of blue, you can do some mixing to get a shade you like. There's a lot of unused paint out there. Ask for fabric if you need curtains. Check out the Library. They have decorating books, of course, but may also have a sewing machine to make curtains or great art you can keep on your wall for 2 months, then swap out for more great art. If you have time, advertise availability to clean out attics. You charge for your time, and usually get some great stuff.

posted by theora55 23 August | 08:57
Where are you again? The vast majority of my furniture came off the street in New York or Baltimore.


As much as I love a bargain, one has to be mighty fearful of bedbugs these days. At least in NYC, where they are freakin' EVERYWHERE.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 23 August | 10:12
What's your apartment's configuration? Our place is small rooms with high ceilings, so we've Gone Vertical!TM wherever possible. A potrack in the kitchen; storage racks on top of the fridge; hooks and pegboards in the bedroom, bathroom, and entry; tall bookcases, or half-height bookcases securely stacked together, baskets and crates under tables.

Also, I favor trunks over tables and ottomans, to provide a little extra storage space.

They're not free, but here's my single favorite small-apartment accessory: the wooden cubby, shown
here
as pine cube, pine double cube, and pine triple cube. The link formatting is all squargled up, but I can't get it to format properly, so to the devil with it, I say.

I buy them unfinished; a little work with a sanding block and a coat of varnish classes 'em up. they can lie horizontally or stand vertically, and you can stack horizontal rows to make a bookcase.

Our tv-stand/media center is three 3-cubed sets stacked up, with the tv on top and DVDs and books in the cubbies. Our stereo sits on a similar arrangement (my cubes perfectly fit four wooden CD crates), and I used to have a platform bed with storage underneath and cubbies facing out filled with clothing, CDs, and books.

I've used them as kitchen storage for dry goods, pots and pans, and glassware, as clothing storage for bulky sweaters, as bookcases, and as a makeshift coffeetable.

They're modular, so you can configure and reconfigure them wherever you need storage. They're spare and simple, so the apartment doesn't feel cluttered up by frilly furniture details. They're wood, not veneer, so they don't have that cheap plasticky shine that veneer furniture has. When we first moved in together, The Fella marvelled over these crates, saying, "Every apartment dweller should have these!"
posted by Elsa 23 August | 11:02
Bringin' in the harvest. || THIS IS A TEST OF THE WENDELL RADIO BROADCAST

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