jeff answered at 9/19/2007 9:40:09 AM
Ideas? I’m full of ‘em. The challenge is seeing if any of them are actually any good. Kidding. Making your place ridiculously sweet is really pretty simple. It all starts with the living room. Pick a motif and stick with it. Nothing is more unsweet than an apartment that’s a mesh of a thousand different styles and nothing consistant. Mom’s old hand me down couch can still work, but the worn out cover won’t. Slip covers are the best way to go. For cheap slip covers, hit up your outlet malls or get online. Then build the rest of the living room around that.
There’s never shame in hitting the local discount superstore like Target for rugs, end tables, coffee tables, and virtually any furniture at a very superstore price. Seriously, you can find some pretty sweet stuff that will match the rest of the room and be consistent. Squeeze your budget in other areas like shopping for all generic, cleaning, bathroom, and kitchen necessities at the nearest dollar store. You’ll actually save a ton by doing that. I’d even go so far as to say you could do your early grocery shopping there too, but that’s going to have to be your call.
No TV? No problem. You don’t have to drop a couple of hundred on one at the store. Hop online and check out some of the social networking classifieds. People are always giving things away for cheap on sites like Craigslist. You can find almost anything you need there. In fact, after just moving, if you need a job, you can find that there too.
Lastly, make sure you keep things clutter free. Hide wires. Don’t stack your DVD’s put them in a rack. Space things out. One, maybe two items on the coffee table is enough. Limit the number of picture frames on the end-tables. Break down your boxes and store them. Pick up trash. You get the idea.
That’s keeping a new place sweet in a nutshell. Once you have the basics like that down, you can hone in on the details and go crazy.