I moved into LA last year and very quickly realized that I was not going to be able to deck out my new place in the finest LA furniture given the incredible high price that I was paying for my rent. In light of this fact, I decided that I would get creative with my furnishing skills and then I would beg, steal and borrow for the rest, well perhaps not steal, but you get my point.

Anyway, here I am 12 months later in my downtown apartment and whilst I love my location, it has taken me quite a bit of time to kit the place out just how I wanted it, but alas I made it. Because of my struggles I have learned a lot about kitting an apartment out when you don’t have very much money and so here is my advice to you if this is what you are looking to achieve.

Choose The Essentials

The first thing that you need to take a look at are the bare essentials that you are going to need, for me this was the bed, a couple of chairs and a table in the middle of it, that was all. Once you have worked out what your bare essentials are, you can start from there and then add anything else that you like as you go.

Using Pallets

I cannot tell you what a godsend pallets were to me in my first year in the apartment. Pallets are cheap to get a hold of, or free if you know the right people, and you can use them for just about anything. Up until around 4 months ago, my mattress was sat on top of 8 pallets stacked up, my table in the living room was a piece of glass sat on two pallets and I even managed to fashion some chairs out of them. Pallets aren’t just super functional, they also give your place that grungey warehouse look, perfect.

Try Out Upcycling

I’m not too handy when it comes to design but I know how to sew a bit and after I found two chairs outside someone’s apartment block, I decided to take them home and see if I could transform them into something a bit better. For anyone out there who has the skills, upcycling is a great way of getting some stuff in your home for cheap and you can also add your very own unique touch to it.

Keep It Clean

When I told my Mum what woes I had regarding furniture, her advice was to ensure that if nothing else, the place was clean, and she was absolutely right. Even when my apartment had almost nothing in it, whenever it was clean it would help it to appear far less empty and far more inviting. I actually would have thought that a bit of mess would help but as always, your Mum always knows best!