Basic Furniture Pieces Every Apartment Needs

Need to furnish your apartment on a budget? Don’t sweat it. If you’ve only got the cash to buy a few furniture pieces, just get the basics: a place to sleep, a place to eat, and a place to sit. Start out with these apartment furniture staples, and you’ll be set.

A place to sleep
Did you know that the average person spends more time on his bed than any other furniture piece? That’s because a bed is easily the single most important piece of apartment furniture you can get. Rest is important — for mind and body — and having a comfortable place to curl up each night is not just a luxury. It’s an essential.

To furnish your apartment with a bed, you’ve got a few choices: a standard mattress, a futon, or a sleeper sofa. When you shop for each of these items, remember that you’ll spend a lot of time in bed, so it’s important to test mattresses to find one that will provide you with good support.

A place to sit
You’re gonna want to sit down and relax in your apartment from time to time, so a sofa and a chair or two are apartment furniture staples you’ll want to buy fairly quickly for your new place.

While there are a lot of apartment furniture seating options available, a decent sofa meets most apartment needs better than other choices. When you come home after a long day at work and want to stretch out in front of the TV, a soft sofa will be just what the doctor ordered. Not to mention that you’re bound to have company over at some point, and, when you do, you’ll want to be able to accommodate everyone.

So if you’re thinking all you need for your apartment is just one cool recliner, you may want to re-evaluate. Get the recliner if you want it, but purchase it only after you have a sofa — a basic furniture essential.

A place to eat
A dining table is another one of those basic furniture pieces every apartment needs. The kind of dining table you need depends on your lifestyle. If you love to entertain, you might want to buy a larger table or a table that converts from a small size to a larger size.

But if you’re single and rarely have guests, you might prefer to get some alternative dining furniture pieces. A few sturdy tray tables that you can use by the couch or some comfortable stools for your kitchen breakfast bar may be all you need.

When you shop for apartment dining furniture, just remember that a nice place to eat provides a sense of comfort. A dining table can really make an apartment feel like a home.

What else?
After you’ve purchased these apartment furniture basics, you’ll be set for a while. But you may still find that you want a few other furniture pieces like a desk for paying the bills, a rolling butcher block for food prep, or an entertainment center to hold your DVD collection.

It can be tempting to furnish your apartment all at once. Just remember not to break your furniture budget. To start with, the basics are all you need.