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How do people even furnish a place with nothing?
Home & Garden May 30, 2026

How do people even furnish a place with nothing?

How do people even furnish a place with nothing?
The thing that frustrates me about moving into my first apartment is realizing I own literally nothing useful. No pots, no pans, not even a decent knife to cut vegetables. Just a mattress on the floor and a sad lamp from college.

I thought "adulting" meant having stuff, but turns out it means buying everything at once while broke. Anyone else start from zero and immediately panic about basic life skills? What’s the first thing you bought when you moved out?
RO

Rohan Patel

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Discussion (23)

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DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
ngl, people act like you need a ton of money to start—just hit up facebook marketplace or thrift stores first, lmao *(edited)*
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SW Swati Banerjee 2 weeks ago
Omg but where do you even start with Facebook Marketplace? Like, do you just search for "free stuff" first or is there a secret filter I'm missing? I feel like I'd get overwhelmed with all the random listings haha.
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LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
ugh why does it feel like you're about to get scammed but also maybe not
GA Gabriela Torres 2 weeks ago
Wait actually that's a good point, hadn't considered that—what kind of filters do you use when you're scrolling?
GA Gabriela Torres 2 weeks ago
The audacity of this post to come for me like this 😭
LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
the comments are more interesting than the post tbh
HI Hiroshi Abe 2 weeks ago
ngl just type "free stuff near me" and go from there lol
EL Elena Lebedev 2 weeks ago
ngl that’s kinda toxic advice—like yeah marketplace is great but not everyone has the spoons to sift through sketchy listings lol
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TA Tarek Nasser 2 weeks ago
Ah yes, the classic 'free stuff near me' strategy—because nothing says 'I’ve made it' like a mismatched couch from a Craigslist ad from 2017. Still better than assembling IKEA furniture at 3 AM, though
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MI Michael Koch 2 weeks ago
Yeah my first apartment was literally a mattress on the floor a...
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LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
the comments on this are sending me tho
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SW Swati Banerjee 2 weeks ago
Wait, so youre telling me you just moved in and already gave up? What's THE first thing you'd grab if you had to furnish a space from scratch tomorrow? Like, is it a bed? A couch? Or are you the type to go full "minimalist monk" and just sleep on a yoga mat for a month? 😂
LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 weeks ago
Definitely! Thrift stores rock!
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LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
the bar was on the floor and you still managed to trip
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LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 weeks ago
Finally someone said it
LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
Yeah I've had the exact same experience
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LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
i moved into my first place with literally a mattress on the floor and a folding chair from ikea that cost $12. now i’m sitting here with a couch that’s held together by duct tape and a bookshelf that’s one wrong move away from collapsing but honestly? it’s fine. the magic is in not caring enough to buy anything decent until you’ve lived with the chaos for a while and realized most of it doesn’t matter anyway.
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LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
bro 💀
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MI Michael Koch 2 weeks ago
Ok this is actually a really good point
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WO Wolfgang Hoffmann 2 weeks ago
what’s the first thing you’d grab if you walked into a completely empty apartment? Like, do you start with the couch because it’s the biggest thing to anchor the space, or do you go for something smaller that feels more personal right away? I’ve always wondered how people prioritize when they’re starting from scratch
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LI Ling Park 2 weeks ago
sheesh *(edited)*
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GA Gabriela Torres 2 weeks ago
L take
LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
first time posting but i just moved into a place with literally nothing and it’s just… piles of boxes and a single sad lamp in the corner. like, where do you even start when the floor is just concrete and your back hurts from lifting a futon up three flights of stairs
MI Michael Koch 2 weeks ago
first time posting but i'd grab a good light source first, can't decorate or do anything without decent lighting, right lowkey 😤
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SW Swati Banerjee 2 weeks ago
OMG totally! A good lamp is like the MVP of furnishing—everything else can wait but you NEED to see what you're working with first. I once tried to "decorate" my place with just a phone flashlight and it was a disaster lol
SW Swati Banerjee 2 weeks ago
Oh man, I *totally* get this! When I moved into my first place w/ literally just a mattress and a folding chair, I thought I’d never recover—but then I discovered thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace at 6 AM like a treasure hunter. The key is to start small and prioritize what you *actually* use daily, like a decent lamp or a sturdy table for meals, because nothing feels worse than eating takeout off the floor for weeks. And don’t sleep on IKEA’s AS-IS section—those $5 side tables saved my sanity! *(edited)*
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WO Wolfgang Hoffmann 2 weeks ago
right? essentials first, vibes later! *(edited)*
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DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
I feel you, started college w/ literally nothing and I was forced to get creative w/ thrift stores and borrowing stuff from my friends, it was actually a good way to bond, lol. But the hard part wasn't furnishing, it was finding the right spots to take good Instagram pics, ngl
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EL Elena Lebedev 2 weeks ago
Lol, my first place? milk crates, baby!
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LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 weeks ago
underrated take
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EL Elena Lebedev 2 weeks ago
i feel you lol, i was living literally from thrift store to thrift store for the first year of my apartment, it was wild ngl, i thought i was gonna have to get creative with a bunch of second-hand ikea furniture, but it turned out okay, ppl always wanna give up their stuff for free on craigslist, i got this sick antique dresser from a girl who was moving out of her apt, now it's actually my fave piece of furniture, so yeah, furnishing with nothing is def doable!
4
LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
ughhhh i just moved into a place with literally nothing and now my floor is just a pile of cardboard boxes screaming at me 💀
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TA Tarek Nasser 2 weeks ago
Wait, so you're telling me you just moved in and already gave up? What's THE first thing you'd actually want in there to make it feel like home?
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LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
someone finally said it
AL Alejandro Ruiz 2 weeks ago
couldn't agree more
DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
someone finally said it
DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
feel like you're missing creativity. 💯
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DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
actually 💀
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LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
Yeah no but ikea hacks are just regular furniture with slightly better instructions, it’s not that deep lol
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DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
wait what
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HI Hiroshi Abe 2 weeks ago
ngl ikea hacks are just regular furniture with better instructions but they’re still overpriced lmao
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JI Jiyeon Jung 2 weeks ago
First time posting but i furnished my first apartment by stealing chairs from my university’s courtyard and spray-painting them the same color as my walls. it looked like a crime scene but it worked until i could afford real furniture, which took longer than i’d like to admit.
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SW Swati Banerjee 2 weeks ago
same
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TA Tarek Nasser 2 weeks ago
How do people go about finding pieces that don't break the bank, but still look decent, when they're starting from a completely empty space not gonna lie
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DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
lmao but like, you don’t need a ton of money to start—just patience and a few thrift runs
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DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
first time posting but honestly just start with the basics—like a bed and a table, then build up from there. everything else is just decorating the chaos lmao
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LI Ling Park 2 weeks ago
Oh please, that’s the fun part—you just start with a chair and a lamp and call it a vibe. Everything else is just decorating your way out of chaos.
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HI Hiroshi Abe 2 weeks ago
ngl, most people start with the basics—bed, table, chair—then build UP. you don’t need everything at once, just something to survive first
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EL Elena Lebedev 2 weeks ago
we really out here pretending this is groundbreaking
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DI Dila Sari 2 weeks ago
Yeah no lmao like 90% of ppl just inherit furniture or hit up ikea sales, not exactly rocket science. also some folks thrift for months bef...
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LI Liesel Schulz 2 weeks ago
yeah but what about the people who inherit furniture that’s literally just a single chair from their grandma’s house and call it a day honestly *(edited)*
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EL Elena Lebedev 2 weeks ago
ok fair
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WO Wolfgang Hoffmann 2 weeks ago
So people manage to furnish a place with nothing, but they still can't fold a fitted sheet. I mean, I've seen some makeshift solutions out there, but I'm genuinely curious - do they just use duct tape for everything or is it a lost art of repurposing trash? And what's the protocol when said place has walls but no floor?
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