Alexandra’s One Big IKEA Shopping Spree Gets Her Studio Furnished!

January 31, 2013 | By Alexandra AuthorMy First Apartment

Just when you thought the hard work had all been done – you’ve found a place, negotiated with the landlord, signed the lease and collected the keys – you open the doors to nothing more but a shell. It is then that the real task begins – furnishing your new apartment. For some, the term…

Starting to Decorate and Furnish Your First Apartment

January 21, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

We’d all love to have Martha Stewart’s living room … a splash of color here, a nice piece of furniture over there … but for those of us without Ms. Stewart’s experience and budget, decorating isn’t just about choosing the right furniture – it’s a combination of financial savvy, an eye for design, and the…

Decorating with Roommates

January 7, 2013 | By Sabrina AuthorMy First Apartment

Your home is a reflection of you. The color tells us about your character, the many accessories tell us about your interests, and the positioning tells us about your thoughts. Decorating with roommates can make the shared living situation more interesting with an explosion of different ideas. However, danger lurks when each roommate’s unique flare…

Reader Tips: Turn Your Apartment Into A Home

September 12, 2012 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

A couple of weeks ago, we ran a post calling for reader tips for how to make your first apartment feel like a home. We got some GEM advice. To make sure you saw all the great tips, we wanted to compile them into a fresh post – highlighting some of the key themes we saw:…

Using Curtains as a Room Divider

August 18, 2012 | By Christina AuthorMy First Apartment

Whether you want to create a private escape away from roommates, or just want to designate a living area away from your sleeping area, how to divide your space is often one of the first things you need to tackle in a new apartment. And you want to do it in a way that does not make your…

How I Made My DIY Candle and Flowers Centerpiece

June 2, 2012 | By Christina AuthorMy First Apartment

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to have flowers or candles in my centerpiece, so I made one using both! 1. Start with a plain white sculpture of any shape you like. I prefer white because it contrasts really well against the red flowers we’re going to use. Make sure there is an opening at…

What a Difference a Little Paint Makes!

May 28, 2012 | By Christina AuthorMy First Apartment

My bare white walls were driving me nuts so I called up my maintenance guy to find out about the options I had for painting my apartment. Sticking with my original theme of black, white and red, I was going to paint one of my main living room walls black… Until I chickened out. I decided that…

Five Things to Do Before You Buy Your First Piece of Furniture

April 16, 2012 | By Christina AuthorMy First Apartment

Whether you are starting from scratch in a new apartment or just sprucing up the space you are currently living in, being hasty can result in purchases you end up not wanting to use. After rushing the process myself and buying an area rug that won’t work, I have learned that there are five steps that…

Katherine’s10 Essential First Apartment Items

December 11, 2011 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Our guest blogger Katherine has made a list and checked it twice. No, not the list you’re thinking of; it’s her list of essentials every first apartment needs to have. TEN ESSENTIAL FIRST APARTMENT ITEMS by Katherine There are a lot of things you might want for your apartment; a modern version of a Victrola or…

2 Couples as Roommates Learn to Decorate an Apartment to Suit Everyone’s Taste.

February 15, 2011 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

My First Apartment is going global! Our newest guest blogger is Dedreanna, a 21 year old journalism grad from New Brunswick, Canada, moving to the city to start her career. Decorate Debate- Decorating an apartment to suit everyone’s taste. By: Dedreanna For me, one of the main things I thought about when we finally found…