A first flat is furnished in one weekend with a finite amount of money, and the temptation is to spend it evenly.
Do not. Some of what you buy now you will still own in twenty years, and some of it you will throw out when you move.
Buy properly: things with no moving parts
A knife. A pan. Something on the wall to keep the knife out of the drawer, so the edge does not roll every time it goes back in with everything else. These are steel and wood, nothing breaks, and the good version costs twice the bad version and lasts ten times as long.
A kettle with a controlled pour if you make coffee by hand — again, no electronics, nothing to fail.
Anything you hold every day. Your hands notice the difference and you will feel it a thousand times a year.
Buy cheaply: things with a motor or a battery
Anything powered has a lifespan measured in years, not decades. The expensive version fails at roughly the same time as the cheap one, it just costs more when it does.
Buy the functional version, expect five years, and put the difference into something on the list above.
Buy once: the things that make a rented room liveable
This is the category people skip and then regret, because it does not feel like furnishing.
Light you control. A rechargeable light you can put where you need it, without wiring, because rented rooms have one bad ceiling fitting and no lamp will fix that on its own.
A dark bedroom. A sleep mask costs almost nothing and does what a blackout blind does, in a flat where you cannot fit one.
Air. A fan that screws into the light socket is the difference between sleeping and not, in a top-floor flat in August, and it comes with you when you move.
What to skip entirely in year one
Matching anything. Storage furniture, until you know what you actually own. A dining set, if you eat at the sofa. Decorative objects, which will not survive the next move and were bought to fill a room you have not lived in yet.
The flat tells you what it needs after about three months. Buy then.
Everything here is across the whole shop.
More like this
- Four Things That Make Home Coffee Better
- Getting a Small Kitchen Counter Back
- Gifts for Someone Moving Into Their First Place
If you are shopping rather than reading: Housewarming gifts is everything here that suits a flat someone has just moved into.
Common questions
What is worth spending more on when furnishing a first flat?
Things with no moving parts that you use every day and hold in your hand — a knife, a pan, a kettle. The good version costs about twice the bad one and lasts roughly ten times as long.
What is fine to buy cheaply for a first flat?
Anything powered. A motor or battery has a lifespan measured in years regardless of price, so the expensive version fails at roughly the same time as the cheap one — it just costs more when it does.
What should you skip buying in the first year in a new flat?
Matching sets, storage furniture bought before you know what you actually own, and decorative objects picked to fill a room you have not lived in yet — none of it tends to survive the next move.
