Hi guys,
With rent dropping massively in San Francisco, I locked in a 650sq ft studio for pennies on the dollar in a very desirable neighborhood.
I don't have the slightest clue when it comes to home designing? I've been browsing Ikea, Amazon, and Etsy but would appreciate suggestions on:
- Office desk and chair
- Carpets/rugs
- Sofas
- Light sources
- Decorations
- Kitchen hardware
- Bathroom stuff
- Misc.
Thanks!
and hopefully i get promoted this year and not fired or im fucked!
What’s SF like right now?
pretty great tbh - except that everything closes early so you have to get a little creative with rooftops etc
Budget?
no single piece of furniture over 1k since i cant be bothered to keep and will have to sell eventually
Purchasing furniture is like living in Manhattan... fun and easy to do if you are poor (IKEA) or if you are rich (RH). If you are in between, it becomes a whole lot more complicated.
With a 650 sq ft studio, it sounds like you are in the former category (and there is nothing wrong with that). I would keep it simple and just go with IKEA and recognize that you are going to throw out a lot when you move / upgrade quality of life. The only exceptions I would make are for furniture that has the potential to impact health: mattress (go with Casper or a similar reasonable quality competitor) and office chair (Laura Davidson has a nice collection probably in your price range). If you want to spend more than that, I would encourage you to buy one piece that is awesome and you want to have long-term and keep everything else cheap and gradually upgrade over time vs. upgrade everything one notch above IKEA.
At some point, you are going to seriously date someone / get married and that person is going to have a lot of strong views on furniture anyways so there is very little value spending 4x for CB2/Pottery Barn/West Elm relative to IKEA if you're gonna swap it all out at some point anyways.
-Guy in mid-30s
Perfect thanks! Correct definitely the former and even IKEA looks a bit pricey to me, never heard of RH. Great point about furniture that impacts health (mattress and office chair) I'll take a look at casper and laura davidson. (mid-late 20s)
I bought a ton of Amazon furniture when I was in a studio. Not great quality but served its purpose. You can get a used office chair for pretty cheap which is high quality as well so take a look at that. Mattress has to be good haha.
And RH is tough to look at haha (restoration hardware). The gf and I bought a dining table from there for our new place and it was just stupidly pricey. Wait till you're really ballin prior to looking there lol
Marina?
south beach, is marina better? i like the quick access to fidi, public transport, proximity to ferry, safety, and lack of any homeless around. I've heard a lot about marina but haven't frequented much
Wouldn't say its better or worse, just different. I just assumed Marina bc it's usually very expensive and you mentioned you were in a desirable neighborhood. For access to fidi and public transport south beach is definitely better. The advantages to the marina mainly come down to the views, bars, and my observation that the women there are more attractive than the rest of sf lol
Jamie_Diamond right now:
What was your rent like if you don't mind me asking? I'll be looking to rent a studio or 1br in SF in spring 2021
Bump. Looking to rent for summer 2021. Is it worth locking in now?
Bump. Looking to rent for summer 2021. Is it worth locking in now?
For lighting, hardware and smaller decor I would recommend CB2. Solid priced nice stuff thats very influenced by mid century Italian design.
You might find it hard to find good furniture under 1K. I tried to buy some put it together your self furniture due to space issues with getting it into a basement. While the furniture looked nice, it fell apart within 1 year. You might want to expand the budget a bit. One way to do it, would be to buy a sleeper sofa. You get a sofa and mattress in one. This would also save you on space. I spent about 2K on one from West Elm.
Go to architecture/interior design websites like Dezeen and look for inspiration (filer my "apartments" or "microhomes" etc) and then find similar looking furniture in cheap places like IKEA
The best furniture I've bought was from a consignment shop. There was one in Atlanta that sold pretty high-end furniture and I found some bargains there. These places are best for dressers, couches and coffee tables. Get a desk / office chair from office depot or amazon.
Of course the stuff is lightly used, but I would rather have a lightly used, high-end couch than a brand new IKEA couch that likely costs more money.
I recommend looking at furniture and household items in person as opposed to buying online. It feels more of a hassle to buy these things online and then if you don't like it or change your mind returning it could be harder. Try Home Goods. There are a couple locations in the East Bay and maybe a few down the peninsula. They're kind of like Marshalls and TJ Max but for furniture and houseware, so prices are good but inventory changes. They carry lots of things to furnish your place, like lamps, towels, kitchenware, rugs, chairs, art, etc., but they don't carry lots of big furniture like sofas. I don't think Ikea is too bad, not great but a place to start just because they often have so many options to choose from. Amazon is good too, but i just can't help but think about ordering bigger items like furniture and potentially not liking it when it arrives and then dealing with the return process and waiting for the refund.
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