furnishing my new apartment

Don't blow all your budget on a plasma

You're on a budget and you're planning to buy a 37" plasma or a front projector?! Get it together, man!

You're in college -

Go to the salvation army to pick up an ugly pea-green couch and a cheap table for your TV.
For your walls, go to the novelty store and buy three posters: one with Bob Marley smoking a joint, one with John Belushi in Animal House, and one advertising Absolut vodka.

1) Paint. It takes time, but not a lot of money, and makes a difference.

2) Craigslist. You can get decent furniture for great prices. People move and don't want to move furniture...

It seems like you are advocating an ugly living space...

Cheap black furniture looks, well, cheap. Be careful with it. I'd check out some thrift/vintage stores and see what you can find. There's some decent mid-century stuff out there at fairly reasonable prices, though you'll have to sort through a lot of junk to find it.

You forgot Scarface.

If you can drop $400 on a TV as part of your decorating spending, you're not on a "tight budget." You don't even know what a tight budget is. Anyway, try and narrow down what you mean when you say "modern"...it sounds like you mean modern urban minimalist. I'd suggest leaving the walls white and going with mostly dark grey and brushed-metal furniture and accessories. For the inevitable posters you get, you can pick up slim frames for them for pretty cheap. Pick one color and use it as an accent. Depending on your personality make it either really vibrant (orange or teal) or a muted olive. So keep everything in the room grey and white, but if it has color make sure it's your accent color. But please don't say you're on a tight budget and then talk about spending $400 on a damn TV.

Ikea

I'm in the same boat...just moved into an apartment and on a tiiiiight budget...i'd say craigslist is a good place to start...also target and ikea have some decent stuff but ikea can tend to be out of small budget ranges. Try also bed bath and beyond, not sure about furniture, but I know urban outfitters can have some cool decoration type stuff

Now, for my serious reply - why spend a lot on money on your apartment? If you're in college, you'll probably be moving into a new place every year, so it seems like a waste unless you have a lot of money to burn.

If this is your first year, and you're worried about the ladies - don't. College chicks don't care what your apartment looks like.

Because some people want to stand above the rest through their appearance/presentation, even if it is just a college kid's dorm room.

I'm in college, and while not living in dorms, kinda went through the same thing as you this past year. Craigslist and Ikea are great sources, and some other chain stores (you'd be surprised at the oddball cool piece of furniture/decoration you can find at a Walmart/Target/Michaels/Hobby Lobby/etc.). Thrift stores will be your best friend if you're in a fairly busy area. Hit them ALL. There are treasures to be found for absolutely nothing, you just have to look.

Develop a main motif and stick to it. DO NOT GO OVERBOARD! If you get a theme in your head, and go buy a bunch of stuff to decorate.....yeah, it may all match the theme, but now you have WAY too much stuff to decorate with and it all seems cluttered.

Start with the main parts: furniture and paint. Get the furniture pieces you want, set the paint to match up, and get everything else out of the room. Then move on to lighting....lighting will make or break a room. Let me see if I can find some pics of what I'm talking about. Basically, good border lighting, corner lighting, and lights set up creatively (particularly shooting up from behind furniture/chairs) adds a new dimension to a room.

THEN toss in a decorative accessory piece or two. See how it goes, if it clutters the room, and go from there. Simplicity can really work in your favor, esp on the modern look.

Oh yeah, you MUST keep your place squeeky clean from now on, too, or it ruins the look.

dammit, well said.

geesh ...kids these days...


anyways, you can pick up some cheap , disposable but very usable and practical furniture and furniture accessories at IKEA.

we still go there for some furniture needs.