When it gets time to furnish a bedroom, or any room of the house really, we come face to face with a serious question, how much money do I have to spend on furniture? You’d be happy to know that every piece of furniture has affordable alternatives you can acquire if you’re on a tight budget.
I’ve done extensive research on the subject to help you answer the question of how much money you’ll need to buy the essential pieces for your bedroom. Here are my findings:
Average Furniture Cost
Maybe you didn’t know this, but we spend a third of our lives asleep. Knowing this, you’ll understand that most of our bedroom’s furniture budget will go to our bed. But let’s not get there yet. The first thing you’ll need to do is to create a budget. Here are some of the things you need to consider:
- The size of the room and the number of people that will use it.
- The purpose of the room. You’ll not invest the same budget on a master bedroom as a guest room.
- Next, think if there is a piece of furniture that you already have that would look good in the room.
- Make a list of essential pieces vs. items that you’d like to have. Remember you’re working on a budget.
- Include only furniture. Your budget shouldn’t include things like paint, flooring, electronics, etc.
Once you’ve listed the items, you’ll be ready to start with the purchases. Here are the average prices for bedroom furniture:
- Bed Frame: $150 – $2500
- Dresser: $300 – $2000
- Mirror: $50 – $550
- Lamps: $200 – $900
- Nightstands $100 – $1000
- Rug: $100 – $4000
- Window Coverings / Curtains: $300 per set
- Accessories/decoration: $250 – $1200
- Bench/Chair: $400 – $1000
The total cost of furnishing your bedroom will be $2050 – $13750. Keep in mind there are even more expensive alternatives for every piece of furniture on the list if you’re looking for more luxurious items.
On the other hand, there are bedroom sets you may want to consider. They are affordable and will save you a lot of shopping time. Now, let’s take a closer look at some items on the list that I considered needed some dig into:
Bed Frame
The cost of the bed frame will obviously depend on the size and kind of bed you have in the bedroom. Remember this is a piece you’ll probably keep for years. You may want to splurge on this a little bit more than on other items.
Something that’s not included in the budget because it’s not considered furniture, but is very important is the mattress. The cost of a mattress ranges between $200 and $3500, but most people spend around $1000 on a mattress.
Decoration and Accessories
I’ve listed that you may spend between $250 and $1200 on decoration, but let’s be honest, these are things you can live without if you’ve spent most of your budget on more essential pieces. Some accessories for your bedroom may include:
- Artwork
- Printed photographs
- Shelves
- Blankets, throw pillows
Curtains and Windows Coverings
On the list, I’ve added windows covering with an average price of $300 per set. The importance of these items is that they provide privacy to the room and protect us from the sunlight in the early morning. There are a series of factors you need to consider when choosing the window covering:
- The type of covering you’d like: blinds, shades, drapes, etc.
- Quality of the materials it’s made of
- Size and number of windows in your bedroom
- Generic items vs custom made coverings
- Installation cost (if you can’t do it yourself)
Average Cost of Furniture for an Apartment
After researching how much it would cost to furnish a room I just couldn’t stop. I started wondering how much it would cost if my entire apartment needs furnishing and here’s what I found.
When you’re working on a tight budget, the most important thing you need to do is stick to essential items only. On the average cost to furnish a bedroom we took into account the cheaper and the most expensive options for every item.
Let’s see how much it would cost to furnish an apartment with only essential pieces of furniture plus some bonus ones:
| Living Room Essentials | |
| Sofa | $1800 – $2500 |
| Coffee Table | $120 – $260 |
| Floor Lamp | $130 – $290 |
| Total Cost | $2050 – $3150 |
| Bedroom Essentials | |
| Bed frame | $400 – $800 |
| Mattress | $300 – $1200 |
| Nightstands | $180 – $300 |
| Total Cost | $880 – $2300 |
Up until this point, only getting essential items, would cost you $2930 – $5450 to furnish a one-bedroom apartment, and again choosing some of the most affordable alternatives.
If you haven’t spent your entire budget on the items from the list above, you may want to acquire some extra pieces. Here are some items that are not essential, but you may want to have them in your apartment.
| Non-Essential Items | |
| TV Stand | $200 – $650 |
| Side table | $100 – $200 each |
| Area rug | $280 – $480 |
| Dresser | $400 – $800 |
| Total Cost | $980 – $2130 |
To sum up, it will cost you $3910 to $7580 to furnish your one-bedroom apartment with essential pieces and extra items.
Remember we’ve gone over the details you need to take into account when it comes to creating a budget. This will help you make your purchases within the amount of money you have to spend.
Time on a Budget
One last thing you’ll need to consider is the time it’ll take you to make the purchases and wait for the deliveries.
One thing that worked for me was to choose several pieces from the same store or coordinate the deliveries from several stores for the same day. But truth be told, no store guarantees that every item will be delivered on the same day.
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of choosing all the items, waiting for their delivery, and assembling them yourself, some companies will do that for you.
Furnishr is an excellent example of this kind of service. You can provide them with the measurements for your apartment, your budget, and several indicators of your style likes, and they take care of everything.
Leave us a comment below, telling us all about your experience furnishing your bedroom or apartment.
