UPDATED! How Studioren can spend $1,500 and outfit her whole Brooklyn apartment, with sticking just one toe (and a small moving van) into Manhattan

The first in a series.

Studioren asked me to give her the old How To Run Your Life craigslist treatment and some design ideas for her new Brooklyn pad, the floor plan of which is above. Here's the first suite, from the top 100 posts on Craigslist in each category.

I spied those couches for a good price -- $500 for a couch and love seat. I love them but they are in Manhattan…white leather loveseat and couch. They remind me of the go-go boots my Uncle Phil’s girlfriend wore (in 1970) (she let me lace and unlace them) and I think they look fresh and clean. To wit: http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fuo/1942543906.html

Put this awesome dresser along a wall. It's a splurge at $525, but I think it's lines complement the groovy couches. http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/fuo/1939512443.html

Next, the walnut bed frame is clean and gorgeous. Up close, it looks like it needs oiling or something, but I love the wood grain. It's $350. http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/fuo/1936525724.html

Dig this crazy rug. It reminds me of 1st class airport lounges in the 60s-- very Catch Me If You Can -- and it’s only 60 bucks. The ad says its 10 X15 INCHES but I trust they mean feet. Very Spinal Tap. http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/fuo/1936386481.html

And this side table and this lamp, for next to the bed, maybe. $40 for both. Depending on the quality of the wood, Studioren could paint the table white, grey or black or a color from the rug. Or the wall color to make it disappear. http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/fuo/1942924660.html

This white table, always with a good bunch of flowers in the center, to drop your mail and keys. It can double as a buffet or dining table when necessary. $25!
http://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/fuo/1942699315.html

And this coffee table, for the couches. It might be a bit small at 36 inches. But the color should be great with that rug and it's shiny. $35 http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/fuo/1943127245.html

If my math is right, all this for $1,535. (I’m guessing she already has a mattress, and I still need to find her bar stools for the breakfast bar).

So the layout: see if you can follow along with the photo above until I figure out how to transfer a drawing here.... and this is just one of several possibilities.

The couch and loveseat will make an L near the window at the bottom of the floor plan. The L will be closed to the kitchen -- that is, the love seat (or couch, whichever fits better) will have its back to the kitchen.

The dresser would go on the left wall in that grouping, essentially finishing the square. Coffee table in the obvious spot, leaning towards the love seat... an ottoman (not yet identified on craigslist) is probably needed in front of the longer couch. The lamp and corner table completes.

The rug, obviously, anchors that grouping. (If the 36 inch coffee table is just too small, go to Pier One or whereever and get a 4-foot round glass table top and pop it on the coffee table. She'll still get the shape and color but some of the fabulous shininess will be lost. sad face.)

The bed would be back on the back wall (beneath where it says K Line) -- with either the long side hard up against the back wall and the headboard on the left wall, or with the long side hard against the left wall and the headboard against the back wall.

To separate it and soften the room, hang an easy canopy from behind the headboard, across the top of the bed, and down the foot of the bed. Use some fantastic upholstery fabric -- it's usually 54 inches wide, and works well with a 60 inch wide queen-sized bed.

The white table should go next to the bed -- but not as a bedside table. Sort of centered in the room so it acts like a foyer table: fresh flowers, drop keys and mail.

Another option: keep the headboard on the left wall with the long side up against the back wall, and get a dresser (a different one, perhaps lower) for the foot of the bed to serve the same purpose as the white table.

She's going to tear down the wall between the kitchen and the living room to make a breakfast bar -- which I heartily endorse. She needs bar stools... still looking for them. I found 3 gorgeous ones but I couldn't tell if they were $150 for all three or for each. So I'm still looking, lest I bust the budget.

You're welcome. :) I'll do another suite as I find good stuff in Brooklyn (with one toe in Manhattan).

Here's the truth though: you Craigslisters are WAY more expensive in Brooklyn than down here in DC.

Pam

@studioren...leave a comment after you've looked at this so I know a) you've seen it, and b) I am on the right track