Community Check: Furnitures & Small Living Spaces

I'm at the point my life where some of my friends are suggesting that I get more furniture and stylize the small condo I'm living in; if anything to look presentable and appealing when you've brought a date home for the first time. What they're saying makes sense, but none of us really got a sense of interior style, and damn do we bicker about practicality versus style. Transformable furniture looks so fun and awesome, but damn can some of them sure be pricey.

We got a ton of people from all over the world, and I'm assuming considering how the last five years has gone, there's not that many of us that are living in houses. So I'm curious, for the people here in the community living in the single life in small apartment and condos, what sorts of furniture / layouts you got that you feel gives off a homely, but still presentable vibes? Do they cost an arm and a leg over where you live as well? Does the thought of it being easy to disassemble for when you need to move ever come to mind?

Definitely so. I'm also a fan of the white Scandinavian vibes, and also light bare wooden looks too. I've got a feeling that my tastes might be too basic though, since literally the first place I went to look for things is Ikea.

Would you consider buying anything gently used (that you can sanitize) like tables, desks, lamps, etc. I've seen people give away or sell very good condition furniture on Facebook Marketplace. Since you're in Canada, there's also Kijiji right?

Absolutely. I've been looking at it yesterday but nothing really jumps out.

Side note, it's so strange how many people are trying to sell sectional sofas, but so many of them are gray. Anyone else feel that furniture with too dark of a colour feels like it drains the energy or vibe of a living space?

majority of the people i know have either bare and bland interior spaces, or just crap lying around with no afterthought lol. i think as long as its clean and comfy, youll get the thumbs up.

i would start with bare and bland and slowly build up from there. using a gray sofa as an example, you can inject some of your personality to it like placing a blanket or cushions to give it some character. i like persian patterns, so id pick those designs. alternatively, you can find the most minimal modular sofa you can find, but have it sitting next to it an arm chair that speaks to you. in your case, it would probably be a scandi design chair.

just little things like these speaks volumes imo.

For bringing a girl home, you must have a diffuser with sexy Juice to put in. Candles not on the list because safety and health concerns. And then you need some rgb light bulbs to go with it , to create the most romantic set up .

If you just plan to bring your next date home, a clean space should do.
Not sure how small your apartment is.
There are many videos showing how to maximize every square inch / centimetre, often with the help of architects. Hence, it will come for a price.
But this looks worth. Within 18 m², 3 beds for up to 5 people designed by genius architect & great carpenter's work here:

Need to find or craft these little rolling pieces of furniture.
Until then, Swedish shops can still be an affordable option, of course.

To be honest, I was more concerned when my friends were saying that my place is just too barren and needs stuff that gives off that adult vibe. The making good impression for first date is only something that came after a wall of rant I got from my friends, so it's the least of my worries but I'd rather try and hit every single box I can if I'm going to do something.

Ikea has some amazing magic in their show floor, but I don't think I can replicate their brilliance over at my place. Not enough space, out of my budget range, or not applicable to me. For example, I really love seeing those bookcases and shelves with books, but I realized most of my textbooks, books, etc are electronic.

I've been also going back and forth on what to get for sofa. It seems like modular sofas like what greensheep said is all the rage these days, or at least they're going through some major ad campaign, and I really like some of the stuff made in Canada https://www.cozey.ca/collections/original . On the other hand though, I feel one of those sofa beds are more practical for when friends and family members crash over but man so many I've seen are either stiff and/or ugly.

I really like the stuff Jun Jun shown, and I've been looking at similar stuff too lately to get inspiration. https://www.youtube.com/@livingbig/videos

The videos I've seen, I come away feeling like these guys are interior designing geniuses and way above what I can think or replicate here. Hence, why I got curious as to what everyone else's situation is like? Maybe a more relatable source of inspiration can be found here.

Ngl though, greensheep's comments about most of the people he knows having bare and bland interior kinda makes me feel better, lol.

BTW, thanks for the ideas and comments so far. I appreciate it. Might as well as use the holidays to try and do a make over.