The bare necessity your first apartment will provide is: Space. Doesn’t matter how much there is, it’s important we put our best foot forward. We at Ever Lasting understand that when you get your first apartment you want it to be more than just your own place you want to be able to call it your own home, and we hope to provide you some important factors to consider for your first apartment essentials:

• Rest: Do I have a comfortable place to rest my head for the night?
• Environment: Does the room carry a calming sense of peace to help my mind and body feel at ease at the end of the day before going to bed?
• Self-Care: Am I able to take care of myself, both physically and mentally, in this space? 
• Routine: Can I build a practice that maintains a peaceful-home structure that I will be happy to wake-up and return to everyday?

Your list of first apartment essentials shouldn't just be furnishings. For first time apartment owners or renters, you’ll already be spending a lot on food & utilities alone, so you need to pace yourself by first focusing on what specific items will be able to help you actually live in this new (potentially bare) space.

Whether you travel back home by car or commute, we can all appreciate a place to stretch our legs and rest our feet, but you can’t jump straight into bed before you’ve had the chance to freshen up, so you settle yourself in the living room for a bit.

Whether you already have a sofa or just a specific resting chair in your living room, adding even a single cushion is a great first apartment essential to elevate your comfort level. Try lying back on any variation of our Beige Sandstone Square Tufted Pillowcase Decor Pillows and trust us your back and tired head will thank us later. You might even be tempted to fall asleep right then and there.

Do you ever walk into your living room and suddenly get the urge to just lie on the floor?

Maybe you aren’t able to spring for a sofa just yet, or maybe you just want to feel really lazy over the weekend, but don’t want to lie in bed all day. Whatever the reason we want to help you scratch your lazy weekend itch with our Fuzzy Ball Round Pillow. A 20 x 20 in (50 x 50 cm) cushion that's big enough to lay perfectly flat on the floor for you to relax on and even work as seat cushions.

So, if for example, you make the practical decision to invest in a coffee table for the living room before buying a regular dining table, these pillows would make for a perfect alternative to chairs. Bonus; as far as first apartment essentials go, this one adds that soft girl aesthetic touch that practically invites you to relax the minute you walk in.

Browse our Pillow & Pillowcases Collection and pick out the first apartment essentials that could add the soft support your living room needs.

A first apartment essential that might sound obvious is investing in a better bed, but perhaps you could instead consider picking more comfortable bedding sets like our Paloma Striped Floral Bedding Set, complete with a matching duvet, bedsheet, and pillowcase.

Sleeping with your mattress on the floor without a bed frame may not be ideal, but for first time apartment residents, practicality is key to cultivating your apartment in the early stages where you’re still just learning to stand on your own two feet. You’ll want to prioritize your immediate necessities, and if you want to save up for bigger things like Ever Lasting’s Solid Wood Platform Bed Frame, you can live through sleeping without one for a while.

The first night away from home is usually the hardest to sleep through, but the cozier you feel the easier it might be on you. So, a first apartment essential should be adding layers like our White Fluffy Plush Throw Blanket to bundle yourselves in nice and comfy. That way you can forget that this space is still unfamiliar and instead imagine how cozy it’s going to feel in the days to come as you continue to cultivate your first apartment.

Sleeping well through the night is a priority. See our bedding recommendations for first time apartment residents by browsing our Apartment Haven Collection.

Any first apartment essentials that help you maintain a form of structure in your home is a must when you first move in. Exciting as it is to have your own space, maintaining it won’t always come naturally, so do your future self a favor and add organizers to your first apartment essentials. And getting a Multi Storage Fabric Wall Hanging Organizer means more than just being able to store away your miscellaneous items.

Imagine finally having an answer anytime you ask yourself that age-old question: Where did I put that thing?

Back then you would have been scrambling your brain trying to remember all the spots around your apartment where you would have left your keys, charger, glasses or those concert tickets you bought for this weekend.

But now, you have a reliable place that’s easy to spot and access anytime you need to find or put something small but important away, no stress, no mess, no scrambling. So, it saves you space and time.

Lamps may be small sources of light but as a first apartment essential, they’re a wise money-saving investment. You can probably save on the electricity bill if at night you switch from using the apartment lights to our Egg Glass Lamp.

Doing so is also a good way to get your mind ready for bed. As the world around you becomes dimmer, you’ll interpret it as your space becoming quieter. Your mind and body begin to relax as you notice fewer visual distractions to keep you awake. Then as you turn off the lamp and close your eyes, the soft transition from dim lighting to darkness helps falling sleep become easier.

Pick a lamp from our Lighting Collection to appreciate the nighttime atmospheres of softer lighting.

Now for a safety tip. If you ever feel like you're being followed to your apartment building; once you’re sure you weren’t followed to your apartment’s door, step inside but DO NOT turn on your apartment lights, because there’s a chance those people may use the lights to figure out which apartment you occupy. Instead turn on a softer light or flashlight that won’t shine through your windows and curtains.

I know it's a scary possibility to think about, but among the first apartment essentials we’ve listed so far, your security is a serious one, especially if you live on your own. And it just takes waiting, roughly ten minutes, before you turn on the apartment lights when you get home to ensure no one on the outside will be able to even guess where you live in the building.

You deserve to feel excited about getting your own place and starting to live on your own two feet, but don’t let the excitement blind you to what really matters. This apartment is your home now, you have to be as responsible for it as you are with yourself, which means getting your priorities in order so you can properly build your space from the ground up, starting with your immediate first apartment essentials:

• What’s going to help you sleep at night?
• What’s going to help you keep your space clean?
• What can you live without until you’ve saved up enough?

Owning your first apartment leaves you with a lot to think about. It’s overwhelming, and you’ll want to try bringing as many of your planned first apartment essentials into your home as quickly as you can, but compromises and nuanced priorities must still take precedence.

This home your building is meant to work with you, allow that intention to guide each small step into your new future. Even if the space starts of bare, with only a simple bed, a single chair, a closet of clothes and a small table for your future solo-dinners, this apartment is going to grow with you, and as you become a new person, one that has learned to live on their own and handle their new line of responsibilities, you will learn to trust yourself more as a grown individual.

In the future this helps you become more open to exploring what your space can become. Knowing that you have practiced carefully considering what your home needs, you are assured that what more you add to it is for the betterment of your home and a sure benefit to your apartment life.

Moving out but still on a tight budget? Check out our guide on how to build you dream first apartment on a budget.