#flat stuff

Glad you found it helpful! And what a great question. In my opinion, the best way is to go slowly and replace as you go. Some things might stay Ikea (I still have an ikea couch! but I did add extra stuffing to make it fluffier) and that's totally fine. If you go slow, start with pieces that really speak to you, then it's less pressure than trying to design (and pay for) everything at once.

I tend to think of a whole room budget vs individual pieces. So I might say I'm willing to spend, say, £1000 on the family room and so by the time I had my table, my green chair, and the painting above my fireplace, that was a decent chunk of that gone, hence the Ikea sofa (and the lack of Frame TV, rip). But I know I'll get to replacing what I need/want to over time, so it's not a huge deal.

For me personally, I think nice sofas are insanely expensive and not worth it - they wear down, they get stained, and I don't think spending a load is worth it when you're on a budget. But! You could love sofa napping (or be less messy than me) and it might be a priority item for you. Similarly, I'm a spiller so a relatively cheap washable rug made more sense for me than a £££ old Persian or something. That makes it hard to generalize, you've got to decide what your priorities are. And it depends on the room - in my living room, the coffee table is right in the center of everything so it has a lot of visual impact, hence why I was happy to spend more on it. But if your coffee table is going to be in a corner, maybe it's not worth the expense!

My other piece of advice is that you can score deals on nice things if you're willing to put in a bit more effort / DIY. For example, I got an old marble cafe-style table for my kitchen from eBay - it had been sitting in someone's garden for years and I needed to scrape / repaint the legs and do some stain removing and polishing on the top, but it now looks really good! And for like, literally a 1/10th of what a new one would have cost me. Similarly, there was this gorgeous Oliver Bonas dressing table I wanted but I was at the end of my budget so I got a cheap dressing table on eBay in a similar shape and spray painted it! DIY is fun and easy and an absolute budget saviour.

Happy new year! So first you need to find a neighborhood. This map here is a little out of date but it shows the avg price of a one bed by tube stop -- that's really helpful for seeing what you can get for your price (approx) and how moving slightly can change prices dramatically. If you can, come to London and look around various neighborhoods, get a sense of the vibe, see where you really want to be. Because ultimately, even the nicest flat is sad if it's in a grim neighborhood where you can't walk anywhere, you don't have any good amenities, and the place just doesn't speak to you.

Next is who you'll be living with -- for most people, it's unrealistic to live alone in London, even in a studio. Roommates make the whole thing much more affordable. Do you know anyone in London? Will you be moving with some sort of built in network (e.g. you're going to be doing a course or moving for a job with a lot of people at your level/age?).

If you don't know anyone and don't have any natural networks, you'll be looking on SpareRoom. I know lots of people that have found great living situations on there, but definitely be smart -- always meet the people (in person if possible, Skype at least), always tour the room, always talk about lifestyles and make sure they match up, etc. If you do have someone to live with, RightMove is the holy grail for looking for flats in London -- it's really great for getting an idea of prices in various neighborhoods. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for flats to already be gone by the time they're online in London, so you will def need an estate agent -- don't go with Foxtons (literally everyone I've spoken to has had a bad experience with them), other than that, just go to your neighborhood's high street and see who's there -- local firms with less branches are usually better. Be strong on your prices and how far you're willing to be from the tube (estate agents are constantly trying to push you). But there's plenty of stuff going, you should be fine to find something!

Oh and def def plan out your budget way before you start seriously looking. You don't want be spending too much on housing and then not enjoying actually living in London because you're too broke to do anything. I think I currently spend a little less than 1/3 of my after tax monthly salary on housing and that's very comfortable -- but there's essentially minimums in London and if your salary isn't high enough, you'll have to be spending a higher percentage than that. Also do keep in mind council tax! It's really expensive! Include that in your budget.