Fully Furnished

Sofas, beds, mattresses, dining tables, rugs and dressers carry real prices read at the shop that sells them, with the date on every row. Every other category is still sample data.

Where do you start when furnishing an apartment?

Summary

Start with whatever is most expensive to get wrong. That means measuring the route into the building and the room, then choosing the bed and the sofa, because sending those back can cost shipping or a fee. Lamps, side tables and small storage can wait until you have lived there a few weeks.

What a mistake costs at four stores

The return policy tells you how much a wrong guess will cost. Here is what four stores that sell apartment furniture say on their own policy pages.

StoreReturn windowWhat comes off your refund
IKEA365 days unopened, 180 days openedFull refund with proof of purchase
Article30 days from deliveryOutbound and return shipping fees, inside the standard service area
Burrow30 days from receipt10% of the price with original packaging, 20% without, capped at $250 per item
Best Choice Products60 daysReturns missing the box, manuals or parts may be rejected

A $1,200 sofa sent back to Burrow without its boxes costs $240 in fees; the same mistake with a lamp costs almost nothing. That gap is the whole argument for buying big pieces first and carefully, and small pieces later and casually. The guide to where to buy compares delivery and returns store by store.

The doorway comes before the room

Article's rule of thumb is that the door should be wider than the box is tall. Its Vati 80" Sofa Bed is 80 inches wide assembled, but it arrives in one box that is 28 inches high, 39 inches wide and 82 inches long. Every door between the street and the living room has to beat 28 inches, and the box has to make the turns.

Who carries it the last stretch depends on the delivery tier you pay for, and the cheapest tiers often stop in the lobby. The guide to where to buy lists what each tier costs, and the measuring guide covers elevator diagonals, stair railings and the rest of the route.

Anchoring is part of moving in

A CPSC staff report estimates 17,800 emergency-room injuries a year from furniture, TVs and appliances tipping over (2020 to 2022 average). Of 217 reported deaths from January 2013 through July 2023, 155 were children under 18 and 56 were adults 60 and older, and 44% happened in bedrooms.

Dressers and chests made after September 1, 2023 fall under a federal stability rule written under the STURDY law. It covers free-standing clothing storage that is at least 27 inches tall, weighs at least 30 pounds and has at least 3.2 cubic feet of enclosed storage, and it requires an anti-tip device in the box. Bookcases, TV and entertainment furniture, and under-bed drawer units are outside the rule, so nothing guarantees they were tested that way. CPSC tells households to anchor TVs that are not wall mounted and says existing furniture can be anchored with inexpensive anti-tip brackets. IKEA's assembly service through Taskrabbit starts at $52 and includes installing tip-over restraints.

Used furniture adds one more check. Selling a recalled product is unlawful under Section 19 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, and CPSC says its rules reach individuals at yard sales and flea markets as well as thrift and consignment stores. The used-furniture guide goes through recalls, pests and condition, and this site's cost page adds up what the whole apartment comes to for one to four people.

Sources

Run by Kaz, an individual. Published 28 September 2026.