Mismatched furniture
If you’re young and starting out on your own, chances are you have a mismatched apartment/house full of furniture. I’ve had numerous (and very generous) friends and family members donate lots of items to me over the years. I’ve also founds some good deals at local thrift stores. I know some people aren’t bothered one bit by mismatched things, but I definitely am! Instead of turning down all of the free pieces of furniture, I decided to refinish each piece so that they would work together. Not everything in your life should be matchy-matchy, but you can make things work together. I just took a trip down to my local hardware store and picked up some needed supplies (while shopping frugally by the way). I dragged all of my furniture out to the garage, used an old shower curtain liner as a tarp, and got to work. I had a mix of wood and laminate furniture, so I chose to paint everything (since I wasn’t able to stain each piece). If you have all real wood, you could definitely try staining. Do whatever works best for you - you’ll never have to turn down a free piece of furniture because it doesn’t match!