Score. You’ve somehow managed to get the better of the Boston real-estate market. You’ve found a hovel to call home; you’ve hooked up with friends of friends of your mom’s second cousin, who will serve as roommates; or you’ve borrowed money within an inch of your life to live la vida sola. To convince landlords of your respectable rent-paying ability, you’ve lied through your teeth about your "income," your "bank account," and your "job." After jotting out a check for an amount you’d rather not contemplate, you now have keys and an address. Hoo-eeee!

But, my friend, this is only the beginning. After unloading the U-Haul, carting your boxes up a dusty stairwell, and plucking the previous tenant’s hair from the tub (ewww), the fun has only just begun.

To celebrate your homecoming, you pop a cork and cop a squat — on the floor. Couch? TBA. Bed? Not quite yet. The first night in your new home, you create a makeshift dining room out of boxes. One box = chair, two stacked boxes = table. This will do for approximately 24 hours, until your empty apartment becomes desperately depressing in its unfurnished, unadorned state. Your apartment is naked; you must dress it up.

But after writing the bank-account-depleting rent check (including security deposit, first and last month’s rent, and broker’s fee — aaah!), you have approximately a few hundred dollars with which to take care of the rest. There’s a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, a closet, a bathroom, and an office. They’re all empty, crying out to be filled. Don’t despair. And more important, don’t rush out in a panic and purchase some ugly castaway just to cross an item off your list. The faded, uncomfortable paisley couch with a stuffing leak that you dragged in off the street? It was left there for a reason: it’s hideous. You should never compromise taste for convenience, especially when it comes to a piece you’ll have to live with for months, if not years, to come.

Consider the apartment your drawing board, your low budget a creative challenge, and yourself the architect of your own lair. Allow yourself at least one month of weekends to devote entirely to getting settled in your new apartment, seeking out the right lamps, the best bedspread, the wiring to complete the circuits. Boston is one big treasure hunt; below is a selective, room-by-room map to get you started. For more ideas, tune in to HGTV (a personal favorite), flip through home-dŽcor magazines, or pick up Home Swell Home: Designing Your Dream Pad (Pocket Books, 2002), the latest by style divas Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig. Aaannnddd ... go!

Entryway

The first thing you see when you enter your new apartment is a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling, its chain pull-cord dangling. Can you say depressing? Come on, now. We’re going for cozy pad, here, not dank dungeon.

Lighting is an essential — and relatively low-budget — way to drastically improve your space. Too little or too much light can be equally stultifying in your new apartment; with a well-angled lamp or a candle sconce, your dungeon turns into a dream. So spend a few bucks and improve your nest’s worth by thousands. You can stock up on good, affordable lamps at Economy Hardware (438 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617-864-3300; 219 Mass Ave, Boston, 617-536-4280), where the options run well beyond the standard collegiate halogen affairs. If you’re so inclined, try stringing a strand of little white lights across the upper inside molding of your entryway to create a festive look year-round.

Your apartment should convey all the attitude and whimsy that make up your personality. Any guest will be amused by a silly welcome mat. Find an especially fun and frivolous collection at Urban Outfitters (361 Newbury Street, Boston, 617-236-0088; 11 JFK Street, Cambridge, 617-864-0070). If function is more important than fun, find a selection of get-the-job done mats at Tags (29 White Street, Cambridge, 617-868-7711). We found a stack of green nubby mats with WELCOME splayed across them. Basic, and to the point.

Living room

Chances are, this is the room where you’ll be spending most of your time, so it’s especially important to make it comfortable and attractive. The key is finding a place to rest your weary tush, curl up with a cocktail, or settle in for a night of brain-numbing television. But if you’ve ever set out to purchase a couch, you know the price tags can induce a heart attack. "I just paid $700 for the couch, which was reasonable," a cousin recently told me. I grinned outside, but inside I was cringing. With a little research, you can find items that will be easy both on the eyes and the bank account. Word to the wise: you do not need to spend that much on a couch, unless it is a veritable piece, which you plan on taking to the grave.

However, in your quest for a couch, it’s important to set priorities. Whereas during your college years, a metal-frame futon was good enough, those days are long gone. Ditch the frame, but find yourself a higher-grade futon-couch. Pier 1 (1 Porter Square, Cambridge, 617-491-7626; 1351 Beacon Street, Brookline, 617-232-9627) offers a good selection of stylish futon couches and chairs a step up from the stuff you left on the curb at the end of your final semester. We bought the Miranda loveseat and matching armchair, both for under $500. The big bonus in buying grade-A futons is that they’re exceptionally lightweight — so when things don’t work out with your psycho roommates, you can get outta there quickly.

And for the truly cost-conscious, keep your eyes peeled at local tag sales, estate sales, and secondhand stores. I happened upon a Crate & Barrel–esque tan-striped couch for $50 at my local Salvation Army a few days after moving to Boston. I spent another $20 on cleaning supplies, a few hours scrubbing the cushions, and voilˆ! A nice-looking, "new" couch for under $100.

Instead of padding around in slippers or flip-flops, invest in a stylish rug, which will tie the whole room together. This is one case where Allston’s student ghetto delivers, with just the right kind of stores. On the Harvard Avenue strip between Cambridge Street and Comm Ave, you’ll find a line-up of stores with great-looking rugs for around $60. Personally, I’m a fan of the leopard-print variety. They’re not the best quality, but they’ll certainly last as long as your enthusiasm for the pattern.

In the same area, you’ll find a slew of unfinished-furniture stores. While the industry is mostly a racket (you pay top prices for not-yet-done furniture — it’s brilliant), in some cases, you can find value. For example, if you can find unfinished folding bookshelves for under $100, snatch them up. Pick up a few paintbrushes, some primer, and the perfect shade of paint or finish to suit the look you’re creating in your pad. The same goes for a coffee table.

If Rashid Hakim or Philippe Starck is your guru, and colorful plastic is your medium of choice, one store you should definitely hit to fill in the blanks in your furnishing scheme is Kartell (10 St. James Street, Boston, www.kartell.it), an Italian-furniture emporium that will be opening a Boston outpost in mid October. The store will stock a variety of modular, colorful molded-plastic furniture, such as the ever-popular Maui dining chair by Vico Magistretti for $111, in eight colors. Kartell specializes in multi-functional furniture, a bonus for the space-challenged apartment dwellers among us. Head straight for the tables that also work as chairs, and the TV rack that also stores a PC.

Bedroom

The living room may be where you’ll be spending the most awake time, but the bedroom will be the site of the most, er, quality time. So don’t scrimp on the key piece of furniture, the centerpiece of the room, your bed.

Over the past three years, I’ve purchased three beds from 1-800-MATTRESS, and I’ve always been satisfied. But before picking up the phone, decide what’s important to you in a bed: firmness, soft top layer, plush, etc. Head to the Web site (www.1800mattress.com) to figure out what your options are and what you’re willing to spend. Then set off for your local department store to test them out. You can get a great bed for between $300 and $400 (including delivery), so avoid the trap of a $1000 mattress, if sticking to a budget is a priority. And a word to the wise: like airlines and some truck-rental companies, some mattress companies raise their prices during peak periods — like now. So if you can, wait a month and watch the prices drop.

Your bed will be nothing, however, unless your room has vibe. And here, again, comes the matter of lighting. The girls among us may want to cover the windows with flowing curtains, and the boys may want to cloak them in functional shades. But both will appreciate the Chinese paper shades sold at China Fair (2100 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617-864-3050; 70 Needham Street, Newton, 617-332-1250), which allow a soft, thin light into the room when closed, and provide an unassuming, versatile touch to most decorating schemes.

Bathroom

The bathroom is an oddly expensive room to furnish. From shower curtains to places to store your shampoo, the items come with surprisingly high price tags that quickly add up. Head to Boston’s new, eagerly anticipated Target (180 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, 617-776-4036; 550 Arsenal Street, Watertown, 617-924-6574), where the accessories are at least cheaper and stylish. You’ll also find all your other bathroom needs, such as bathmats, rugs, and even those peculiar shag-carpet toilet covers.

Kitchen

If, like many of us, you find yourself in an apartment in which "kitchen" is a generous word to describe the nook that contains your stove and refrigerator, you’ll have to be extra ingenious in figuring out ways to store all your pots, pans, and flatware.

Look no further than the most hated woman in housewares, Ms. Martha, to solve your problems. She may be in the doghouse, but the doyenne of domesticity certainly knows her way around a kitchen. Suspend your disbelief momentarily and throw some of your furnishing dollars Martha’s way. The Martha Stewart Everyday Chrome Baker’s Rack ($69.99), sold at Kmart (various locations), is a wonderful solution for kitchens where space is at a premium. If you lack counters or cupboards, the rack can solve your problems. The chrome unit includes a hardwood butcher block and three wire shelves on which to stack plates, pots, and whatever else you haven’t managed to cram under the kitchen sink. A chrome grid hangs between the top shelf and the cutting board to provide space for all your ladles. (You do own ladles, don’t you?)

If you are blessed with an eat-in kitchen, or better yet, a dining room, you’ll need something on which to display your feast. Find a great selection of clearance-priced tables, chairs, and other wares at the City Schemes Factory Outlet (22 Kent Street, Somerville, 617-776-7777). The regular store, on Mass Ave, has mod-looking units at 2010 prices. But the pieces in the factory outlet, which have been taken from the floor of the Mass Ave store, are more reasonably priced. Sift through the odd-shaped "conceptual" stuff and then head straight for the classics: a solid-wood dining-room table, plain black theater chairs, etc.

Now you need all the kitchen nuts and bolts, from colanders to corkscrews. The eclectic, confusing, and dusty China Fair delivers on everything from martini glasses to aprons. Head in with your list of necessities, but be prepared to buy much much more. Ooh, lowball glasses? I must have eight!

After all is said and done, your apartment is furnished, you’re comfortable, and you’re settled. Aaah.

Just in time to move again.

Nina Willdorf, who is writing a book about living well on a budget that will be published in spring 2003, is herself in the midst of moving. Cheer her on at ninawilldorf@earthlink.net