My daughter's first apartment was a real adventure. She and her dormitory roommate from college decided to move in together, even though neither of them had a lot of money. They had started in nice careers, but putting a deposit down on an apartment, buying basic furniture and paying off student loans used up a lot of their money. Using the decorating style known as "late basement/early attic", they begged borrowed and stole some pieces but needed some unique decorating touches to make the apartment truly their own.

Their plan was to decorate the place and then invite all of the parents for a nice dinner and to view the results.

Well, their decorating efforts took about six weeks, but the day finally arrived and we were invited to dinner. I wanted to bring a nice house gift, and, knowing my daughter's fondness for bamboo baskets, I filled one with soap, hand cream and small hand towels for her new bathroom. As soon as my daughter saw the basket in my hands, she started laughing. It was not until I stepped into her apartment that I realized what was so funny. There were bamboo baskets everywhere, since this is how they decided to have a unique and inexpensive decorating scheme. Bamboo baskets were placed around the room for various uses, there were bamboo place mats and the theme was carried to the flooring with grass mats.

The bedroom had an oriental theme, and large bamboo baskets formed the bases for her bedside tables. They were very sturdy and shaped like vases, and with a round glass on top, there were perfect to place a lamp, a clock and some books. Her closet organizing system was a series of bamboo baskets and a bamboo hamper.

I was very glad I brought a bamboo basket for the bathroom. Bamboo is a neutral color that goes in any room. My daughter said I gave her the idea to put some large baskets (to match the small one) on the floor of the bathroom to hold towels, since they had no linen closet to store towels.

I was very proud of how my daughter decorated her small apartment with a lot of taste and very little money. As she saves money to decorate, she can add on to these items and make it look even better. I'm happy she is having such a good time decorating her first real apartment and she is so proud to be doing it herself with money from her first big job.