My 1st place in college was totally furnished by the U. When we moved off campus in college and law school, we only moved into furnished places. When I finally got my own apt after graduating, I bought the table, chairs, curtains from prior tenants and just brought over my old dresser and had a single mattress on the floor. It was so easy to clean my little place with barely any furniture!
My S got things from ikea and online. It was very nicely furnished—better than my 1st places by far but we didn’t have online resources back in the day.
I had a door and bricks for my desk—very handy to have such a large flat surface and very economical.