A few years ago, we purchases a papasan dorm sofa. It’s light, sturdy, inexpensive, and can be folded up and moved around fairly easily. DD14 is now using it in her apartment as additional seating.
Of course, there is nothing like a full size video arcade game! I’m sure the other roommates would appreciate the soothing sounds of Ms. Pacman or Centipede , at 3 am in the morning…
I don’t really know what furniture you should acquire, but I can safely advise you against decorating your common room with a dusty, mangy, decades-old, half-toothless bear rug that you found while digging through a temptingly unlocked basement storage facility. I learned that one the hard way.
There is a Belize Click Clack sofa on sale at BJs for $199. Looks like a sort of futon when up as a couch. Clicks down to make a double bed.
Freshman year S had a “suite” that consisted of two tiny bedrooms and a little common room with no furniture except a pair of wardrobes. We happened to own a futon we weren’t using. I bought a used maple futon couch frame on Craigslist, and a waterproof mattress cover for it at BB&B, along with a new washable cover and a couple of cheap pillows. Total expenditure around $100, because we already owned the futon.
Worked well. Downside: he only used it freshman year.
At my school living rooms were not furnished, and furniture was usually acquired by buying it for a nominal price from graduating seniors. I think I spent $10 on s sofa which I used for 3 years and then probably sold for $10. I didn’t know anyone who actually bought new sofas.
S2 lived in a quad with common"room" (aka, wide spot with a shelf) . It was used to collect recycling, store suitcases, house guests (slept on the floor) and spread out projects. Never decorated, nor were most of the other quad rooms.
I wouldn’t buy anything new, not even from Target or Ikea. Instead, get some used furniture at a yard sale or second hand shop (check for bed bugs and do not trash pick). Anything that has been in someone else’s house for a few years is more likely to survive than a cheap couch from Target.