askchapo

This may depend on personal preference and your shoe/carpet policy, but if you like sitting on the floor/sitting at a low coffee table you can get floor cushions. I got four or so from Daiso (called zabuton) in alternating colours. They add colour to a space that's often unoccupied and make the floor a bit more cosy

consider a rug

Seconding the electric tea kettle, basic toolkit, and vacuum. Also you'll want a good mop, the tornado ones are really efficient. Sweep first, then mop. If you keep shoes on a shoe rack then you won't have to worry about cleaning as much/often

If you don't live in an arid or semi-arid climate, a dehumidifier is a must; 60% humidity and above will mold things faster in your kitchen, promote mildew, and just feel hotter in general.

Having plenty of chairs and table space is important. 5-gallon buckets are cheap storage and double-purpose as bottom-tier stools, but stackable chairs are better, and can be condensed to the space of just 1 or 2 chairs. If you find yourself keeping everything on the table, you probably need shelves. (In a pinch, you can use cinder blocks and 1x6 dimensional lumber for shelving, and still pull off a DIY aesthetic.)

Make sure your bed rises far enough off the ground that you can put storage totes or shoeboxes underneath it. Bed risers can help with this but a higher frame is best.

A space heater is a good idea to "heat people, not rooms". For yourself and for guests during the winter, put extra blankets on a couch and chairs.

Space Heater

Try a heated blanket. You can warm yourself directly, without having to heat the whole room.

House plants, rugs, lamps and wall art go a long way towards making stuff look more adult-like and "complete".

As far as amenities go, a space heater is pretty meh and they cause a fair amount of house fires. Don't recommend it. Someone said heating blanket which I will second if you're trying to save cash.

Rice cookers are great, but honestly rice isn't that hard in a pot so I would prioritize other stuff first.

Bidets are life changing, and they help save on toilet paper which is nice.

The French press is a really cheap purchase for making coffee and quite versatile.

Bidet definitely. I refuse to poop anywhere else now.

Peg boards are really handy for hanging pots and pans and save you a lot of cabinet space

Similarly installing small shelves in the kitchen area for spices frees up counter space.

Ricer cooker with a steam tray on top, just remember you'll need more water when cooking rice and steaming something at the same time. I love cooking tamales and steam baos from in mine

Non meme answer, as a line cook:

• Get a good kitchen knife. If a YouTuber has sponsored it, it's probably overpriced (and honestly, quality varies from bad to just above average). A Chinese caidao/vegetable cleaver is versatile and durable, although possibly a bit intimidating because it's larger than Japanese/French knives. A Shi Ba Zi Zuo will be fine for domestic use for years, very affordable, holds its edge quite well, kind of heavy but unlikely to be strenuous unless you're dicing vegetables for hours on end, and even so weight helps with cutting. Holding it is slightly different to a western pinch grip but should be easy to adjust, huge blade surface area allows for it to rest on your knuckles if you wish usage shown here. You can use it as a bench scraper as well. Get a paring knife for things that require a bit more dexterity and you're set.

• Get a biiiig chopping board. Just as large as you can reasonably clean in your sink.

Oh and if you have a place to compost, use a coffee canister for food scraps. Food in the compost, rinse off anything with food residue. If you have this, plus a nearby place to recycle stuff, your trash won't stink, and you won't go through as many trash bags.

Bidet is god-tier. Get one -- even a cheapo cold only one is good, but if you have a few hundred saved, Costco often has sales on a pretty solid Toto model that's pretty no-fuss. I had a Tushy once, and getting the hot water from the bathroom sink was a pain.

Also, learn how to use drywall anchors for hanging shelves and shit -- you can buy a 4 dollar tube of spackle when you move out and patch any holes yourself.

Cold brew coffee maker

get yourself a french press, it can do hot and cold!

One of the main steps from "livable" to "cute" is rugs and throw blankets for your furniture. They're good for decoration, but they also keep you warm. You can thrift them.

Go to a second hand store or a yard sale or the like. Pick of some cheap pieces of art that look nice to you. Don't worry about tacky or classy, just whatever you vibe with. My wall is filled with an eclectic assortment of random pieces and if it's all random, it goes well together.

Also an electric kettle is really useful, but if you're fresh from college you might already have one.

I'd agree with all of your suggestions, except maybe the cold brew maker. I've found using a french press works pretty much just as well and you can make hot coffee in it too!
The real curveball, that honestly might be unnecessary, is a new shower head. My last place had an awful one, it would push out a ton of water really haphazardly. The QoL upgrade when I finally (after 1.5 years of suffering) bought and installed my own was kind of upsetting. I got better pressure, better coverage, and the hot water lasted longer since it was using less. For $20 and a few minutes of install my life got so much better. And if you have the ceiling space, I think an extender isn't a bad idea either: you can sort of get the "waterfall" effect without splurging on a high end showerhead.

Art is huge, but cannot recommend throw rug enough.

Stuff that looks ugly in a thrift store comes alive when put against apartment carpet or vinyl flooring. Absorbs sounds too.

sex swing

I always suggest a decent sized rug/runner. Not only do they help tie together a room/hallway/entrance/etc in general, but they also help dampen noise. For example, when I moved into my current apartment - even with all my furniture and a bunch of stuff on the walls, walking around barefoot would echo really badly and god forbid I turned the AC on because the fan noise would echo. A rug and matching runner I got from the thrift store for $50 solved that and as a bonus, I can walk around barefoot without my feet getting cold from the hardwood

Have you considered using a bunch of empty liquor bottles as decoration? An empty bottle of Jameson on a mantle or on a windowsill has a je ne sais quoi that well put together apartments rarely have.

Doubly so if you don't actually drink.

Next time I move into my own place, I am aiming to have a framed picture of Josip Tito next to an empty bottle of Tito's Handmade Vodka somewhere visible but not prominent as an irl visual gag.

Space heater? I'd like to keep the temp largely down during the winter to save money while warming up the part of the place I'm in

I fell for this meme but it neglects to account for the fact that furniture & flooring has thermal mass and gets cold as shit when it isn't being heated. It also takes a very very long time to heat up (again because of the thermal mass). Just turning on the heater so the apartment & all its furniture was always a comfortable temp without me wearing a toque & fingerless gloves & slippers & always being covered in blankets & drinking hot water was probably the greatest possible improvement to my happiness & comfort for the money spent.

Rice cooker

Hell yeah, get a nice one like a Zojirushi if possible

Cold brew coffee maker

Loose-leaf tea equipment is very cheap if you're into that and are looking for a more moderate caffeine hit

seltzer water thingy

Airstream is an israeli company btw

Get some art. Doesn't have to be expensive, just buy some prints off etsy or some shit.

Idk your sexual orientation, but if you wanna have a special someone over it def impresses them if you actually have some nice stuff on the walls. Bare walls/college dorm posters of the Godfather are a bit of a turn off I've learned.