Michelle @Sweetsuite10's Profile

I've refinished a couple fo wood furniture pieces, and while it can take a while it is very much worth it. Very little can beat the natural beauty of wood.
Here is my Craiglist dresser: http://sweetsuite10.com/2012/02/my-thank-god-its-finally-finished-dresser-rehabilitation-project/
And here is my Craiglist console: http://sweetsuite10.com/2012/08/refinished-living-room-media-console/
I love how both turned out.

When I lived in a studio I used a couple of mid-height billy bookshelves to divide the space. I placed my headboard up against the back of the bookcases. This had two functions - it covered the ugly fiberboard back of the shelves, and the shelves acted like a wall to suppost the headboard.
I liked the mid-height shelves as it provided enough of a visual barrier between the two spaces that you couldn't see my bed, but they didn't block any of the light coming from that side of the room. I also like the Billy shelves as they're a little less deep than the Expedit which is good in a small studio space.

I live in a one bedroom condo with no balcony. While in the apartment I've stripped and refinished two pieces of furniture (both of which were featured on AT) by making my dining room my work room. I took apart my table, and moved it and the chairs in to the living room, and then laid down a thick plastic sheet to protect my hardwood floors.
I've done some small spray paint projects (picture frame, bookends) by using a big box sitting on to of the plastic sheet. I would not do anything bigger inside - there is simply just too much spray that floats in the air and goes everywhere.
Yes, it a little annoying not to have a specific place to designate project central, but having your project always there and in view will encourage you to finish it so you can reassemble your living space.

I'm going to second (or third?) the comment about being patient with Craigslist or other user furniture sources. Sure there is a lot of crap available, but there is also a lot of great pieces out there, and some are great deals if you are willing to do some work.
I got my dresser for just $50 (including delivery), and after some elbow grease it looks great. Here it is - it was featured on AT earlier this year: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/before-after-restoring-a-craigslist-dresser-sweetsuite-10-166221

@Veggieface I don't know for sure, but If you go tto the product information page for the sofa on the Ikea site you can download a PDF of the instructions. Also the product information page will give you the product dimentions completely built, and when disassembled - hope that helps!

Lee Valley has some: http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=41839&cat=1,250,43232

They're fairly inexpensive - $2.60 - 2.70 each. Apparently they're being discontinued, so you'll have to see if they have all the nunbers you need (there are no 8, 9 or zeros)

Rachel,
I stripped a dresser and refinished it inside my apartment and while it was a messy and smelly job, it's quite possible (and worth it) as long as youdo some planning first.
I used my dining room as my 'work room' as I don't have a balcony, and I wasn't going to try and haul it up and down to work on it outside.
I removed my table and chairs, and protected my floor with a drop cloth and plastic sheet. I opened the dining room window and placed a fan in the window facing outwards to suck all the 'bad' air out. I opened one other window in my living room to create a cross draft, but closed all the other doors in my apartment to keep the smell and dust out of the other rooms..
If you're going to use a chemical stripper do some research first to find one that's more environmentally friendly. The one I used was 'low-odour' but it was still pretty smelly.
Make sure you protect yourself - eye protection, a respirator, and nitrate gloves are all REALLY inportant (all available at home depot).
Here's how my project turned out: http://goo.gl/AGjnW
While I was restaining mine, I'm sure similar measures would work if you wanted to repaint yours. I'd probabaly be careful about trying to remove any of the paint by sanding - some old paint contained lead, so if you want to sand the old paint I'd highly recomend you do it outside with a respirator just in case.