Your fashion is on point, and your Instagram is perfectly curated. But what about your new apartment? If you have a cohesive wardrobe, it seems like it’s easy to translate that vision into your living space. Home decoration for a smaller space is a different animal, however, and it has different rules.
That is not to say you can’t incorporate your unique flair into your small space! Just take care that, when you’re adding flair, you’re doing so with care, as not to make your house or apartment feel less cozy or spacious than it ought to.
If you are worried about your homecoming looking cramped or claustrophobic, never fear! You’re not alone. In San Francisco, California, for example, an 840-square-foot apartment will cost you upwards of $3,000. Yikes! No wonder millennials are downsizing.
Trick The Eye Into Adding Space
How do you add space where there is none? Simple! It’s all about illusions. If you want to upgrade a tiny room, paint it with lighter colors. If creams and whites are not your style, pastels can be an interesting design choice. From there, it will be easy to add complementary accent pieces throughout the room.
Mirrors up the ante even further. They will essentially double the available visual space in the room. Visit a secondhand shop for a mirror that contributes to a vintage, rustic aesthetic, or buy a sleek metal one for a cleaner look.
Copy Your Idols With A Twist
Did you idolize Lizzie McGuire’s bedroom growing up? Okay, maybe that was just me. I’m sure you had some childhood fantasy centering around a television icon’s living space, though. Bedrooms are sacred, intimate spaces. What better way to get into a character’s head than to see her private living quarters?
Now, it wouldn’t be prudent to copy a fictional character’s room beat for beat. They had set designers and bigger budgets! But you can and should take inspiration from the greats. A cost-effective way to implement this technique is to challenge yourself to mimic a room’s décor with secondhand or refurbished items.
Some characters even use this technique in their fictional lives. Take Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment: she used a mishmash of high-end and reclaimed pieces, giving her space a textured and lived-in feel. Try it yourself!
Make Your Hobbies The Décor
When you’re dealing with limited real estate, it can feel like there is a war between decoration and functionality. Which one can you afford the space for?
What better way to give your room a personality than to import your own? For those who are into reading, refurbish a bookshelf on the cheap and make it the focal point of your living room. Visitors will be drawn to it, and you can balance out the space it takes up with a mirror or a lighter color on the walls.
Those who are into the outdoors or gardening can reap the benefits of a green thumb by making their living space a veritable jungle. Hanging planters and low-maintenance succulents are key here. You want them out of the way and out of mind, for the most part, while they’re still in plain sight.
Consider Remodeling
Remodeling a home is a big step, and it is worth considering. Apartments are more limited in their scope, though not off-limits entirely. An open floor plan might be just the ticket to getting the most out of your limited space.
If upgrading to more efficient appliances or maximizing the flow of your rooms sounds appealing, it is worth consulting with a professional. “Modifying the layout of a home or adding more storage space can be a game-changer,” says Hestia Home Services, a renovation company that offers kitchen remodeling in Houston, Texas.
The addition of more cabinet space or removing walls that create odd barriers between rooms that ought to flow can transform your home into an entirely new space.
Use Area Rugs To Your Advantage
If you’re in a tiny studio apartment, area rugs can help cordon off and define different areas of the home that make it appear as though there are more rooms than there are. For instance, if you want to divide your dining area from your living room, slap a cute area rug under the table.
The trick is not overwhelming the floor space with an area rug. While rugs can define large rooms, they can easily overpower a small one. Invest in smaller rugs that will make the rest of your floor look larger in comparison.
