Simple Ways to Make Your Apartment Feel Like Home

Apartment living can be exciting, and fun. If it’s your first or you twentieth, apartment dwellers enjoy the freedom of mobility, and living with roommates and friends. While others don’t enjoy living in an apartment because they feel like they are restricted and tied into the appearance of an apartment.  Before you get too upset, check with your landlord or apartment management company to find out what the decorating guidelines are for your place.  Once you know, follow these tips on how to make your lifeless apartment feel like home.

ANALYZE: Take a look at your apartment room by room, and analyze its good and bad points. Make a list of what areas you’d like to accentuate and what areas you want to minimize.  If you don’t have any windows in a room, note that you want to bring light colors, and more lighting into the space. If you love the view out of the living room, note that you want the couch to face in that direction.  Analyzing the space will give you a plan to move forward in making the space your own.  Visualize how it WILL be one day.

BUDGET: Determine how much you have to spend before you hit IKEA! It’s easy to say you only need a few items, and then 3 stores later you are $500.00 over budget. Have a small budget? Buy key items that will go a long way. Area rugs, window treatments, bedding, and towels are all items that are relatively inexpensive, but can add color and warmth to your apartment immediately. If you have a larger budget, purchase furniture pieces that are necessities first. A bed, sofa, and dining room table/chairs may be important for entertaining. If you have multiple roommates, ask them to split the cost of large ticket items.

COLOR: Often times, your landlord will let you paint because it’s not interfering with the structural integrity of the apartment. Painting is the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to change the mood and décor in a space.  Be creative with coordinating colors throughout your apartment. For smaller apartments, use lighter colors, especially if there are minimal windows.  Management said ‘No’, to painting the walls? Consider using fabric hung with nails, and room divider screens to bring color, personality and definition to your apartment.

PERSONAL TOUCHES: Have you ever heard the saying, “Home is where you lay your hat?”  It means your home is wherever you call home. Display pictures, memorabilia, and personal items from your previous home in your new apartment. Frame collectibles and sentimental items in decorative frames, and shadow boxes to make you feel comfortable. Bring items from your last loved home into your new apartment.

Your apartment is only a few details away from making it look and feel like home.

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